BP Spill Researchers Outline Plan To Distribute Research Fund

By Simone Götesson

Officials with the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI) today announced how hundreds of millions of dollars provided by BP will be distributed over the next ten years.

As part of the fallout from last year’s major oil spill, BP pledged last year to spend $500 million over the next decade — $50 million per year — on researching the impact of the disaster. The company announced in May 2010 that the first $50 million would go to four Gulf-area research agencies and the National Institutes of Health.

During a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., GRI Research Board Chair Dr. Rita Colwell said that a minimum of $37.5 million per year will now be available, to establish four to eight Research Consortia. The goal of the consortiums is to gain scientific understanding of oil spill and dispersant impacts on ocean and coastal systems in the Gulf Region, and how these systems respond to oil and gas inputs.

“The Research Board is funding consortia in this initial request for proposals because some of the research will be so complex that it necessitates contributions by multiple institutions and multi-disciplinary science teams,” Colwell said.

Five themes have been determined, including physical distribution, dispersion, and dilution of oil and gas, chemical evolution, environmental effects, technology development and scientific research that integrates results from all themes, in the context of public health.

Proposals submitted by scientists to the GRI are expected to develop a clear plan to address one of, or a combination of, the themes, and it’s anticipated that funding for each selected Research Consortia will range between $1 million and $7.5 million per year.

Gulf region institutions are anticipated to lead the research, although it’s not restricted to those institutions.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative says that its main goal is to improve society’s ability to understand and respond to the impacts of petroleum pollution on the ocean and coastal system, specifically in the Gulf region.