Gallons Of Oil Research Articles

Impacts of dispersants on microbial communities and ecological systems.

Accidental oil spills can result in catastrophic ecological insults and therefore require rapid intervention to mitigate the potential impacts to aquatic ecosystems. One of the largest oil spills, known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred in the Spring of 2010 near the coast of Louisiana (USA) due to an explosion during oil drilling activities. Millions of gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting thousands of ocean miles and coastal areas linked to the gulf. Among the actions taken during the remediation efforts was the unprecedented large use of Corexit dispersants, including at the subsurface to prevent oil from reaching the surface. While there is evidence that dispersants can accelerate the biodegradation of oil, reports on their potential toxicity to aquatic biota and to microbial functions have also been documented. In this review, we will examine the most recent literature on the impact of dispersants on microbial communities implicated in oil degradation and overall ecological networks. The primary focus will be on studies using Corexit but other dispersants will be discussed if data are available. We will share the literature gaps identified and discuss future work that is needed to reconcile some of the discrepancies found on the effectiveness of dispersants on oil degradation and their potential toxicity. KEY POINTS: • Chemical dispersants have been applied as a chemical response measure for oil spills. • The effects of chemical dispersants on microbial communities have been the subject of substantial research. • This work seeks to review recent work on the impact of chemical dispersants on oil biodegradation, microbial communities, and ecosystems.

From trash to treasure: A sustainable approach to oil spill clean-up

Oil spill clean-up is a colossal and pressing problem in our world today. About 1.5 million gallons of oil are spilled each year and millions of dollars are spent to clean-up the spilled oil. These spills also harm marine animals and pollute drinking water. Due to these detrimental environmental effects, cleaning up oil spill is imperative. Finding an effective method to combat these oil spills will greatly reduce the amount of damage and the cost of oil spill clean-up. We examined the ability of two plant-based biodegradable sorbents, water spangle leaves (Salvinia minima) and milkweed fibers (Asclepias syriaca) to retain oil in fresh and salt water conditions. We hypothesized that milkweed fibers would be more effective than water spangle leaves for oil spill clean-up due to its hydrophobic, oleophilic nature and its tubular structure. In addition, we assessed milkweed fibers for their recovery and reusability by recovering the absorbed oil using a vacuum filter unit. Our results indicate that milkweed fibers are a more effective sorbent than water spangle leaves and could be reused multiple times. Interestingly, we also found that milkweed fibers were able to absorb oil up to 40 times of its weight. The results from this study will help find an eco-friendly and cost-effective solution for oil spill clean-up using natural, biodegradable sorbents.

POSTRELEASE SURVIVAL OF CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICANS (PELECANUS OCCIDENTALIS CALIFORNICUS) FOLLOWING OILING AND REHABILITATION AFTER THE REFUGIO OIL SPILL.

Oil spills represent a continued threat to marine wildlife. Although the public expects, and the State of California, US requires, oiled animals to be rescued for rehabilitation and release, scientists have questioned the welfare and conservation value of capture and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife, based on poor postrelease survival documented in the few available studies. In May 2015, Plains Pipeline 901 spilled >100,000 gallons of oil near Refugio State Beach, California. Many California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) were oiled; capture and rehabilitation efforts began within 1 d. Ultimately, 65 live birds were captured, including 50 pelicans. Forty-six pelicans survived and were released. Of these, 12 adults (six male, six female) were fitted with solar-powered GPS satellite Platform Terminal Transmitters (PTT) and released in June 2015. In early July, we captured eight adult (three male, four female, one unknown), unoiled pelicans from the Ventura, California area. These control birds were similarly instrumented and released immediately. At 6 mo after release, PTTs from nine of 12 oiled pelicans and six of eight control pelicans were still transmitting; at 1 yr, those numbers decreased to two of 12 and two of eight, respectively. Survival analysis revealed no difference in survival between oiled and control birds. Although our sample size is limited, these data demonstrate that most oiled and rehabilitated pelicans can survive for 6 mo following release, and some individuals can survive over 1 yr.

