Deepwater Horizon Oil Research Articles

Chemical dispersant potentiates crude oil impacts on growth, reproduction, and gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans

The economic, environmental, and human health impacts of the deepwater horizon (DWH) oil spill have been of significant concern in the general public and among scientists. This study employs parallel experiments to test the effects of crude oil from the DWH oil well, chemical dispersant Corexit 9500A, and dispersant-oil mixture on growth and reproduction in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Both the crude oil and the dispersant significantly inhibited the reproduction of C. elegans. Dose-dependent inhibitions of hatched larvae production were observed in worms exposed to both crude oil and dispersant. Importantly, the chemical dispersant Corexit 9500A potentiated crude oil effects; dispersant-oil mixture induced more significant effects than oil or dispersant-alone exposures. While oil-alone exposure and dispersant-alone exposure have none to moderate inhibitory effects on hatched larvae production, respectively, the mixture of dispersant and oil induced much more significant inhibition of offspring production. The production of hatched larvae was almost completely inhibited by several high concentrations of the dispersant-oil mixture. This suggests a sensitive bioassay for future investigation of oil/dispersant impacts on organisms. We also investigated the effects of crude oil/dispersant exposure at the molecular level by measuring the expressions of 31 functional genes. Results showed that the dispersant and the dispersant-oil mixture induced aberrant expressions of 12 protein-coding genes (cat-4, trxr-2, sdhb-1, lev-8, lin-39, unc-115, prdx-3, sod-1, acr-16, ric-3, unc-68, and acr-8). These 12 genes are associated with a variety of biological processes, including egg-laying, oxidative stress, muscle contraction, and neurological functions. In summary, the toxicity potentiating effect of chemical dispersant must be taken into consideration in future crude oil cleanup applications.

RNA-Seq reveals complex genetic response to deepwater horizon oil release in Fundulus grandis

BackgroundThe release of oil resulting from the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon (DH) drilling platform was one of the largest in history discharging more than 189 million gallons of oil and subject to widespread application of oil dispersants. This event impacted a wide range of ecological habitats with a complex mix of pollutants whose biological impact is still not yet fully understood. To better understand the effects on a vertebrate genome, we studied gene expression in the salt marsh minnow Fundulus grandis, which is local to the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is a sister species of the ecotoxicological model Fundulus heteroclitus. To assess genomic changes, we quantified mRNA expression using high throughput sequencing technologies (RNA-Seq) in F. grandis populations in the marshes and estuaries impacted by DH oil release. This application of RNA-Seq to a non-model, wild, and ecologically significant organism is an important evaluation of the technology to quickly assess similar events in the future.ResultsOur de novo assembly of RNA-Seq data produced a large set of sequences which included many duplicates and fragments. In many cases several of these could be associated with a common reference sequence using blast to query a reference database. This reduced the set of significant genes to 1,070 down-regulated and 1,251 up-regulated genes. These genes indicate a broad and complex genomic response to DH oil exposure including the expected AHR-mediated response and CYP genes. In addition a response to hypoxic conditions and an immune response are also indicated. Several genes in the choriogenin family were down-regulated in the exposed group; a response that is consistent with AH exposure. These analyses are in agreement with oligonucleotide-based microarray analyses, and describe only a subset of significant genes with aberrant regulation in the exposed set.ConclusionRNA-Seq may be successfully applied to feral and extremely polymorphic organisms that do not have an underlying genome sequence assembly to address timely environmental problems. Additionally, the observed changes in a large set of transcript expression levels are indicative of a complex response to the varied petroleum components to which the fish were exposed.

