Across coastal Louisiana, officials lament ineffective oil spill command structure

By Chris Kirkham, The Times-PicayuneMay 27, 2010, 6:51PM In St. Bernard Parish last weekend, officials identified a patch of oil getting close to marsh grass. But when they requested the skimmer boats they thought were available, they discovered the boats had been moved to Venice. And despite constant warnings from Jefferson Parish officials about oil […]

Coast Guard approves protective sand barrier

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLFMay 27, 2010, 2:57 pm Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard on Thursday approved part of a plan by Louisiana officials to repel oil from the BP spill by building a barrier of dredged sand along islands off the state’s southeast coast. The decision allows Louisiana to immediately begin construction of […]

Fish merchants close one by one in New Orleans

By Staff WritersWestwego, Louisiana (AFP) May 25, 2010 The fast-encroaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is forcing fish merchants to close one by one in Louisiana’s huge Westwego seafood market. “I’m closed because I couldn’t get any crabs,” said Michelle Chauncey, who pulled down her stall’s rolling metal door on Friday. Along the […]

Oil spill’s animal victims struggle as experts fear a mounting toll

By Juliet Eilperin and David A. FahrentholdWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, May 27, 2010 ON BARATARIA BAY, LA. — In the Louisiana marsh, oil-coated pelicans flap their wings in a futile attempt to dry them. A shorebird repeatedly dunks its face in a puddle, unable to wash off. Lines of dead jellyfish float in the gulf, […]

Madagascar water fowl declared extinct

  A tawny water fowl that lived in a tiny corner of Madagascar has officially been declared extinct by conservationists. The Alaotra grebe, also called the rusty grebe, had been highly vulnerable as it was found only in Lake Alaotra, eastern Madagascar, according to the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles […]

Polar bears face ‘tipping point’

  Climate change will trigger a dramatic and sudden decline in the number of polar bears, a new study has concluded. The research is the first to directly model how changing climate will affect polar bear reproduction and survival. Based on what is known of polar bear physiology, behaviour and ecology, it predicts pregnancy rates […]

Historic drought spurs life-or-death struggles in Kilimanjaro's shadow

  By MICHAEL BURNHAM AND NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD of GreenwirePublished: May 25, 2010 AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK, Kenya – … When the rains failed for the second straight year in 2009, plants withered to their roots in this critical dry-season refuge. Marshes and the shallow bed of Lake Amboseli, usually fed by seasonal rains and runoff from […]

Oysters are uniquely sensitive to Gulf of Mexico oil spill

By Bob Marshall, The Times-PicayuneMay 25, 2010, 6:37PM To most of us, an oyster is a morsel from heaven smiling from its open shell or resting on a cloud of French bread. But to researcher Earl Melancon, it is much more. The oyster is to Louisiana’s estuaries what the fabled canary was to coal mine […]

Image of the Day: BP / Gulf oil spill — 39 million gallons and growing

The MODIS / Terra satellite image of the Gulf taken yesterday (May 24, 2010) is a relatively cloud-free look at the ongoing oil spill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Areas covered by oil slick and sheen are marked with a solid orange line. Areas where we think there may be slicks and sheen, but […]

Philippe Cousteau Jr. dives beneath Gulf’s oily water: ‘This is a nightmare … a nightmare’

Philippe Cousteau Jr. and Sam Champion take hazmat dive into Gulf’s oily waters. Technorati Tags: oil production,oil spill,pollution,North America,Gulf of Mexico,habitat loss,ecosystem disruption

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