Current and Proposed Efforts to Resolve HSPD-5 and NCP Authorities (NIC and PFO)

ABSTRACT During the evening of 20 April, 2010 U.S. Coast Guard District Eight Command Center watch standers received a report of an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon (DWH), an oil rig working on the Macondo oil well approximately 42 miles Southeast of Venice, LA (OSC Report, 2011). The explosion on board the DWH and resulting fires eventually destroyed the oil rig and caused it to sink into the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven crewmembers lost their lives in the tragic events that unfolded that night, and one of the nation's largest environmental disasters would soon follow. Estimates of the oil discharged from the Macondo oil well were between 12,000 and 25,000 barrels per day, and the response involved approximately 47,000 oil spill response personnel, 6,870 vessels, approximately 4.12 million feet of boom, and 17,500 National Guard personnel, five states (OSC Report, 2011). The massive oil spill lasted 87 days and estimates suggest that more than 200 million gallons of oil was discharged into the Gulf of Mexico, which stands as the largest oil spill event in U.S. history. From these massive response operations came important lessons learned for SONS event planning, preparedness, and response, as it became apparent during DWH response operations that oil spill response governance and doctrine was not well understood across the whole-of-government. This issue was well documented in the National Incident Commander's report and several recommendations were identified to address this issue. This paper will explore the steps taken within the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) SONS Exercise and Training Program to promote a better understanding of oil spill response governance and doctrine among Cabinet-level senior leadership and the interagency representatives that will ultimately be involved when the next SONS event happens.

Emergency Oil Spill Response: Data Collection Automation, and Dissemination

ABSTRACT The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) has employed Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for oil spill planning and response since the early 1990's, adding remote sensing tools to the mix by the turn of the Century. Discussed herein are OSPR's current smartphone and tablet-based field data collection applications. We use an off-the-shelf tool for pre-response protection strategy planning and use customized tools developed in-house for California Sea Otter Surveys, Wildlife Search and Collection and the Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT). The benefits of automated field data collection include the omission of transcription errors during manual data input and streamlined data processing. This results in accurate and timely information delivered to responders, thus enhancing their capability for informed decision making. OSPR uses the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Environmental Response Management Application® (ERMA), a web-based GIS data viewer as the Common Operational Picture (COP) for data dissemination throughout the incident response community during an oil spill event, and for the post emergency response cooperative Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). OSPR also uses ERMA a planning tool by uploading significant data layers from the U.S Coast Guard's (USCG) six Area Contingency Plans (ACP) for coastal California and OSPR's Geographic Response Plans for inland waters of the state with higher risk of an oil spill. These response planning data are freely downloadable from the ERMA platform. In the Summer/Fall of 2019 at the Cymric Oil Field in Kern County, California, over 1,000,000 gallons of oil, mud and steam seeped into a dry stream bed from several “surface expressions”. Direct access to the spill site was not permitted for Health and Safety concerns. OSPR used an off-the-shelf small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS, aka drone) equipped with a standard high definition (HD) camera and a thermal infrared camera for SCAT reconnaissance, resources at risk evaluations, and regularly scheduled mapping missions for overall site situational awareness.

To CBD or not to CBD?: What pharmacists need to know

To CBD or not to CBD?: What pharmacists need to know

Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethics in Paul Seed’s Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster

“The Land Ethics” is taken from a part from A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. It articulates a philosophy that reveres nature and grants it moral status as a part of the community. Leopold argued that humans should conceive their relationships with nature differently. On seeing this fact, ethics focused on humans and property, he urged us to enlarge the community to “include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” The land, then should be preserved and protected. Doing so is right. Not doing so is wrong. “Aldo Leopold says, a land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land” (Leopold). Aldo Leopold work brought forth the idea of ecology and revolutionized natural resources management. He passionately introduced a land ethic, a way of seeing our actions on the landscape through a moral lens. Using this ethic, he helped drive consideration of human actions in a more complete and thoughtful manner that effectively valued ecological function rather than simply justifying all action based on human desires. Paul Seed’s Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster is based on real life incident. This movie was released on December 12, 1992 in USA, directed by Paul Seed, produced by John Smithson and David M. Thompson, and distributed by HBO channel. Exxon Valdez oil spilt, the tanker left Alaska on March 23, 1989, at 9:12 p.m. carrying more than 53 million gallons of oil. Just three hours later, after the ship ran into a reef, thousands of gallons of oil spilt in the sea. The sum of oil spilled was sufficient to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (see. fig. 1). It is the worst environmental disaster in history. “As a result,

Hydrocarbon degradation and response of seafloor sediment bacterial community in the northern Gulf of Mexico to light Louisiana sweet crude oil.