OIL DETECTION IN A COASTAL MARSH WITH POLARIMETRIC SAR

Abstract. The NASA UAVSAR was deployed June 2010 to support Deep Water Horizon oil spill response activities specifically, oil detection and characterization, oil extent mapping in wetlands, coastal resource impact detection, and ecosystem recovery. The UAVSAR platform demonstrated enhanced capability to act rapidly and provide targeted mapping response. Our research focused on the effectiveness of high spatial resolution and fully polarimetric L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR) for mapping oil in wetlands, specifically within Barataria Bay in eastern coastal Louisiana. Barataria Bay contained a numerous site observations confirming spatially extensive shoreline oil impacts, multiple oil spill UAVSAR collections, and a near anniversary 2009 collection. PolSAR oil detection relied on decomposition and subsequent classifications of the single look complex (SLC) calibrated radar cross sections representing the complex elements of the scattering matrix. Initial analyses results found that shoreline marsh structural damage as well as oil on marsh plants and sediments without canopy structural damage were exhibited as anomalous features on post-spill SLC scenes but were not evident on the pre-spill SLC scene collected in 2009. Pre-spill and post-spill Freeman-Durden (FD) and Cloude-Pottier (CP) decompositions and the Wishart classifications seeded with the FD and CP classes (Wishart-FD) also highlighted these nearshore features as a change in dominate scatter from pre-spill to post-spill. SLC analyses also indicated penetration of oil ladened waters into interior marshes well past the immediate shorelines; however, these post-spill SLC analyses results could not be validated due to the lack of observational data and possible flooding in the pre-spill SLC scene.

The weathering of oil after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: insights from the chemical composition of the oil from the sea surface, salt marshes and sediments

The oil released during the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill may have both short- and long-time impacts on the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystems. An understanding of how the composition and concentration of the oil are altered by weathering, including chemical, physical and biological processes, is needed to evaluate the oil toxicity and impact on the ecosystem in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This study examined petroleum hydrocarbons in oil mousse collected from the sea surface and salt marshes, and in oil deposited in sediments adjacent to the wellhead after the DWH oil spill. Oil mousses were collected at two stations (OSS and CT, located 130 and 85 km away from the wellhead, respectively) in May 2010, and two sediment samples from stations SG and SC, within 6 km of the wellhead, in May 2011. We also collected oil mousse from salt marshes at Marsh Point (MP), Mississippi, 186 km away from the wellhead in July 2010. In these samples, n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylated PAHs, BTEX (collective name of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and p-, m-, and o-xylenes), C3-benzenes and trace metals were measured to examine how the oil was altered chemically. The chemical analysis indicates that the oil mousses underwent different degrees of weathering with the pattern of OSS < CT < MP. This pattern is consistent with the projected oil mousse movement from the accident site to salt marshes. Also, the contents of trace metals Al, V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, As and Pb in the oil mousse generally increased along the way to the salt marshes, indicating that these trace metals were perhaps aggregated into the oil mousse during the transport. Petroleum hydrocarbon data reveal that the oil deposited in sediments underwent only light to moderate degradation one year after the DWH oil spill, as supported by the presence of short-chained n-alkanes (C10–C 15), BTEX and C 3-benzenes. The weathering of oil in sediment may result from biological degradation and dissolution, evidenced by the preferential loss of mid-chained n-alkanes C16–C 27, lower ratios of n-C 17/Pr and n-C 18/Ph , and preferential loss of PAHs relative to alkylated PAHs.

Mississippi River and Sea Surface Height Effects on Oil Slick Migration

Millions of barrels of oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) after the 20 April, 2010 explosion of Deepwater Horizon (DH). Ocean circulation models were used to forecast oil slick migration in the GoM, however such models do not explicitly treat the effects of secondary eddy-slopes or Mississippi River (MR) hydrodynamics. Here we report oil front migration that appears to be driven by sea surface level (SSL) slopes, and identify a previously unreported effect of the MR plume: under conditions of relatively high river discharge and weak winds, a freshwater mound can form around the MR Delta. We performed temporal oil slick position and altimeter analysis, employing both interpolated altimetry data and along-track measurements for coastal applications. The observed freshwater mound appears to have pushed the DH oil slick seaward from the Delta coastline. We provide a physical mechanism for this novel effect of the MR, using a two-layer pressure-driven flow model. Results show how SSL variations can drive a cross-slope migration of surface oil slicks that may reach velocities of order km/day, and confirm a lag time of order 5–10 days between mound formation and slick migration, as observed form the satellite analysis. Incorporating these effects into more complex ocean models will improve forecasts of slick migration for future spills. More generally, large SSL variations at the MR mouth may also affect the dispersal of freshwater, nutrients and sediment associated with the MR plume.

