After oil spills into the ocean, NOAA studies the impacts to animals and plants, but we also make sure to measure the direct impacts to people's use of nature. This is all part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, which makes up for those impacts. Humans can value environmental quality just for its existence (think of remote mountains and pristine beaches)
After every major oil spill, one question comes up again and again: Who is going to pay for this mess? While the American public and the environment pay the ultimate price (metaphorically speaking), the polluter most often foots the bill for cleanup, response, and restoration after oil spills. In sum: You break it, you buy it.
Before the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that followed shortly after, the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 (DWPA) provided guidance for deepwater port structures used for the import and export of oil and natural gas, including conditions to minimize adverse environmental impacts.
This new law resulted in NOAA’s Deepwater Ports Project Office — an early predecessor to NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration and the start of OR&R Senior Economist Norman Meade’s 43 year career with NOAA.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, with a blowout of BP’s Macondo drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the death of 11 men, the spill resulted in the largest mobilization of resources addressing an environmental emergency in the history of the United States. The size of the spill required the Emergency Response Division to refine tracking subsurface oil, flowrate calculations, and long-term oil transport modeling. Data and information management became a paramount issue ...
Keeping up with technology is no small task. It seems like every month our smartphone software is out of date or there are some big updates happening on the computer. Nowadays, many smartphone apps will automatically refresh themselves with the most recent version. These range from small security fixes to major updates with a new look or feel that can catch users off guard. Just like any other technology, NOAA tools need to be updated so our work can continue to go as planned.
Flowing through southeastern Washington is an approximately 50 mile stretch of the Columbia River known as the Hanford Reach. This unique section of the river is an important habitat for fish and wildlife, including Chinook salmon. This area also served as the birthplace of the atomic bomb at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration
This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Ben Shorr, a physical scientist in OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division.
By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration
This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Jason Murray, an environmental economist in OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division.
By Alyssa Gray, NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration
This is the eighth in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s profile is on Assessment and Restoration Division toxicologist and Alaska Regional Resource Coordinator Sarah Allan.
By Robert Neely, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration
On April 22, 2018, a team of people from a diverse suite of organizations from within and outside of NOAA began packing and loading gear, trailering and cleaning boats, and wrapping up preliminary paperwork. Made up of field biologists, toxicologists, injury assessment specialists, data managers, and field technicians, the team had just completed a week in the field as part of a major study to help determine the impacts to Endangered Species Act-listed juvenile Chinook salmon from exposure to contaminants as they out-migrate through the Portland Harbor Superfund site via the Willamette River.