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout resulted in the deposition to the seafloor of up to 4.9% of 200 million gallons of oil released into the Gulf of Mexico. The petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations near the wellhead were high immediately after the spill, but returned to background levels a few years after the spill. Microbial communities in the seafloor are thought to be responsible for the degradation of hydrocarbons, however, our knowledge is primarily based upon gene diversity surveys and hydrocarbon concentration in field sediment samples. Here, we investigated the oil degradation potential and changes in bacterial community by amending seafloor sediment collected near the DWH site with crude oil and both oil and Corexit dispersant. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were rapidly degraded during the first 30 days of incubation, while alkanes were degraded more slowly. With the degradation of hydrocarbons, the relative abundances of Colwelliaceae, Alteromonadaceae, Methylococales, Alcanivorax, Bacteriovorax, and Phaeobacter increased remarkably. However, the abundances of oil-degrading bacteria changed with oil chemistry. Colwelliaceae decreased with increasing oil degradation, whereas Alcanivorax and Methylococcales increased considerably. We assembled seven genomes from the metagenome, including ones belonging to Colwellia, Alteromonadaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, the newly reported genus Woeseia, and candidate phylum NC10, all of which possess a repertoire of genes for hydrocarbon degradation. Moreover, genes related to hydrocarbon degradation were highly enriched in the oiled treatment, suggesting that the hydrocarbons were biodegraded, and that the indigenous microflora have a remarkable potential for the natural attenuation of spilled oil in the deep-sea surface sediment.

Feminizing effects of exposure to Corexit-enhanced water-accommodated fraction of crude oil in vitro on sex determination in Alligator mississippiensis

Deepwater Horizon spilled over 200 million gallons of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. In an effort to contain the spill, chemical dispersants were applied to minimize the amount of oil reaching coastal shorelines. However, the biological impacts of chemically-dispersed oil are not well characterized, and there is a particular lack of knowledge concerning sublethal long-term effects of exposure. This study examined potential estrogenic effects of CWAF, Corexit 9500-enhanced water-accommodated fraction of oil, by examining its effect on estrogen receptors and sex determination in the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis. The alligator exhibits temperature-dependent sex determination which is modulated by estrogen signals, and exposure to 17β-estradiol (E2) and estrogenic compounds in ovo during the thermosensitive period of embryonic development can induce ovarian development at a male-producing temperature (MPT). CWAF induced transactivation up to 50% of the maximum induction by E2 via alligator estrogen receptors in vitro. To determine potential endocrine-disrupting effects of exposure directly on the gonad, gonad-adrenal-mesonephric (GAM) organ complexes were isolated from embryos one day prior to the thermosensitive period and exposed to E2, CWAF, or medium alone in vitro for 8–16 days at MPT. Both CWAF and E2 exposure induced a significant increase in female ratios. CWAF exposure suppressed GAM mRNA abundances of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), sex determining region Y-box 9, and aromatase, whereas E2 exposure suppressed AMH and increased Forkhead box protein L2 mRNA abundances in GAM. These results indicate that the observed endocrine-disrupting effects of CWAF are not solely estrogenically mediated, and further investigations are required.

Toxic effects of orally ingested oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on laughing gulls

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig released, millions of gallons of oil into the environment, subsequently exposing wildlife, including numerous bird species. To determine the effects of MC252 oil to species relevant to the Gulf of Mexico, studies were done examining multiple exposure scenarios and doses. In this study, laughing gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla, LAGU) were offered fish injected with MC252 oil at target doses of 5 or 10mL/kg bw per day. Dosing continued for 27 days. Of the adult, mixed-sex LAGUs used in the present study, ten of 20 oil exposed LAGUs survived to the end of the study; a total of 10 of the oil exposed LAGUs died or were euthanized within 20 days of initiation of the study. Endpoints associated with oxidative stress, hepatic total glutathione (tGSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and reduced glutathione (rGSH) significantly increased as mean dose of oil increased, while the rGSH:GSSG ratio showed a non-significant negative trend with oil dose. A significant increase in 3-methyl histidine was found in oil exposed birds when compared to controls indicative of muscle wastage and may have been associated with the gross observation of diminished structural integrity in cardiac tissue. Consistent with previous oil dosing studies in birds, significant changes in liver, spleen, and kidney weight when normalized to body weight were observed. These studies indicate that mortality in response to oil dosing is relatively common and the mortality exhibited by the gulls is consistent with previous studies examining oil toxicity. Whether survival effects in the gull study were associated with weight loss, physiologic effects of oil toxicity, or a behavioral response that led the birds to reject the dosed fish is unknown.

