Editor’s note: This story has been modified to correct a factual inaccuracy.
BP’s ill-fated well has been shut since July 15, but University professors are scrambling to complete research and development projects and inform the public about the Gulf of Mexico spill. Some fear the nation will lose interest in the story and gain a false sense of optimism.President Barack Obama’s administration claims 75 percent of the estimated 4.9 million barrels released from the well have been cleaned, but Coastal Studies Institute Director Gregory Stone said that report is misleading because it accounts for only surface oil, and an unknown amount of of oil remains at the sea bed or in the water column.During Hurricane Katrina, waves topped 100 feet in the Gulf, and Stone said the increased motion on the sea floor churned up long-dormant elements. This mixing could occur again with a tropical storm or hurricane.”I’ve seen this personally off the Florida coast where the beach has actually been oiled, but if you look carefully into the neck-and-wading deep water, it’s perfectly clear,” Stone said. “You will get pulses of oil-stained sand brought on shore … What has gone on below the Gulf water levels is still there, so we may not see as much of the oiling of beaching and wetlands right now, but it doesn’t mean to say that it won’t happen.”Chancellor Michael Martin said BP has given the University $5 million of the promised $500 million to fund research. About $30 million has been given out, but the University is the only institution to singularly get funds as the rest went to consortium schools. Martin said LSU is working as a consortium with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the University of New Orleans and Tulane University. “If you can take any incident as negative as it is and turn it into an opportunity for this institution to become part of the future of dealing with those, then something good can come from it,” Martin said. “And I would hope that as we learn about this oil spill and as others will occur somewhere in the globe, people will say … ‘We need to go to LSU for expertise because that’s where they know. They’ve been through it.'”Stone and his team in the Coastal Studies Institute have collected hourly updates on Gulf conditions — like temperature, wind and wave directions, speeds and water levels — from six different locations off the Louisiana coast since the late ’90s. Now the Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana — is providing both historical trends and current conditions to government teams, independent scientists and the public.In other departments across campus, professors have secured grants to study an array of effects related to the spill. The National Science Foundation awarded at least four Rapid Response grants to University researchers “to study a variety of pathways in which the oil spill might impact the fragile ecosystems — both wildlife and human — of the Louisiana wetlands and Gulf of Mexico region,” according to a University news release.These projects include studying how oil will affect natural bacteria found in oyster beds and how “social networks shape and influence emotional and behavioral responses to large-magnitude disasters,” among other issues.Several University professors testified this summer about the oil spill before Congress.Chris D’Elia, dean of the School of the Coast and Environment, testified before a U.S. Congressional committee to emphasize the importance of research and science during the response, as there are still many unknown factors affecting the societal well-being of Gulf Coast residents.University finance professor Joseph Mason recently completed a study, “The Economic Cost of a Moratorium on the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region.” Mason testified before a U.S. Senate committee against the federal government’s offshore deepwater drilling moratorium.Petroleum engineering students will gain hands-on experience with blow-out preventers at the Petroleum Engineering Research and Technology Transfer Laboratory, which is tucked behind Alex Box Stadium on Gourrier Lane.John Smith, an associate professor in the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering teaches at the facility. Smith said students learn well control methods and gain knowledge to overcome problems like the BP disaster.”In University education, we’re trying to build fundamentals to help when students encounter any challenge,” Smith said. “There’s no question what we’re doing now is real.”_____Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]