Biologist holding oiled juvenile sea turtle, found in sargassum habitat, Gulf of Mexico.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled Fiddler Crab.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled Secretive Marsh Bird.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled brown pelican.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled brown pelican prior to cleaning.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Cleaning brown pelican.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Releasing clean brown pelicans.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled marsh.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled marsh and sorbent boom.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oil on jetty.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oiled marsh and oil sheen on water.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Oil slick penetrating marsh.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Response Staging Area on Barrier Island,LA.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Response Staging Area.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Egret perching on hard boom.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Oiled rocks, oiled birds, and oiled boom.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Oiled marsh and sorbent boom.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Photo provided by: LOSCO

Responders on boat in marsh.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Oil on sandy shore.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oil on mudflat.
Photo provided by: LDWF

Oil and gas canals.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Photo provided by: LOSCO

Aerial view of marsh.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Lighthouse.
Photo provided by: LOSCO

Louisiana Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and subsequently sank approximately 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The nation will forever remember the 11 people who lost their lives that day. This disaster, which has been recognized as the largest unintentional oil spill in history, is estimated to have discharged more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Coastal Louisiana, the most productive ecosystem in the nation and home to nearly 40% of the nation's wetlands, was severely affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. As oil continues to impact our coast, the State of Louisiana is leading efforts to assess the damages and restore our natural resources.

Natural Resource Damage Assessment

Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) is a legal process under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and the Louisiana Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1991 (LOSPRA) whereby designated trustees represent the public to ensure that natural resources injured in an oil spill are restored.

The Oil Pollution Act authorizes certain federal agencies, states and Indian tribes, collectively known as the Natural Resource Trustees (Trustees) to evaluate the impacts of an oil spill on natural resources. Trustees are charged with making the environment and the public whole for injuries to natural resources and services resulting from an incident involving a discharge of oil or substantial threat of a discharge of oil. Making the environment whole includes both restoring injured resources to the condition they would have been in but for the discharge as well as compensating for the temporal loss of natural resources, and the ecosystem services they provide, from the time of injury until the time they are fully restored. Read more.

What's New

The Phase II Early Restoration Plan and Environmental Review is available. Read more.

NRDA Workplans &
Restoration Projects

View NRDA Workplans
The Trustees have and will continue to release study plans developed over the course of the spill. Read more.

Submit a Restoration Project
Click here to submit a new restoration project.

View NRDA Restoration Projects
Click here to view NRDA Restoration Projects.