Each year, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) produces an annual report to summarize how funds were used. These reports review accomplishments, highlight activities, and, over time, will assess metrics to determine how the program is progressing in accomplishing its goals. The 2024 annual report is the 11th report in this series.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's GRP is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The GRP's mission is to develop, translate, and apply science to enhance the safety of offshore energy, the environment, and the well-being of the people of the Gulf region for generations to come. It supports innovative science, guides data design and monitoring, and builds and sustains networks to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf region and the nation.
28 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60067-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29277
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Gulf Research Program Annual Report 2024. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_series
The Gulf of Alaska and the Southern Gulf Coast have been the sites of the two worst oil spills in U.S. history, Exxon Valdez (1989) and Deepwater Horizon (2010), respectively. These spills had devastating impacts on the environment, human health, the local economy, the seafood industry, and local communities’ way of life. While the incidents differed in many ways, the response and recovery efforts both worked to restore the environment and help communities move on from their losses.
To explore best practices and lessons learned from these oil spills, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Gulf Research Program launched a three-part workshop series to bring together people with connections to the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon oil spills to discuss the challenges, successes, and areas where improvements could be made. The first workshop was held in Anchorage, Alaska in October 2024; the second workshop was held in Thibodaux, Louisiana in December 2024; and the final workshop was held in Washington, D.C. in March of 2025. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshops.
244 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99440-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60122-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29176
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Gulf-Alaska Knowledge Exchange: Learning from the Legacy of Past Oil Spills: Proceedings of a Workshop Series. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
Addressing the complex challenges to increased extreme weather impacts on communities in the Gulf Coast region requires connected and interdisciplinary approaches, in addition to strong institutional partnerships. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) bring essential community knowledge, research expertise, and long-standing regional engagement that can enhance the design and implementation of public health and resilience strategies in preparation for future climate emergencies.
To explore ways to strengthen partnerships and address institutional barriers in the Gulf region, the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on February 20, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Workshop participants explored opportunities for HBCUs and MSIs to expand their leadership in community-engaged research on extreme weather events and environmental stressors on human health and resilience. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.
14 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99524-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29216
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Building Health and Resilience Research Capacity in the U.S. Gulf Coast: Elevating Partnerships: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
As an integral part of their surrounding communities, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are often well positioned to conduct community-engaged health and resilience research. The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on October 29, 2024 to discuss opportunities for MSIs and HBCUs to increase participation, competitiveness, and leadership in community-engaged health and environmental research. This Proceedings of a Workshop in-Brief provides a high-level summary of the presentations and discussion of the workshop.
15 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-10376-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29113
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Building Health and Resilience Research Capacity in the U.S. Gulf Coast: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Each year, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) produces an annual report to summarize how funds were used. These reports review accomplishments, highlight activities, and, over time, will assess metrics to determine how the program is progressing in accomplishing its goals. The 2023 annual report is the tenth report in this series.
The National Academies' Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The GRP's mission is to develop, translate, and apply science to enhance the safety of offshore energy, the environment, and the wellbeing of the people of the Gulf region for generations to come. It supports innovative science, guides data design and monitoring, and builds and sustains networks to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf region and the nation.
28 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-10427-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29116
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Gulf Research Program Annual Report 2023. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
On February 19, 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Gulf Research Program and the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences convened a one-day workshop at the 2024 Gulf of Mexico Conference in Tampa, Florida focused on artist and scientist collaborations - and how they could support and inspire a healthy, resilient, and sustainable future across Gulf Coast communities. An ad hoc committee planned a workshop that delved into areas including creative problem-solving, ways to understand and engage with complex topics through creative practices, mutual learning and educational opportunities that result from artists and scientists working together, and how art and science collaborations can elevate community voices.
