BP provides $25 million in grants to study oil spill's effects

Three Gulf region research institutions will receive $25 million in grants from BP to study the environmental and public health effects of the oil spill. 

BP announced the first round of funding Tuesday after pledging $500 million three weeks ago to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

The institutions will begin work on three initial studies to "help establish critical baseline data" for subsequent research on the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Of the first $25 million, $5 million goes to Louisiana State University, half of the total $10 million they will receive during the next 10 years for the project.

The remaining $20 million will be divided up between two other institutions, with $10 million headed to the Florida Institute of Oceanography, hosted by the University of South Florida, and the final $10 million going to the Northern Gulf Institute, a consortium led by Mississippi State University. 

Now that the institutions and their research focus has been determined, BP is out of the picture and will let the scientists work independently. 

"It is vitally important that research start immediately into the oil and dispersant's impact, and that the findings are shared fully and openly," BP CEO Tony Hayward said in a release Tuesday. "We support the independence of these institutions and projects, and hope that the funding will have a significant positive effect on scientists' understanding of the impact of the spill."

BP intends in the near future to invite research institutions to become a research center under the project and compete for the remaining $475 million.