By Matthew Cardinale ATLANTA, Georgia, May 31, 2010 (IPS/IFEJ) – As oil continues gushing from the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, with no sign of stopping until a new well is finished this August, scientists, environmentalists and local residents are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures […]
By Karin Zeitvogel (AFP) – May 29, 2010 PASS A LOUTRE, Louisiana — Thick black oil hung in the water and stained the bases of the roseau cane at Pass a Loutre, a shrinking patch of Louisiana’s fragile wetlands where crude from the BP spill first hit land and began seeping deep into the fragile […]
By Julia WhittyFri May. 28, 2010 3:29 PM PDT A new model reveals two major hotspots within the Gulf of Mexico where bluefin tuna prefer to spawn in circular swirling water masses known as cyclonic eddies. Sadly, the model also indicates the tuna are spawning there right now—and that the hotspots lie in waters befouled […]
By Emily DuganSunday May 30, 2010, 1:46 PM The world’s most damaging oil spill – now in its 41st continuously gushing day – is creating huge unseen “dead zones” in the Gulf of Mexico, according to oceanographers and toxicologists. They say that if their fears are correct, then the sea’s entire food chain could suffer […]
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 […]
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 […]
By MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN Associated Press WritersMay 27, 2010, 11:13AM NEW ORLEANS — Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama. The discovery by researchers on the University […]
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Ben Nuckols in Covington, Louisiana, and Andrew Taylor and Matthew Daly in Washington, Associated Press WritersMay 27, 2010 10:18 am US/Central COVINGTON, Louisiana (AP) ― The Gulf oil spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the worst in U.S. history, according to new estimates released Thursday, but the Coast Guard and BP […]
By Marian Wang, ProPublica – May 27, 2010 11:32 am EDT The word from MSNBC and The AP is that Elizabeth Birnbaum, director of the offshore drilling regulator Minerals Management Service, has been fired. Birnbaum has only been head of the agency since July 2009—that’s less time than her boss, Ken Salazar, has been at […]
By Times-Picayune StaffMay 26, 2010, 11:05PM Fishing boats helping clear oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill from Breton Sound have been called back to dock after four workers reported health problems Wednesday afternoon, Unified Command in Houma announced. Crew members on three boats reported nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains Wednesday about 3:30 p.m. […]