POST-RELEASE MONITORING OF OILED BROWN PELICANS FROM THE 2015 REFUGIO OIL SPILL

ABSTRACT A great deal of effort and resources is expended on the cleaning and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife, but the ultimate fate of these animals is often unknown. Post-release monitoring is essential for improving methodology and directing resources to those animals most likely to survive after release. The Refugio oil spill occurred in May 2015, spilling approximately 100,000 gallons of oil on the California coast near Santa Barbara. Brown pelicans were the most common avian species affected. We instrumented 12 oiled pelicans with solar-powered satellite GPS tags at the time of their release following cleaning and rehabilitation. An additional 8 control (unoiled) pelicans from a nearby area were similarly instrumented and released immediately. All birds survived for at least 12 weeks. In the first 6 months after release, distance traveled and movements were similar between rehabilitated and control pelicans. Several individuals traveled >5000 km, migrating to northern California or central Oregon in the late summer and early fall. In the spring, most birds traveled south, some as far as southern Baja California. Mortality was documented among both rehabilitated and control birds; however, the majority of birds that stopped transmitting were never found. Lack of transmission could represent mortality, tag or battery failure, or tag loss. After at least 40 weeks of tracking, 5 birds (3 rehabilitated and 2 control) were still transmitting. Based on presence in breeding colonies, none of the birds appeared to breed. These results demonstrate that brown pelicans can survive and travel long distances following oiling and rehabilitation.

Geochemical Study of Oil Shales Sargelo Formation in Kuh-e Kaino Section (Northern Masjed-Soleiman), Iran

Oil (bituminous) shales source rocks with variable amounts of solid kerogen type II are the conditions for changing the oil that is not provided for them. Each of these shales affected in temperature about 150 to 170 gallons of oil produced. Therefore by reducing hydrocarbon resources, it can be a good energy source for the future. To study the geochemistry of this shale, one section of outcrops in the Kuh-e Kaino (Northern Khozestan) was selected which was located in the central Zagros. Chemical analysis and thin sections were prepared from samples of carbonate shale. These deposits with a thickness of 115 m of the Lower Jurassic formations Neyriz and Sargelo relative age and their relationship are gradual and interfinger. The upper border after an erosional unconformity, Fahliyan Formation of Lower Cretaceous age on them covered. Analysis results show that the percentage of organic matter this shales in Kuh-e Kainois is equivalent to 8.44 percent. The index has gained economic value of metal elements Sr, V, Ba, Ni, and also has economic value. Bituminous materials formed stabilize in shaley source rock of Sargelo formation, but not with continuous deposition on them, as a result of temperature and pressure not increasing and immature kerogen. The causes of this event are as follows: the basin tectonic condition, Stratigraphy position and faults activity in the basin.

Effect of Macondo Prospect 252 Oil on Microbiota Associated with Pelagic Sargassum in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

The environmental impact of major oil spills on marine microorganisms has yet to be thoroughly investigated using molecular biology techniques. The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) drilling rig explosion of 2010 affected an approximately 176,000km2 surface area of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) when an estimated 210 million gallons of oil from the Macondo Prospect spilled into the environment. Pelagic Sargassum, a complex of two surface drifting species (Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans) of marine brown macroalgae and a critically important habitat in the GOM ecosystem, was suffused by Macondo Prospect 252 oil released during the DWH event. Using 16S rRNA PCR and Roche 454 pyrosequencing, the effect of the oil on the bacterial population associated with pelagic Sargassum and contiguous waters was examined by comparing sequence data generated from samples collected from oiled and non-oiled locations in the northern GOM. Sequence data showed similar microbial composition in Sargassum regardless of exposure to oil primarily dominated by five phyla; Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and unclassified bacteria. The microbial composition in water samples was significantly less diverse than for Sargassum and consisted primarily of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. Due to the evenly distributed abundance of microbial species on oiled and non-oiled pelagic Sargassum, study findings indicate that DWH spilled oil had minimal effect on the composition and diversity of the microbial community associated with Sargassum and contiguous waters. However, higher abundances of Sulfitobacter and one species of Psychrobacter were found in oiled water samples when compared to non-oiled water samples indicating some effect of DHW oil in the microbial composition of seawater. Though there are a number of marine studies using molecular biology approaches, this is the first molecular examination of the impact of the DWH oil spill on bacterial communities associated with pelagic Sargassum and contiguous waters from the GOM.

