This proposal is to fund a series of 10-12 short, informative reports involving the science currently underway in the Gulf of Mexico, the tools and technology being implemented by the science, the cleanup efforts, and the impacts to the environment and the people. Concise 2-5 minute stories will be released on the web as well as to television news programs. Teams of scientists will be working closely with the film crew revealing their observations, concerns and scientific experimentation as it relates to this oil spill. The pristine environments will be compared to what remains after the arrival of oil through examination of water chemistry: from a mile down, throughout the water column, at the surface and into the marshes. The study will look at the distribution of oil in the currents, how the animals are impacted, the consequences of dispersants being applied, the diversity within the wetlands, and what can possibly be done as oil inundates the crucial shallow water nurseries. Where is the oil going? What impact is the oil having on marine life, critical plants, and the all-important plankton? And what is the dispersant doing to the plants and animals, both large and small? Teams of scientists are actively trying to answer these questions, and it is this science, and the underwater story of the oil, that are the heart of this proposal. Much has been reported on this tragic story, but not much has been reported on what is happening underwater or the science being conducted to determine the impact this disaster is having on the crucial and sensitive Gulf of Mexico environments. This is a proposal to change that. This grant will send a film crew to the Gulf and allow them to tell stories that are not being told by featuring the science and scientists working in a huge variety of places: the deep corals and seeps, offshore pelagic areas, the shallows and in the marshes and grass beds. The study will show what the oil looks like if you were a marine animal living in it and will release new, concise stories that have yet to be told. The goal will be to secure a regular spot on a major news program and efforts to find a home on National news have already begun. A web presence is a great opportunity to add stills, interviews, maps, and a blog. At its heart, this grant will provide to the pubic stories about the incredible scientific effort underway in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of this tragic oil spill.
On April, 20, 2010, the drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 men and injuring 17 others. For the next 3 months, it flowed unabated, spewing some 5 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, some 2 million gallons of the dispersant, Corexit, was either injected at the wellhead at 5000 feet down, or sprayed on the surface of the Gulf. "The Science of the Spill" is a NSF funded program to help determine the effects of the oil and dispersant on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem as well as the impact to humans in the local communities. A film crew was deployed to the Gulf on three seperate occasions to record the thoughts of the scientists andnresidents in the Gulf region, as well as to film the enviromnental issues created by the oil and dispersant. Perhaps due to the nature of the Scientific Method - having to await analyses or publication before releasing new data, or the non-disclosure agreements scientists occasionally enter into when receiving research funds, the scientific community was not yet able to reveal a wealth of information to our cameras regarding the impact of the oil and dispersant to the Gulf's ecosystem when we filmed there in 2010 and early 2011. So we have waited for many of the scientific programs to complete and the scientists involved in researching and collection of data on the impact of the BP spill to be able to freely discuss their results, to fully complete this project. Our plan is to return to the Gulf in the coming months and conduct another series of interviews, shoot additional material and produce a long-form documentary that looks more broadly at the Gulf of Mexico and the impact the BP oil spill had on the environment and the local communities. Funding for this second round of interviews and trips to the Gulf is now being sought and we hope to return to the Gulf by the summer of 2012. The final program will be produced for release on National television.