Transparency and Business in International Law — Governance between Norm and Technique

This essay considers transparency and business in international law as a matter of the dynamic tension between norm and technique in the management of systems and the masses of the population they serve. It is divided into two parts. After this Introduction, Part II critically examines transparency in international and transnational regulatory and governance regimes. It considers both hard and soft law frameworks. Section II. A considers public sources of transparency regulation, concentrating on two: the OECD framework and the recently endorsed Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights. Sections II.B through II.D examine transparency and governance beyond the state, considering (i) hybrid governance efforts represented by the ISO and Global Compact systems (Section II.B), (ii) private third party non-corporate governance regimes represented by the GRI and third-party certification programs (Section II.C), and (iii) private corporate governance transparency regimes (Section II.D). Part III then examines transparency in action. Part III.A explores environmental disclosure by BP before and after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill of 2010. Section III.B examines Apple, Inc.’s transparency efforts in the context of managing the labor issues of its supply chains. Section III.C critically examines transparency as regulation and action within the framework developed in this Introduction, focusing particularly on the way in which the characteristics of transparency as norm, technique and property fundamentally shape both its character and the parameters within which reform is possible.

A new sensor for the assessment of personal exposure to volatile organic compounds

To improve our understanding of indoor and outdoor personal exposures to common environmental toxicants released into the environment, new technologies that can monitor and quantify the toxicants anytime anywhere are needed. This paper presents a wearable sensor to provide such capabilities. The sensor can communicate with a common smart phone and provides accurate measurement of volatile organic compound concentration at a personal level in real time, providing environmental toxicants data every three minutes. The sensor has high specificity and sensitivity to aromatic, alkyl, and chlorinated hydrocarbons with a resolution as low as 4 parts per billion (ppb), with a detection range of 4 ppb to 1000 ppm (parts per million). The sensor's performance was validated using Gas Chromatography and Selected Ion Flow Tube - Mass Spectrometry reference methods in a variety of environments and activities with overall accuracy higher than 81% (r(2) > 0.9). Field tests examined personal exposure in various scenarios including: indoor and outdoor environments, traffic exposure in different cities which vary from 0 to 50 ppmC (part-per-million carbon from hydrocarbons), and pollutants near the 2010 Deepwater Horizon's oil spill. These field tests not only validated the performance but also demonstrated unprecedented high temporal and spatial toxicant information provided by the new technology.

Transparency and Business in International Environmental Law

Transparency has been an important element in the construction of hard and soft law and norm regimes in the international sphere. This chapter considers transparency and business in international environmental law. It is divided into five sections. Section A considers conventional sources of international environmental law for its transparency effects, looking at both hard law and soft law frameworks. Section B examines other potentially applicable transparency rules, principally the recent efforts at transnational regulation of economic actors. It concentrates on two examples — the OECD framework and the recently endorsed Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights. Section C examines transparency at the intersection of domestic and international law. It concentrates on the environmental transparency effects of extraterritoriality, of the incorporation of international norms within domestic legal orders, and the internationalization of domestic rule frameworks. Section D then considers transparency and governance beyond the state. For that purpose three distinct regimes are identified and examined. The first are hybrid governance efforts — the ISO and Global Compact systems. The second are private non-corporate governance regimes, principally the GRI and product certification programs. Third, private corporate governance transparency regimes are examined. The potential and tensions in transparency are examined more closely in the context of environmental disclosure by BP during the time of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill of 2010, which also suggests both the possibilities and limits of domestic and international law, in its transparency aspects. The chapter ends with Section F’s consideration of miscommunication and coherence in moving toward the future of environmental transparency at the international sphere.

