Environmental Disaster.Indd

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Volume 9, Issue 10

Environmental Disaster THE GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL

ERIC GAY/AP

INSIDE Follow Scientists Mr. Obama Ecosystem The Oil Envision Steps Up on Altered Perhaps 10 14 Devastation 22 Oil Spill Response 32 Forever June 9, 2010 © 2010 THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY Volume 9, Issue 10

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program A Word About Environmental Disaster Lesson: Some stories demand follow-up White House energy and climate adviser Carol M. Browner coverage of the initial news report. said the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was “probably the The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico biggest environmental disaster we’ve ever faced in this has economic, environmental, marine country.” Covering the many dimensions of this news story biology, health, lifestyle, technology, policy and political ramifications. that began on April 20 is the focus of this guide. Level: Mid to High As a foundation for study, use the suggested activities and Subjects: Environmental and Marine The Washington Post news articles, editorial, editorial Biology, Science, Journalism, Technology cartoons, commentary and informational graphics. The guide is organized in chronological order to emphasize the process Related Activity: Economics, of covering an unfolding story. Ads from BP are included Mathematics, Health, Engineering for a study of diction, photography and communication of a message. The continuing story has economic, environmental and marine biology, health and lifestyle, technology, policy and political ramifications. Teachers of many disciplines are urged to supplement these resources with the most current Post NIE Online Guide coverage and commentary to do follow-up to the coverage Editor — Carol Lange included in this guide. Art Editor — Carol Porter A reminder to Post INSIDE program teachers: If you plan Contributing to this guide — Lisa Lyle Wu wrote the “Think Like a …” activity to use articles in this guide in the e-Replica format more and contributed math and science than three months after their publication date, remember resources. She currently teaches marine to bookmark them. The e-Replica activities that are biology and is the lab director for the suggested in this guide utilize the alert, search and oceanography/geophysical systems lab advanced search features. at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Alexandria, Va.). As a freelance science writer, she has developed curricular materials for Discovery Channel and worked on exhibit development for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. She was a volunteer diver at the National Aquarium in Baltimore for ten years and served as Teacher at Sea for NOAA.

Available Online All Washington Post NIE guides may be downloaded at www.washpost.com/nie.

Send comments about this guide to: Margaret Kaplow, Educational Services Cover Photo: A shrimp boat is used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Manager, [email protected] Sound, La., on May 5, 2010.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Environmental Disaster In the Know

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began on April 20, 2010, has been Blowout: Uncontrolled flow of gas, oil or other described as America’s “biggest environmental disaster.” Post articles and well fluids into the atmosphere or into an commentary reprinted in this guide are presented in chronological order in underground formation order to reflect the unfolding story and the reporter’s job of covering many dimensions of a story. Blowout preventor (BOP): One or more valves installed at the wellhead to prevent the escape Get Acquainted With the Area other aspects of the oil spill of pressure; closed if the drilling crew loses Ask students to locate the Gulf (economic impact, environmental control of formation fluids of Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, influence, technology utilization, Alabama and Florida on a map. If a political response, for example). Boom: Floating barrier meant to contain spill topographic map is available, use it. in order to protect coastline or contain so the Questions for consideration might Increase Vocabulary spill can be lit and burned include: Terms associated with oil drilling • Name the countries and states and the attempts to stop the flow Casing: Steel pipe placed in an oil or gas well that border the Gulf of Mexico. of oil are provided in the “In the to prevent the wall of the hole from caving • What influence might the Gulf of Know” sidebar (pages 3-4). in, to prevent movement of fluids from one Mexico and the Mississippi River Acquaint students with these formation to another and to aid in well have on this area? terms before they read about the control • In what ways might “hurricane oil spill. season” affect these states? Cement plug: Portion of cement placed at • In what ways is the Gulf of Read for Background some point in the wellbore to seal it Mexico a Mediterranean-type sea? Post reprints in this guide are • The Gulf of Mexico is roughly a presented in chronological order. Containment dome: Metal “box” or reinforced circular basin. Where does water Although they are not all of the chamber placed over ruptures to contain the enter and exit it? articles printed about the oil spill, fluid • What jobs might people in the they do reflect the information coastal areas of these states hold? available by date of publication, the Crude oil: General term for unrefined range of subjects associated with petroleum or liquid petroleum Use a Timeline the oil spill, cleanup efforts and the “A timeline of BP’s attempts to responses of stakeholders. Drill: Bore a hole in the earth, usually to find stop the flow of oil” is provided in Discuss with students the and remove subsurface formation fluids such this guide. It gives an overview of information provided in each as oil and gas the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from the article, the people interviewed and April 20 explosion on Deepwater the new dimension added to the Deepwater drilling: Drilling located in Horizon to the failed top kill public’s awareness. offshore areas where water depths exceed attempt on May 29, 2010. A PowerPoint presentation is approximately 600 feet (200 m), the This informational graphic provided for use with this guide. approximate water depth at the edge of the provides a visual to communicate It is found at www.washpost.com/ continental shelf; the logistics of producing the depth of the drilling and nie. Select the PowerPoint option. hydrocarbons from reservoirs located below space in which robotics was used, “Not Just Oil” provides an overview such water depths presents a considerable the progressive attempts to stop of the process from crude oil to technical challenge the flow and schematic of the market products, pollution sources technology used. and cleanup procedures. Teachers Dispersant: Chemical that aids in breaking up Discuss the technology that is should view the notes section for solids or liquids as fine particles or droplets available for cleanup. additional information. into another medium Students may be asked to expand the timeline to the present or to create a new timeline that illustrates continued on page 4

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 3 president’s press conference In the Know | continued useful in supporting the thesis of Create a PowerPoint the editorial? Form five to seven groups within • The strongest point to be made Junk shot: Under pressure firing tires and your classroom. Assign students a should be placed last in an other material in an attempt to block class presentation: Using available editorial. What is the editorial’s passage data, create a PowerPoint to final argument? communicate different aspects of • What additional point of view is Kill: To stop a well from flowing or having the oil spill. Topics might include: expressed in the final sentence of the ability to flow into the wellbore. • The cleanup effort the editorial? Procedures typically involve circulating • Size and movement of the oil spill Ask students to write an editorial. reservoir fluids or pumping higher density (including the “Loop Current”) These may be based on the reading mud into the wellbore. • Economic impact on BP and its and research they did for the investors PowerPoint (see above), articles in Mousse: Gelatinous layer that is an • Economic impact on the The Post and additional research. emulsion of air, oil, and water formed when businesses in the states bordering the oil breaks up in heavy surf the Gulf of Mexico Draw an Editorial Cartoon • Environmental impact on marine Tom Toles’ editorial cartoons from Offset well: Existing wellbore close to a life May 18 and June 2 are included in proposed well that provides information for • Environmental impact on plant this guide. Discuss “Current Oil planning the proposed well. When lacking and animal life Spill Strategies” and “Can the GOP offset data, the well planner must be more • Political ramifications and policy make up its mind?” In his cartoons conservative in designing wells and include changes Toles uses iconic images, order of more contingencies. Teachers should determine strategies and allusions. What are additional details of the assignment the points of view of The Post’s Rig: Machine used to drill a wellbore. The by the course of study, age of editorial cartoonist? rig includes virtually everything except students and their experience with In addition to Toles’ cartoon, living quarters. The rig is sometimes the technology. the animated work of cartoonist referred to as the drilling package, Teachers may also ask students Ann Telnaes is found online. Visit particularly offshore. to write a brief or expert’s report http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ on their topic. This would include anntelnaes/. View Telnaes’s visual Offshore drilling: Drilling for oil or gas in material not included in the group’s commentary for May 26, “BP and an ocean, gulf or sea, usually on the Outer PowerPoint and emphasize each Obama respond to the gulf oil spill”; Continental Shelf student’s individual research. An May 24, “BP CEO Tony Hayward annotated bibliography might also thinks environmental impact will be Wellbore: The hole drilled by the bit; also be required. ‘modest’”; and May 12, “BP passes called a “bore hole” or “hole” the muck.” Telnaes often uses Write an Editorial excerpts from taped interviews so Editorials reflect the perspective the subjects of her work speak for of the paper. At The Post, these are themselves. What is her point of researched and written by members view? of the editorial board. Discuss The Have students draw an editorial Washington Post editorial from cartoon to express their points of May 28. Points to be considered: view on an aspect of the oil spill • Is the editorial board’s stand clear story. to readers? • Is the approach of using Write an Opinion Piece questions in the second paragraph Opinion may be found in of “Mr. Obama steps up on oil quotations from interviews, spill response” effective? SOURCES: OSHA Oil and Gas Well Drilling Glossary of Terms, • Were the quotations from the continued on page 5 Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 4 and figures on a boat. What do More Views these photographs convey before editorials, letters to the editor, a word is read? www.bp.com guest commentary and columns. • Discuss the headlines. Both BP Many different points of view have use “We will make this right.” Gulf of Mexico response and other appeared in the op-ed section over What does the second line in information from the perspective of BP, one of the months since the April 20 the headline in the later ad the world’s largest energy companies explosion. On Sunday, May 30, in communicate and respond to? the Topic A feature four experts • Read the copy. What information www.sej.org/ focused on the political fallout from remains the same? What different Society of Environmental Journalists the gulf. An e-Replica search can emphasis is expressed in the later Source of environment, energy, science, health locate many of these expressions. ad? What is the tone of both? Is and climate reporting; select The Daily Glob “In the wake of Deepwater, let’s the repetition of the two-sentence (dailyglob.sej.org) for Gulf oil spill news. put the environment first” by Post headline in the closing of the later columnist Eugene Robinson in ad effective? http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/ an example of commentary that Are the BP ads effective? Do they NOAA Office of Response and Restoration puts the current news in historic communicate the “right message” to FAQs, assessments and responses, and perspective. Discuss the situation readers of The Post? [Who are the activities for use in the classroom (Making in Cleveland, the EPA and Clean readers of The Post?] Would this Mousse, Mearns Rock Time Series, Graphing Water Act. How do these relate to ad work as well in a New Orleans Changes in Marine Life Abundance and Oil the oil spill? What other references newspaper? Floats and Spreads). Case studies include the does Robinson make? What is his Have students design and write Exxon Valdez oil spill. main thesis? an ad. This could be for BP, for What kind of column would Louisiana and Gulf businesses, for http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/ students write if they had one? an environmental group or other Ocean Circulation Group Would their focus be general organization/individual with an Univ. of South Florida College of Marine interest, science, environment, interest in the oil spill and its Science coastal ocean observing and modeling politics or technology? Ask students impact. of the West Florida Continental Shelf to write a sample column in which an aspect of the oil spill is included. Envision the Environmental Future www.rsmas.miami.edu/oil-spill/ Ocean and coastal ecosystems Oil Spill Response Compare and Contrast Advertisements have been influenced by the oil Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Advertisements are purchased by spill. These ecosystems are needed Science, Univ.of Miami, site shares the science businesses to communicate their for water quality, to protect marine and primary research (satellite images, message or product to readers. habitat and benefit economics and modeling, ocean observations and potential Two full-page ads created by BP livelihoods of coastal communities. impact) “relevant to the issues emerging from and published in The Washington In “Scientists envision devastation the incident on the Deepwater Horizon oil Post on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, and for gulf” Joel Achenbach asks: “How platform.” Sunday, June 6, 2010, are provided. bad will this get?” He responds: “No The layout in both is clean with a one knows, but with each day that http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam dominant photograph, headline, one the leaking oil well a mile below the Oil Spill in the Gulf — Live Cam column of copy, prominent white surface remains uncapped, scientists The Select Committee on Energy space, sans serif typeface, Web sites and energy industry observers are Independence and Global Warming video feed and contact information, and the imagining outcomes that range from from the ocean floor BP logo. bad to worse to worst, with some • View the photographs that forecasting a calamity of historic photo.newsweek.com/2010/5/oil-spill- illustrate the ads. In the earlier proportions.” Read and discuss the timeline.html ad: black and white photograph, May 5 article. The 2010 Gulf Oil Spill: A Timeline hard hat-wearing figures and Newsweek photographs and informative boom silhouetted. In the later ad: captions full color, marshes, boom in water continued on page 6

