Drought and ‘systematic degradation’ doom wetlands in New South Wales

By BEN CUBBY, ENVIRONMENT EDITORMay 4, 2010 THE state’s biggest inland bird-breeding sanctuary is nearing collapse due to lack of water, and the bird population is undergoing ”dramatic upheavals” as some species are pushed out, a new report has found. The Macquarie Marshes – a vast, tangled sprawl of creeks and swamps between Nyngan and […]

World fails to slow mass extinction of animals, plants

WASHINGTON, DC, April 29, 2010 (ENS) – World leaders have failed to fulfill their commitments to reduce the global rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, and have instead overseen “alarming” biodiversity declines, finds the first assessment of how the targets expressed in the 2002 Convention on Biological Diversity have not been met. Since 1970, human […]

Graph of the Day: BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Extent, 22 April 2010 – 3 May 2010

By Dan Swenson, The Times-PicayuneMay 02, 2010, 11:49AM This animation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was created using actual overflight information and forecast models from the NOAA and Unified Command. The red dot is the location of the Deepwater Horizon oil well, which exploded on April 20, releasing oil into the Gulf near […]

80 percent of oil-spill booms have failed due to bad weather

  By MELISSA NELSON (AP) MOBILE, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Bob Riley says most of the inflatable booms deployed to catch the oil spill are breaking down, forcing crews to rework their contingency plan. Riley said Sunday that 80 percent of the thousands of feet of booms the Coast Guard and other crews have laid […]

As oil spill approaches, dead animals wash up in Mississippi

By The Associated PressMay 02, 2010, 3:55PM PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. — Gus Holliman has spent the last two days riding the beaches in this coastal Mississippi town, hoping not to find dead animals. On Saturday the sea turtles started washing up on shore. On Sunday, the turtles were joined by dead catfish, horseshoe crabs, and […]

BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill endangers birds throughout the Americas

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, April 30, 2010 (ENS) – Bird conservationists fear the spreading Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will affect not only local birds but migratory bird populations as far north as Canada and Alaska, and as far south as South America. The oil spill, now 100 miles long by 48 […]

SkyTruth: New calculation shows Exxon Valdez spill volume surpassed on Saturday, 1 May 2010

Dr. Ian MacDonald at FSU just produced a new spill-size estimate based on the US Coast Guard aerial overflight map of the oil slick on April 28, 2010. The bottom line: that map implies that on April 28, there was a total of 8.9 million gallons floating on the surface of the Gulf. That implies […]

Graph of the Day: Affected Coastline in Exxon Valdez And BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spills

The BP Gulf Coast rig explosion is a horrible human, economic, and environmental disaster. The death of 11 employees is tragic. The spill could devastate the Gulf Coast commercial and sport fishing industries for years to come. Louisiana’s seafood industry alone is worth $2 billion annually. This is the biggest U.S. economic and environmental disaster […]

Interior Secretary Salazar: US Gulf oil spill may be worse than Exxon Valdez — ‘90 days before ultimate solution’

By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The BP oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico may be worse that the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on CNN Sunday. “The worst-case scenario is we could have 100,000 barrels or more of oil flowing out,” Salazar […]

Mass losses of wildlife feared as oil slick approaches

Birds, marine animals are vulnerable to the oil spill resulting from last week’s explosion Agence France-Presse2010-05-03 12:00 AM Its long, brown neck held firmly in a blue towel, the northern gannet struggled for freedom, unaware of how very lucky it is to have been found swimming in a sea of oil off the Louisiana coast. […]

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