Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Environmental Data Collection and Laboratory Management

On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to oil releasing from the ruptured well for 87 days. EcoAnalysts was immediately contracted to provide laboratory services for the purposes of obtaining environmental data. As the resultant natural resource damage assessment progressed in 2011, there was additional need for increased environmental data collection and as a result, EcoAnalysts became the primary laboratory provider and for data collection for assessing coastal wetlands vegetation and marsh edge and sandy shorelines infaunal assessments.

Since the start of the project, EcoAnalysts was retained as a key service provider and member of the project team because of its unique ability to:

·       Rapidly adapt to changing requirements.

·       Develop and execute innovative process for obtaining environmental data while ensuring reproducibility and maintaining the highest standards of data quality.

Due to the complexity and geographic size of the project, the large number of samples being collected, and short turnaround times for data reporting, EcoAnalysts’ role expanded to include sourcing of regional and diverse subject matter experts, subcontracting to and managing coordination between subject matter experts and multiple specialized laboratories. Coordination of personnel and laboratories working in different regions in of the country required detailed and adaptive project management, a high level of interaction, and a strong collaborative approach. EcoAnalysts met this challenge and the company’s involvement in the project resulted in a highly defensible biological and analytical sample data available to trustees, the responsible party, and the public.