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 5 America and China are currently Resources the chief producers of wind-powered On May 6, science reporter Juliet energy, for example. What figures It is important for reporters to interview a Eilperin reports on the response of are needed to put this statement wide range of reliable sources. In addition environmentalists to the oil spill. into perspective? to citizens of the affected area, President Read “Oil disaster could produce a Research the creation of a clean Obama, state and local officials, and the sea change.” What are their main energy economy? Is the U.S. White House energy and climate adviser, areas of focus? Have they made any working on this approach? What individuals from the following organizations progress in getting their point of are the best sources to locate and government agencies have been quoted view noticed? the information needed? Do an in Washington Post coverage of the oil spill. As a reporter Eilperin makes sure e-Replica search or use The Post’s that organizations with different online archives to locate articles. American Petroleum Institute points of view are heard. How do British Petroleum (BP) representatives of the oil industry Follow the Story Environmental Protection Agency respond? The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (EPA) A month later, on June 6, a is clearly an example of a major Federal Emergency Management clearer picture is emerging, but story that will require months, if Agency (FEMA) notice the use of the qualifier not years, of follow-up coverage. “perhaps” in the headline. Read All aspects of the first news story Friends of the Earth and discuss “An ecosystem that is — the explosion of the Deepwater Gulf Restoration Network altered perhaps forever” by Joel Horizon oil platform — are not Halliburton Achenbach and David Brown. This known. The “How” and “Why” of Louisiana Oyster Task Force article is interesting for the historic the story are still to be determined. National Academy of Sciences perspective that it provides in the Philip Graham, once publisher of National Institute of Environmental first four paragraphs. Ask students The Washington Post, spoke of the Health Sciences to find additional historic references reporter’s “inescapably impossible National Institute of Occupational in the article. How do these help to task of providing every week a first Safety and Health understand the current situation in rough draft of history.” Think of National Oceanic and Atmospheric the Gulf of Mexico? this unfolding story as an example Admin. (NOAA) Teachers may also organize the of this task of continuous gathering National Resources Defense Fund class into three groups, giving each of more information, getting facts group a different section of the and revealing more of the story to National Science Foundation article. Students are to summarize readers. National Wildlife Federation the information provided, highlight Read “Fishing, tourism industries Natural Resources Defense Council a main point and relate what the keep wary eye on oil spill” by Peter Ocean Conservancy reporters communicate that relates Whoriskey. Use it as an example Oil Spill Academic Task Force to the oil spill of 2010. of a follow-up story that reports Sierra Club From what students have read what is known in the weeks since Transocean in these articles and more recent the April 20 explosion. Eleven U.S. Coast Guard reporting, what is the future of the employees lost their lives on the oil U.S. Dept. of Energy ecosystem? rig and a way of life is threatened. U.S. Dept. of the Interior How many other lives will be U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Examine Energy Sources affected? U.S. Food and Drug Admin. The Post’s May 28 editorial ends In the second paragraph with stating that “this disaster Whoriskey states that the should remind Americans of the “economic impact of the nation’s many costs of the nation’s addiction worst every oil spill may be just to fossil fuels.” What are some of beginning.” What are the areas the “costs”? What are some of the viable sources of alternative energy? continued on page 7

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 6 gallons per day which is similar to In The Post some of the estimates they recently that will need to be followed? Use heard about from the news media http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate- the graphic, “Paying for it,” found but much different than the largely change/post-carbon/?hpid=smartliving with “An ecosystem that is altered discredited initial estimates of Oil Spill Crisis Blogs perhaps forever.” Are the areas that 200,000 gals/day. Updates on the massive oil leak in the Gulf Woriskey presents covered in the Valid questions about assumptions of Mexico graphic? used and whether the oil is pure Students are to read further and or mixed with gas will also affect www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ chart the unfolding details for their estimates and may lead to content/gallery/2010/05/27/ one area that interests them. Give some interesting discussions about GA2010052705419.html?hpid=artslot students “Charting the Follow-up mathematical modeling of physical Gulf Oil Spill Story” for the assignment. events. Photo archives and links to articles Other problems and reports on Think Like a … the event can be viewed by clicking www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/ Journalists cover many different on the link for Press Releases. green/ topics. In larger newspapers, Problem 339 uses NASA satellite Green: Science. Policy. Living. they are able to develop areas of imagery. Additional problems are Washington Post archives and recent expertise in science, business and posted as discoveries are made. articles on environmental issues health, while they are ready to cover general interest and breaking Use E-Replica From The Post stories. “Think Like a …” can be The e-Replica Post Previous Post INSIDE guides related to used to illustrate the many ways has several features that aspects of this guide. These are found at of looking at a story as large and are helpful in doing a www.washpost.com/nie under Lesson complex as the Gulf of Mexico oil follow-up to the on-going oil spill Plans. spill. story. Create ALERTS to receive The news article “An ecosystem e-mail notices of Post coverage. The Sea — Rich and Strange that is altered perhaps forever” The SEARCH and ADVANCED September 11, 2009 and the commentary, “In the SEARCH allow a number of issues wake of Deepwater, let’s put the to be reviewed using specific terms. On the Brink — Threatened and environment first” are examples of Endangered Species how thinking like a historian can Consider the Impact March 12, 2009 strengthen a story. The human, environmental and Discuss the different approaches. economic impact of the oil spill is Accelerating Demand for Fuel Students might work in groups to only beginning to be grasped. Give September 9, 2008 do the suggested activities. students “Follow the Oil.” This activity may help students to move Plankton — The Drifters Apply Mathematics from the observable to the concep- October 10, 2007 Use a real problem to apply tual. mathematics as students estimate Students are provided two The Chesapeake Bay the flow rate of oil from the BP Gulf photographs or maps. They are to April 18, 2007 oil leak using recently released BP complete the category. Teachers video images. Visit Space Math @ may discuss with students the five NASA (http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa. categories. Students are asked to gov/) to locate “Problem 342: The create a photo essay on the oil spill. Rate of Oil leakage in the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.” Who Pays? Students will measure the flow Focus on finding ways to evaluate rate from a sequence of images damage, compensation and of the oil flowing from the well. They get a value of about 4 million continued on page 8

