Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Thousands of birds faced a special threat this year: wetlands habitats damaged by the massive Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

But thanks to local landowners, many migratory birds may have dodged disaster. Early this summer, the Obama administration set up an initiative to urge landowners to create additional habitat for these birds by flooding fields and croplands. The goal was to get enough landowners involved to total 150,000 acres of flooded and fallowed lands. Gulf Coast landowners and others along important migratory “flyways” responded to the call, cobbling together an area more than three times the size of the initial goal!

The response to the crisis was unprecedented, but so was the BP oil spill and the havoc it caused to the environment.

The initiative, created by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, was launched on June 28, 2010 as an effort to lessen the chances that migrating birds would cross paths with oil, according to a Delta Farm Press report, giving birds cleaner places to rest and safer, uncontaminated food to eat.

“Private landowners play a critically important role in protecting wildlife every single day,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an October statement.  “And I am proud that so many landowners in these eight states stepped up to be a part of this unprecedented effort to increase migratory bird habitat and protect wildlife from any lingering effects from the oil spill.”

“The outpouring of support for this effort far exceeded our expectations, and it will have an impact on countless migratory bird populations for years to come,” he said.

An Unprecedented Effort

The response to the crisis was unprecedented, but so was the BP oil spill and the havoc it caused to the environment. The worst in American history, the Deepwater Horizon spill affected at least 650 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline, including more than 380 miles in Louisiana, 110 miles in Mississippi, 75 miles in Alabama and 90 miles in Florida. But only with time, will the full  impacts of the spill on Gulf Coast fisheries and Gulf of Mexico ecosystems come to light.

What’s Next for Migratory Birds…

As climate change alters or destroys habitats, bird migration – a miracle of nature – is itself at risk. In addition to the short-term goals that cover this year’s migration season, this Gulf Coast initiative has long-term objectives as well. With luck, future migrating birds will find also refuge on the land of these nature-loving landowners.

Check out more of our coverage on the BP oil disaster.

Find out what you can do to help wildlife impacted by the Gulf disaster.

It’s been six hard months for the Gulf region. And the tar balls that continue to wash up on the former white sandy beaches serve as a constant reminder that coastal communities are still struggling to regain economic footing, wildlife losses are climbing higher and higher and we still don’t know the ultimate extent to which oil and chemical dispersants will affect the fragile Gulf ecosystem. The long journey of restoration and recovery of this sensitive region has only just begun.

But here’s something to think about: there are going to be substantial funds coming in as BP is held liable for the damage it inflicted on the Gulf region. The wheels of a process called the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) have been in motion since the catastrophe began, with state and federal agency representatives identifying damages to natural resources in the Gulf and determining how to rehabilitate, restore and compensate for them. As the responsible party, BP will provide the funding to restore the region. Much of that funding will be used throughout the Gulf to fix damage that has been done — reseeding oyster beds, cleaning and replanting oiled salt marshes, protecting sea turtle nests so that more endangered baby turtles successfully make it to the sea next year than did in 2010. The National Wildlife Refuge System is another perfect and critical place to invest. Read the full story

Today marks the six-month anniversary of the explosion aboard the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that caused the death of 11 workers and initiated the worst oil disaster the U.S. has ever seen.

But despite the death of thousands of animals in the Gulf of Mexico, many of which are endangered or threatened species, and continued impact on coastal communities and natural habitats, Congress has yet to act.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders’ executive vice president, said, “If the explosion of an oil rig that leaves eleven people dead and results in the worst oil spill in our country’s history, devastating Gulf of Mexico communities and wildlife, does not move the Senate to act, what will it take? It’s been six months since the BP oil disaster began and the Senate has done nothing to improve even the most basic safety and response standards.

“The continued impacts of this disaster evident in our coastal waters and along the shoreline prove that current oil spill oversight, response capacity and safety standards are simply not sufficient to protect our environment or our coastal communities. The U.S. Senate must not continue to delay enacting improved safety measures, better spill prevention, an appropriate liability cap for any future accidents and desperately-needed restoration of the Gulf Coast. Unless the Senate passes this legislation, the clock is ticking until the next offshore oil disaster.”

