In addition to paying for lost wages and coastal restoration, BP will also be paying three universities to research the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.BP announced a $500 million commitment to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, which includes LSU, the Florida Institute of Oceanography and the Northern Gulf Institute.School of the Coast and Environment Dean Chris D’Elia said the University could potentially receive $10 million in the next 10 years.”It is vitally important that research start immediately into the oil and dispersant’s impact, and that the findings are shared fully and openly,” BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in a news release. “We support the independence of these institutions and projects and hope that the funding will have a significant positive effect on scientists’ understanding of the impact of the spill.”But D’Elia said he isn’t sure when the money is coming. He said the “politics” of Washington got in the way of the agreement.D’Elia said the research asks simple questions like “what the fate of the oil is, where’s it going, how’s it is being partitioned in the environment, what is the effect of the oil and what is the resiliency of the various ecological systems.”
Besides the GRI, the University also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.D’Elia said each institution is good at being able to do different things well.”We wanted to establish a partnership with those organizations because we’re complementary of each other,” D’Elia said. “We’re really good here at doing marsh work and engineering. Woods Hole is very good at bringing the best ocean technology to problems. LUMCON has its areas of expertise in the    studies of hypoxia, and it’s right there at the coast.”
D’Elia said the MOU’s goal is to find information on the geological process involving the oil spill and looking to see what changes occur because of the presence of oil.”Hopefully we can determine what the effect of the oil is,” D’Elia said. “We hope the effect is minimum.”
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Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]