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

continued from page 7 Evaluate Oil Spill Cleanup Procedures Check out Ward’s Natural Science Oil Degrading long-term, if not permanent, loss. Read “Oil could spew Microbes Lab Activity 85W 3503 (http://wardsci. until August, officials say,” “An ecosystem that is altered com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0013874_A_name_E_ perhaps forever,” and other articles that present monetary Oil-Degrading+Microbes+Lab+Activity) or call 1-800-962- considerations. Make a list of areas for which claims for 2660. compensation and payment are being made. The activity is designed for six groups of students. • Why is it important to get an accurate reading on the Cultures of freeze-dried specimens are sent using a coupon volume of the oil leak? to request them when needed. The simulations in the lab • Is it the responsibility of the federal, state or local were designed to demonstrate the oil degrading effects of government to pay for cleanup and rebuilding of public two microbes, Penicillium (fungus) and Pseudomonas (bacte- beaches and facilities? rium). • How can business loss be determined? • Does BP have total financial responsibility or are other Illustrate the Technical companies involved? Give students “Cleaning up the BP spill.” It is an example of researchers, journalists and artists working together Develop an Experimental Design to create an informational graphic that can stand alone There are three basic classes of absorbents used for oil spill to communicate technical information. Discussion could clean ups: include: 1. Natural organic materials like peat moss, straw, hay and • Headlines summarize stories. In what way does this one sawdust serve the same purpose? 2. Mineral-based materials like vermiculite, perlite, and • The introductory/explanatory copy states both volcanic ash what technology is and isn’t. How helpful is this in 3. Synthetic organic absorbents like rubber, foam, understanding the technology available to use? polystyrene and polyurethane • How many methods are illustrated? Have students develop a list of materials they would like • In what ways do the images enhance understanding of the to experiment with. They are to develop an experimental available technology? design to test their materials. • How is an informational graphic better than words alone? ■

Charting the Follow-Up Story

1. What You Know. On your own paper, write a summary of the information you know about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

2. New Developments. In the following chart, record new information that you gain from The Washington Post’s continuing coverage of the oil spill and its aftermath.

Observation Data Interviews Other Eyewitness account, Facts, numbers, comparison Reliable sources, variety Informational graphics, Web photograph, video and contrast of figures of points of view resources

3. Your Viewpoint. Pretend you are a columnist for your student newspaper. You determine whether the focus of your column is general interest, environmental, science issues, political or activist. Synthesizing previous information with the new information, write an opinion piece about the oil spill. Name ______Date ______Follow the Oil The human, environmental and economic impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill begins with the explosion of an oil rig on April 20, 2010, and the death of eleven individuals who worked there. Below are a series of photographs and maps that present the ongoing story. You are to add the third in the series, providing dates of publication and captions.

April 22, 2010 May 18, 2010 Date: getty J ohn moore / AP photo Eleven men perish in an explosion and Shrimping season begins two weeks ______fire on the Deepwater Horizon platform. early to avoid oil contamination. ______

May 5, 2010 May 6, 2010

Date: post the washington post the washington Boom locations and forecast for Movement of the oil spill charted for ______that day’s oil spill location. ecosystem and human impact. ______

May 5, 2010 May 14, 2010 Date: char l ie reide / ap photo z/ usaf adrian cadi ______A U.S. Air Force C-130 drops an oil A worker feeds a boom into the dispersant in the cleanup effort. Gulf of Mexico at Biloxi, Miss. ______Name ______Date ______

Follow the Oil | continued

May 12, 2010 June 6, 2010 Date: OOMBERG

BP VIA GETTY IMAGES L DERICK E. HING L E-B ______The underwater camera shows the BP contract workers use vacuum hose main oil leak at the riser pipe. to clean Grand Isle State Park beach. ______

May 25, 2010 June 6, 2010 Date:

______L EE CE ANO REUTERS/ CHAR L IE REIDE /AP

A brown pelican sits above marsh Hermit crabs struggle to cross a patch ______grass and branches stained with oil. of oil on a Louisiana barrier island.

You have images that could begin a short documentary, video or photo essay about the human, environmental and economic impact of the oil spill. Now it is your turn to write the essay that could appear with these images in WP, The Washington Post’s Sunday magazine.

Read Post articles from late April to day’s issue for background and facts. Conduct your own interview. Give a sense of the big picture and then focus on one or two areas that interests you most — the human stories, the Louisiana lifestyle, the ecosystem, marine life, animals, larger environmental issues or economic impact on businesses. Volume 9, Issue 10

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Think Like a …

Articles by Washington Post staff writers Joel Achenbach, David Brown, Juliet Eilperin, David A. Fahrenthold, David Hilzenrath, Marc Kaufman, Steven Mufson and Peter Whoriskey have covered the news, business and economics, politics, science and technology, health and other aspects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began in April 2010.

Journalists need to be adept at locating sources, understanding complex issues and ideas, and communicating information in understandable, accurate manners. After reading stories written by the above writers and those of other Post writers, see if you can think like a journalist, historian, ecologist and engineer.

Think Like a Historian

When was the first oil spill in the United States? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration, oil from natural seeps was collected on the surface of the water by the Chumash Indians in the 1500s in what is now Santa Barbara, California. They used the oil to waterproof their boats. Research and see what you can discover about the following: ■ When was the first oil well drilled? ■ What caused the hopane peak during WWII in Puget Sound in Washington? Hint: Hopane is a chemical “signal” of spilled oil. ■ The Thomas W. Lawson, a schooner built in 1902, was bound for London and loaded with oil. She was caught in a storm and may have been the cause of one of the first oil spills as she was stranded on the Scilly Islands in 1907. ■ There have been 268 oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico since 1960. Six stand out for the amount of oil spilled, duration of the spill response and the environmental impact. Visit NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration to find out more about: Alvenus Burmah Agate Hurricane Katrina Ixtoc Megaborg Ocean 255

Think Like Those Who Think Globally and Act Locally

One Strand at a Time Booms are one type of mechanical countermeasure used to clean up oil spills by trapping and containing the oil before it spreads. There is a shortage of booms available to stop the spread of the oil from the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists fear that the hurricane season combined with several failed attempts to contain the oil will allow the oil to enter the Loop current and be transfered to the Gulf Stream.

There are three main types of booms: ■ Hard Boom – a floating piece of plastic with a cylindrical float at the top and a “skirt” under the water. ■ Sorbent Boom – made out of a material that absorbs oil, it looks like a long sausage. There is no skirt on the bottom. ■ Fire Boom – made to contain oil long enough that it can be lit on fire and burned.

Is there a local answer to the shortage of booms that are used to stop the spread of the spill? One organization, Matter of Trust, is the creator of a program called Hair for Oil Spills that creates booms out of hair and nylon stockings. These booms are incredibly effective at collecting oil, and once retrieved from the water, are fed to worms which convert the booms to fertilizer. One local high school recently invited professionals from Paul Mitchell Beauty School to trim (or cut) the hair of students in an attempt to make a sizable donation to Hair for Oil Spills. Any amount of hair (even half an inch) will make a difference. Can you arrange a similar effort in your community or school?

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Think Like a … | continued

Don’t Dump in the Bay For a step-by-step guide as to how you can do a storm drain project in your local area to bring awareness to the problem of non-point source pollution and the proper disposal of substances such as motor oil, visit the Fairfax County Government’s Web site at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/nvswcd/sdeguide.htm. Think Like an Ecologist

Investigate the Effect of Oil Spills on Marine Animals According to NOAA’s Oil Spill Response, the toxicity of oil for different animals depends on: ■ The type of chemicals that make up the oil or are used to clean up the oil ■ The amount of exposure ■ The means of exposure — inhaled, ingested, absorbed, or external ■ The biomedical risk factors of the animal — age, sex, reproductive stage and health ■ Special aspects — such as certain behaviors

The Gulf of Mexico is home to denizens of wildlife. Mammals, fish, birds, turtles and invertebrates make their home in the mangroves, wetlands, beach sands, shallow and deep waters of the Gulf. Select an organism to research. Include its scientific name, geographic range, biology, niche (its habitat and how it makes its living), place in the food web, special behaviors, and how and why it may be affected by the oil spill. What are the short and long term effects on its population? Think Like an Engineer

1. How can society become less dependent on oil? Research other sources of energy that could reduce our demand for oil. 2. How could ships be designed to be safer for the transport of oil? 3. Research the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in ocean drilling exploration.

