It’s been five years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill and in a new report, the company says that the GoM is returning to its baseline condition.
Image of Deepwater Horizon. From USCG. |
According to The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Environmental Recovery and Restoration report,also indicates that impacts from the spill largely occurred in the spring and summer of 2010.
The report is based on scientific studies that government agencies, academic institutions, BP and others conducted as part of the spill response, the ongoing natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process or through independent research. While individual studies are helpful, they tell only part of the story. This report, a wide-ranging compilation of reputable studies by respected researchers, provides a broader overview of the state of the Gulf environment, BP says.
The NRDA is the process through which the US government, state agencies and BP conduct studies to identify injuries to natural resources resulting from the Deepwater Horizon accident, as well as the best way of restoring injured resources and the amount of money required to do so. This ongoing NRD assessment is the largest environmental evaluation of its kind ever conducted, spanning nearly five years and costing around $1.3 billion to date. BP also has committed to pay $500 million over 10 years to support independent research through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
In addition to those costs, BP has spent more than $28 billion on response, cleanup, early restoration and claims payments.
“The data and studies summarized in this report are encouraging and provide evidence that the most dire predictions made after the spill did not come to pass,” said Laura Folse, BP executive VP for response and environmental restoration. “The Gulf is showing strong signs of environmental recovery, primarily due to its natural resilience and the unprecedented response and cleanup efforts.”
The report also looks at the large-scale, BP-funded early restoration projects to speed the recovery of natural resources in the Gulf that were injured as a result of the spill.
The report finds that:
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