Restoration

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster spread spilled oil deep into the ocean’s depths and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, compromising the complex ecosystem and local economies. The response and the natural resources damage assessment were the largest in the nation’s history. In this 2017 blog, learn more about the natural resources injured by the Deepwater Horizon spill, and how our team assessed those injuries. 

The 2010 explosion on the DeepwaterHorizon Macondo oil well drilling platform triggered a massive oil release polluting over 1,300 miles of shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico. The harm from the spill to coastal salt marsh habitat was extensive, and in some instances, permanent. NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration along with other federal and state agencies measured the spill’s effects and created a restoration plan as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA).

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 ...

For most of us, welcoming in the new year is a time of celebration, reflection, and making resolutions to eat healthier and finish forgotten projects! Here at NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration, our New Year’s resolutions are a little different. As we enter into a new decade, we’ve prepared some resolutions specific to pollution and our commitment to keeping the coasts clean from threats of oil, chemicals, and marine debris. In 2020, we will ...

Canoeing down the Kalamazoo River under the shade of trees, watching small fish dart through the shallows, you wouldn’t guess you’re paddling through a hazardous waste site. Michigan, in many ways, is defined by freshwater. It borders four of the five Great Lakes, and Michigan’s interior boasts thousands of inland lakes and river systems.
 

During National Water Quality Month, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration shares some of the ways we preserve and improve water quality through cleanup and restoration. 

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration develops scientific solutions to keep the coasts clean from threats of oil, hazardous waste, and marine debris — all of which are major pollutants that can hugely affect the water quality of our coastal natural resources. 

It’s time to snuggle up with your littermate and let them know how much you love them - April 10 is National Siblings Day! It’s a time to celebrate those who have known you since before you were hatched. Nobody understands you better than your siblings.

Here at NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration we’d like to celebrate two siblings in particular: Response and her sister Restoration. These siblings work together to respond to pollution disasters and guide clean up, and restore the environment after the event.

When people look out on the Great Lakes for the first time, they often compare them to the ocean. In some ways the analogy works. The five Laurentian Great Lakes are incredibly vast, when you stand on the shore of Lake Superior there’s nothing but steely blue water until the lake meets the horizon. If all you saw was a photo, you could mistake it for the ocean.

Valentine's Day is a time to express love of all kinds, and nobody deserves a Valentine more than our ocean.

From providing us with food, oxygen, industry, and recreational opportunities, to hosting a rich diversity of life, the oceans show their love for us every single day. The ocean is a real catch.

So let’s take a break from this love letter to talk about five ways we show our love for the ocean here at NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration.

♫ If you go to the coastline, you’ll find swimming free... ♫

Twelve drums a drumming,

Eleven plovers piping,

Ten eels-a-leaping,