CRUDE OIL IN GULF COULD CONTINUE TO CRIPPLE THE REGION’S WILDLIFE
When the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, 200 million gallons of crude oil poured into the Gulf. Nearly five years later, a report released by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) reveals that many sea creatures — namely dolphins, sea turtles and numerous species of fish — are still struggling to recover.
The report, released at the end of March, names 20 animals that were affected by the spill, with damages to juveniles or reproductive systems a main concern that may not be fully understood for years. Also, around 32 percent of laughing gulls have died as a result of the oil spill, according to the NWF, and up to 65,000 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles died during the spill, with the number of sea turtle nests discovered dropping every year since 2010. Facing similar struggles, bottlenose dolphins were found dead off the coast of Louisiana last year at four times the historic rate.
Following the backlash surrounding the report, Geoff Morrell, BP’s senior vice president of U.S. communications, has contested that the NWF’s work is merely a “work of political advocacy by an organization that has referred to the Deepwater Horizon accident as an ‘historic opportunity’ to finance its policy agenda,” as stated to NBC News.
BP released its own report in early March that says wildlife in the region is “returning to pre-spill levels,” and that long-term population impact doesn’t seem apparent in the Gulf. Noting that the effect of the spill over longer periods can’t be assessed, Ryan Fikes, co-author of the NWF sport, told NBC News that BP’s ruling is premature.
“No one knows that yet,” he said. “It’s far too early to make that determination. Many of these species are longlived and we’re still collecting data on them.”
—Steven Grossman
