Archive for August, 2009

Posted by The Times-Picayune editorial page staff August 28, 2009 2:10AM

The federal government’s hands-off approach to the root causes of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone hasn’t worked.

States don’t even have to say how they plan to address problem pollutants until 2013. There’s no way they’ll achieve the goal of reducing the dead zone by 2015.

Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general is calling for direct action by the federal government to protect “nationally significant waters,” including the Gulf.

The inspector general’s report recommends that the EPA immediately set enforceable limits on nutrient pollutants such as fertilizer and sewage. That “is a minimal first step if the EPA is to meet the requirements” of the Clean Water Act, the report says.

The Gulf dead zone forms during the spring and summer after nutrients from 41 states — including Midwest farms — flow down the Mississippi River. That runoff provides food for the growth of algae, which sucks the life out of a massive area of water off our coast.

The EPA agreed with many of the report’s conclusions but said it believes that a national “strategic approach” would work just as well as focusing on particular bodies of water.

That sort of approach isn’t likely to have the urgency that is needed, though. The inspector general is right: The EPA should take care of the Gulf, and do it now.

Link to the original post: http://blog.nola.com/editorials/2009/08/attacking_the_dead_zone.html

More than 500 fishermen gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol Building today to plead for help as they face the prospect of no longer being able to make a living as fishermen. Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper has joined with Louisiana Bayoukeeper and many other organizations to ask Governor Bobby Jindal to take an active role in this developing problem. Due to the ever increasing numbers of shrimp being imported into the United States the wholesale price of shrimp has dropped so low that many of Louisiana’s fisherman can no longer make a living. The “dead zone,” an area of hypoxia that develops in the Gulf of Mexico due to too many nutrients being carried down the Mississippi River from farming in the mid-west, is also putting pressure on Louisiana fishermen.

Dean Blanchard of Dean Blanchard Seafood Inc. of Grand Isle addresses protesters gathered at the state Capitol on Aug. 18 to raise an alarm about low shrimp prices. (by Robert Travis Scott of the The Times-Picayune)

See the Times Picayune article here.

See also Melancon Pursuing Congressional Hearings On Shrimp Prices

The following comes from a coalition of Louisiana Family Fishermen:

The fisherman are asking that Governor Jindal to take the lead in the economic recovery of Gulf Coast fishing communities, convene a meeting with the Louisiana US Delegation and representatives of the fishing community families and businesses to discuss the following suggestions and take these requests to President Obama on this 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, so that these fishing families can return to work.

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