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Archive for June 1st, 2010
Ukraine: Turtles and tortoises running riot in rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Telegraph: Millions of reptiles are brought into the country every year to satisfy the demand for unusual pets. But many owners quickly tire of them and decide to let them loose, causing environmental problems. Some experts are now suggesting that such imports should be banned. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Animal Welfare Foundation are two organisations raising the issue. Peter Jinman, chairman of the BVA's ethics and welfare committee, told The Times: ...
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The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is now turning into a catastrophe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Telegraph: Oysters were broiling, softshell crabs frying, seafood gumbo simmering and spirits being obstinately kept up at the Plaquemines Parish annual seafood festival at the weekend. But then the devastating news came through. Billy Nungesser, the rotund president of the Louisiana parish at the centre of the US fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico, was just getting up to speak when a BlackBerry message told him of the failure of the "top kill". It was BP's best chance of choking off the volcano of ...
Gulf Oil Spill: Can Sand Berms Save the Louisiana Coast?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Time Magazine: Pass Chaland is one of the most idyllic spots along the barrier islands off Louisiana's Gulf Coast. But the broad tidal flow of soft, white-capped waves, flowing inland through shell-tiled sands and tall bird-nesting grass, may also be an open door to the oil slick gushing relentlessly from British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil-rig spill roughly 50 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico. That toxic disaster threatens to swallow the fragile and ecologically critical bayou marshes beyond ...
Oil Effects on Endangered Species May Be ‘Mind-Boggling’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
LiveScience.com: The massive oil slick that is spreading throughout the waters of the Gulf of Mexico threatens the existence of a critically endangered sawfish, as well as other already threatened species that dwell there, scientists say. Louisiana's state bird is among the species that could take a hit from the oil. "You don't have to be a marine biologist to know that the Gulf oil spill is an environmental disaster of the first order," said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB ...
Biologists says oil spill won’t wipe out shrimp
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Associate Press: Wildlife scientists think shrimp can survive the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Martin Bourgeois of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says brown shrimp spawn offshore in January, February and March. Once the eggs hatch, the larva count on prevailing winds and currents to carry them to the Louisiana marsh, where they grow until it's time for them to swim back offshore to spawn. May is the peak fishing season for brown shrimp. White shrimp season begins ...
Red-brown oil washes ashore at Ala. island
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Associated Press: Red-brown oil is making its first appearance on an Alabama island near the mouth of Mobile Bay, three weeks after tar balls were found there. Donald Williamson, director of the state Department of Public Health, said weathered patches of oil washed up on Dauphin Island's east end Tuesday, prompting officials to close some state waters to fishing and post warnings urging beachgoers to stay out of the water. Dauphin Island is a popular tourist destination.
Oil spotted about 9 miles off Fla. coast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Associated Press: An oil sheen was confirmed about nine miles off the Florida coast, and officials are saying it could hit the white sands of Pensacola Beach as soon as Wednesday. Escambia County officials started putting out boom Tuesday and making other plans for the arrival of the oil. Crude has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and it has impacted some 125 miles of Louisiana coastline. Fla. officials say their request for about $150,000 from BP to buy ...
Gulf oil spill: parallels with Ixtoc raise fears of ecological tipping point
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Sanderlings feed as workers search the beach for oil debris in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Photograph: Lee Celano/Reuters</figcaption> </figure> Juan Antonio Dzul was a teenager when the Ixtoc 1 oil rig collapsed in June 1979 in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles from the fishing town of Champotón where he grew up and still lives. The memory of the huge spill that followed is etched on his mind. "The oil covered the reefs and washed up on the shore. Fish died and the ...
BP oil spill could make Gulf hurricane season ‘devastating’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season opens today, and with it concerns over the effect the BP oil spill could have on coastal ecosystems if a major storm moves into the northern Gulf of Mexico and reaches land. On one hand, hurricane forecasters and federal emergency officials say the first concern in any hurricane that makes landfall will be people. Yet healthy wetlands along the Gulf Coast – mainly west of the Mississippi Delta – are widely seen as a first line of defense against the ...
Relief for Gulf is 2 months away with another well
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 1st, 2010
Associated Press: The best hope for stopping the flow of oil from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to hitting a target the size of a dinner plate with a drill more than two miles into the earth, and is anything but a sure bet on the first attempt. Bid after bid has failed to stanch what has already become the nation's worst-ever spill, and BP PLC is readying another patchwork attempt as early as Wednesday, this one a cut-and-cap process to put a lid on the ...