Defenders of Wildlife Blog

An oiled pelican on the Gulf Coast (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

This Saturday, April 20th, will mark the third anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. By Earth Day 2010, we had learned the terrible news that 11 men had died in an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and we hoped an environmental crisis was not going to follow.

But follow it did. Over 200 million gallons of oil spewed from a failed drilling operation nearly a mile below the ocean surface: hot, highly pressurized petroleum hydrocarbons that had been stewing for millions of years. In the days that turned into months of frantic work to seal the well, the oil and attempts to contain it caused direct and long term damage to wildlife and their habitat, including an unknown number of deaths.

How can there be restitution for such an assault on the precious and extensive resources of the Gulf? How can the environmental losses be restored and the related economic losses be compensated? Sea turtles, whales and dolphins surfacing to breathe and sea birds resting or diving into the ocean were covered with oil. Seahorses and juvenile sea turtles living in the floating sargassum seaweed mats were killed when the mats were showered with dispersants and burned. Below the surface, deep sea coral colonies and shallow seagrass beds died due to the toxic combination of dispersants and oil. And on the beach, shorebird nests and chicks were trampled and scraped away by uninformed workers during cleanup operations, while heavy equipment and lights disturbed and harmed wildlife. Every part of the Gulf was affected by the spill, from its shores to the sea floor. People dependent upon marine resources, from shrimpers to hotel and restaurant owners, lost significant livelihood, and some of those living along the affected areas suffer ongoing illnesses.

Oil floats in the water off the coast of Louisiana. (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

A complex combination of legislation and lawsuits is causing the responsible parties, British Petroleum (BP) and others, to pay significant costs and fines. Penalties under the RESTORE Act passed by Congress on June 29, 2012 will make $4 billion available for restoration and improvement of the Gulf and for the people that suffered losses due to the spill. The RESTORE Act ensures that 80 percent of Deepwater Horizon civil and administrative penalties under the Clean Water Act will go to Gulf Coast restoration, and sets up a framework that can ensure coordination between the Gulf States and the Federal government.

Defenders’ Florida Representative Elizabeth Fleming and I recently attended a public meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, which is evaluating which projects are most important to fund. The meeting was held to listen to information from the public about what actions we believed would be of the greatest benefit to the Gulf.

On behalf of Defenders, I presented a report that we produced with the National Wildlife Refuge Association that describes tracts of conservation land along the Gulf Coast and connections inland that should be acquired and added to the refuge system. This will protect wildlife habitat and help wildlife adapt to the impacts we are experiencing as a result of climate change and sea level rise. Examples include expanding the Gulf Islands National Seashore to protect sea turtle nesting beaches as well as people’s access to the coastline, and adding to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to complete the ocean-to-inland connection that wildlife will need to rely on as they adapt to climate change.

Shorebirds like this rely on the beaches affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

I pointed out three principles that I think should guide the decisions on how to spend the restoration funds. First, all projects, including those not focused on the environment (boat ramps and the like) must result in ecosystem benefits. Second, all projects should also take climate change and sea level rise into consideration. And lastly, the most important action we can take is to acquire valuable conservation areas that add to our system of natural resource lands and wildlife habitat.

Author Carl Safina in his book “A Sea in Flames,” closes with an observation on northern gannets — large, shining white seabirds that migrate from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. Gannets dive for their prey and so they are directly affected by oil adhering to their bodies and by eating contaminated fish. Safina remarks that the first oiled bird whose image was in the news during the Gulf oil disaster was a gannet, and that seabird biologists speculated that up to a third of the population would be affected. The gannet already faces a host of threats near its breeding grounds, and is now suffering the impacts of the oil spill even 2,000 miles away, where it spends the off-season.

It is clear that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will continue to affect wildlife and habitat for years to come. Our job now is to help our damaged Gulf regain its health with carefully planned, enduring restoration work.

The Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, NOAA

NEWS: The Interior Department released its 5-year offshore drilling plan yesterday, which includes plans to open more of the Arctic Ocean to offshore drilling.

The following is a statement from Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife:

“Despite presiding over the worst oil disaster in U.S. history and on the heels of green lighting Shell’s exploration in Arctic waters this summer, the Obama administration is now planning additional leasing in one of the most pristine, but least understood waters in the world without basic scientific information about its wildlife. Apparently, the lesson from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill has not soaked in to the Obama administration — there’s no foolproof way to drill safely in remote, environmentally sensitive areas like the Arctic Ocean.”

