Fed Event: What Would You Do with $500M for a New Science Program?

The UMD Council on Environment will be convening a "policy lunch" for the campus community about once per semester. These brown bag lunches will bring in people from government who are working on environmentally related projects. The first one is scheduled for April 11 (see below and attached flyer).

Nate


Speaker: Ms. Chris Elfring, The Gulf Program, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC
Date: Thursday, April 11 from noon – 1pm
Location: Charles Carroll Room 2203K, Stamp Student Union
What Would You Do with $500M for a New Science Program?
Initial Program Planning for the New NAS Gulf of Mexico Program

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The accident spilled approximately 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing significant impacts on the Gulf environment and people. As part of a settlement agreement resolving criminal charges against the BP and Transocean, the National Academy of Sciences has been charged to establish a new $500 million program on human health and environmental protection in the Gulf of Mexico. The program is to focus on “human health and environmental protection in the Gulf of Mexico and on the United States’ outer continental shelf, including issues relating to offshore oil drilling and hydrocarbon production and transportation.” The program will work in three broad areas: environmental monitoring, research and development, and education and training. This lunchtime talk will examine the requirements of the new program, discuss how the program will be planned, and provide some first glimpses at how the program might define its mission and goals.