The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is prominently featured in a publication focusing on the eventful 10 years since the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster, including “what’s been done and what’s been learned after one of our country’s worst environmental disasters.” We all remember the horrific accident that happened 10 years ago which killed 11 rig workers and started the world’s worst oil disaster, with more than 200 million gallons of crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days.
In an effort to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, several peer reviewed scientific papers were written and compiled to document the mitigative programs and projects undertaken and completed since the disaster. CPRA staff Syed Khalil and Greg Grandy were Guest Editors for this Dedicated Issue of Shore and Beach which contains a collection of scientific papers that reflect efforts on the part of five Gulf states to mitigate injuries caused by the DWH oil spill and provides a snapshot of what has been done by the Gulf states and federal partners during the last 10 years.
The complete Dedicated Issue of Shore & Beach Winter 2020, which has a message from Governor John Bel Edwards along with copies of each separate paper, can be found at the following link: Deepwater Horizon Shore and Beach Dedicated Issue.
CPRA Excerpts:
Foreword
By CPRA Board Chairman Chip Kline and CPRA Executive Director Bren Haase
It is our pleasure to introduce this dedicated issue of Shore & Beach compiling scientific papers on the mitigative actions following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This special edition highlights unprecedented efforts undertaken by all five Gulf Coast states. We commend all the scientists and engineers who not only worked on various projects and programs associated with DWH response and recovery but also chronicled their efforts in the form of these peer-reviewed scientific papers. Such documentation adds value to their hard work. We would also like to thank the editors and the editorial board of this dedicated issue, as well as the editor and managing editor of Shore & Beach. Without their collective dedication and hard work, this publication would not have been possible… continue reading.
Introduction
By CPRA Deputy Executive Director Greg Grandy and CPRA scientist Syed Khalil
This dedicated issue of Shore & Beach is focused on the response and recovery efforts to restore Gulf of Mexico resources following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April through July 2010. It contains a collection of scientific papers that reflect efforts on the part of five Gulf states to mitigate injuries caused by the DWH oil spill which happened a decade ago when the DWH platform drilling BP’s Macondo well exploded. The horrific accident killed 11 rig workers and started one of the world’s worst oil disasters, with almost 160 million gallons of crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days…continue reading.
Ecosystem restoration in Louisiana – a decade after the Deep Water Horizon oil spill
By CPRA’s Syed Khalil, Greg Grandy, and Richard Raynie
To refer to the ecosystem degradation in Louisiana caused by unprecedented land loss as an “ecocatastrophe” would not be an overstatement. Since the coast of Louisiana is not a uniform single geomorphic entity, the magnitude of degradation is not the same. It is a geologically diverse system and could be broadly divided into three major physiographic provinces viz…continue reading.
Event and decadal-scale modeling of barrier island restoration designs for decision support
Co-authored by CPRA’s Greg Grandy; Joseph Long, University of North Carolina Wilmington and USGS; P. Soupy Dalyander of The Water Institute of the Gulf and USGS; Michael Poff, Brett Borne, and Steve Dartez, Coastal Engineering Consultants, Inc.; Brian Spears, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; and David Thompson and Rangley Mickey, USGS
North Breton Island (Breton), located in the northern Gulf of Mexico off the mainland coast of Louisiana, is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Breton is one of several barrier islands that comprise the Breton National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR). This area is prone to storms, with 32 documented tropical storms passing within 150 km since 1872. Erosion caused by storms, combined with other processes like subsidence, sea level-rise and reduced sediment supply reduced the subaerial island footprint from 3.3 km2 in 1869 to 0.15 km2 in 2007…continue reading.
Strategies to improve implementation of adaptive management practices for restoration in coastal Louisiana
Co-authored by CPRA’s Richard Raynie and Syed Khalil, with Tim J.B. Carruthers and Alyssa M. Dausman of The Water Institute of the Gulf
The economies of Louisiana and the entire United States are supported by the natural resources of coastal Louisiana. Historically, there has been extensive human intervention to protect communities and infrastructure that has altered many natural coastal processes. As a large coastal delta of the Mississippi River, this area is highly dynamic and susceptible to storm events, subsidence, sea level rise, and increasing temperatures…continue reading.
Coastal monitoring and data management for restoration in Louisiana
By Richard Raynie, Syed Khalil, Charles Villarrubia, and Ed Haywood
The State of Louisiana and its partners have allocated considerable resources and have made long term commitments to the restoration and management of wetland and aquatic resources in its coastal zone. Beginning two decades before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, early project-specific monitoring efforts through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) program quickly became challenging as adequate reference areas were difficult to identify and monitoring parameters were not consistent among various projects…continue reading.
Overview of statewide geophysical surveys for ecosystem restoration in Louisiana
Co-authored by CPRA’s Syed Khalil and Richard Raynie; APTIM’s Beth M. Forrest, Mike Lowiec, Beau C. Suthard, and Jeffrey L. Andrews; and Quin Robertson of Coastal Protection Engineering, Inc.
Louisiana’s dynamic coastal environment lends itself to adaptive management given ongoing landscape changes and the difficulty in predicting the future effects of protection and restoration actions. Adaptive management is critical in coastal Louisiana as most of the strategies adopted are first-of-their kind, either in scale or scope, and do not have well-established templates to follow. An Adaptive Management Implementation Plan (AMIP) was developed to maximize the success of the coastal protection and restoration program by iteratively incorporating new information into each step of the decision-making process to reduce uncertainty in projects and programs…continue reading.
Summaries of all articles are available at http://asbpa.org/publications/shore-and-beach/.