Think Like a Journalist

Journalists will evaluate what they know about the situation or topic. They will conduct interviews and do research to get additional information, to be accurate and to more fully understand the topic and to give balance to coverage. They then are ready to inform their readers. 1. What are the safety and health concerns in being eyewitnesses to cleanup efforts? Do journalists need to use the same clothing and masks as those who were trained to do cleanup? 2. Should photojournalists have access to all areas, including aerial overviews?

After doing research on one of the above suggested areas, write an article to inform your readers. Put current events into perspective and context.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Scientists envision devastation for gulf

By Joel Achenbach churning seas, the visible slick at the Washington Post Staff Writer surface has shrunk in recent days. The oil by its nature is hard to peg. • Originally Published May 5, 2010 It’s not a single, coherent blob but rather an irregular, amoeba-shaped expanse The urgent question along the polluted that in some places forms a thin sheen Gulf of Mexico: How bad will this get? on the water and in other locations is No one knows, but with each day that braided and stretched into tendrils of the leaking oil well a mile below the thick, orange-brown gunk. There may be surface remains uncapped, scientists and a large plume of oil in the water column, energy industry observers are imagining unseen. outcomes that range from bad to worse to A BP executive said the company has worst, with some forecasting a calamity had success in treating the oil at the point of historic proportions. Executives from of the leak with dispersant chemicals oil giant BP and other energy companies, sprayed by a robotic submarine. A meanwhile, shared their own worst-case federal fleet has fought high waves in scenario in a Capitol Hill meeting with attempts to skim or burn the oil. Rough lawmakers, saying that if they fail to weather has actually been a blessing, close the well, the spill could increase said Ian MacDonald, an oceanography from an estimated 5,000 barrels a day to professor at Florida State University. In 40,000 barrels or possibly even 60,000 heavy surf, the oil has been breaking up, barrels. and toxic, volatile substances have been Three scientists in separate interviews evaporating. Tuesday said the gulf’s “loop current,” “It chews up the oil; some of it sinks,” a powerful conveyor belt that extends MacDonald said. about 3,000 feet deep, will almost surely The good news ends there. take the oil down through the eastern “What remains forms what’s called gulf to the Straits of Florida, a week-long mousse, which is like chocolate mousse. trip, roughly. The oil would then hang It’s an emulsion, which is an emulsion of a sharp left, riding the Florida Current oil, air and water, in a thick, gelatinous past the Keys and north again, directly layer, and that’s nasty stuff,” MacDonald into the Gulf Stream, which could carry been monitoring the situation, said a said. it within spitting distance of Palm Beach new filament of the current is reaching No one is sure how much oil is spilling. and up the East Coast to Cape Hatteras, toward the oil slick. An early estimate by the Coast Guard of N.C. “The loop current is actually going to a 1,000-barrel-a-day flow was upped to For the moment, the oil flowing from the oil, versus the oil going to the loop 5,000 barrels with the discovery of an the blown-out well in what the industry current,” Weisberg said. additional leak, but officials now caution calls Mississippi Canyon Block 252 is The crisis in the gulf is shot through against giving any estimate too much still many miles north of the loop current. with guesses, rough estimates and credence. A three-day forecast by the National murky figures. Whether the oil blows The oil so far has barely touched Oceanographic and Atmospheric onshore depends on fickle winds. This coastal islands and hasn’t come ashore, Administration does not show the oil oil slick has been elusive and enigmatic, but environmentalists are poised for and the current crossing paths. But lurking off the coast of Louisiana for a catastrophic impact that could last Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at many days as if choosing its moment of decades. the University of South Florida who has attack. It has changed sizes: In rough, continued ON page 15

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

BY ERIC GAY — ASSOCIATED PRESS Before the oil spill, seen May 5 in Louisiana, it appeared that environmentalists would have to accept expanded drilling off U.S. coasts. continued from page 14 to the rig, collapsed. Three leaks have at the Offshore Technology Conference developed, the largest at the end of the in Houston this week, has been famous “It’s going to have a ripple effect drill pipe that extends from the end of in recent years for warning that the throughout the entire food chain, from the riser. industry is running out of oil. Now the plankton to the fish that consume Robotic submarines have tried to he sees a disaster on an epic scale as them, to the predators, like the pelicans activate a structure called a blowout the pressurized subterranean reservoir and the dolphins,” said Doug Inkley, a preventer that sits atop the wellhead known as the Macondo field, tapped for senior scientist with the National Wildlife and has multiple tools for clamping the the first time by Deepwater Horizon, Federation. “It’s like a slow-moving train flow of oil in an emergency. So far those continues to vent into the gulf. wreck about which you can do nothing, efforts have failed. “It really is a catastrophe,” Simmons or very little.” “It’s really, really devastating,” said said. “I don’t think they’re going to At a news conference Tuesday, Greg McCormack, director of the be able to put the leak out until the Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Petroleum Extension Service at the reservoir depletes. It’s just too technically he had asked federal officials to look for University of Texas. “On the political challenging.” ways to increase the Mississippi River’s front, are we going to be allowed to drill He said BP’s cleanup costs could ruin flow to keep the slick at bay. in the deep water again? That’s going to the company. “Let’s make no mistake about what’s be more devastating to society than to “They’re going to have to clean up the at stake here,” he said. “This is our very the industry. We’re going to have much Gulf of Mexico,” he said. way of life.” higher oil prices because of that.” Jindal’s news conference Tuesday The crisis began April 20 with an Few people have a more apocalyptic opened with an invocation from Randy explosion and fire on the Deepwater view than Matt Simmons, retired Craighead, the pastor of a New Orleans Horizon, a huge rig owned by Transocean chairman of the energy investment area church. He asked for divine and leased by BP. The South Korean- banking firm Simmons & Company intervention. “Father, we pray for a built rig, insured for $560 million, sank International and a 41-year veteran of prevailing north wind,” he said, “to drive two days later; the riser, the pipe leading the industry. Simmons, who will speak that oil slick southward.” ■

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Oil disaster could produce a sea change

By Juliet Eilperin “This does serve as a wake-up call, to language, “We will have to change Washington Post Staff Writer both the administration and Congress, things from where they were before, to focus more effort on reducing the but we need to figure out what that • Originally Published May 6, 2010 demand for oil,” said Sierra Club is.” The aide that the bill’s sponsors are Executive Director Michael Brune. encouraged by the fact that the spill has The catastrophic oil spill unfolding in A little over a month ago, it appeared that “engaged and activated a large part of the gulf has provided the environmental environmentalists would have to accept the environmental community. We feel community with a rare opportunity the prospect of expanded oil drilling like this is a really good opportunity to shift public opinion on climate and off the U.S. coasts, as President Obama for us.” energy issues, an opening on which it identified new areas for exploration Reaching a drilling compromise that has been quick to capitalize. and the three senators working on a will attract Republican support without National environmental groups — bipartisan climate bill — John F. Kerry alienating Democrats such as Menendez including the Sierra Club and the Natural (D-Mass.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Nelson remains a challenge. For the Resources Defense Fund — have rushed and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) — moment, however, environmentalists volunteers and scientific experts to the inserted offshore drilling provisions into appear to think they have the upper Gulf of Mexico to help with the cleanup in their draft. But now the administration hand. The Sierra Club has not only the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon has said it will review its proposal, mobilized 2,000 people to volunteer rig’s collapse. But they are also holding and two GOP governors — California’s in the Gulf states, it will hold a “Clean news conferences, filming TV spots and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida’s It Up” rally Saturday in New Orleans organizing protest rallies, all aimed at Charlie Crist — have reversed course along with simultaneous “solidarity persuading lawmakers to block new and said they oppose any drilling off events” such as demonstrations at offshore oil drilling and pass legislation their state’s shores. BP gas stations around the country curbing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. At least two Democratic senators, and mock oil spills that will involve “It’s very difficult, in our society, to cut Robert Menendez (N.J.) and Bill Nelson temporarily laying black trash bags on through the din and get people to listen (Fla.), have said they won’t support beaches. Dozens of green groups now and pay attention,” said Friends of the a climate proposal that encourages participate in a daily “oil disaster war Earth Managing Director David Hirsch, offshore drilling, and even some room call” to plot their strategy. whose group is preparing TV ads on the moderate Republican senators say they “I’m not crazy about what got it there, issue. “Unfortunately, these are the times want to reexamine the role offshore but we’ve got to take advantage of when it happens. These are the moments drilling should play in the nation’s energy it,” Ocean Conservancy President Vicki when you can be heard.” supply. “Whether it should be there in Spruill said of the spill’s moment in the Jack Gerard, president of the American the future is an open question,” said Sen. media spotlight. “We’ve got to turn this Petroleum Institute, questioned Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.). crisis into an opportunity.” environmentalists’ tactics. “It’s BP was one of three major oil companies But Obama and his top deputies have unfortunate that some would seize on prepared to endorse the compromise yet to talk about reducing the nation’s a tragic accident to push a political Senate climate bill last month — dependence on fossil fuels in connection agenda,” Gerard said. “We don’t have the Lieberman described them to reporters with the oil spill, something that worries facts yet.” in late March as “our new friends” — environmentalists such as Brune. Although the exact cause of the blowout and Lieberman indicated Tuesday that “There’s no mention yet of how to get remains unclear, activists have used the he did not think the senators would pull to the root of this,” he said. “If we’re spill to bolster their argument that the offshore oil drilling from the package not getting to the root problem — our risks of offshore oil exploration outweigh before they formally introduced it. addiction to oil — we’re going to see this its benefits, and that the United States But a Democratic Senate aide who problem repeated again and again.” ■ would be better off focused on promoting spoke on the condition of anonymity alternative energy sources. said when it comes to the bill’s drilling