NEWS: Some of the $1 billion BP announced it would release yesterday to help speed the cleanup and recovery of the Gulf of Mexico must go to expanding coastal wildlife refuges, according to a coalition of conservation groups.

The following are statements from Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge Association:

“We’re encouraged to see BP make a billion dollar down payment on restoring the Gulf, but given that BP is seeking $40 billion from its corporate partners, it looks like BP agrees with us that the damage wreaked by this disaster will take far more than a billion dollars to fix,” said Timothy Male, Vice President of Conservation Policy with Defenders of Wildlife. “One of the very best investments for these dollars is expanding coastal wildlife refuges. These wetlands and beaches were on the frontlines of the damage, and they should be in the front of the line for relief.”

“These much-needed funds will help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service begin restoring areas hard hit by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” said David Houghton, Vice-President of Conservation Programs with the National Wildlife Refuge Association. ”With hundreds of thousands of pounds of oil still being removed from Gulf Coast refuges, the need for habitat restoration dollars could not be greater.”

Background:

Funds from the Early Gulf Coast Restoration Agreement can be put to work immediately on projects to restore and protect habitat that will help oil-affected species begin recovering in the Gulf.  A few examples include:

In Louisiana, the $250 million barrier island restoration at Chandeleur Islands is a good candidate for funding. This 5,000-acre project at Breton National Wildlife Refuge would restore barrier island habitat and provide nesting habitat for affected species such as brown pelican, black skimmers, laughing gulls and royal and sandwich terns, and protection of back barrier tidal flats to promote establishment and growth of seagrass beds critical to wintering redhead ducks and other important estuarine species.

We’re encouraged to see BP make a billion dollar down payment on restoring the Gulf, but given that BP is seeking $40 billion from its corporate partners, it looks like BP agrees with us that the damage wreaked by this disaster will take far more than a billion dollars to fix.

In the Florida Panhandle, the $134 million Lake Wimico project would protect and restore 67,000 acres at St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge. This acquisition would benefit two major estuarine systems, protecting an important bottlenose dolphin nursery and providing significant water quality benefits to oyster and scallop populations in Apalachicola and St. Joseph’s Bays.  This project would have significant long-term economic benefit on local economies because of its positive impact on the commercial fisheries resource.

Read the early restoration agreement.

Although the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded not even a year ago, claiming 11 lives and setting off the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, Congress has launched a major push for more drilling.

BREAKING: President Obama’s speech today touting efforts to rein in foreign oil consumption comes amid a major push in Congress for more high-risk domestic drilling and weaker environmental safeguards.

Defenders of Wildlife, however, is calling on the Obama administration and Congress to focus less on dirty, fossil fuel production and more on safe, renewable energy development.

The following is a statement from Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife:

“Thankfully President Obama is confronting our addiction to oil. While we don’t agree with everything the President said today, particularly his short-term plan to ramp up new domestic drilling and suggestions that this could include frontier areas in Alaska, he has a long-term plan for diversifying energy sources, improving energy efficiency and transitioning to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

“This stands in stark contrast to the members of Congress who are solely focused on helping their Big Oil buddies continue to make obscene profits while most Americans struggle to pay rapidly rising gas prices.

Thankfully President Obama is confronting our addiction to oil. This stands in stark contrast to the members of Congress who are solely focused on helping their Big Oil buddies continue to make obscene profits while most Americans struggle to pay rapidly rising gas prices.

“The Obama administration is taking some right and necessary steps to reduce our long-term dependence on foreign oil. But a key element that was missing from today’s speech was a reaffirmed commitment to accelerating the development of environmentally-responsible renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal today. In the long term, these are the only truly secure and reliable sources of energy we have.

Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen

“Responsible, sustainable and secure energy development can only be achieved if we’re smart from the start. With the right policies in place, we can improve transportation, reduce prices at the pump, and still power our homes and cities. We can do so without sacrificing clean air, drinking water, wildlife, and the health of our planet and its people. We need to not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but also transition away from dirty, polluting fuels altogether. It is the only responsible thing to do.”

