EPA Secretary Lisa Jackson on Monday pushed a federal task force to go beyond its immediate charge to look into ecosystem damage caused by the Gulf oil spill and explore ecological problems in the system that pre-dated the disaster.
Jackson, speaking to members of the Gulf Ecosystem Restoration Task Force at its first meeting, called on the 12-member task force to seek remedies to decades of environmental degradation and population pressures that have occurred on what once was one of the most productive ecosystems in the country.
“We’re taking one step back and saying what does the Gulf region need to be resilient,” Jackson told a group of more than 250 stakeholders who attended the panel’s first hearing. “It’s not just oil. It’s hypoxia and nutrients in our system that are creating dead zones. It’s just the fact that we have so many people who want to live on the Gulf of Mexico.”
Monday’s kick-off of the federal task force’s work in Pensacola was overshadowed by related events unfolding in Washington, where the White House’s oil spill commission found no evidence that the offshore spill following the April 20 explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig happened because BP and its partners cut corners to save money.
The panel agreed with nearly all of the findings of BP’s internal investigation of the accident released this summer. BP’s report assigned much of the blame for the accident to its drilling partners including Halliburton, which provided the cement used to secure the wellhead and blowout protectors, which also malfunctioned.
Critics have accused BP and other companies involved in drilling the well of sacrificing safety for monetary savings in the run up to rig explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed millions of barrels of oil into Gulf over the summer
Florida participants in the ecosystem task force include state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mimi Drew, a task force member who said the state’s reliance on the Gulf region makes its participation in regional efforts critical.
“The tourism and seafood industries are really the backbone of our economy,” Drew said. “Our goal is to restore consumer confidence in our beaches and our seafood.”
Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida, was hopeful yet skeptical that the panel made up of the same agencies that have let the Gulf slip are the ones trying to fix it up.
“I think you have to be optimistic at this point of the game,” Young said. “But let’s just say I remain concerned.”
In addition to Jackson’s call for a broader look at environmental dangers to the Gulf system, officials also said the economic impacts of the spill and other threats also should be part of the task force’s work.
“While not overlooking the environment, I hope this task force will also look at the economic effects of the oil spill,” said David Stewart, chief of staff for Alabama Governor Bob Riley. “There are businesses today that are on the precipice of extinction.”
Southeastern officials also need buy-in from a wider audience, said the executive director of the task force, John Hankinson.
“We need to articulate to the nation why this is the nation’s Gulf,” said Hankinson.
The task force must return a set of recommendations by October, 2011. Until then the panel will hold a series of meetings throughout the region to compile an overall strategy to address the differing needs of all Gulf States.
By Michael Peltier
The News Service of Florida