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Louisiana’s defense plan: Bulked-up islands

By Marc Kaufman including the Breton dome on the gushing Washington Post Staff Writer National Wildlife well, 5,000 feet below Refuge. the surface. BP officials • Originally Published May 10, 2010 A project of this said Sunday that they scale normally requires had moved the structure VENICE, LA. — With the prospects years of environmental 1,600 feet away from the dimming for capping the Deepwater assessments, but local site and were working Horizon oil well blowout anytime and state officials on making it work soon, federal, state and local officials say there is no time and bringing in other are actively assessing a plan to quickly for those now. The technologies, including and massively shore up the battered current boom system a smaller dome. barrier islands that protect the Louisiana was of little use even in BP Chief Operating marshlands. Sunday’s calm waters, Officer Doug Suttles The plan, which local officials hope to and officials say they was in Venice, La., on present to the White House within days, face an environmental Sunday and met with calls for building up almost 70 miles of disaster when hurricane local officials about the barrier islands by dredging sand and season arrives and the barrier islands plan, mud from a mile out into the Gulf of oily water is pushed into the marshlands which he described as “not yet complete.” Mexico and depositing it onto the outer ashore. He said that the company was interested shores of the islands. Efforts to protect the Louisiana in further exploring the project after it’s Some of the islands included in what marshlands, some of the most productive more fully developed but that BP hoped local officials call their line of defense in the world, became even more urgent to be able to cap the well soon so that are federal bird and wildlife sanctuaries, after the failure Saturday to place a a major barrier-building program might not be necessary. Suttles met with Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, which is especially threatened by the oil. Nungesser said 10 dredges were available to start work, which he hoped could be done night and day. “We believe this can be done quickly and in a way that doesn’t hurt the pelicans and sea turtles and other great wildlife out there,” he said. “But here’s the really bad truth: If we don’t do it, the chances are good those birds and animals will be destroyed by the oil later this summer, and the marshes will be destroyed, too.” Dredging countless tons of sand is costly, and Nungesser said Sunday that estimates for a full “line of defense” were BY GERALD HERBERT— ASSOCIATED PRESS Members of the Louisiana National Guard build a levee to protect inland waterways about $250 million. He said that estimate from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Elmer’s Island in Grand Isle, La., Friday May 14, 2010. continued ON page 18

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

continued from page 17 Graves said the threat of long- term or permanent damage to the is based on building the islands marshes was real and required up to a six-foot-high slope, which forceful action. He also said the engineers said was necessary to state had been hampered in its resist future storms. The plan also efforts to protect its 77,000 miles calls for creating passages within of winding coastline because of a and between islands so water can significant shortage in booms. move back and forth. Nungesser, who spent two hours Estimates of how much with President Obama when he oil is leaking from the well visited Louisiana and has also range from 5,000 to 26,500 met at length with Environmental barrels per day. Although chemical Protection Agency Administrator dispersants have kept any large Lisa P. Jackson, said he was oil slicks from hitting shore, oil optimistic the administration would globules and an oil sheen have come help expedite the approval process. up on some of the barrier islands, A self-styled “Reagan Republican,” and Nungesser said some have he said that he was deeply impressed even moved beyond the barriers by Obama’s willingness to come to and closer to the marshes. his parish, by his knowledge of the The Associated Press also problem and by what he called “his reported Sunday that thick blobs very obvious desire to help.” of tar washed up on Alabama’s But it was unclear Sunday how white sand beaches, yet another the White House would respond to sign the spill was spreading. such a dramatic request involving The barrier island plan was made such a sensitive environment. public on Saturday by Gov. Bobby Bringing tons of sand, and even Jindal, who said his staff was also Mississippi River sediment, out to working hard to make it happen. fragile barrier islands is sure to be At a news conference in Venice, controversial with environmental near the Gulf tip of Plaquemines advocates. It also might not work. Parish, Jindal credited Nungesser The barrier islands, five to 10 miles with developing the plan and said BY CHARLIE RIEDEL —ASSOCIATED PRESS offshore, are much smaller than they A rescued Brown Pelican is cleaned Saturday, May 15, 2010, he supported it fully. A far more at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Buras, La. used to be because of hurricanes — limited version of the plan had but more importantly because of been in the works for several years, changes in the environment created but Nungesser said the oil threat led to the expansion and by the levees, jetties and canals built to control the Mississippi heightened sense of immediacy. He also said a Dutch dredging and to enable oil and gas exploration and drilling. firm came to the parish last week and helped officials develop Aaron Viles, an environmental leader who heads the Louisiana- a more expansive plan. based Gulf Restoration Network, said that he understands Garret Graves, chairman of the state Coastal Protection why local leaders are pushing for a large dredging and island- and Restoration Authority, said the state had worked on the building plan but that he worries about the consequences. proposal with the joint oil spill commission led by the Coast “BP has created a situation where there are no good Guard and BP but not with the EPA or the White House. He answers,” he said. “Rebuilding the barrier islands slowly and said that numerous state and federal permits would be needed carefully is a very good idea. Doing it quickly could make a bad before major dredging could begin but that there wouldn’t be situation worse.” ■ any problems obtaining them from the state. Officials might have to apply for the federal permits while the works begins, Staff writer Eli Saslow contributed to this report. he said.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Deep-sea chemical dispersants weighed for cleanup of Gulf of Mexico oil spill

By Juliet Eilperin the oil from the spill poses a greater Washington Post Staff Writer threat to wildlife and vegetation than the chemicals in the dispersants. • Originally Published May 10, 2010 “You’re putting something into the water, it’s less toxic than the oil, so it’s a The decision on whether to use chem- trade-off,” said Coast Guard Commandant ical dispersants deep below the sea’s Thad Allen, national incident commander surface to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil for the BP spill, in an interview. spill boils down to two central questions: But the question of the broader trade- Is it worth taking this unprecedented off — whether these compounds will step to protect the region’s sensitive and wreak havoc on the marine system over ecologically valuable wetlands, even at time — remains unanswered. Five years the potential expense of its marine life? ago, the National Academy of Sciences And because the scientific literature on issued a nearly 400-page study on oil this question is so sparse, should federal dispersants, which cautioned that “the officials conduct extensive new research current understanding of key processes before making the leap? and mechanisms is inadequate to confi- “It’s sort of the devil you know versus dently support a decision to apply disper- the devil you don’t,” said Linda Greer, a sants.” senior scientist at the Natural Resources The NAS panel urged additional scien- Defense Council. “It’s really shocking to tific inquiry into the matter, but little of me how little research has been done into that research has taken place. And now, these basic questions.” the federal government will have to make Responders to the downed Deepwater a significant decision without it. Horizon rig have spent days applying The Environmental Protection Agency more than 253,000 gallons of oil disper- is analyzing water samples taken from sant — Nalco’s Corexit 9500 — to break deeper areas in the gulf where responders up the tens of thousands of gallons of oil have applied the dispersants, according that have reached the ocean’s surface. to federal officials, and will report back But these compounds have never been before a broader application takes place. used at depth. Federal officials have “It’s a hard call,” said Carys L. conducted two rounds of tests to deter- Mitchelmore, one of the authors of mine dispersants’ effects hundreds of feet the 2005 NAS report and an associate underwater, and they are consulting with professor at the University of Maryland state and federal agencies as well as local Center for Environmental Science’s community leaders before making a deci- Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. sion to proceed. Applying dispersants at depth could On a basic level, dispersants work kill fish larvae — such as those from the same way dishwashing liquid works the imperiled Atlantic bluefin tuna that on grease: They break up the oil into use the Gulf of Mexico for spawning tiny droplets by attaching to the oil, grounds — and threaten filter-feeders, which then becomes diluted in the water. Scientists and policymakers agree that continued ON page 20

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

continued from page 19 regulating their body temperature. And through wind and wave, and if it’s more most of the testing has been conducted in toxic. such as whale sharks, that pass through laboratories rather than in the field, which David Horsup, Nalco’s division vice those waters. It could also harm commer- might mean that scientists have underes- president for energy services research, cially valuable oysters and mussels, as timated the toxic threat a mixture of oil said that dispersed oil at the surface did well as organisms low on the food chain and chemicals could pose. New research degrade more quickly and that the initial that sustain larger marine creatures. suggests that natural light enhances oil’s results of applying it at depth were “very “You would be killing off their food,” toxicity, Mitchelmore said, which would encouraging.” Mitchelmore said. threaten translucent organisms such as When it comes to treating an oil spill, There are other unknowns: Almost no fish larvae. he added, “it’s not a panacea by any research has been done on whether the In addition, Greer said, scientists do means. It’s a very good method, not the dispersants will undermine the water not know whether chemically treated oil only one, and it has to be used in conjunc- repellency of birds, which is essential for degrades as quickly as oil that’s dispersed tion with other tactics.” ■

