Defenders of Wildlife Blog

BREAKING: Ignoring the lessons of the BP Gulf oil disaster, the Obama administration plans to go forward with the sale of over 18 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling. 

ATLANTA, GA— The federal government ignored the impact of BP’s 200 million gallon oil spill in its assessment of risks and precautions for the Gulf of Mexico before the first new lease sale since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to a lawsuit filed today in D.C. federal court by conservation groups. In deciding to proceed with Lease Sale 218 on December 14, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management dismissed the lessons learned during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from its assessment of oil spill risk for the Gulf of Mexico, the possible size of an oil spill, and resulting damage – all considerations that could help prevent or mitigate a future spill.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the complaint today on behalf of Oceana, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the BOEM’s decision to accept bids from oil and gas companies for new deep and shallow water leases in the Gulf of Mexico as part of Lease Sale 218.

Defenders attorney Sierra Weaver said, “Failing to fully analyze the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and the potential of future spills before moving forward with drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is asking for another drilling catastrophe. If the government isn’t going to act in the interests of the region’s wildlife, natural habitats and coastal communities, we will.”

READ THE FULL RELEASE:  See what other groups are saying about the Obama administration’s decision to continue to allow shallow and deepwater drilling in the Gulf. 

From the ever-growing dead zone to last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, it’s no secret that the Gulf of Mexico faces a world of trouble. But here’s something you might not know: every hour, an area of coastal wetland equivalent to the size of a football field disappears into Gulf waters. You read that right – every hour. And as any sports fans will tell you, that’s quite a lot of land. Already, 2,000 square miles of the Mississippi River Delta have slipped into the sea.

For the diverse wildlife that make the region’s coastal wetlands home, this loss is devastating. The wetlands at the mouth of the Delta provide habitat for a range of animals, including endangered species such as the Louisiana black bear, wood stork and snail kite. They’re crucial spawning grounds for fish in the Gulf, and also provide wintering habitat for migratory ducks.

And that’s not all – wetlands are important for people too. From decreasing flooding to acting as a buffer from storm surges, this ecosystem provides a natural defense against some of the worst nature can throw at us. The aquatic habitat also removes pollutants from water and recharges groundwater, providing us with a clean, reliable source of drinking water. Not to mention the financial benefits of healthy fisheries and coastal economies. Failure to protect this resource would be a tremendous loss.

Every hour, an area of coastal wetland equivalent to the size of a football field disappears into Gulf waters.

Fortunately, action is being taken to reverse this alarming trend. Right now, the Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force (created by President Obama in the aftermath of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster) is developing a plan to restore the Gulf shore to its former glory and strengthen it going into the future. How do they expect to tackle such an ominous feat? Well, one strategy is to simply let nature take its course.

In this image you can see where water and sediment from the Mississippi is washed into the Gulf of Mexico. Photo courtesy NASA.

Right now, levees direct water flowing from the Mississippi River far out into the Gulf of Mexico, where it carries the nutrients and sediment that result in the dead zone.  The Task Force is looking instead at diverting that river water back into its original destination — the Delta’s vast coastal wetlands. Doing so would not only rebuild previously washed-out habitat, but it would shrink the dead zone as well — simultaneously creating habitat on shore and off. Better yet, this strategy also happens to be the most budget-effective plan of action proposed so far, saving the region hundreds of billions of dollars.

That’s not to say this is a quick fix — restoring the Gulf region will not be easy. But letting this vibrant ecosystem fall into the ocean is simply not an option. By taking advantage of the natural flow of the Mississippi River, we can save time, money and energy, as well as the those who call the coast home.

Learn more:

Get more information about how wetlands are crucial to humans and wildlife. 

Read a more detailed account of the Gulf Task Force’s strategy to save the Gulf.

A year and a half since BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 people and initiating the worst environmental disaster the country has ever seen, the oil company is headed back into the Gulf of Mexico. That’s right. On Wednesday, the federal government gave BP approval to launch its first deep-water drilling since the disaster.

