Scientists studying the impact of last April’s Gulf oil spill fear BP funding will come too late.
The funds are sorely needed now to assess the oils impact on birds, shrimp, and other species living in the spill areas. With spring, comes the spawning season: a crucial time to learn more about reproductive rates and species behavior which may have been adversely affected by the spill.
Ecotoxicologist Dana Wetzel of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida compared the spill site to that of a crime scene saying, “You have to pick up the evidence now.”
BP has pledged $50 million over the next ten years to help study the impact of the spill and to create a plan to better deal with any future spills. In May 2010, the first installment was given out to the National Institutes of Health and four Gulf-based research institutes. Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland is overseeing how the money will be doled out. She expected that the protocol for how to apply for the remaining $450 million would be announced today. It’s likely that the process for applying for funds to study the impact will include a review process of several months which means the first generation born after the spill will not be adequately studied.
BP has agreed to allow the funds to be distributed by a nonprofit headed by Gulf Coast governors and that the research would be independent of BP. The company also stated that scientists would be able to publish their findings without BP approval. Scientists who receive any of the remaining $450 million will, however, have to credit BP for funding the research (a standard requirement).
Scientists are struggling to find other means of funding research. Most of the agencies in existence deal in the legal aspect of assessing damages, not in the science of recovery and adaptation.