More Details

• President Obama outlined federal efforts to reduce dependence on foreign oil and diversify energy sources, including renewable energy and efficiency in a speech today
• The speech comes as a flurry of measures are being introduced in Congress this week to ramp up domestic drilling – including new areas in the Gulf of Mexico, Arctic Ocean, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and sensitive Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters
• Congressional proposals are also seeking arbitrary exemptions for offshore drilling that would force the Interior Department to act on all new applications for wells – including those like the Deepwater Horizon – within an unrealistic 30-day deadline, which would likely result in hasty, insufficient reviews
• Defenders of Wildlife calls on the Obama administration and Congress to focus less on dirty, fossil fuel production and more on safe, renewable energy development

Read up on the President’s proposal.

Learn more about Defenders’ work to protect American coasts from offshore drilling disasters.

Defenders envisions a clean energy future that’s smart from the start. Learn more>>

As part of my job at Defenders, I continue to learn about the myriad tools we all have to help make wildlife management work in good times, and during crises like oil spills. I made a commitment after the heart-breaking BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to be a better citizen by becoming a certified Wildlife Sea Otter Responder. Recently, on a clear, crisp, cold Saturday, about 40 of us gathered in a windowless training room to spend the day with trainers from International Wildlife Research (IWR), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Sea Life Center and the Alyeska/SERVS to get a first-hand look at what it takes to be a certified responder.

Sea otters are unique among arctic marine mammals since they rely on the thickness and distinctive make-up of their fur, rather than blubber, to keep them warm or cool and dry. They live in sea-ice covered coastal areas and spend considerable time floating on their backs, often eating shellfish or nursing and caring for their pups that, unlike the young of other aquatic mammals like seals, cannot swim when first born.

Most of us hope we never get that call to respond, because doing so would mean heartbreak and tragedy for sea otters, other marine life and coastal communities.

Sea otters require very specific round-the-clock care when oiled. Their survival and return to the wild depend heavily on certified Wildlife Sea Otter Responders both knowing their jobs and doing them correctly – the first time and every time.

The IWR team that leads these trainings includes scientists, veterinarians and wildlife specialists with expertise and real world experience in the care and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife. In fact, many of them are actual veterans of the infamous Exxon Valdez Spill in Prince William Sound in 1989. IWR has provided expertise for preparing and executing oil spill response operations for sea otters and other marine and land mammals for over 15 years.

Karla Dutton and vet tech Willow are demonstrating the proper taping technique to put on XL-sized protective equipment.

As I embarked on the 9-hour training, I was struck by not only the complexity of the course, but also the very real and serious commitment I was making by being there. After much coffee, careful listening to lectures and participating in a number of team problem-solving sessions, we were deemed ready for any oil spill emergency that might come our way. As a result, I now have my certificate and am on the national register of first responders.

The course and the online training and exam are well worth your time if you feel motivated to be part of a group who could be called in to help wildlife in an oil spill someday. Most of us hope we never get that call to respond, because doing so would mean heartbreak and tragedy for sea otters, other marine life and coastal communities. But 40 more people are now prepared if the phone rings.

Learn more about sea otters and what Defenders is doing to protect all wildlife  from the threat of oil spills.

Defenders’ president Rodger Schlickeisen has just posted his opinion about President Obama’s recent decision to block offshore oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic coast and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen

This welcome decision reverses President Obama’s announcement earlier this year that would have significantly expanded offshore drilling. Now, drilling won’t be allowed off the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, or in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, for at least the next five years. (However, oil companies still hope to expand drilling in the Arctic’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, which Defenders will continue to vigorously oppose.) In light of this year’s disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that continues to blight that region’s coastal environment and economy, suspending new offshore drilling is the right move, according to Rodger Schlickeisen:

If our society does not learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them, at the cost of irreparably damaging America’s important economic sectors that depend on clean coastal waters.

“We need to allow the facts and sound science to fully emerge from the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history; apply the hard lessons learned in the Gulf of Mexico to our future ocean management policies; and let improved well-control measures and redundant blowout preventers and other long-overdue safety systems guide us on a reasonable and measured path forward.

“If our society does not learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them, at the cost of irreparably damaging America’s important economic sectors that depend on clean coastal waters.  Now is clearly not the time to take an ill-advised gamble with the Atlantic coast, Florida’s Gulf Coast, our Arctic Ocean, nor with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

You can read Rodger’s full post on National Journal’s Environment and Energy blog.