Swimming upstream: probing the problem of pollution.

Swimming upstream: probing the problem of pollution.

The BP Oil Spill and the End of Empire, Louisiana

The BP Oil Spill and the End of Empire, Louisiana Andy Horowitz (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Calling this disaster “the BP oil spill” conditions an inquirer to look for damage caused specifically by oil, and to measure its duration by the length of time that oil was allowed to spill. But listening to the people closest to the Gulf, it becomes clear that as much as this experience has been defined by an acute, chemical event, it also has come to represent a chronic, cultural trauma. Memorial for “all that is lost,” Grand Isle, LA, 2010. Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of the author. [End Page 6] Karen Hopkins lives in Grand Isle, Louisiana, where she manages Dean Blanchard Seafood, one of the largest seafood processors in the state. Before the BP oil spill of 2010, she recalled, “a typical day would be about five nervous breakdowns.” That is because Dean Blanchard typically bought between thirteen and fifteen million pounds of shrimp a year. For Hopkins, that meant: You have three trans-vac suction machines working. You have three crews in three different staging areas unloading boats that are waiting in line, and you have three men coming in with shrimp tickets from three different boats at the same time, and you have people waiting in your office to get paid for their catch. The phones are ringing off the hook because you have fishermen who want pricing and . . . you have processors who are competing for your product and they’re trying to jack you out of some money because they’re trying to lower the price or they tell you that these shrimp weren’t pretty enough. You have to deal with them. And there’s only one of you. Before the spill silenced the phones and emptied the office, turned off the suction machines and docked the boats, that was a typical day, and Karen Hopkins loved it.1 In the months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, I conducted a series of interviews for the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina with people like Hopkins who live and work on the Louisiana coast. I asked them to describe their experiences during what President Barack Obama defined as “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.” That was more than four years ago. Now, most of the country has put behind them the grotesque images of oiled pelicans; the eighty-seven days the Macondo well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, the spectacle broadcast live from 5,000 feet underwater, have faded from memory. On Magazine Street in New Orleans, people are lining up at Casamento’s for a dozen Gulf oysters on the half shell once again. Though in April 2013, a team of biologists from Louisiana State University detected hydrocarbons in the cocahoe minnow—an appetizer for the Gulf of Mexico’s food chain—and in June 2013, researchers discovered a 40,000-pound mat of tar just off the Louisiana coast, our temptation is to declare the disaster over. Historians, ironically, tend to have particularly short attention spans when it comes to disasters, often treating them as acute events that erupt in a catastrophic instant and fade away just as quickly.2 Yet accounts from the Louisiana coast—a place where recent history is so saturated with calamities that USA Today described the people there, in a headline, as living “forever in recovery”—compel us to reconsider what kind of disaster the oil spill is, how long it might last, and what, ultimately, might be most disastrous about it. Calling this disaster “the BP oil spill” conditions an inquirer to look for [End Page 7] damage caused specifically by oil, and to measure its duration by the length of time that oil was allowed to spill. But listening to the people closest to the Gulf, it becomes clear that as much as this experience has been defined by an acute, chemical event, it also has come to represent a chronic, cultural trauma.3 Click for larger view View full resolution Grand Isle is a distinct place: “down...

Con Edison's Success in Reducing Risk: Applying Real-World Lessons Learned to Broaden Spill Planning and Response Programs and Build Personnel Competencies

