Gunnar Lauenstein, February 2, 2011

Tragically, oil spills happen…

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DWH Trustee Council Membership

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Federal Trustees:U.S. DOC – NOAAU.S. DOI – FWS, NPS, BLM, BIAU.S. DOD -Navy

State Trustees:Alabama FloridaLouisianaMississippiTexas

Trustee Council: ◦ Goal: Work cooperatively to determine the magnitude and

extent of injury to natural resources in the GOM from the DWH spill and fully restore those injured resources

Current Assessment Activities for DWH

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Technical Working Groups (TWGs) State and Federal natural resource trustees and BP implementing pre-/post-impact field studies for multiple resources:

Includes water, sediment,

tissue sampling and

observations from planes,

ships and shore

Includes potential impacts

from the response

NRDA Assessment Activities5

Sampling Snapshot:6

Over 89 offshore research cruises

~27,000 NRDA environmental samples:13,019 water4,199 sediment, and5,815 tissue samples.

~4,200 linear miles of shoreline surveyed

Wildlife: Live oiled wildlife captured: >2,079 birds and 456 sea turtles. Dead visibly oiled wildlife collected: 2,263 birds, 18 sea turtles; 5 marine mammals.Several hundred transmitters on wide-ranging species

Deepwater communities impacts

Collecting & surveying impacts to varieties of fish/mammals and seafood safety sampling

Performing sub-surface testing to determine presence of oil and monitor water quality

Vessels7

THOMAS JEFFERSON GORDON GUNTER

PISCES DELAWARE II Numerous Partnerships

TBD

Mussel Watch Special Sampling

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Number of Sites SampledOyster Tissue Organics 49Oyster Tissue Metals 49

Oyster Tissue Histopathology 42

H2O Salinity 45H2O PAHs 43H2O VOAs 45

Sediment Organics 44Sediment Metals 44Sediment VOAs 44

Sediment P450 Toxicity 43Sediment Benthos 41

Oyster Metals Analyses- arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, tin, zinc

- nickel & vanadium

Years of samples- 2007/2008 &

- November 2010

Human HealthNOAA & FDA Collaboration

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Relative Amount of Flocculant

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Sediment Core11

Federal Web Portal

www.restorethegulf.gov

Clear and accessible information and resources for the public“One-stop” repository for news, data and operational updates related to administration-wide efforts

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Gunnar.Lauenstein@noaa.gov