Prioritizing Risks from Oil Spills: Supporting Decisions with Read-Across Using 21st Century Exposure and Toxicological Sciences

Description: Current evaluations of public health impacts of oil spills are largely based on only what is known about a few specific chemicals in oil. However, an oil spill can involve a complex mix of interacting substances and environmental factors and this produces many unknowns that are either difficult or not currently possible to account for. Alternative approaches are needed to address existing limitations and improve assessment and decision-making processes relating to public health risks resulting from oil spills. This project, which includes interactions with a diverse range of practitioners, aims to address this need using new approaches and technologies in exposure science and toxicology that try to predict the toxicity of substances for which there is limited information using information from analogous or similar substances.

Funding Cycle: Thriving Communities 4
Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Development of Gulf Coast Resiliency Management Plan Using Sentinel Species and Natural Infrastructure

Description: Hurricanes, including Katrina and Harvey, have demonstrated that oil and gas facilities are vulnerable to flooding-related damage – which can trigger the release of petroleum products and chemical contaminants into the air, water, and surrounding neighborhoods. This project will study the human and ecosystem health risks from toxics potentially released from industrial facilities following weather- and climate-related events. It will also examine possible use of Natural and Nature-Based Features (also known as green or natural infrastructure solutions), including constructed wetlands, to mitigate flooding-related toxic chemical releases. The team is focusing specifically on Galveston Bay in Texas, due to its proximity to vulnerable oil and gas facilities, but findings could also help inform industrial areas along the Louisiana coast.

Funding Cycle: Healthy Ecosystems 4
Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program