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Government Relations and Policy
Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster
Jeff Phillips, Environmental Contaminants Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, rescues a Brown Pelican from the Barataria Bay in Grand Isle, La., June 4, 2010.
© U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 3rd Class Ann Marie Gorden
The worst oil spill in U.S. history, the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster has inflicted devastating damage on the people and the wildlife of the gulf coast region. Intensive research and long-term monitoring will be required before the full toll can be measured, but both the ecology and the economy of the region have suffered grievous harm. It will take years—perhaps even decades—for the fishing and tourism industries to fully recover and some bird and water species may never recover at all.
As a global conservation organization that has worked for 50 years, both around the world and in the U.S., to save life on earth, WWF is deeply concerned about both the immediate and long-term impacts of the gulf spill on the people and the wildlife that depend on the health of the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico.
Learn more about the oil disaster:
Gulf Oil Spill Relief Fund
While WWF does not have active field programs in the gulf, we have numerous partner organizations that are undertaking front-line efforts to protect and restore the wildlife and wildlife habitats in affected areas. To assist those efforts, we’ve established a special oil spill relief fund to receive contributions. All contributions to this fund—100% of them-- will go to our local partner organizations working on the ground on response and relief efforts.
For the latest information about the spill, or to find out about volunteer opportunities, we encourage WWF supporters to visit the official website of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command at:
To donate to the special fund set up by WWF to support the response and relief efforts of our local partners on the ground, click here.
Partners Working on the Ground
Part of the Riverkeeper Network, the Mobile Baykeeper is a 3500 member-strong conservation organization based in Mobile, Alabama dedicated to preserving and protecting the beauty, health and heritage of the Mobile Bay watershed. http://www.mobilebaykeeper.org/
The New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network works to protect and restore the Gulf of Mexico across five states and several nations.
http://www.healthygulf.org/
Based in Newark, Delaware, Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research is a 35-year old organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured, orphaned and oiled native wild birds, with the goal of returning them to their natural environment. http://www.tristatebird.org/
The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory of the University of Southern Mississippi is conducting critical research to determine the impacts of the oil spill on whale sharks. Supported by WWF, a research team led by Dr. Eric Hoffmayer is tagging whale sharks in the northern Gulf of Mexico to track their movements by satellite and learn more about the impact of both oil and chemical dispersants on these largest of all fish species. http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/whaleshark/
Other Organizations Involved in the Gulf
The National Wildlife Federation works to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.http://www.nwf.org/
Audubon's mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.http://www.audubon.org
The Nature Conservancy protects earth's most important natural places — for you and future generations. http://www.nature.org
For General Information on the Oil Spill
NOAA
As the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations. Visit http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon.
For additional information and updates about the oil spill, please visit:
- The Joint Information Center: http://www.RestoretheGulf.gov
- The White House:
www.whitehouse.gov/
deepwater-bp-oil-spill/
President Barack Obama addresses the media at Coast Guard Station Venice, May 2, 2010.
© U.S. Coast Guard
What is WWF doing?
WWF is working at the national and international levels to address the threats oil and gas exploration pose to our most fragile ecosystems, fisheries and endangered species.
In response to the gulf crisis, WWF helped to lead the successful effort to secure a moratorium on offshore oil and gas development in the Arctic until there is a better understanding of the risks and a greatly improved capacity to respond to spills and other environmental hazards in that most sensitive and challenging marine environment.
We are also tracking the oil spill’s impact on endangered and threatened species, which in the Gulf of Mexico include the endangered Western Atlantic bluefin tuna; five species of sea turtles, including the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley turtle; and several species of whales and dolphins.
Perhaps most importantly, WWF is also working hard to support Senate passage of a strong climate and clean energy bill. If America doesn’t break its dependence on oil and other dangerous fossil fuels, the risk of future disasters will grow. A strong climate and energy bill that limits fossil fuel pollution and makes polluters pay will help us transition to the kind of renewable fuels that will never spill.
To learn more about what the oil spill has to do with a climate bill, click here.
To learn more about WWF’s marine work, please visit worldwildlife.org/marine.
To learn more WW’s work on climate change and energy issues, please visit www.actforourfuture.org
To learn how you can reduce your dependence on polluting fossil fuels, visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/whatyoucando-individuals.html
Impacts on Wildlife
A brown pelican is released at the Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge near St. Petersburg, Fla.
How can I help oiled birds?
© U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen
The harm inflicted by the BP Deepwater disaster in the Gulf of Mexico still defies calculation. Measured by what we already know—the 11 lives lost in the initial blow-out; the millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf and now working their way inland, into the marshes and estuaries of the Louisiana coast; the carcasses of dolphins and the sickening images of oil covered seabirds—it is already the worst environmental catastrophe in U.S. history. And still it gets worse. As oil continues to spill from a damaged BP wellhead 5,000 feet beneath the surface of the sea, the outlook grows increasingly grim for the economy and the ecology of what historically has been one of America’s greatest fisheries.
Learn more about the oil spill’s impact on wildlife 
WWF's Expertise
WWF has launched a group of reports on protecting Arctic waters, a newly accessible, highly vulnerable environment with profound significance for global climate, the global economy and global security. A new, warmer Arctic cannot continue to operate under rules that assume it is ice-covered and essentially closed to fishing, resource exploration and development and shipping.
For more information:
- WWF: Government Relations & Environmental Policy
- Oil and Gas Development
- Protecting Arctic Environments
- Action Alert: Protect America's Arctic from Offshore Drilling
- The Exxon Valdez Disaster: 20 Years Later
- WWF’s Marine Work
- Fishing and Oceans Policy
- WWF’s Fisheries Program
- WWF’s Aquaculture Program
- Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
- Marine Turtles
- Conservation Concerns for Cetaceans in the Bering Sea and Adjacent Waters: Offshore Oil Development and other Threats
Click the globe to explore WWF's work