BY LEE CELANO— REUTERSS BY DAVID QUINN — ASSOCIATED PRESS A scientist holds a clump of sand and oil, Massive sheens of oil are seen from an altitude of 3,500 feet over the Gulf of suspected from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. in South Pass, La.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Tuesday May 18, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Mr. Obama steps up on oil spill response PRESIDENT OBAMA put a welcome scope of the challenge the government end Thursday to some of the unattractive faces. “There is going to be damage finger-pointing and responsibility- that is heartbreaking to see.” And, he dodging of recent weeks with respect acknowledged, “There are going to to the disastrous BP oil spill. His be places where things fall short.” He administration until now had painted a repeated, accurately, that the problem of murky picture of lines of authority and regulator-industry coziness predated his responsibility. tenure and had been somewhat improved Was BP organizing the response to by Mr. Salazar, but he also admitted that the leak? If the government was already his administration had not done enough in charge, why did Interior Secretary before the spill to cure that problem. As Ken Salazar insist that the government oil continues to lap ashore and cleanup might yet push BP out of the way? Did begins in earnest, the president has the government need the oil company’s made clear that Americans can hold him expertise? Was the whole thing the fault accountable for the effectiveness of that of the previous administration? effort, no matter how difficult the task or Mr. Obama cleared that all away: how fraught the politics. “From the moment this disaster began,” Perhaps most important: Mr. Obama he said, “the federal government has also argued that this disaster should been in charge of the response effort.” remind Americans of the many costs He noted that federal law prescribes of the nation’s addiction to fossil fuels, the organization of the response: As underscoring the need for sensible, the responsible party, BP is conducting comprehensive climate and energy operations to cap the well and paying legislation. He pointed out that Sens. contractors that specialize in oil-spill John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. cleanup, but all at federal direction. Lieberman (I-Conn.) have assembled a “Every key decision and action they take bill that deserves a bipartisan hearing must be approved by us in advance.” this year. That is the long view America’s The president stepped back from the leaders must see, and soon, if the country boot-on-the-neck-of-BP rage. “I take is ever to end its dependence on the responsibility. It is my job to make sticky, black film threatening the Gulf sure that everything is done to shut Coast. this down.” He was honest about the Friday, May 28, 2010

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

EUGENE ROBINSON In the wake of Deepwater, let’s put the environment first In June 1969, the stretch of the catastrophe, and certainly not as a moral Cuyahoga River that runs through imperative. Cleveland was so polluted that it caught Yes, many Americans feel good fire. Time magazine described the about going through the motions of Cuyahoga this way: “Chocolate-brown, environmentalism. We’ve made a religion oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it of recycling, which is an important oozes rather than flows.” change. We turn off the lights when The spectacle of a river in flames helped we leave the room — and we’re even galvanize the environmental movement, beginning to use fluorescent bulbs. Some and the following year, with Richard of us, though not enough, understand Nixon as president, the Environmental the long-term threat posed by climate Protection Agency was established. In change; a subset of those who see the 1972, Congress passed the landmark danger are even willing to make lifestyle Clean Water Act. Today, the Cuyahoga changes to try to avert a worst-case is clean enough to support more than 40 outcome. species of fish. But where the rubber hits the road — We still don’t know the full extent of in public policy — we’ve reverted to our the environmental disaster unfolding in pre-enlightenment ways. When there’s a the Gulf of Mexico — the impact on perceived conflict between environmental avian and aquatic life, on fisheries, on stewardship and economic growth, the tourism, on the delicate ecology of coastal bottom line wins. marshes and barrier islands. We do know, Barack Obama is, in many admirable though, that it is the worst oil spill in ways, our most progressive president in our nation’s history, far surpassing the decades. But as an environmentalist, let’s Exxon Valdez incident. And maybe the face it, he’s no Richard Nixon. Before shocking images from the gulf of dead the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded — fish, oiled pelicans and shores lapped allowing, by some estimates, as many as by viscous “brown mousse” will refocus a million gallons of crude oil to gush into attention on the need to preserve the the Gulf of Mexico each day for more than environment, not just exploit it. a month — Obama had announced plans “Drill, baby, drill” isn’t just the bizarrely to permit new offshore drilling. “I don’t inappropriate chant that we remember agree with the notion that we shouldn’t from the Republican National Convention do anything,” Obama said at the time. “It two years ago. It’s a pretty good turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today indication of where the national ethos generally don’t cause spills. They are has drifted. Environmental regulation is technologically very advanced.” seen as a bureaucratic imposition — not as an insurance policy against potential continued ON page 24

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

continued FROM page 23 beaches and marshlands; those are made by private firms and are being deployed Obama has wisely backed away from by unemployed fishermen. that decision. The technology involved Obama has rethought his enthusiasm in deep-sea oil drilling turned out to be for offshore drilling. Now he, and the far more advanced than the technology rest of us, should rethink the larger needed to halt a spill if something goes issue — the trade-off between economic wrong — essentially, like engineering development and environmental a car to double its top speed without protection. In the long run, our natural thinking to upgrade the brakes. This resources are all we’ve got. Defending oversight apparently wasn’t noticed by them must be a higher priority than anyone who had the power to correct it. our recent presidents, including Obama, Calls for Obama to somehow “take have made it. over” the emergency response ring Energy policy is one of Obama’s hollow. Take it over with what? Hands-on priorities. He talks about “clean coal,” intervention has never been government’s which I believe to be an oxymoron, and role in this kind of situation. BP and the favors technologies — such as carbon other oil companies had the undersea capture and sequestration — that are robots and the deep-water experience. new and untested. The environmental Other private companies owned and risks must be a central and paramount operated the skimmers that remove concern, not a mere afterthought. Let’s the oil from the surface. There is no preclude the next Deepwater Horizon huge government reserve of the booms right now. ■ that are needed to protect Louisiana’s Friday, May 28, 2010

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program A timeline of BP’s attempts to stop the flow of oil April 20 — May 29, 2010 ✂ Note: Note: Cut graphic here along line dotted and connect with tape to see complete graphic.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Oil could spew until August, officials say By Steven Mufson and David S. Hilzenrath the gulf.” He added: “The main thing hoses blasting oil and gas up, while two now is to contain it.” fire hoses were used to blast the drilling Washington Post Staff Writers BP plans to saw off a bent and broken mud down. They never stood much of a pipe attached to the five-story tall blowout chance.” • Originally Published May 31, 2010 preventer that sits over the well. The Sources at two companies involved company will then lower a new apparatus with the well said that BP also discovered As BP readied its latest fallback that would funnel oil and gas to vessels new damage inside the well below the plan to stop oil gushing from one of its on the sea surface. But until the new seafloor and that, as a result, some of the wells in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama apparatus is in place, cutting the riser drilling mud that was successfully forced administration and the company warned pipe will temporarily increase the flow into the well was going off to the side into that the crude could continue flowing of oil into the sea by 10 to 20 percent, rock formations. until August, compounding threats to because the procedure will remove a “We discovered things that were broken coastal wetlands, fisheries and beaches. section of pipe where a kink is limiting in the sub-surface,” said a BP official who White House energy and climate the flow, Browner said. spoke on the condition of anonymity. He adviser Carol M. Browner said Sunday said that mud was making it “out to the that the oil spill was “probably the 4th fallback plan so far side, into the formation.” The official said biggest environmental disaster we’ve Dudley expressed optimism about the he could not describe what was damaged ever faced in this country” and that “we latest fallback plan — the fourth so far in the well. Documents released Sunday are prepared for the worst.” On the CBS — saying on CBS, “With this, we think by the House Committee on Energy and show Face the Nation, she said that the we can contain the majority of the oil Commerce point to problems BP was “American people need to know that it is and gas.” having drilling the Macondo well, possible we will have oil leaking from this BP and the Obama administration were although some of them date to 2009 well until August when the relief wells also trying to contain the rising tide of when BP was using a different rig with will be finished.” public frustration as the oil spill comes to different equipment. Some documents Those two wells, which BP began the end of its messy sixth week. describe previously reported trouble BP drilling early this month, are expected Drilling experts said they feared that was having controlling the well. The to intersect the damaged one and seal it BP’s effort last week to stop the flow company later drilled a new well section, near the reservoir far below the seafloor. of oil and gas with heavy drilling mud costing it more than $20 million. The first has reached 7,000 feet below might have done further damage to the The longer oil seeps out of the ground, the seafloor, and the second has reached well and the blowout preventer, possibly the more politics are seeping into the 3,500 feet below the floor, but progress complicating the next effort to capture public debate as people question why gets slower the deeper the wells go. With the oil and gas and bring them to surface the oil industry and the government the arrival of hurricane season Tuesday, vessels. were so ill-prepared. the drilling could be slowed if the rigs Some drilling experts said that the In an echo of the counting of days need to be evacuated during storms. “top kill” effort failed over the weekend during the politically debilitating Iranian The grim assessment came in the wake because the force of the oil and gas hostage crisis during President Jimmy of the failure last week of BP’s “top kill” pushing up from the reservoir 13,000 Carter’s administration, Jake Tapper on effort to stop the flow of oil from the feet below the seafloor was so great that ABC introduced his program as “Day 41 damaged well by shooting heavy drilling it had shoved most of the drilling mud of the Gulf oil spill.” mud into the hole. through the blowout preventer and into Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said BP BP managing director Bob Dudley, who the sea. “made enormous mistakes and probably also made the rounds of Sunday-morning Tadeusz W. Patzek, chairman of cut corners.” Appearing on CNN’s State shows, said on ABC’s This Week that petroleum and geosystems engineering of the Union, Vitter also said the federal “the next step is to make sure that we at the University of Texas at Austin, said minimize the oil and pollution going into it was the “equivalent of six or seven fire continued ON page 29

