Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is the organization created by President Barack Obama to recover from the 2010 BP "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill and preserve the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast of the United States. On April 20, 2010 the United States watched as over 200 million gallons of crude oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico from the 2010 BP "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill. For three months various efforts were taken to cap the broken well and were finally successful on September 19, 2010. In the aftermath of this disaster the
Volume and extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill silts and sands onshore. On 26 May 2011, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality extended the state of emergency related to the spill. In April 2012, oil was found dotting of Louisiana's coast. As of December 2012, of coastline remain subject to evaluation and/or cleanup operations. On 15 May 2010, researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, aboard the research vessel "RV Pelican", identified oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as long, wide and thick in spots. The shallowest oil plume the group detected was at about ,