NOAA’s Fisheries Service is issuing two incidental harassment authorizations to Shell for energy exploration activities in shallow waters in the Arctic during a limited period this summer. The authorizations specify measures to protect marine mammals and the subsistence interests of Alaskan Natives, and are informed by the latest science as well as lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, are showing signs of severe ill health, according to NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state, federal and other research partners.Barataria Bay, located in the northern Gulf of Mexico, received heavy and prolonged exposure to oil during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Based on comprehensive physicals of 32 [...]
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced the next steps toward energy exploration activities in shallow waters in the Arctic during a limited period this summer. This announcement is informed by the latest science, and continues to be guided by important new safety standards as well as lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon [...]
By combining detailed chemical measurements in the deep ocean, in the oil slick, and in the air, NOAA scientists and academic colleagues have independently estimated how fast gases and oil were leaking during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The new chemistry-based spill rate estimate, an average of 11,130 tons [...]
The amount of air pollutants in the atmospheric plume generated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was similar to a large city according to a new NOAA-led study published today in a special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) and NOAA’s Cooperative Institute [...]
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 yesterday in D.C. federal court by conservation groups. In deciding to proceed with Lease [...]
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued a second set of regulatory violations last week arising from operations conducted in connection with the Macondo well, the source of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The violations were issued as Incidents of Non-Compliance (INC). A total of five INCs were issued by faxed letter to [...]
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force today released its final strategy for long term ecosystem restoration for the Gulf Coast, following extensive feedback from citizens throughout the region. EPA Administrator and Task Force Chair Lisa P. Jackson, partnering with Task Force Co-Chair Garret Graves, made the announcement today during keynote remarks at the 2011 [...]
In 2001, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created a program to explore Earth’s largely unknown ocean for the purpose of discovery and the advancement of knowledge. This program, now part of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), continues to advance NOAA and national goals to better understand the ocean through discovery, [...]
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 was a wake up call regarding offshore drilling practices and safety protocols for the United States, but for the entire world as well. Americans were surprised to learn that oil companies face much stricter standards when drilling in the North Sea than were required in the United States [...]
Pathology experts contracted by NOAA have identified the bacteria Brucella in five bottlenose dolphins that died in the northern Gulf of Mexico. These five are among the 580 dolphins in higher than expected strandings that began in February 2010 and are continuing. NOAA has declared it an “unusual mortality event,” triggering a focused, expert investigation [...]
Despite the fact that the federal government issued citations against BP that said it failed to protect safety and the environment in regards to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill disaster (trial date February 2012), they are allowing the company to bid for new oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Michael Bromwich, the head [...]
The X PRIZE Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization solving the world’s Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, global incentivized competitions, and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, who personally funded the prize purse, awarded two winning teams of the $1.4 million Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. The first place team, Elastec/American Marine, from Illinois, USA, and [...]
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster of 2010 highlighted the disfunctional relationship that the Minerals Management Service, the regulator responsible for overseeing the oil industry, had with the very companies they were supposed to regulate. In response, the Obama administration created the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement ( BOEMRE). The final step in the re-organization [...]
NOAA’s Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Mexican environmental officials today released an updated plan to guide and strengthen the conservation and recovery of the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. The Bi-National Recovery Plan revises the current recovery plan issued in 1992. The recovery plan updates the conservation efforts that have proved [...]
Research on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico took a major step forward today with the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI) Research Board’s announcement that eight Research Consortia will be funded for the next three years. A total of $112.5 million over three years will support this [...]
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