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 28 because “things could happen that one. A BP official said that it was “not would make the situation worse.” unusual” to drill a second relief well and government has failed in its response to But she stopped short on CBS of that it “very likely” would have been the crisis, “particularly with the effort to saying that Chu ordered an end to the done anyway. protect our coast and our marsh.” top-kill maneuver. But Browner said that “BP said we’re Last week, Minnesota Gov. Pressed to give an example of going to drill one relief well. These are Tim Pawlenty (R) questioned the administration influence, Browner cited expensive wells for them to drill. We said administration’s reliance on BP’s the drilling of two relief wells instead of that’s not good enough. You’re going to estimates of the volume drill a second one.” of oil, which has been BP has said it would flowing into the gulf take responsibility for since a blowout set fire to damage from the spill, the Deepwater Horizon but BP chief executive drilling rig, which sank, Tony Hayward on killing 11 people. Sunday disputed claims Browner conceded by scientists that large on CBS that “BP has undersea plumes have a financial interest in been set adrift by the these numbers” on the gulf oil spill. volume of the leak. The Associated Press “They will pay penalties reported that during at the end of the day, a tour of a company a per-barrel, per-day staging area for cleanup penalty,” she said. But workers, Hayward said she said the latest, BP’s samples showed increased estimates of “no evidence” that oil oil flowing from the well was suspended in large were produced by an masses beneath the independent government surface. review panel. “The oil is on the “At the end of the day, surface,” Hayward said. the government tells BP “Oil has a specific gravity what to do, and at the end that’s about half that of of the day, we will hold water. It wants to get to BP accountable for all the surface because of of this,” she said. the difference in specific She also sought gravity.” to portray the Scientists from administration as in several universities charge and engaged. She have reported plumes said an administration of what appears to be “brain trust” led by oil suspended in clouds Energy Secretary stretching for miles and Steven Chu urged BP reaching hundreds of to stop adding pressure feet beneath the gulf’s to the well through surface. ■ the top-kill maneuver

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program Fishing, tourism industries keep wary eye on oil spill Where crude lands, major parts of coastal economy could be wrecked

By Peter Whoriskey Washington Post Staff Writer

• Originally Published June 3, 2010

The gargantuan blob of light Louisiana crude floating in the Gulf of Mexico has already closed oyster beds, shut down shrimpers, cancelled fishing tournaments and panicked beach hoteliers from New Orleans to Key West. But the economic impact of the nation’s worst ever oil spill may be just beginning. With the vast majority of the oil floating FRITZ HOFFMAN—NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION offshore, where it will land and whom it Workers contracted by BP search for tar balls that have washed up on the beach in will affect have become a guessing game Grand Isle, La. fraught with worry. Wherever the oil goes, it threatens to obliterate billions tens of thousands of people and generate Shrimp boats idle of dollars for the region’s tourism and billions of dollars in economic activity As the slick slides toward Mississippi, fishing industries. for coastal areas stretching hundreds of Alabama and Florida, the damage could “It’s like waiting for a hurricane to hit,” miles. Beyond fishing and tourism, the spread. said Mike Voisin, owner of Motivatit offshore oil business is likely to feel the At the Mariah Jade Shrimp Company Seafood, which harvests oysters from effects soon, too, as some exploration in Chauvin, La., Kim and David Chauvin the gulf. “We don’t know where it will halts under a federal moratorium, have watched as the closing of about a go. Every day we look at the forecasting analysts said, and new safety measures quarter of the gulf to fishing has made maps.” are required. the flow of shellfish to their dock just “We’re praying hard,” said Ed “It’s clearly going to make deep-water a trickle. The company has three of its Schroeder, director of the tourist bureau exploration more costly,” said Edward own shrimping vessels, which have been in Pensacola Bay, Fla., where people are Morse, a Credit Suisse oil analyst. “My enlisted to help contain the spill. wishing away an oily sheen about 10 rough estimate is that it will have at “Our dock is pretty much closed,” said miles off the coast. most a 10 to 15 percent increase in costs Kim Chauvin, 42. “At this point, we are A report of tarballs on the beach led developing crude from deep water.” going to be looking for other jobs. . . . the news in the local paper last week, For gulf regions from Texas to Key What’s really scary is wondering how though it is uncertain whether the tar West, commercial fishing contributes $1 much marine life will be left when this came from the spill. “If we were picking billion to GDP, tourism and recreation is all over.” a time for something like this to hit, it contribute $13 billion, and oil and The direct impact of the oil on wouldn’t be now,” Schroeder said. “Our gas contribute $11 billion, according Louisiana’s oyster beds has been minimal, season just started.” to figures from Charles Colgan of the At stake are industries that employ National Ocean Economics Program. continued ON page 31

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 30 depend on summer beach vacationers balls proved unrelated to the Deepwater and could be devastated. Horizon gusher. But the attention Voisin said, but the precautionary Rust-colored oil washed ashore highlighted the anxiety along the coast. closures of the beds are taking a big toll on barrier islands off Alabama and “My everyday worry is, when are they on his business, which is down about Mississippi on Tuesday, and residents going to cut off the flow — and can they 50 percent. and business owners are bracing for cut it off?” said Jim Meadlock, owner of Moreover, he said, the news coverage more. the Perdido Beach Resort, a 346-room has made diners wary of gulf shrimp and The tourism and recreation industries hotel in Alabama. oysters, once prized by connoisseurs. in the gulf could take substantial For now, public perception of the risk “We’re beginning to have people ask, hits from the oil spill, said Colgan, a poses as much of a problem as the actual ‘Where is that seafood from?’ And if it’s professor at the University of Southern impact. from the gulf, they ask for the buffalo Maine and the author of a study on the In Panama City, Fla., the tourist wings and the steak.” Gulf Coast economy. development board is spending $800,000 Though the majority of seafood “The headlines alone have scared on television and billboard advertising consumed in the United States is people off,” he said, warning that to assure the public that the beaches imported, the gulf region accounts for predicting the spill’s impact remains are clean. Each day, officials transmit about a fifth of the nation’s oyster difficult at best. “There’s a drive to a date-stamped picture of the beach to production and more than 75 percent of give this disaster dimensions. But this electronic billboards in the Southeastern the domestic shrimp output, according is uncharted territory. None of us who cities from which their visitors tend to to Moody’s. have studied these things over the years come. The county is getting $1 million The consequences for tourism could have any experience in deep-water in money from BP, and that will be used be even greater, analysts say, particularly events of this size.” to pay for the ads, officials said. if the oil begins washing up to the east, “Today’s forecast: Clear waters and especially in Florida. The economies of ‘Can they cut it off? clean beaches,” the billboards say. ■ coastal towns and cities from Bay St. Reports of tarballs last week in Key Louis, Miss., to the Florida Panhandle West drew news crews, though the

BY LEE CELANO — REUTERS A beach at a state park on Grand Isle, La., is empty during the Memorial Day weekend after it was closed because of the spill.

