New Louisiana plan relies heavily on diversions to reduce nutrients causing Gulf 'dead zone' By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune13 February 2014  When nutrient-rich freshwater creates a layer atop the saltier Gulf waters, nitrogen and phosphorus feed huge algae blooms. When the algae die, they sink into the saltier water below and decompose, using up oxygen [...]

From Alaska to Florida, 21 attorneys general join fight to halt Chesapeake Bay cleanup By Darryl Fears, Washington Post5 February 2014Attorneys general in 21 states are backing an attempt to derail the Obama administration’s Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, fearing that the government will use that authority to regulate wastewater in other watersheds, including the Mississippi [...]

The pro-pollution AGs [Editorial] By Editorial, The Baltimore Sun6 February 2014The cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay has posed an extraordinary challenge. It has taken decades of effort, cost billions of dollars and required shared sacrifice from setting aside shoreline "buffer" strips to banning phosphate detergents. Now comes word that the fight will not only be [...]

Strategy looks to river diversions for help with Gulf dead zone By Amy Wold, The Advocate27 January 2014A proposed new strategy for reducing the annual “dead zone” off Louisiana’s Gulf coast relies heavily on the promise of river water diversions to remove nutrients that deplete oxygen levels to the point they no longer support aquatic [...]

River Diversions for Help Gulf Dead Zone By Associated Press27 January 2014BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — A proposed new strategy for reducing the annual “dead zone” off Louisiana’s Gulf coast relies heavily on river water diversions to remove nutrients that deplete oxygen levels to the point they no longer support aquatic life. The authors of a [...]

Nancy Rabalais Conferred as AGU Fellow By Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative22 January 2014The Fellows program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences as valued by their peers and vetted by section and focus group committees. The AGU Fellow designation is conferred upon not more than 0.1% of all [...]

Ocean Dead Zones More Deadly for Marine Life Than Previously Predicted By ScienceDaily.com9 January 2013 One of the organisms used in the study, hard clams. (Credit: NOAA) Ocean dead zones -- regions with levels of oxygen too low to sustain marine life -- have grown to become a common feature of coastal regions around the [...]

LSU, Texas A&M Share A Passion For Gulf Coast Research By tamu Times21 November 2013LSU and Texas A&M may be rivals on the gridiron, but academically it’s literally smooth sailing between the two schools – they both conduct world-class research on marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. The two schools share several similar research [...]

The Secret Environmental Cost Of US Ethanol Policy By Jack Gillum and Chet Brokaw, Associated Press writers12 November 2013 CORYDON, Iowa (AP) — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America's push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water [...]

Plan to Address Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico Urged by Experts By ScienceDaily.com7 Nov 2013Despite a 12-year action plan calling for reducing the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico, little progress has been made, and there is no evidence that nutrient loading to the Gulf has decreased during this period. University of Illinois researchers [...]