“If the explosion of an oil rig that leaves eleven people dead and results in the worst oil spill in our country’s history, devastating Gulf of Mexico communities and wildlife, does not move the Senate to act, what will it take?”

Defenders isn’t waiting

Defenders marked this six-month anniversary by today filing suit against BP under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the ongoing unlawful harm or killing of endangered and threatened wildlife caused by the massive blowout. This includes at least 27 endangered or threatened animal species that are known to inhabit the Gulf region, including five species of endangered sea turtles, four species of endangered whales, threatened and endangered birds and Florida manatees.

With this lawsuit, we and other conservation groups aim to make sure BP takes action to reduce harm caused to the endangered and threatened wildlife that are part of the web of life in the Gulf of Mexico.

What you can do

Contact your Senators and urge them to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663) and help prevent the next offshore oil drilling disaster.

Angry or depressed about the Gulf oil disaster? You’re not alone. Deborah Du Nann Winter, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Whitman College, says the emotional impacts of this massive environmental disaster are widespread.

Dr. Du Nann Winter witnessed a wide variety of emotional reactions to the Deepwater Horizon crisis, the most striking  in her opinion being anger - toward BP’s failure to adhere to regulations and cutting corners on safety precautions, and toward President Obama for his apparent lack of anger.

“But I think all that anger projected toward the oil companies and toward the President is a way of masking the really unfathomable and profound despair that is just under the surface as we watch this catastrophe unfold,” she said. 

Also, “It really isn’t appropriate to blame BP or the President for the fact that we are rapidly approaching the end of cheap oil, and these kinds of disasters are accumulating all over the world. Blaming individuals by demonizing them is simply not a very good problem-solving mechanism for coping with feelings. Some more effective reactions would be to rethink our relationship with oil.”

Click here to read the full article.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In the study released yesterday in Science, researchers measured petroleum hydrocarbons in the plume and determined that the source of the plume could not have been natural oil seeps but had to have come from the blown out well.

The study adds to the controversy over how much oil is still in the Gulf ecosystem from the spill (NBC). It also challenges US government estimates that natural processes were rapidly breaking down the toxic crude, as report authors said deep-sea microbes were degrading the plume only slowly and predicted the oil would endure for some time (AFP).

Chris Haney, chief scientist for Defenders of Wildlife said, “The report released yesterday in Science is as innovative as it is sobering. WHOI is to be commended for deploying a sophisticated array of methods to document the vast extent and unexpectedly slow degradation of hydrocarbons released into the deep Gulf environment.

“Along with a University of Georgia study that refutes a flawed government analysis put out to disguise the real fate of the oil, the two recent studies ought to convince the media, the administration and the American public that credible science trumps spin every time.”

For weeks, BP disputed claims from scientists that a huge plume of dispersed oil droplets had formed in the gulf, with its chief executive at the time, Tony Hayward, declaring at one point, “There aren’t any plumes.” (NYT)

Big news for BP this week with the announcement the oil giant will be replacing current CEO Tony Hayward. Richard Charter, senior policy adviser for Defenders of Wildlife, tells the Associated Press that under a new CEO, BP must do more than scrub beaches. It should prepare to pay agencies to monitor turtles, whales, deep-sea coral and other threatened wildlife for at least another five years.

As BP moves toward a new tactic to stop the spill, dubbed the “static kill,” questions arise about the drilling “mud” used to plug the well. Oceans advocates have noted that companies regularly dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of this potentially highly toxic substance into the ocean, and we have no idea of its impact. Richard Charter, tells Kate Sheppard with Mother Jones that “drilling discharges have always been a dirty secret.”

What does the concentration of toxins in the water mean for wildlife? Richard says it’s hard to predict the impact the spill will have on wildlife, but it could be significant for the bluefin. “You interrupt that spawning event for bluefin tuna with a toxic oil spill and with dispersants that dissolve oil – and the egg of the bluefin is primarily oil-related – then, you could actually knock out a whole year-class of fish that was already in trouble,” he tells Public News Service.