After the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico over 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals were found injured or dead in the six months after the spill. In the months following the Gulf oil disaster, wildlife managers, rescue crews, scientists and researchers saw many immediate impacts of the oil impacting wildlife. Though oil is no longer readily visible on the surface, it isn't gone. Scientists have found significant amounts on the Gulf floor, and the oil that has already washed into wetlands and beaches will likely persist for years. We likely will not see the full extent of impacts for many years, which makes creating and implementing successful restoration plans a serious challenge.
Another study has discovered that oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster contributed to the unusually high number of dolphin deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama between June 2010 and December 2012. Deaths in these states remain elevated, five years after the initial explosion.
Five years and two months after the devastating Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Justice Department and the five Gulf States announced the ground-shaking news that they had reached an $18.7 billion settlement with BP. $US 7.1 billion from these will be allocated to the Gulf States to restore natural resources damaged by the spill, under the Oil Pollution Act. The settlement came at a critical time for wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. The impacts of the spill on wildlife and habitats are complex, far-reaching and ongoing.
BP wants the public to believe the disaster is over, but in fact it may take decades before the effects of the oil spill are only fully known.
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