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

THE GULF An ecosystem that is altered perhaps forever

By Joel Achenbach and David Brown Mexico. The Mexican national oil company Pemex tried to Washington Post Staff Writer kill the well with drilling mud, and then with steel and lead balls dropped into the wellbore. It tried to contain the oil • Originally Published June 6, 2010 with a cap nicknamed The Sombrero. Finally, after 290 days, a relief well plugged the hole with cement and the spill came Snorkeling along a coral reef near Veracruz, Mexico, in to an end — but only after polluting the gulf with 138 million 2002, Texas biologist Wes Tunnell spotted what looked like a gallons of crude. ledge of rock covered in sand, shells, algae and hermit crabs. That remains the worst accidental oil spill in history — but He knew, from years of research at the reef, that it probably the Deepwater Horizon blowout off the Louisiana coast is wasn’t a rock at all. He stabbed it with his diving knife. His rapidly gaining on it. blade pulled up gunk. The spill has now been partially contained with the cap that “Sure enough, it was tar from the Ixtoc spill,” Tunnell said BP engineers lowered onto the mile-deep geyser Thursday Twenty-three years earlier, in 1979, an oil well named Ixtoc night. That means roughly a quarter to half of the flow is being I had a blowout in 150 feet of water in the southern Gulf of piped to a surface ship, the national incident commander, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Saturday. BP hopes to improve the rate captured in coming days. If official government estimates are correct, 23 million to 47 million gallons of oil have spewed so far. Ecosystems can survive and eventually recover from very large oil spills, even ones that are Ixtoc-sized. In most spills, the volatile compounds evaporate. The sun breaks down others. Some compounds are dissolved in water. Microbes consume the simpler, “straight chain” hydrocarbons — and the warmer it is, the more they eat. The gulf spill has climate in its

BY GERALD HERBERT—ASSOCIATED PRESS favor. Scientists agree: P. J. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican that was stuck in oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, La., just off the Gulf of Mexico. continued ON page 33

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 32 too hard to digest. What’s left tends to be dense, tar-like, largely inert and Horrible as the spill may be, it’s not attractive only to people who like to going to turn the Gulf of Mexico into pave roads. another Dead Sea. By 2003, there were still 21,000 But neither is this ecological crisis gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, going to be over anytime soon. The Rice reports in a recently published spill will have ripple effects far into the study on the lingering effects of the future, scientists warn. Exxon Valdez spill. The oil can be “This spill will be lasting for years found by someone scraping three to if not decades,” said Doug Inkley, six inches below the surface of the senior scientist at the National Wildlife beach. Rice writes that an oil spill Federation. will be “over” when the oil itself is Some of the immediate effects gone, the litigation has been settled of a spill are obvious — witness the and there are no continued negative gut-wrenching images of soaked and effects in the environment. suffocating seabirds in the gulf. But “The Exxon Valdez spill does not some types of ecological damage are meet any of these three criteria,” he hard to measure and can take years to wrote. document. Many of the creatures that die will sink to the bottom, making Limited research funding mortality estimates difficult. Damage to The oil drifting north from the the reproduction rate of sea turtles may Ixtoc spill not only wiped out take years to play out. hundreds of million of crabs on The Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million Mexican beaches but, also far to gallons killed as many as 700,000 sea the north, managed to killed 80 birds and 5,000 sea otters initially, but percent of the segmented worms and even 21 years later, populations of sea shrimp-like crustaceans that live in otters in areas of Prince William Sound the sand of Texas beaches, according haven’t recovered. The Pacific herring to Tunnell, a biologist at Texas A&M population collapsed after the spill for University at Corpus Christi. But the reasons that remain in dispute among tiny animals have rapid reproductive scientists. Two intensely studied pods of cycles, and in about two and a half killer whales in the sound suffered heavy years they had recovered, he said. losses in the spill and have struggled Poor government funding limited since. One of the two pods has no more research on the broader ecological reproductive females. It is doomed to impact of the spill, however: “We extinction. don’t have any comprehensive, good And the oil? scientific studies of what happened.” “It’s still sitting there,” said Stan Rice, There are on record since 1970 program manager for habitat studies about 1,700 spills from tankers in at the National Oceanographic and which at least 2,100 gallons of oil Atmospheric Administration’s Auke Bay were discharged into water. Scientists Fisheries Lab. “It’s still liquid, you can have been monitoring the effects of still smell it and touch it.” some of them for decades, including The degradation of oil slows over a 189,000-gallon spill that occurred the years. The microbes move on, as off Cape Cod in September 1969. the large and complex compounds that remain, known as the asphaltenes, are continued ON page 34

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program continued from page 33 mats lasting decades, Tunnell said. He toxicity. The Deepwater Horizon spill said the beaches are a 3 on a scale of 1 to has the distinction of being the deepest Five years after that spill, fiddler crabs 10 in terms of sensitivity to oil spills, but blowout in history. Also unique has in the oiled marsh were sluggish and the marshes are a 10. Attempts to clean been the huge quantity of chemical reproduced poorly. In many cases they a marsh will backfire. After the huge dispersants sprayed on the surface and dug burrows too shallow to protect Amoco Cadiz spill of 68 million gallons at the leak on the seafloor. There’s themselves over the winter. off Brittany in 1978, French authorities little scientific understanding of how the Astonishingly, many of those problems scraped the top off the oiled marshes. dispersants might affect the deep-water remained 35 years later, when a graduate It was a mistake: Most never came back. ecosystem. student, Jennifer Culbertson, surveyed Although many scientists and officials Coral reefs, only recently studied, can the marsh. She found that the fiddler have warned that the marshes are in take centuries to develop in the cold, crabs reacted slowly to startling motions, danger, one scientist who has studied oxygen-poor depths; there are several apparently the result of a narcotic effect oil spills in Louisiana marshes said that such reefs directly beneath the oil slick. of oil that still formed a visible layer four these wetlands are generally able to Deep plumes of oil have been reported inches below the marsh surface. (A similar recover if human intervention doesn’t in preliminary research by scientists on clumsiness has been seen in juvenile make the situation worse. research vessels. As bacteria feast on the spot fish when they chew on sediments “The vegetation itself generally oil they could deplete the oxygen levels contaminated with compounds from oil.) recovers in a year, although sometimes further, creating unusually deep “dead When the crabs burrowed down and hit it may take three or four,” said Irving A. zones.” the layer of 40-year-old oil, they veered Mendelssohn, a biologist at Louisiana “If you’re a creature that can’t move, horizontally. State University. Only if oil sinks in deep, it’s not good,” Overton said. “The marsh is still waging chemical or if repeated oilings kill off new shoots, In the years to come, scientists will warfare several inches below the surface,” does the marsh die, he added. study this spill in the same way they said Christopher M. Reddy, a chemist at That’s not just a biological change but a have studied the Exxon Valdez disaster. the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute geological one, points out LSU professor The gulf ecosystems may survive, but in Massachusetts who helped supervise Edward Overton. “Biological stocks can they’ll likely have changed in certain Culbertson’s research. be replenished a lot easier than land details, according to LSU biologist Kevin loss,” he said. R. Carman. Making it worse Every oil spill has unique features, from “Undoubtedly, life will get a foothold,” Beaches get scrubbed by waves and the geography to the chemical makeup of he said. “The question is how different storms, but marshes can develop tar the oil, which can vary dramatically in it will be.” ■

An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program

Academic Content Standards

This lesson addresses academic content standards of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Maryland Virginia Washington, D.C.

Science, Ecology: The student will Science, Biology: The student will Biology: Explain how a large diversity investigate the interdependence of investigate and understand dynamic of species increases the chance diverse living organisms and their equilibria within populations, that at least some living things interactions with components of the communities and ecosystems (BIO.9) will survive in the face of large or biosphere (Expectation 3.5) even catastrophic changes in the Science, Life Science: The student environment (2). (B.5) Science, Biology: Recognize and will investigate and understand the explain how human activities can relationship between ecosystem Biology: Evolution and biodiversity accelerate or magnify many naturally dynamics and human activity. Key are the result of genetic changes occurring changes. concepts include: that occur in constantly changing b. change in habitat size, quality, or environments. As a basis for Reading: Read, use and identify structure; understanding this concept, (7) the characteristics of functional d. population disturbances and factors Research and explain that Darwin documents such as sets of directions, that threaten or enhance species argued that only biologically science investigations, atlases, survival; and inherited characteristics could be posters, flyers, forms, instructional e. environmental issues (water supply, passed to offspring, and that some manuals menus, pamphlets, air quality, energy production, and of these characteristics would be advertisements, other functional waste management.) (LS.12) different from the average and documents (2.0 Comprehension of advantageous in surviving and Informational Text, A. b, grade 6) English: The student will read and reproducing (B.5) analyze a variety of informational Writing: Compose oral, written and materials. Reading/English Language Arts: visual presentations that express c) Apply concepts and use vocabulary Produce functional texts that personal ideas, inform and persuade in informational and technical • address audience needs; (4.0, indicator 2, grade 8) materials to complete a task. • state purpose and context; and e) Analyze information from a text to • adopt a customary format draw conclusions. (11.4, Reading (Expository Writing, 9.W-E.2) Analysis) Reading/English Language Arts: Write English: The student will develop persuasive [pro/con] essays that expository and informational writings. • include a well-defined thesis b) Consider audience and purpose that sets forth a clear and when planning for writing. (12.7, knowledgeable position, theory or Writing) generalization; • arrange details, reasons, and examples effectively, anticipating and answering reader concerns and counterarguments (Expository Writing, 8.W-E.5)

Standards of Learning currently in effect The Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum for Virginia Public Schools can be found Learning Standards for DCPS are found Content Standards can be found online at online at www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/ online at www.k12.dc.us/dcps/Standards/ http://mdk12.org/assessments/vsc/index.html. Superintendent/Sols/home.shtml. standardsHome.htm.