GoMRI’s Goal
The goal of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative(GoMRI) is to improve society’s ability to understand and mitigate theimpacts of hydrocarbon pollution and stressors of the marine environment. Knowledge accrued will be applied to restoration and to improving the long-term environmental health of the Gulf of Mexico.
The science gaps and research needs identified through several public meetings in the summer of 2010 helped create the following research themes, which the Research Board has adopted to solicit and select science proposals.
- Physical distribution, dispersion, and dilution of petroleum (oil and gas), its constituents, and associated contaminants (e.g., dispersants) under the action of physical oceanographic processes, air–sea interactions, and tropical storms.
- Chemical evolution and biological degradation of the petroleum/dispersant systems and subsequent interaction with coastal, open-ocean, and deepwater ecosystems.
- Environmental effects of the petroleum/dispersant system on the sea floor, water column, coastal waters, beach sediments, wetlands, marshes, and organisms; and the science of ecosystem recovery.
- Technology developments for improved response, mitigation, detection, characterization, and remediation associated with oil spills and gas releases.
- Impact of oil spills on public health.
GoMRI Funded Research Projects
Shortly after the DWH tragedy, BP announced a commitment of up to $500 million over ten years to fund an independent research program designed to study the impact of the oil spill on the environment and public health in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The independent scientific research will be conducted at academic institutions primarily in the U.S. Gulf Coast states. However, appropriate partnerships with institutions based outside the U.S. Gulf region will be welcome.
- Funding will be for sampling, modeling and studies, not for acquisition of infrastructure or construction of infrastructure such as ships or laboratories.
- Funds will be distributed using the practice of merit review by peer evaluation as described in the 2005 Report of the National Science Board (NSB-05-119).
- Individual researchers will comply with professional standards as laid out in the National Academy of Sciences Publication – On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research (2009).
- All GoMRI-funded research is independent of BP, and the results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals with no requirement for BP approval.
- The GOMRI is completely separate from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process, which is a legal process conducted by federal and state trustees to determine injuries to or lost use of the public’s natural resources as a result of the oil spill.
