When an oil spill occurs, federal law, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), has established a system for federal and states agencies and the party responsible for the spill to cooperate and restore the affected area to its pre-spill condition. Response and restoration are two different aspects of the process created by OPA that share the broad goal of ultimately returning the impacted area to its original state before the spill occurred. The purpose of response is to execute an emergency clean up and remove the oil spilled. Restoration involves the process of determining the extent of damage to natural resources resulting from the spill and the long term process of bringing damaged resources back to their original state.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the lead state agency for responding to impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill along Florida’s shoreline and is playing a key role in the restoration process. This website is the primary location for updates and information on response actions, impacts and recovery efforts in the state of Florida. Visit www.RestoreTheGulf.gov for more information on response and restoration efforts across all Gulf States.