14 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73509-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29062
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Science and Art Collaborations: Engaging Gulf Communities in Understanding and Addressing Complex Environmental Issues: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Experiencing a single disaster - a hurricane, tornado, flood, severe winter storm, or a global pandemic - can wreak havoc on the lives and livelihoods of individuals, families, communities and entire regions. For many people who live in communities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region, the reality of disaster is starker. Endemic socioeconomic and health disparities have made many living in Gulf of Mexico communities particularly vulnerable to the effects of weather-climate hazards. Prolonged disaster recovery and increasing disaster risk is an enduring reality for many living in Gulf of Mexico communities. Between 2020 and 2021, seven major hurricanes and a severe winter storm affected communities across the region. As a backdrop to these acute weather events, the global COVID-19 pandemic was unfolding, producing a complex and unprecedented public health and socioeconomic crisis.
Traditionally, the impacts of disasters are quantified individually and often in economic terms of property damage and loss. In this case, each of these major events occurring in the Gulf of Mexico during this time period subsequently earned the moniker of "billion-dollar" disaster. However, this characterization does not reflect the non-financial human toll and disparate effects caused by multiple disruptive events that increase underlying physical and social vulnerabilities, reduce adaptive capacities and ultimately make communities more sensitive to the effects of future disruptive events. This report explores the interconnections, impacts, and lessons learned of compounding disasters that impair resilience, response, and recovery efforts. While Compounding Disasters in Gulf Coast Communities, 2020-2021 focuses on the Gulf of Mexico region, its findings apply to any region that has similar vulnerabilities and that is frequently at risk for disasters.
296 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-70716-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-70717-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27170
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Compounding Disasters in Gulf Coast Communities 2020-2021: Impacts, Findings, and Lessons Learned. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Each year, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) produces an annual report to summarize how funds were used. These reports review accomplishments, highlight activities, and, over time, will assess metrics to determine how the program is progressing in accomplishing its goals. The 2022 annual report is the ninth report in this series.
The GRP is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013. Through grants, fellowships, and other activities, it seeks to enhance oil system safety and the protection of human health and the environment in the Gulf of Mexico region and other areas along the U.S. outer continental shelf with offshore oil and gas operations.
30 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-72271-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27868
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Gulf Research Program Annual Report 2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
Today, with a changing climate putting pressure on communities and ecosystems worldwide, goals for a carbon-neutral economy mean that renewable and low-carbon energy sources are being presented as solutions. While these cleaner energy sources have the potential to reduce risk to the environment and bring energy security closer to a reality, questions remain about the stability of the energy supply chain, the ability to meet energy demand reliably, and the best ways to produce fair and equitable outcomes in an energy transition.
To serve as a catalyst for developing new insights and coordination around the energy transition, the Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a 2-day workshop in Washington, DC, called Navigating the Energy Transition in the Gulf of Mexico. Based around two scenarios in the year 2050 - one in which a carbon neutral economy is achieved and another in which robust dependence on fossil fuels remains - this serious gaming event stimulated the sharing of ideas, concerns, and cascading impacts from participants across academia, industry, government, and Gulf communities. This publication summarizes the activities, presentations, and discussion of the workshop.
124 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-70476-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-70477-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27102
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Navigating the Energy Transition in the Gulf of Mexico: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Each year, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) produces an annual report to summarize how funds were used. These reports review accomplishments, highlight activities, and, over time, will assess metrics to determine how the program is progressing in accomplishing its goals. The 2021 annual report is the eighth report in this series.
The GRP is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013. Through grants, fellowships, and other activities, it seeks to enhance oil system safety and the protection of human health and the environment in the Gulf of Mexico region and other areas along the U.S. outer continental shelf with offshore oil and gas operations.
16 pages
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11 x 8.5
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-70723-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27171
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Gulf Research Program Annual Report 2021. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Most of the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico has shown considerable improvement in systemic risk management, which is now approaching a middle stage of maturity across most risk elements. Advancing Understanding of Offshore Oil and Gas Systemic Risk in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: Current State and Safety Reforms Since the Macondo Well–Deepwater Horizon Blowout assesses both industry and regulatory progress against the reforms that were recommended following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The report also states that progress has been uneven, and critical gaps remain in comprehensively addressing the management of systemic risk offshore.
