bp faces long road toward restoration

8/9/2019 BP Faces Long Road Toward Restoration

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Warning from the Past: Valdez Spill Hints at What Awaits Gulf

From the moment oil started pouring from BPs Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico

comparisons to the Exxon Valdez spill were being made.

On the face of it, the two events look similar millions of gallons of crude unleashed on an unsuspecting

public as a result of corporate incompetence but in some ways they are not.

Aside from the obvious point that the oil from the Valdez came from a tanker and the oil in the Gulf

came from a rig (and ultimately from the ground itself), the main differences between the two spills are

geographic. The Exxon Valdez spill occurred in a remote area of Alaska called Prince William Sound in

March. The frigid temperatures during that time of year were only part of the problem. Simply deploying

the necessary equipment to the area of the spill was a challenge because Prince William Sound has a

rocky coastline and is in an inlet, which theoretically could have acted as a natural containment device.

By contrast, the coastline in the Gulf area is marshy rather than rocky and already fragile from decades

of decay. It is far easier to access and far more densely populated than Prince William Sound. It has nonatural containment areas, unless you count the Florida peninsula.

According to Dr. Stan Rice, Program Manager of Habitat Assessment at NOAAs Auke Bay Laboratories in

Alaska, workers on the Valdez spill did not have as many cleanup options as workers will have in the

Gulf. To begin with, the spill in Alaska was too close to the coastline for dispersants to be used. Burning

was not an option either, since much of the oil could be recovered mechanically. Skimmers, the last

option, were not available in Prince William Sound in 1989. Even in its l imited area (in comparison to the

Gulf) the Exxon Valdez spill still resulted in over 1,300 miles of coastline being damaged.

Rice notes that workers in the Gulf have all the cleanup options available (dispersants, burning, and

skimmers). That does not mean the job will be any easier. The Exxon Valdex spilled at least 11 million

gallons of oil (some experts think the figure was closer to 30) a total that the Gulf spill eclipsed long ago,

a fact that skews clean up comparisons. Exxon was able to recoup approximately 80% of the oil that was

spilled, a percentage BP has no hope of achieving. 10,000 workers worked three summers to remove oil

from the surface and, according to Rice the cold Alaska climate probably helped matters in the winter,

by bashing the oil about with storms.

Even with intensive clean up efforts and some good fortune from the weather, 26,000 gallons of crude

remain at or near the surface some 20 years after the spill. Those 26,000 gallons are now part of the

Alaskan landscape, because when oil gets below the surface it basically becomes permanent. Once oil

becomes aerobic, Rice says, theres very little Mother Nature or microbes can do.

To put in perspective the amount of oil still remaining in Prince William Sound, one quart of crude oil is

dense enough to be spread out over an area large enough to cover three football fields.

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An untrained eye might look at Prince William Sound now and believe it is as pristine and majestic as

ever, but simply turning over a rock near the shoreline will disabuse such a notion. Few understand what

the region has been through like Phil Mundy.

Mundy, Rices boss and Director of the Auke Bay Laboratories, studied the area for 10 years as Science

Director of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC). The EVOSTC has been front and center innot only the restoration efforts but in studying both the long and short term effects of the spill .

The scientists were very creative here, Mundy says. They looked at what happened here as a

scientific process.

The process continues and what was learned 20 years ago and what was learned 20 days ago will

undoubtedly be instructive to the people in the Gulf. The rate of recovery, whether it is economical or

environmental, is hard to predict Mundy says. He notes that the commercial fishing industry in Prince

William Sound returned to its normal level in by 1994, despite the fact that one of its key yields, Pacific

Herring, practically vanished and has not returned. Certain species of birds (Bald eagles, loons and

murres) are at their normal population while another, the pigeon guillemot, is nowhere to be found. It is

hard to say why one species of bird recovers and another does not. Populations in the gulf will

undoubtedly experience the same randomness.

Mundy believes that in one respect at least, the Gulf might be better off. The warm water there will

make it more difficult for oil to be embedded and easier to access, but hes quick to mention that the

warm water also increases the possibility of a hurricane, a scenario no one in the Gulf wants to consider.

In many ways, the worst possible place for a large oil spill to occur was in the Gulf of Mexico. The area is

still recovering financially and emotionally from Hurricane Katrina. Environmentally, the area is still in

crisis.

Doug Inkley, Senior Scientist at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), notes that the Gulf Coast has

already lost 2,100 square miles of coastline. Inkley says the Gulf Ecosystem is far more dynamic than the

one in Prince William Sound. It has a soft coast. The water is not nearly as deep. Simply venturing in to

areas to remove oil could be damaging.

It might be better to leave it there. You walk in some of those areas and you can destroy the roots,

Inkley says. It might be best to just let it be.

The major reason the Gulf is in a more tenuous position in terms of recovery, aside from the possibility

of a hurricane, is the Mississippi River. The natural flow of the Mississippi has already beencompromised because of coastal erosion. A situation Inkley and the NWF were working to rectify before

the BP spill. Now, returning to the Mississippi and its estuaries to its natural state looks to be a

Sisyphean task at best. To say nothing of the damage that is being done to wildlife.

Kempd Ridley Sea Turtles are exclusive to the area. 50% of Americas oysters and 30-40% of its blue

crabs are found in the area near the BP spill. Inkley points out that all the species that come to spawn


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there, the most notable of which might be the Bluefin Tuna, have no idea whats waiting for them when

they arrive and its not as if they can be re-routed.

Beyond the environmental concerns are the economic ones. Compared to Prince William Sound, there

are significantly more people whose livelihoods are dependent on safe, clean water in the Gulf. Those to

be people, like the land itself, need to be restored.

Marco Cocheto-Monoc, Director of Regional Initiatives at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, wonders

how BP can possibly handle such a task. The amount of funds and personnel required will be

unprecedented. There is going to have to be aggressive federal and state oversight, he says. A lot will

have to be done to reassure the public. And were looking at a ten year effort at least.

Eventually, the oil will stop from pouring out of the hole that BP dril led into the earth. It is then that the

grim task of a clean up and restoration can begin in earnest. And it will only be then that the true effects

of this disasterlong and short termcan truly be measured.

SOURCES:

Phone Interview: Marco Cocheto-Monoc, Director of Regional Initiatives at the Greater New Orleans

Foundation

Phone Interview: Susan Koreda, South Central Regional Executive Director, National Wildlife Federation

Phone Interview: Doug Inkley, Senior Scientist, National Wildlife Federation

Phone Interview: Phil Mundy, Director, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Auke Bay Laboratories

E-Mail Interview: Stan Rice, Program Manager of Habitat Assessment, NOAA National Marine Fisheries

Auke Bay Laboratories

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http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965

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9%20Status%20Report%20%28Low-Res%29.pdf

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