Gulf of Mexico Foundation of its funding comes from corporations, including oil and gas companies. While the remaining, three-quarters comes from state and federal government grants. The foundation website provides the most prominent credit to oil and gas companies. Media and consumer advocacy groups question the Foundation's close and questionable ties to the oil and gas industry. After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico starting in April 2010, Quenton Dokken, the organization's director was interviewed by the New York Times about the severity of the then ongoing oil spill. He was optimistic, saying: The sky is not falling. We've
Deepwater Horizon oil spill leaked oil had been greatly exaggerated. However, biogeochemist Chris Reddy, said natural microorganisms are a big reason why the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was not far worse. Genetically modified "Alcanivorax borkumensis" was added to the waters to speed digestion. The delivery method of microbes to oil patches was proposed by the Russian Research and Development Institute of Ecology and the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. On 18 May 2010, BP was designated the lead "Responsible Party" under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which meant that BP had operational authority in coordinating the response. The first video