BP 2011 Annual Report Download - page 80

78 BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2011
Business review
Promoting tourism along the Gulf Coast
To support economic restoration in the impacted Gulf Coast communities,
BP entered into three-year agreements with the states of Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana and Mississippi to promote tourism, monitor seafood safety and
promote Gulf seafood.
During 2011, BP made commitments of $92 million in total over
three years to support tourism promotion within the four affected states.
This is in addition to $87 million in tourism grants provided by BP in
2010. Each state is using its tourism funds to develop specific marketing
programmes.
The proposed settlement announced on 3 March 2012 with the
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in MDL 2179 includes a fund to support
continued advertising that promotes Gulf Coast tourism.
Seafood testing, monitoring and promotion
Federal and state officials continue to collect and test seafood from the
Gulf of Mexico, and the results of these tests have indicated that Gulf
of Mexico seafood meets the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
safety guidelines. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and the FDA are conducting widespread scientific evaluation of
seafood samples to protect and reassure consumers. Since May 2010,
more than 6,000 seafood samples have been collected by the FDA, NOAA,
and state agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The
FDA has also visited over 100 seafood processors and wholesalers across
the Gulf Coast, collecting seafood samples and inspecting processing
plants for biological, chemical, and physical hazards. Levels of residues of
oil contamination in seafood have consistently tested between 100 and
1,000 times lower than the safety thresholds established by the FDA.
Test results from NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf of Mexico states are
publicly available.
Recreational fishing showed signs of recovery in 2011. To raise
public awareness of Gulf of Mexico seafood, BP has committed $34 million
for Gulf of Mexico states to conduct seafood testing and $48 million to
market Gulf of Mexico seafood.
Rig Worker Assistance Fund
BP established a $100-million Rig Worker Assistance Fund through the
Baton Rouge Area Foundation (the Foundation) to support unemployed rig
workers experiencing economic hardship as a result of the moratorium on
deepwater drilling imposed by the US federal government. In 2011, the
Foundation awarded $5.8 million to an expanded pool of applicants, after
awarding $5.6 million to nearly 350 rig workers in 2010. With less than
2,000 applying for funds, the Foundation granted $18 million of the BP
contribution to community-based organizations through its Future for the
Gulf Fund. At the end of 2011, the Foundation was assessing additional
funding requests from organizations assisting those impacted by the spill,
and has said it hopes to complete the distribution of the BP contribution by
the end of 2012.
Environmental restoration
We made progress during 2011 on multiple fronts as part of the
ongoing efforts to assess and address injury to natural resources in the
Gulf of Mexico.
We continued to support and participate in the Natural Resource
Damages (NRD) process. Work has been completed or is under way on
more than 150 cooperative studies with federal and state agencies to
gather data on potential impacts and injuries to birds, turtles and mammals;
fish and shell fish; near shore and shoreline habitats; and the Gulf of
Mexico water column and sediment.
We also worked with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment
(NRDA) trustees to begin assessing the potential lost human use of these
Gulf Coast natural resources. Additional studies focused on the potential
impacts on historical and archaeological resources and endangered species.
During the year we also supported two emergency restoration
projects and made a major commitment to fund early restoration projects.
In addition, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funded several
projects during 2011 using funds provided by BP in 2010 from the sale of
oil recovered from the spill.
We are working with NOAA to prepare and provide access to
summaries of the studies completed and data gathered during the
cooperative assessment process. We also prepared and participated in a
variety of scientific publications and seminars as part of our efforts to share
learnings from the oil spill as broadly as possible.
NRD process under way
In 2011, we continued to work with scientists and trustee agencies
through the NRD process to identify natural resources that may have
been exposed to oil or otherwise impacted by the incident, and to look for
evidence of injury.
As part of the NRD process, trustees from each state and the
federal government held a series of public meetings during 2011 in each of
the five states affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These
focused on the status of potential injury assessments and of potential
restoration process. To date, BP has paid over $600 million for NRD
assessment efforts.
Public comments were collected as part of the Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) process, which will inform one of
the core planning documents for restoration. A final PEIS is scheduled to
be released by the trustees in late 2012.
Emergency restoration projects
Emergency restoration projects are defined under the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 (OPA 90) as preventative measures or actions undertaken to stop
continuing injuries to resources and to mitigate potential effects of the
spill. During 2011, two emergency restoration projects were completed
along the Gulf Coast in support of birds and turtles. A third project is in the
planning phase for submerged aquatic vegetation and is scheduled to be
implemented in 2012.
Early restoration projects
Under an agreement signed with federal and state trustees in April 2011,
BP voluntarily committed to provide up to $1 billion to fund projects that
will accelerate restoration efforts in Gulf Coast areas that were impacted by
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The agreement enables work on restoration projects to begin at
the earliest opportunity, before all of the studies under the NRDA process
are complete, and before funding is required by OPA 90. Priority will be
assigned to projects aimed at improving areas that offer the greatest
benefits to wildlife, habitat, and recreational use that were impacted as a
result of the incident.
In December 2011, state and federal trustees unveiled the first set
of early environmental restoration projects that are proposed for funding
under the agreement. The eight proposed projects are located in
Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Collectively, the projects will
restore and enhance wildlife, habitats, the ecosystem services provided
by those habitats, and provide additional access for fishing, boating and
related recreational uses. More early restoration projects are anticipated in
the future.
Funding for the early restoration projects will come from the
$20-billion Trust. Additional information about the projects, projected costs
and proposed credits can be found on the NOAA website.
Environmental studies and reports
BP is committed to sharing and providing access to the numerous studies
and reports generated during the course of the response. In total, since
May 2010, more than 150 NRDA studies have been completed or are in
progress throughout the Gulf. As the studies are completed, summaries
are expected to be published as appropriate either on BP’s website or on
government websites. Our website also contains numerous
technical reports and documentation on a variety of environmental and
health-related topics.
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation projects
In 2010, BP donated $22 million from the net revenue of the sale of oil
recovered from the spill to the US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
(NFWF) which used the funds to quickly implement several conservation
projects along the Gulf Coast.
In 2011, the NFWF announced that it issued $6.9 million in
grants from the Recovered Oil Fund for Wildlife for 22 new projects. The