Long-term acoustic monitoring of marine mammal response to the 2010 oil spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

The 2010 deep water horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico brought a need for assessing spill impact and recovery timeline for the deepwater ecosystem, including marine mammals. Passive acoustics is emerging as a viable technology to monitor short-term and long-term abundance dynamics and to assess different factors that may cause an observed response. Multi-year pre-spill and post-spill acoustic data collected at different distances from the DWH incident site by the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) are used to compare first-year oil spill response by three different groups of marine mammals: sperm whales, beaked whales, and dolphins. Densities of acoustic phonations by these animals are extracted from collected data and used for point estimates of the resident population density. As an example, a regional abundance estimate shows a decrease in the number of sperm whales at the site nearest to the DWH (9 mi away) which exceeds statistical uncertainties and can be accepted as an existing trend. The use of acoustic data to extract information about environmental factors, such as anthropogenic noise level or food call densities, that may contribute to the explanation of existing trends is also discussed. [Work is partially supported by NSF.]

A Review of Seafood Safety after the Deepwater Horizon Blowout

Background: The Deepwater Horizon (DH) blowout resulted in fisheries closings across the Gulf of Mexico. Federal agencies, in collaboration with impacted Gulf states, developed a protocol to determine when it is safe to reopen fisheries based on sensory and chemical analyses of seafood. All federal waters have been reopened, yet concerns have been raised regarding the robustness of the protocol to identify all potential harmful exposures and protect the most sensitive populations.Objectives: We aimed to assess this protocol based on comparisons with previous oil spills, published testing results, and current knowledge regarding chemicals released during the DH oil spill.Methods: We performed a comprehensive review of relevant scientific journal articles and government documents concerning seafood contamination and oil spills and consulted with academic and government experts.Results: Protocols to evaluate seafood safety before reopening fisheries have relied on risk assessment of health impacts from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposures, but metal contamination may also be a concern. Assumptions used to determine levels of concern (LOCs) after oil spills have not been consistent across risk assessments performed after oil spills. Chemical testing results after the DH oil spill suggest PAH levels are at or below levels reported after previous oil spills, and well below LOCs, even when more conservative parameters are used to estimate risk.Conclusions: We recommend use of a range of plausible risk parameters to set bounds around LOCs, comparisons of post-spill measurements with baseline levels, and the development and implementation of long-term monitoring strategies for metals as well as PAHs and dispersant components. In addition, the methods, results, and uncertainties associated with estimating seafood safety after oil spills should be communicated in a transparent and timely manner, and stakeholders should be actively involved in developing a long-term monitoring strategy.

Evaluating Food Systems in Comprehensive Planning: Is the Mississippi Gulf Coast Planning for Food?

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is famous for its shrimp, oysters, and crabs. Seafood is an essential part of both the culture and the diet of coastal residents. The last five years have been hard on the seafood industry, first with Hurricane Katrina, then the national recession, and then the Deep water Horizon oil spill. In the five years following the Hurricane, all of the cities and counties on the Mississippi Gulf Coast prepared comprehensive plans. This paper examines the degree to which food systems has been incorporated into the comprehensive plans developed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It finds that food systems have not been adequately integrated into the plans. The plans begin to touch on food systems, but The plans fail to create a factual basis to support planning for food systems, setting limited goals to support food systems and proposes limited implementation measures to support systems. While the region as a whole has not yet planned for food systems, there are instances where communities are examining the future of food. This article concludes by offering recommendations on how communities can improve their plans relative to food systems as they move into their next phase of regional planning.