ABSTRACT Con Edison's service territory covers more than 1,000 miles of inland and coastal shoreline in one of the most heavily regulated and scrutinized areas of the Unites States: New York City. In November 2009, the company experienced a catastrophic failure of a large transformer at a high-voltage electric substation, resulting in approximately 200 gallons of dielectric oil impacting the Bronx River. While the volume of oil was relatively small, the duration of the cleanup lasted nearly one month with costs of approximately $1.75 million, plus a nearly $1 million compliance order issued by New York State for violation of state regulations. Following this event, and through a study of all historical spill incidents, it was clear that the primary risk of spills to the environment came from the more than 30 million gallons of oil contained in the company's high-voltage transformers and oil-filled electric transmission and distribution system, which were not covered by existing Facility Response Plans developed as part of implementing OPA 90. Given these results, the company sought to refine existing spill response program elements to further reduce risks and enhance environmental stewardship. Using the existing Spill Management Team (SMT) model in the OPA 90 program, a company-wide SMT approach was created to better prepare for and reduce the risks associated with potential spills from all company sources. The team consists of more than 50 personnel from the various business units of the company, providing direct access to a wide spectrum of skill-sets and specialties. In addition, the company has developed Oil Spill Contingency Plans (OSCP)—also covered under OPA 90—with detailed response tactics for over 300 locations. On the heels of the program implementation, a large spill of dielectric oil from an underground high-voltage electric distribution line resulted in more than 2,000 gallons impacting the Hutchinson River. While the impact to the waterway was greater than in the 2009 event, the response duration was only 6 days with clean-up costs just over $300,000 with no state issued compliance order, a significant improvement. This result was due, in large part, to implementation of the OSCP and SMT programs. Through these experiences, the many benefits of establishing a company-wide SMT and the OSCP's were realized, including developing spill response and Incident Command System expertise, refined coordination, and improved cost management. These efforts have significantly reduced the company's spill risk exposure by improving response capabilities.

Biodiesel from Lagoon Microalgae

One main reason for the popularity of microalgae as an acceptable fuel source is their potential to maximize productivity (e.g., gallons of oil or fuel produced per acre per year) by converting the energy of solar photons during the process of carbon dioxide fixation into biomass energy, benefiting the environment. Marketing the coproducts generated (i.e., postextraction algal residue) could make transportation fuel from microalgae a viable product. The biofuel obtained from microalgae is qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, with a focus on the energetic and environmental feasibility of this fuel for use in the transportation sector. Obstacles to and limitations of the process, in terms of energy and environmental performance, are identified. An important aspect of this issue is the need to improve product processing and recovery, which include mechanical and energy-intensive processes such as centrifugation, filtration, flocculation, and cell disruption. Results obtained so far indicate that the various strains of microalgae obtained from lagoons in Portugal and Spain offer a huge prospect for biodiesel production. However, results of life-cycle analysis with the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation model (updated with Portuguese data) lead to the conclusion that, at this stage, biodiesel from microalgae is not a valid option for the large-scale replacement of conventional fuels. Specifically, the extraction step for biodiesel production is detrimental in terms of energy and solvent use and must be refined.

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.

The Gulf Coast oil spill: Extending the theory of image restoration discourse to the realm of social media and beyond petroleum

The explosion of Transocean's Deepwater Horizon, an oil-rig licensed to BP, set in motion a chain of unfortunate events that led to BP's ruptured oil well disgorging millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Since the spill, the corporate image of BP has been severely challenged. The company has used many strategies to preserve and restore the corporate image, and has sought means to mitigate the intensity of the ongoing threat to individuals, businesses, and a delicate ecosystem. Among these means are interacting with individuals and interest groups through social media channels. Benoit's (1995) theory of image restoration discourse posits various strategies corporations use to restore their image during a crisis. The BP crisis presents an opportunity to extend the theories of image restoration to the realm of social media. Results of a content analysis showed that corrective action was the dominant image restoration strategy employed by BP in their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr pages. A high presence of negative emotions revealed that corrective action was not an effective means of swaying public opinion in favor of BP's efforts. Dominant themes in all four social media channels and audience comments in terms of dominant issues and emotions on Facebook and YouTube were also analyzed.

Factors in Building an Incident Command Organization for the Largest Oil Spill in U.S. History

ABSTRACT The Deepwater Horizon MC 255 Oil Spill (DWH) was the largest oil spill in U.S. history, with over 255 million gallons of oil estimated released into the environment. The response to the spill was massive involving tens of thousands of resources on the ground, on the water, under the sea and in the air. The National Incident Management System's Incident Command System (ICS) was the command and control structure used to manage these resources. In the words of a nationally recognized ICS expert, Mr. Charles Mills, President of Emergency Management Systems Incorporated, “This was the most complex incident managed with ICS in the history of its use.”1 This paper focuses on the ICS organization built for the DWH incident to provide some useful information to planners and emergency preparedness professionals to use in their pollution response contingency plans and preparedness programs. This paper will focus on the State of Louisiana Incident Command Post (ICP). Due to the size of the spill and the resp...