According to the Houston Chronicle, under the permit issued by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the British oil giant has permission to begin drilling at its Kaskida field about 192 miles off the Louisiana coast. And not only do operations have the green light to begin immediately, but BP plans to drill the newly approved well in 6,034 feet of water – about 1,000 feet deeper than the Macondo well.

That wasn’t the oil giant’s only good news for the week. CNN Money said that on Monday, BP reported ”better-than-expected earnings” for this quarter, with profits nearly doubling from the same quarter last year, from $1.8 billion to $4.9 billion. The company’s net revenue increased by about 31% to $97.6 billion.

Recovery hasn’t come as easily to the Gulf, whose diverse wildlife and fragile habitats continue to feel the impacts of the toxic oil and chemical dispersants. Just today, researchers announced a potential tie between the BP oil disaster and the continued surge of dolphin deaths in the Gulf. A cluster of bacterial infections may be an indication of exposure to oil by the marine mammals, who have been dying in numbers far higher than normal.  The St. Petersburg Times reports that from March 2010 to last week, 580 bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales have died and washed ashore in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The total for last year was 265.

That investigation is continuing, but one thing we do know for sure: as long as we continue to hand over our country’s treasured coasts and fragile waters to Big Oil, we can continue to expect tragedies like the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Because if 205 million gallons of oil spewing into Gulf waters isn’t enough to teach us better than that, what is?

Learn more:

See how dangerous offshore drilling threatens wildlife and natural habitats.

Endangered loggerhead turtle. Photo credit: Brian J. Skerry/National Geographic Stock

WASHINGTON (October 13, 2011) – Conservation groups today asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to hold the National Marine Fisheries Service accountable for its role in the shrimp trawl-related deaths of endangered sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2011 alone, an extraordinary number of sea turtles – more than 1,400 — have washed ashore dead or injured in the Gulf of Mexico and southeast Atlantic Ocean. The Fisheries Service has linked these “strandings” to drowning in shrimp fishing nets. Despite this rise in sea turtle strandings and the devastating impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the Fisheries Service has not fulfilled its duty to protect these imperiled animals from harm.

“Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are still reeling from the impacts of last year’s oil spill, and they simply can’t withstand the chronic threat of drowning in shrimp nets,” said Jaclyn Lopez, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The government’s own data show that record numbers of sea turtles have perished in the Gulf of Mexico this year, yet the Fisheries Service has not taken protective measures to prevent sea turtles from dying in the shrimp-trawl fishery.”

Shrimp trawling has for many decades been the primary threat to sea turtle survival in the U.S., and turtles in the Gulf of Mexico may be more vulnerable now to drowning in shrimp nets as a result of the BP spill and cleanup efforts. The shrimp trawl fishery incidentally captures and kills thousands of threatened and endangered sea turtles each year. “Turtle excluder devices” can help prevent turtles from drowning in the nets, but not all shrimpers are required to use them and still others simply don’t comply with existing regulations.

“The Fisheries Service has admitted that increased turtle protections in the shrimp fishery are needed,” said Sierra Weaver, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s time to translate that need for action into real protections for these animals.”

“The Fisheries Service is allowing this fishery to continue without requiring protections it knows can save turtles,” said Chris Pincetich of the Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Turtle excluder devices should be required now for all shrimpers.”

The Fisheries Service admitted in August 2010 that it needed to reassess the impact of the shrimp fishery on sea turtles in light of the dramatic increase in strandings, but it still has not finished that analysis. Then, following 379 sea turtle strandings – by government estimates only 5 to 6 percent of actual mortality – along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in early 2011, the Fisheries Service temporarily improved enforcement and announced that it would explore new rules to reduce sea turtle mortality. Meanwhile shrimp fishing continues as usual; the Fisheries Service has denied requests from the conservation groups for emergency measures to reduce the harm to sea turtles.

Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico may be more vulnerable now to drowning in shrimp nets as a result of the BP spill and cleanup efforts. Photo Credit: NOAA.

