KRISTV.com

CORPUS CHRISTI - Testimony got underway this week in the government's trial to determine how much British Petroleum will be fined for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill..

The final settlement could be as much as 16-billion dollars, and 2.5% of that money. will be used to establish centers of excellence in each gulf state to address the problems created by the spill

The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has been selected as the center for Texas.

Dr. Larry McKinney, the executive director of H.R.I, is still pretty jazzed about last week's announcement. But the enormity of the task ahead... Is also pretty sobering.

Because texas is so big, and the Gulf is such a complex ecosystem, H.R.I.. formed a consortium. with eight other partners from around the state.. Called 'Texas Onegulf."

It will include other institutions like UT-Brownsville, the UT Medical Center in Galveston, and A&M-College Station.

Dr. McKinney says, "It's a whole mix of groups that expertise in human health, in economics, and in the environment." And for the first time ever the state's top experts on Gulf of Mexico issues will all work together to find the best science-driven solutions to problems in the Gulf.

The first step will be to gather everything that we know about the Deepwater Horizon spill and preserve it Dr. McKinney says that did not happen with previous oil spills like Ixtoc 1 or Exxon-Valdez., " That information was not saved and preserved and brought forward, so we're going to make that happens."

He says one of the things we learned from Deepwater Horizon is that we're not as well prepared as we thought we were to respond to big oil spills.

So in addition to the archival work and pure scientific research the Consortium will also work closely with the state's oil spill response network, providing it with the best information possible.

It will also make sure that the best experts are available to help decide the best course of action after a spill occurs. McKinney says, "We've discovered that even in Deepwater Horizon and Ixtoc and Exxon-Valdez., in many cases we did more harm in trying to clean it up than if we had just it left it alone.

It's a huge undertaking, But Dr. McKinney says it's also an opportunity to make real progress in assuring the future health and productivity of the Gulf and the people who live along its shores.

He says the Consortium's first projects should be underway by next fall.

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