This month marks 15 years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 people and injuring another 17. For months, more than 100 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf, resulting in the largest marine oil spill in American history. Many coastal communities were severely impacted. We recognize these impacts and continue to extend our deepest condolences to those whose loved ones were lost or otherwise injured.
On this day, we, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees, are providing an update on our efforts to restore natural resources across the Gulf. From ensuring our restoration efforts benefit multiple ecosystem resources to leveraging funds for maximum efficiencies, we are utilizing settlement funds to address the injuries from the oil spill.
Our Work to Restore the Gulf
Our work is organized and conducted through Trustee Implementation Groups where Trustees work together to propose and implement restoration projects within their respective restoration areas. In the 15 years since the spill, they have approved more than 300 projects to restore injured Gulf resources. The combined estimated cost of these projects to date is $5.38 billion.
We have made significant progress restoring resources, such as recreational use; water quality; living coastal and marine resources; and wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats. These restoration types are described in detail in our programmatic restoration plan. Progress in restoring the majority of these restoration types varies—between 20 percent and 60 percent of each restoration type funding has been allocated to approved projects. Additionally, the Trustees have committed nearly all of the available funds for projects to restore lost recreational use. For example, those funds were used to build boat launches, piers, boardwalks, artificial reefs, state park amenities, and educational centers that provide opportunities for recreation in and around the Gulf.
The Trustees are restoring resources in multiple locations across the Gulf and the northern hemisphere. For example, in 2024, the Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group completed a comprehensive summary of high-resolution aerial photographs (2010–2021) which documented nesting colonial waterbirds throughout the northern Gulf. A new Avian Data Monitoring Portal makes this information available to a wide range of resource stakeholders with emphasis placed on the general public. This functional and easy to use information platform continues to be valuable in supporting the Trustees’ ongoing and future colonial waterbird restoration, management and monitoring efforts across the Gulf.
Our habitat restoration for migratory birds spans the barrier islands in the Gulf to nesting grounds in the Upper Midwest, Canada, and the Caribbean. We have restoration projects for wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats across the Gulf. We continue to evaluate and restore resources and habitats offshore in the Gulf, including new projects for marine mammals, deep-sea habitats, fish, and sea turtles.
These efforts build upon our ecosystem approach to restoring the Gulf. For example, many of our projects are designed to benefit multiple restoration types. Projects that restore coastal habitats may also benefit wildlife, improve water quality, enhance recreational opportunities, and mitigate the effects of storm events.
In coastal Mississippi, Trustees acquired approximately 600 acres of coastal wildlife habitat at the Graveline Bay Coastal Preserve in Jackson County. Habitat within the newly acquired parcels includes coastal marshes and pine savannas, which provide foraging, loafing, and nesting areas for bird species injured by the oil spill. In addition to habitat protection, the land acquisition will facilitate habitat management and promote increased opportunities for public appreciation and enjoyment of Mississippi’s coastal estuarine habitat that are compatible with protecting, enhancing, and preserving the natural resources.
In Florida, the Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline project was completed in 2021, and is currently providing multiple benefits. The project constructed over a half mile of breakwaters spanning approximately 3.5 acres and created over 9 acres of vegetated tidal wetland. Monitoring shows that the new reef is providing habitat for oysters, shrimp, crabs, fish, birds, and more. The reef structures also reduce incoming wave energy helping to protect the shoreline. This project expanded on Project GreenShores, a multi-partner community-based effort to restore oyster reef, salt marsh, and seagrass habitat within the Pensacola Bay System.
When possible, we leverage funding from other sources and strive to engage other restoration partners.
Through such coordination we are able to accomplish more than would be possible with NRDA settlement funds alone. For example, the Trustees’ efforts to restore the Bahia Grande Estuary and the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge habitat in southeastern Texas are supported by other projects and funding sources such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, RESTORE Act, and Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) funds.
Similarly, NRDA restoration efforts on Dauphin Island in Alabama are being supported with funds from GOMESA and the NFWF National Coastal Resilience Fund to further enhance recreational and educational opportunities on the island. By leveraging funds, sometimes we are able to increase the restoration footprints and achieve greater conservation results.
We are also partnering with governmental and non-governmental agencies on a wide variety of projects. Recently, our partnership with the U.S. Navy allowed us to work on the sea floor to make observations and take samples, while several land acquisition and nutrient reduction projects have benefitted from partnerships with non-governmental agencies such as Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy.
In Louisiana, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is utilizing NRDA funds to implement the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation project, the largest marsh restoration effort by acreage in the state’s history. This project will restore more than 2,700 acres of marsh along the southern shore of Lake Borgne using 13 million cubic yards of dredged material from the lake. Beyond providing a vital natural buffer against hurricanes and storms threatening southeastern Louisiana, the restored marshland will also strengthen the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS), developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the Greater New Orleans region.
As restoration planning has progressed through the years, the Trustees have developed strategic frameworks for birds, marine mammals, oysters, and sea turtles as well as the monitoring and adaptive management manual. In 2021, the Trustees released a programmatic review of restoration progress to date.
Looking Ahead
We remain committed to restoring the natural resources injured by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. As we implement restoration projects, it is imperative that we manage them well and monitor their success through our monitoring and adaptive management processes, to inform planning of future projects. Restoration does not happen overnight, but through careful design, successful implementation, strong partnerships, and robust monitoring, we are confident that the wetlands, coastal and nearshore habitats, water quality, living coastal and marine resources, and recreational use will be restored.
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