(DEAD DOLPHIN washed up on rocks in backyard, on Galveston Bay, in Bacliff, Texas 77518)
Troubled waters
Federal and state agencies must find ways to control fertilizer runoff feeding Gulf of Mexico's dead zone.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 4, 2008, 11:01PM
As Tropical Storm Eduard moves toward the Upper Texas coast, it is providing a little-noticed service. In churning the normally languid summertime coastal waters, it is curbing the spread of an 8,000-square-mile dead zone.
The zone, first detected in the 1970s, is created when the outflow of the Mississippi River dumps nitrogen and phosphates from crop fertilizer runoff and human effluent into the Gulf of Mexico, sparking intense blooms of algae. As the algae decompose and sink into the depths, oxygen is absorbed from the water, creating an environment where fish, crabs and shrimp cannot survive. The phenomenon known as hypoxia typically occurs during the summer months, and dissipates with the arrival of cooler weather. This year's dead zone is tied for the second-largest on record, topped only by an 8,500-square-mile monster in 2002.
The Gulf Coast is not the only area plagued by hypoxia. On the East Coast, the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal waters have suffered episodes of algae blooms that create toxic red tides costing the shellfish industry tens of millions of dollars.
Scientists had expected a record dead zone in the Gulf this year because of the flooding along the upper Mississippi watershed, which boosted fertilizer runoff by an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent. The recent boost in corn production to feed the growing ethanol industry also exacerbated the situation. Corn cultivation requires more nitrogen-based fertilizer, creating higher pollution levels.
Tropical systems help to counter the spread of the dead zone along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Nancy Rabalais, who leads the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and conducts an annual measurement of the zone, credits last month's Hurricane Dolly with keeping the dead zone from reaching record levels this year. Storm waves provide turbulence that mixes aerated surface waters with the deeper, oxygen-depleted zones.
Rather than depend on storms to mitigate the growing environmental damage, government must take on the problem at its source, the farmlands bleeding fertilizer and riverside cities leaking untreated wastewater into the Mississippi. Earlier this summer, a task force of federal and state officials released an action plan to target upstream pollution sources and reduce their flow into the Gulf.
Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., are sponsoring the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2008.
The Gulf of Mexico provides a livelihood for our commercial fisherman, sport for anglers and seafood bounty for dinner tables. Preventing the growth of the dead zone is an urgent priority that deserves the full attention of both federal and state environmental regulators.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5924145.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "TERRY SINGELTARY"
To:
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 4:15 PM
Subject: [SANET-MG] MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down
MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down
Greetings Sanet et al,
I have not by any means stopped my no madcow, no kind, no way, activism. but I thought I needed to expand my despair, kinda spread the love ya know. I am mad as hell, they closed Galveston bay, all of it, no speckle trout, any catfish family, and or blue crabs, the complete bay. and that ain't right. I hope that some of you find interest in this, because like everything else, we have floundered to long. I love Galveston bay, and to have it trashed, polluted, so bad, you cannot swim in it, you cannot eat the fish or crabs from it, or even breath the air that surrounds it, well, this makes me angry. so I thought that by spreading my love, bringing awareness to mans stupidity at this front, might help in some small way. runoff from agriculture products, pesticides, human/animal wastes, etc, all play a huge roll in our oceans demise, and in the end, our demise as well. ...
kind regards, terry
TESTING THE WATERS 2008 TEXAS BEACHES UPDATE
http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/testing-waters-2008-texas-beaches.html
Federal and state agencies must find ways to control fertilizer runoff feeding Gulf of Mexico's dead zone.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 4, 2008, 11:01PM
As Tropical Storm Eduard moves toward the Upper Texas coast, it is providing a little-noticed service. In churning the normally languid summertime coastal waters, it is curbing the spread of an 8,000-square-mile dead zone.
The zone, first detected in the 1970s, is created when the outflow of the Mississippi River dumps nitrogen and phosphates from crop fertilizer runoff and human effluent into the Gulf of Mexico, sparking intense blooms of algae. As the algae decompose and sink into the depths, oxygen is absorbed from the water, creating an environment where fish, crabs and shrimp cannot survive. The phenomenon known as hypoxia typically occurs during the summer months, and dissipates with the arrival of cooler weather. This year's dead zone is tied for the second-largest on record, topped only by an 8,500-square-mile monster in 2002.
The Gulf Coast is not the only area plagued by hypoxia. On the East Coast, the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal waters have suffered episodes of algae blooms that create toxic red tides costing the shellfish industry tens of millions of dollars.
Scientists had expected a record dead zone in the Gulf this year because of the flooding along the upper Mississippi watershed, which boosted fertilizer runoff by an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent. The recent boost in corn production to feed the growing ethanol industry also exacerbated the situation. Corn cultivation requires more nitrogen-based fertilizer, creating higher pollution levels.
Tropical systems help to counter the spread of the dead zone along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Nancy Rabalais, who leads the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and conducts an annual measurement of the zone, credits last month's Hurricane Dolly with keeping the dead zone from reaching record levels this year. Storm waves provide turbulence that mixes aerated surface waters with the deeper, oxygen-depleted zones.
Rather than depend on storms to mitigate the growing environmental damage, government must take on the problem at its source, the farmlands bleeding fertilizer and riverside cities leaking untreated wastewater into the Mississippi. Earlier this summer, a task force of federal and state officials released an action plan to target upstream pollution sources and reduce their flow into the Gulf.
Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., are sponsoring the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2008.
The Gulf of Mexico provides a livelihood for our commercial fisherman, sport for anglers and seafood bounty for dinner tables. Preventing the growth of the dead zone is an urgent priority that deserves the full attention of both federal and state environmental regulators.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5924145.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "TERRY SINGELTARY"
To:
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 4:15 PM
Subject: [SANET-MG] MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down
MAN, MONEY, AND OUR ENVIRONMENT, ignorance is bliss, money wins out hands down
Greetings Sanet et al,
I have not by any means stopped my no madcow, no kind, no way, activism. but I thought I needed to expand my despair, kinda spread the love ya know. I am mad as hell, they closed Galveston bay, all of it, no speckle trout, any catfish family, and or blue crabs, the complete bay. and that ain't right. I hope that some of you find interest in this, because like everything else, we have floundered to long. I love Galveston bay, and to have it trashed, polluted, so bad, you cannot swim in it, you cannot eat the fish or crabs from it, or even breath the air that surrounds it, well, this makes me angry. so I thought that by spreading my love, bringing awareness to mans stupidity at this front, might help in some small way. runoff from agriculture products, pesticides, human/animal wastes, etc, all play a huge roll in our oceans demise, and in the end, our demise as well. ...
kind regards, terry
TESTING THE WATERS 2008 TEXAS BEACHES UPDATE
http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/testing-waters-2008-texas-beaches.html
CAN OUR OCEANS SURVIVE? INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Monday, July 28, 2008
http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-our-oceans-survive.html
Saturday, July 19, 2008 GALVESTON BAY, swimming with the dolphins, PCBs, and FECAL MATTER
http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/galveston-bay-swimming-with-dolphins.html
Monday, July 14, 2008 Heedless practices of Texas industry and DREDGING OF SHIP CHANNEL, now poisoning sport fishing industry, AND IT'S CONSUMERS
http://galvestonbay.blogspot.com/2008/07/heedless-practices-of-texas-industry.html
TEXAS WINS TO BE NEXT BIG DUMPING GROUND FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS RADIOACTIVE WASTE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008
http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2008/07/texas-wins-to-be-next-big-dumping.html
with saddest regards, still disgusted in sunny, scorching hot, Baycliff, Texas 77518
terry
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
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