Web Platform for Sharing Spatial Data and Manipulating Them Online

To fill the need for readily accessible conservation‐relevant spatial data sets, the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) launched in 2010 a Web‐based platform called Data Basin (http://www.databasin.org). It is the first custom application of ArcGIS technology, which provides Web access to free maps and imagery using the most current version of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI; http://www.esri.com/) geographic information system (GIS) software, and its core functionality is being made freely available. Data Basin includes spatial data sets (Arc format shapefiles and grids, or layer packages) that can be biological (e.g., prairie dog range), physical (e.g., average summer temperature, 1950–2000), or socioeconomic (e.g., locations of Alaska oil and gas wells); based on observations as well as on simulation results; and of local to global relevance. They can be uploaded, downloaded, or simply visualized. Maps (overlays of multiple data sets) can be created and customized (e.g., western Massachusetts protected areas, time series of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill). Galleries are folders containing data sets and maps focusing on a theme (e.g., sea level rise projections for the Pacific Northwest region from the National Wildlife Federation, soil data sets for the conterminous United States).

Case study: Using microbe molecular biology for Gulf oil spill clean up

This case has the student actively investigate the regulation of expression of a novel bacterial gene in the context of attempts to solve a real world problem, clean up of the April 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the case is fictitious, it is based on factual gene regulatory characteristics of oil-degrading microbes. The case is written for a sophomore Cell Biology lecture course at Indiana Wesleyan University that is taught to Biology/Pre-Med majors. This study is also appropriate for use in undergraduate microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and molecular genetics courses. The case is intended to enhance coverage of transcription, translation, control of gene expression, and selected molecular biology techniques. Opportunities to practice critical thinking skills and to a lesser extent an introduction to the paradigm of life science research at the industry level are provided.

Longitudinal Metagenomic Analysis of the Water and Soil from Gulf of Mexico Beaches Affected by the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill

AbstractEstimates of 7x105 cubic meters of crude oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico as a consequence of the April 20th, 2010 Deep Water Horizon drilling rig explosion, leaving thousands of square miles of earth&amp;apos;s surface covered in crude oil. Dispersants were used on large slicks and injected at the well head, resulting in oil being suspended throughout the water column. Starting in June 2010, oil reached hundreds of miles of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida shoreline disturbing the ecological balance and economic stability of the region. While visible damages are evident in the wildlife populations and marine estuaries, the most significant affect may be on the most basic level of the ecosystems: the bacterial and plankton populations.We present results from high throughput DNA sequencing of close-to-shore water and beach soil samples before and during the appearance of oil in Louisiana and Mississippi. Sixteen samples were taken over a two month period at approximately two week intervals from Grand Isle, LA and Gulfport, MS and were sequenced using the Illumina GAIIx platform. Significant genomic-based population fluctuations were observed in the soil and water samples. These included large spikes in the human pathogen Vibrio cholera, a sharp increase in Rickettsiales sp., and decrease of Synechococus sp. in water samples. Analysis of the contiguous de-novo assembled DNAs (contigs) from the samples also suggested the loss of biodiversity in water samples by the time oil appeared at the shores in both locations. Our observations lead us to the conclusion that oil strongly influenced microbial population dynamics, had a striking impact on the phytoplankton and other flora present prior to the appearance of oil, and that the microbial community had not recovered to pre-spill conditions by the end of our observational period.

Holographic interferometry of oil films and droplets in water with a single-beam mirror-type scheme

Application of single-beam reflective laser optical interferometry for oil films and droplets in water detection and characterization is discussed. Oil films can be detected by the appearance of characteristic interference patterns. Analytical expressions describing intensity distribution in these interference patterns allow determination of oil film thickness, size of oil droplets, and distance to the oil film from the observation plane. Results from these analyses indicate that oil spill aging and breakup can be monitored in real time by analyzing time-dependent holographic fringe patterns. Interferometric methods of oil spill detection and characterization can be automated using digital holography with three-dimensional reconstruction of the time-changing oil spill topography. In this effort, the interferometric methods were applied to samples from Chevron oil and British Petroleum MC252 oil obtained during the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Expanding the tourism crisis management planning framework to include social media: lessons from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010

This article summarises a case study investigating the relationship between the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the response by VISIT FLORIDA ® . The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill started leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010 and continued to leak until it was capped on 19 September 2010. These events caused major disruptions to the region’s main tourism season, particularly the state of Florida. A case study was undertaken to demonstrate A survey of 1,286 travellers to the state of Florida was conducted three times during the most active time of the spill, as well as a review of government and organisational reports and personal conversations with VISIT FLORIDA ® employees were used to guide the case study.