“The Fisheries Service has admitted that increased turtle protections in the shrimp fishery are needed,” said Sierra Weaver, attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s time to translate that need for action into real protections for these animals.”

“Reducing sea turtle deaths from fisheries is key to preventing extinction,” said Marydele Donnelly, director of international policy at the Sea Turtle Conservancy. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that shrimping plus noncompliance and minimal enforcement equals a lot of dead turtles. By failing to uphold the law, the Fisheries Service is undermining decades of conservation and squandering millions of private and public dollars.”

The Endangered Species Act requires the Fisheries Service to ensure that its actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered species and to respond to evidence of new threats to their survival. Today’s lawsuit challenges the agency’s failure to protect sea turtles in the wake of a huge increase in strandings and seeks to establish protections for the turtles, including increased enforcement and observer coverage to reduce turtle deaths from shrimp trawls; closure of sensitive areas to shrimp trawling; and broader requirements for shrimp boats to use turtle-excluder devices to allow turtles to escape drowning in all types of trawl gear.

Conservation groups filing today’s suit include the Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Defenders of Wildlife, and Sea Turtle Conservancy.

Learn more:

See how offshore drilling threatens sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – There are some very simple things Florida residents can do will help sea turtles survive and thrive. The Sea Turtle Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife say a great start is to install turtle-friendly lighting in developments along the coast.

Listen to the Public News Service Story:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Gary Appelson is the policy coordinator for the Conservancy. He says a few simple lighting changes would make a big difference for sea turtles.

“One change is to use amber-colored lighting. Also, you lower and direct the lighting so it’s not shining on the beach, and you shield the lighting.”

Those measures would make it less likely that the turtles will get confused and head for the lights rather than the ocean after laying their eggs, he explains. Keeping trash secured is another way to help the turtles, he adds, because predators that eat eggs will not be attracted to the beach by garbage.

Appelson also points out a side benefit of installing turtle-friendly lighting, which in many cases incorporates LED technology.

“Very surprising and significant energy efficiency and cost-savings occur by retrofitting with sea-turtle-friendly lighting.”

Defenders' Elizabeth Fleming

Elizabeth Fleming, the Defenders of Wildlife Florida representative, says people can take other easy steps beyond lighting to help the sea turtles, as well.

“Keeping the beaches free of trash is one of the best ways to ensure that we’re not attracting even more predators onto the beach.”

Animals like foxes and raccoons are attracted to trash and love a meal of turtle eggs, she says.

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories.

Learn more about how Defenders is working to protect sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.

(An irregular column to capture insults to wildlife)

People around the world took a stand for healthy coasts and marine wildlife this weekend, joining hands to fight the threats of increased offshore drilling. And in this year’s Hands Across the Sand, thousands of Americans — from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia to the sandy beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast, all the way to California and the Pacific – made it clear that they want to trade the dirty, dangerous energy sources of the past for a clean, responsible renewable energy future.

But while ocean lovers and activists came together in solidarity, another kind of gathering was taking place in the Sunshine State. Florida’s Senate President, Mike Haridopolos, met with Big Oil representatives in an “off the record session” to develop energy policy recommendations for state lawmakers, including Florida Governor Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon. On the agenda? You guessed it – outer continental shelf energy development (aka, drilling off of Florida’s coasts).

Could the timing have been worse? Apparently Florida lawmakers are suffering from the same case of oil spill amnesia that’s plaguing the members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have now passed three reckless offshore drilling bills. But the Floridians who joined Hands on Saturday haven’t forgotten – and neither has Defenders. In fact, we had both coasts covered this weekend – with Florida representative Elizabeth Fleming joining former governor Charlie Crist and other state and city officials in St. Petersberg and marine policy advisor Richard Charter speaking up in California’s Sonoma County. Their message (and ours): keep our coasts clean, healthy and drilling-free.

Learn more:

See more pictures from Hands Across the Sands events this weekend.

See the ways Defenders continues to stand up for wildlife and natural places in the Gulf of Mexico, more than a year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.