Vilsack robs Peter to pay Paul to address the hypoxic zone By Dennis KeeneySeptember 30, 2009According to the USDA news release, the initiative will be managed by the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at USDA. Partner organizations will include state and local agencies and agricultural producers. Partners mentioned in an interview of NRCS chief David [...]

Gulf of Mexico concerns aired as key federal officials visit New Orleans By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune October 20, 2009, 4:55AM Jane Lubchenco is administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.     Comments for the national ocean policy task force reflected the wide-ranging pressures on the Gulf of Mexico's resources: oil and gas [...]

Orthodox patriarch pleads for environmental action By CAIN BURDEAU 2009-10-22 07:31 AM , Associated Press Standing beside the Mississippi River, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, made a plea Wednesday for more action to save the planet and stop destroying it "as if there is no tomorrow." "The dilemmas [...]

Media Teleconference and Webcast for Reporters: Latest Research on Oregon's Oceanic "Dead Zones" and How Climate Change May Be Promoting Them By National Science Foundation, NSFOctober 6, 2009NSF invites reporters to participate on Thursday, October 8, 1:30 pm ET Scientists are identifying the unusual processes that produce Oregon's large dead zones.  Credit and Larger Version [...]

Finally, targeted federal action on Gulf of Mexico's dead zone By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune September 29, 2009, 1:12AMNutrients from Midwest farming help cause the annual dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.That focus, which had been lacking, is the point of a new U.S. Department of Agriculture program. The agency will spend $320 [...]

Agriculture money aims to curb Gulf dead zoneWednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10:21 a.m.The action comes 12 years after a task force was formed to combat the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area off Louisiana and Texas — this year it was larger than Delaware — where oxygen is so low it can't support [...]

Smelly Algae Kills Dogs, Sickens People By ROBERT IMRIE, AP Sept. 27Danger in the Water    In what's become a growing problem, some waterways in the upper Midwest suffer from malodorous, blue-green algae blooms that have already sickened some people -- and killed dozens of dogs. Here, algae grows on on Lake Pokegama near Chetek, [...]

River cleanup funded By Clarion LedgerOctober 5, 2009 , Clarion LedgerA recent wave of funding aims to improve water quality in the Gulf of Mexico through reducing nutrients in the Mississippi River. The nutrients are responsible for creating dead zones, which causes fish and other marine life to die by depleting oxygen from the water. [...]

Biofuels Unravel Efforts to Shrink Gulf Dead Zone By Steve Baragona, Washington, DC 05 October 2009Voice of America    But the U.S. Congress might have made that goal harder to achieve. In a bid to reduce dependence on foreign oil, Congress passed a law requiring refiners to include more and more biofuels in their gasoline [...]

Biofuels Not So Friendly to Gulf of Mexico By Robert F. Service 21 September 2009, ScienceNOW Daily NewsThe gulf's dead zone is already a major environmental problem. First spotted in 1971, it now spans 14,600 square kilometers, or 1,460,000 hectares, a region larger than Connecticut. It is triggered every spring and summer when nutrient-rich water [...]