Gulf spill settlement money to fund Texas whooping crane conservation

Texas will spend $2 million of the approximately $6.5 million it received in a settlement from the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill on 80 acres of habitat for endangered whooping cranes. The settlement money came from MOEX, a partner with BP that helped drill the well that exploded in the Gulf Coast. After a settlement in February, MOEX promised to give $90 million to Gulf states and the federal government for clean-up and conservation efforts.

The first $2 million will go to the Texas Nature Conservancy which already had the whooping crane project set up. The property is 80 acres of coastal land next to seagrass and marshes that will also protect oysters, other birds and the coast land itself, as it buffers against erosion. The Nature Conservancy will give the land to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department tentatively in May.

Image credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.