238 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-69977-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-69978-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26873
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Advancing Understanding of Offshore Oil and Gas Systemic Risk in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: Current State and Safety Reforms Since the Macondo Well–Deepwater Horizon Blowout. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Valued for its ecological richness and economic value, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is under substantial pressure from human activities. The Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill significantly damaged Gulf ecosystems and led to the largest ecological restoration investment in history. The unprecedented number and diversity of restoration activities provide valuable information for future restoration efforts, but assessment efforts are hampered by many factors, including the need to evaluate the interaction of multiple stressors and consider long-term environmental trends such as sea level rise, increasing hurricane intensity, and rising water temperatures.
This report offers a comprehensive approach to assess restoration activities beyond the project scale in the face of a changing environment. A main component of this approach is using different types of scientific evidence to develop "multiple lines of evidence" to evaluate restoration efforts at regional scales and beyond, especially for projects that may be mutually reinforcing (synergistic) or in conflict (antagonistic). Because Gulf of Mexico ecosystems cross political boundaries, increased coordination and collaboration is needed, especially to develop standardized data collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting. With these improvements, program-level adaptive management approaches can be used more effectively to assess restoration strategies against the backdrop of long-term environmental trends.
210 pages
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-26339-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-26340-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26335
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration: A Gulf Research Program Environmental Monitoring Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
More than a decade after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Gulf Research Program convened a diverse group of 60 experts in a virtual event to inform its efforts to enhance resilience to future offshore oil disasters in the Gulf of Mexico region. The event, Offshore Situation Room, took place over three half-days during June 15-17, 2021, and had four main objectives: 1) develop a concise, prioritized list of questions that need to be addressed to support successful prevention, response, and recovery that would minimize the impacts of an offshore oil disaster; 2) provide a collaborative atmosphere where participants can share ideas, capabilities, and information, and build a community dedicated to the successful prevention of, response to, and recovery from an offshore oil spill disaster; 3) explore capabilities for and impediments to prevention, response, recovery, and understanding impacts of an offshore oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico; and 4) highlight how changes in policy, response, resilience, and restoration efforts may affect outcomes of a major offshore incident. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the event.
86 pages
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6 x 9
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-26913-X
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-26914-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26347
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Offshore Situation Room: Enhancing Resilience to Offshore Oil Disasters in the Gulf of Mexico: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Each year, the Gulf Research Program (GRP) produces an annual report to summarize how funds were used. These reports review accomplishments, highlight activities, and, over time, will assess metrics to determine how the program is progressing in accomplishing its goals. The 2020 annual report is the seventh report in this series.
The GRP is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013. Through grants, fellowships, and other activities, it seeks to enhance oil system safety and the protection of human health and the environment in the Gulf of Mexico region and other areas along the U.S. outer continental shelf with offshore oil and gas operations.
19 pages
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11 x 8.5
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-47282-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26147
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Gulf Research Program Annual Report 2020. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Communities along the Gulf Coast routinely experience intense weather events. Acute and repetitive shocks - illustrated by the multiple Gulf regional hurricane landfalls during the 2020 hurricane season - have a disproportionate impact on communities in this region that are already burdened by chronic stressors such as systemic and structural racism, poverty, environmental degradation, and health disparities. Climate change threatens to exacerbate the severity of these impacts as disadvantaged and underserved communities fall further behind in their ability to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, or recover from disasters.
On June 24, 2021, the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a panel of three members of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to discuss steps that are being taken or that need to occur to advance climate and environmental justice for those who call the Gulf of Mexico region home. The panelists discussed opportunities to equitably improve conditions in the Gulf of Mexico region, particularly within Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. This event provided important perspective, though much work remains to elevate and examine the climate and environmental justice priorities of diverse communities, particularly Indigenous people, and to identify the mechanisms necessary to implement the recommendations offered by the panel members. This publication summarizes the discussion.
7 pages
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8.5 x 11
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-26927-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26348
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Perspectives on Climate and Environmental Justice on the U.S. Gulf Coast: Proceedings of a Webinar—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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