Spill Stops Post-Katrina Ecosystem Work

Five years after Hurricane Katrina roared through the Gulf of Mexico, restoration of the region's ecosystem was well under way until another disaster swept through: the BP oil spill. It has not only devastated livelihoods and wildlife in the Gulf; it has stalled progress on projects that had been pushed by the region's lawmakers.

Pelican Island, a barrier island off of Louisiana's coast, was eroding before the drilling rig operated by BP exploded April 20. A $50 million project to restore the island came to a halt because of the spill, said Christopher Doley, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Restoration Center. Construction was set for the fall, but the risk of equipment damage caused by leaked oil forced a delay.

Pelican Island is one of many restoration and research projects in the Gulf that have had to be boomed, delayed or refocused because of the spill. And the setbacks will probably end up costing taxpayers in the long run.

"The concern of ours about these projects is that you design them based on current conditions, and if you miss a season of restoration, the cost will go up," Doley said. Pelican Island, for instance, is eroding and could be damaged by oil, meaning it will cost even more to restore, he said.

The lost progress on Pelican Island puts into focus the impact of the massive oil spill. In November, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., joined U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials at a news conference celebrating the removal of the brown pelican -- Louisiana's state bird -- from the endangered species list. Today, volunteers are struggling to rescue thousands of the birds from the deadly oil slick that permeates parts of the Gulf.

The spill also dealt a blow to restoration efforts on Mississippi's Deer Island, a barrier island with a significant oyster reef that has been eroding for decades.

A 50-acre marsh project was started on the island in 2003 after Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., then the second-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, provided $3.8 million for NOAA to transfer the island to the state of Mississippi. But the work was wiped out by Katrina in 2005. Restoration restarted in March but has been delayed by the spill.

Staff bagged oyster shells and placed them adjacent to the island to prevent erosion and foster plant growth behind it, said Dale Diaz, director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resource's Office of Marine Fisheries. "We will continue that whenever this [spill] event's over with," Diaz said. "Probably the soonest we would do that is next spring."

Similar stories of progress delayed can be found throughout the region:

West Belle Pass Headland in Louisiana, which protects fragile bay marshes and habitat, had been losing up to 100 feet per year of shoreline in some places before hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The storms destroyed much of the dunes and headland, leaving the area unprotected. Under a 1990 coastal restoration act named for former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., $42.2 million was provided for a major restoration project on the headland. That project has been stopped altogether because of the oil, Doley said. "So it's prudent to stop and attempt to contain the oil first;"

The Nature Conservancy's Oyster Reef Restoration project, funded through NOAA and last year's economic stimulus package, has been impacted in Louisiana and Alabama, according to Doley. The work in Louisiana had not begun. "It was just about to be constructed and there's no likelihood it's going to continue," Doley said. "We're hoping it will just be a delay with no additional costs." Oyster restoration in Alabama was between 60 and 80 percent complete, but had to be stopped and boomed. "We are taking protective action to protect the investment with the booms. There's no need to continue with construction because of the chance it would be damaged," Doley said;

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has money appropriated for oyster restoration. The $1.8 million project was scheduled to begin in May and had to be canceled because of the spill, Diaz said. Although projects have been canceled, staffers at the department are working overtime to address the spill, Diaz said. Daily flights over the Gulf are being made to check water conditions, and their boats are being used to take water samples three times a week to check for the presence of hydrocarbons. "We've got a lot of people doing extra work," Diaz said. "I guess we're filling the void with overtime, and we have hired a couple people just to supplement my staff;"

The Gulf of Mexico Community-based Restoration Partnership had several other citizen-driven projects for 2010; all have been canceled. "It's hard to tell where the oil will go," Doley said. "It just makes sense to be cautious in building projects at this point."