Health Promotion Program Strategies for Remote Worksites

A great deal of national attention has recently been focused on the Deepwater Horizon oil and gas platform disaster in the Gulf Coast. As an example of a remote worksite, it represents a set of unique challenges for worksite health promotion professionals. However, even with its significant geographic isolation and great distance over water separation, the remote worksite has many characteristics in common with small worksites of all kinds. The challenge of delivering a broad array of effective worksite health promotion services to small worksites, be they geographically isolated or right next door, is truly sizable. Because the term remote worksite is frequently used with any worksite that is not colocated with an organizational headquarters, we will augment our description of the term remote with the word isolatedC meaning that these remote worksites are isolated by geographic barriers such as water, mountains, desert, or extreme distances. For our purposes, we will use the term remote to denote these types of geographically isolated settings such as an oil and gas platform. In this edition of The Art of Health Promotion, we will examine the unique challenges of the remote worksite along with some potential strategies for overcoming these challenges. We will then compare remote worksites with nonisolated small worksites. In doing this, we will address the following issues.

Characterization of subsurface polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the Deepwater Horizon site

Here, we report the initial observations of distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in subsurface waters near the Deepwater Horizon oil well site (also referred to as the Macondo, Mississippi Canyon Block 252 or MC252 well). Profiles of in situ fluorescence and beam attenuation conducted during 9‐16 May 2010 were characterized by distinct peaks at depths greater than 1000 m, with highest intensities close to the wellhead and decreasing intensities with increasing distance from the wellhead. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analyses of water samples coinciding with the deep fluorescence and beam attenuation anomalies confirmed the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) at concentrations reaching 189 μg L−1 (ppb). Subsurface exposure to PAH at levels considered to be toxic to marine organisms would have occurred in discrete depth layers between 1000 and 1400 m in the region southwest of the wellhead site and extending at least as far as 13 km.

A potpourri of pediatric urology

More than three months after the deep water horizon oil disaster here in the Gulf the potential comparisons between Pediatric Urology and the spill appear too numerous to mention. In looking for a suitable analogy I considered many: Like a hypospadias urethra-cutaneous fistula the oil keeps flowing despite all the many things BP appear to place between the well and the sea; the complexity of trying to cure neuropathic incontinence, many things in are armamentarium but little seems to work in all or permanently; or perhaps the relationship between VUR and UTI despite of many people’s efforts and considerable expense a cure seems elusive. Thank fully as I pondered all this, while millions of people and animals were suffering, a Cap has now been placed, which according to the coast guard is holding and for the first time in months the oil has stopped spurting forth. May be there is hope for patients with VUR and UTI after all, certainly the well designed Swedish Reflux Trial appears to be a good place to start.

U.S. Congress Sharply Divided Over Gulf Oil Spill Responsibility

More than 100 days after the Deep water Horizon oil spill began in the Gulf of Mexico, efforts by BP to permanently plug the spill appear to be working. Moreover, a 4 August report, authored by top scientists from several U.S. federal agencies, says that of the now estimated 4.9 billion gallons of oil released by the spill, 74% has been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead, or dispersed either by chemicals or naturally. According to the report, entitled “BP Deepwater Horizon oil budget: What happened to the oil?,” the remaining 26% of the oil released from the spill remains either on or below the water surface, has washed ashore, or is buried in sand or sediment.