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 surveyedWildlife:
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 samplingPerforming 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 & vanadiumYears 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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