In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill devastated the Gulf Coast region affecting wildlife, industry, and the economy. As a result of the spill, BP was ordered to pay more than $4.5 billion in damages. Following the spill, the US government began collecting and analyzing extensive data to learn how to anticipate future incidents, mitigate their damages, and restore the environment. One astounding clean-up method they witnessed was oil-eating bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico.(Image courtesy of www.gulfmex.org)
Some sources estimate that nearly 5 million barrels of oil were pumped into the Gulf over nearly three months, but only several weeks after the well was plugged, many areas of the Gulf were oil free. What in the world could clean up the oil that fast?—bacteria! The Gulf of Mexico is one of a few unique places in the world that is home to a huge base of natural bacteria that are perfectly fit for digesting oil. Id. These bacteria, including the hydrocarbon-chewing species known as alcanivorax borkumensis, evolved to consume certain oil components because the Gulf has natural oil seeps that dump up to 1.4 million barrels of oil each year into the water from the Earth’s crust. Id. Following the Deepwater Horizon spill, there was a boom in the bacteria population creating a natural clean-up effort. Id. Experts have said that if the spill had occurred in another body of water it would have been much worse, because the Gulf’s bacteria appear to perform better at degrading oil than other species. Id.
Scientists have been attempting to harness the abilities of these oil-eating bacteria for decades even pursuing genetic modifications to enhance their abilities. However, they have determined that the natural bacteria are more effective than synthetic or altered bacteria. Id. Scientists have also attempted to seed the bacteria to help them work faster, but these efforts have generally failed. The high oxygen levels in the Gulf of Mexico naturally allow the bacteria to function better in that ecosystem. While the Gulf bacteria have proven a force to be reckoned with, scientists found that the bacteria are very difficult to control. Additionally, if they are exposed to too much oil over a prolonged period, their oil-eating capabilities may be reduced or even ineffective. Id. While the bacteria may not be a viable clean-up method in other regions, shouldn’t we be studying how to protect the native Gulf bacteria and preserve their capabilities? We know that they clean-up a large amount of naturally-occurring oil every year, but what if another devastating manmade spill occurs?
These are questions our government is surprisingly not addressing, not to mention that the government also is not allocating very much funding to research and science. For instance, President Obama signed the RESTORE Act into law in July 2012 to make use of penalties from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill:
The RESTORE Act sets forth the following framework for allocation of the Trust Fund:
• 35 percent equally divided among the five
States for ecological restoration,
economic development, and tourism
promotion;
• 30 percent plus interest managed by the Council for ecosystem
restoration under the Comprehensive Plan;
• 30 percent divided among the States according to a formula to
implement State expenditure plans, which require approval of the
Council;
• 2.5 percent plus interest for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration
Science, Observation, Monitoring and Technology Program within the
Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA); and
• 2.5 percent plus interest allocated to the States for Centers of
Excellence Research grants, which will each focus on science,
technology, and monitoring related to Gulf restoration.
(Notice that only 5 percent of funds may be used for technology and scientific research!)
Additionally, the government is not following its own stated priorities in dealing with oil spills. For example, the government states that its priority is to use mechanical containment or recovery as the primary line of defense against oil spills in the US, but the oil industry has a strong bias towards the use of dispersants. Dispersants are chemicals commonly sprayed into oil slicks to accelerate natural dispersion, but there remain many concerns over their effects on water quality and marine life. Despite these concerns and the government’s stated priority to employ other clean-up methods, the government continues to allow the use of dispersants when other methods such as natural bacteria exist.
The federal government should revise the Product Schedule to require the use of bacteria for oil spill cleanups and limit the use of dispersants. The National Contingency Plan (NPC)currently lists dispersants that may be used for spill cleanup as well as their toxicity levels, but there is no mention of using bacteria as a cleanup method. If it is our government’s stated priority to use less intrusive cleanup methods, then its policies should reflect those goals. The current legislation needs to be revised with new focuses on less intrusive cleanup methods such as natural oil-eating bacteria and more scientific funding to explore these options. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should receive greater funding from the RESTORE Act as well as other initiatives to pursue research and development of oil-eating bacteria and other cleanup methods.