NOAA Spring Flood Outlook and Hypoxia By NOAA15 March 2012Draining over 40% of the contiguous United States, precipitation patterns in the Mississippi River Basin have a impact on the delivery of nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico. High levels of these nutrients cause a large area of low-oxygen in the Gulf, known as the dead [...]
Environmental groups sue EPA over Gulf dead zone By David Bailey, Reuters14 March 2012 A crab, covered with oil, walks along an oil absorbent boom near roso-cane reeds at the South Pass of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, August 1, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Patrick Semansky/Pool In separate federal lawsuits filed Tuesday, the groups [...]
Louisiana's 2nd dead zone could stretch past Ala. By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY, ASSOCIATED PRESS8 February 2012NEW ORLEANS -- A new study finds that Louisiana's second Gulf of Mexico dead zone stretches at least from the Chandeleur Sound off Louisiana's coast to Alabama's Dauphin Island and could extend across Alabama's coast. John Lopez, executive director of the Lake [...]
Minnesota launches Mississippi River cleanup effort By JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY , Star Tribune17 January 2012 Drain tiles that lead from farm fields into ditches and then into the Minnesota River contribute to pollution. Photo by: Brian Peterson, Star Tribune. Minnesota will be the nation's first test site for a federal program designed to stem the flow [...]
Heinz Award bestowed on Dr. Nancy Rabalais By Holly HebertJanuary 2, 2012The 17th Heinz Awards, in memory of U.S. Senator John Heinz, celebrated the power of the individual, with a special focus on the environment. Dr. Nancy Rabalais, Executive Director of LUMCON and Professor, was one of nine awardees honored in a ceremony at the [...]
USDA program seeks to cut runoff, Gulf dead zone By Amy Wold, Advocate staff writer 8 November 2011Louisiana may not add a lot of nutrients to the annual low-oxygen dead zone that forms in the Gulf of Mexico every year, but the state can be part of the solution. A program started last year through [...]
Chesapeake Bay: Hope and hurdles By The Baltimore Sun7 November 2011The latest study on the health of the Chesapeake Bay has some encouraging news — offering signs that years of pollution-fighting efforts are having a positive effect. Now, it remains to be seen whether Congress is paying attention and can refrain from pulling the proverbial [...]
Chesapeake Bay study finds progress against dead zones By Darryl Fears4 November 2011A new study of the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality offers a glimmer of hope that a major pollution-reduction effort is improving the health of the nation’s largest estuary. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science found [...]
Chesapeake Bay Healing, Dead Zone Shrinking By Environmental News Service3 November 2011 BALTIMORE, Maryland, - Efforts to heal Chesapeake Bay are working, finds new research from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science that incorporates 60 years of water quality data. Reductions in the flow of fertilizers, animal waste and [...]
Troubled Waters: One year later, more trouble ahead By BRIAN DEVORE, TC DAILY PLANET19 September 2011 Algae growth caused by too many nutrients in a west-central Minnesota lake in June 2011. (Photo by Brian DeVore) BRANDON, Minn. — A three-hour drive separates the rolling hills of Minnesota’s Douglas County from the front steps of the [...]