Now that BP has stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon rig, scientists and regulators are in the initial stages of making a concerted effort to determine where the oil (and dispersants) went, in what form, and what, if anything, this means to the biota of the Gulf. Biologists, ecologists, and other scientists have the gargantuan task of trying to sort out, characterize, and quantify the scope and degree of the biological effects of the spill on Gulf and estuarine ecosystems. This is a multidisciplinary field and laboratory effort involving state and federal agencies, educational institutions, and hundreds of scientists and laboratories. It will take many years to complete. And, while efforts to catalogue the acute effects of the spill are winding down, efforts to understand chronic, sublethal, and cumulative effects have only begun. This will certainly be a complex and time-consuming process that will generate enormous amounts of data and numerous scientific papers. It is a daunting task. Even the establishment of the research protocols that scientists will use to determine such effects is a monumental task in itself.

The purpose of this Article is to provide an introduction into the legal mechanisms and regulatory framework within which the government and the responsible parties will seek to determine the damage that the spill has caused to Gulf of Mexico fauna. The Article specifically emphasizes the importance of fully determining the longer term or chronic, and sublethal effects of the spill on marine and estuarine organisms while working within that framework. The federal government is in charge of coordinating, funding, and implementing the efforts to determine natural resource damages due to the BP spill and to hold the responsible parties accountable for the restoration of lost and damaged natural resources. There are several statutes and implementing regulations through which the federal government and its partners will seek to accomplish these tasks.