Strong winds, waves damaged dozens of oil platforms
Associated Press Oct 5, 08 7:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Hurricane Ike knocked at least a half million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and nearby waterways, according to an AP analysis of environmental reports. Worst hit were oil platforms near the coast of Louisiana, but about half of the spill occurred at a facility on Goat Island, Texas. More than 50 platforms were destroyed in all and 32 others took damage.
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Ike may become Category 3 storm before landfall
CNN Sep 12, 08 8:34 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Officials in Houston and Galveston warned residents to stay put tonight as Hurricane Ike threatened to become a Category 3 storm, CNN reports. “If someone has not left the island by now, they need to go get inside and stay there,” the mayor of Galveston said. Nearly a quarter million Texas residents have opted to stay despite warnings that Ike may be the worst storm to hit the state in 50 years, MSNBC reports.
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Gulf oil platforms don't appear threatened as hurricane aims to Corpus Christi
Bloomberg Sep 10, 08 10:02 AM CDT
(Newser)
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After leaving Cuba, Hurricane Ike is strengthening and moving through the Gulf of Mexico toward south-central Texas, Bloomberg reports. The National Hurricane Center said it was possible Ike would strengthen into a “major hurricane” before landfall, probably near Corpus Christi. One independent forecaster said there was “a significant chance that Ike will be the worst hurricane to hit Texas in 40 years.”
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Lone Star state preps for storm and its ever-changing path
CNN Sep 9, 08 2:12 PM CDT
(Newser)
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As Hurricane Ike went for round two with Cuba today, unleashing torrential rains and 80-mph winds, new models showed the Category 1 storm strengthening and bending toward the southern Texas coast later this week, CNN reports. Isolated tornadoes could also precede Ike today over the Florida Keys and southern Florida. But forecasters stressed the unreliability of their technology.
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Industrial Canal, 9th Ward still vulnerable
Associated Press Sep 2, 08 2:50 AM CDT
(Newser)
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New Orleans' levee system withstood the power punch delivered yesterday by Hurricane Gustav, but also revealed its continuing vulnerabilities, reports AP. The Industrial Canal flood wall was swamped, flooding again an area devastated by Katrina. The Industrial Canal is considered the system's Achilles' heel. The Army Corps of Engineers is spending $700 million on a canal barrier, but it won't be in place until at least 2011.
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Investors react to storm threat
Reuters Sep 1, 08 4:35 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Hurricane Gustav helped boost oil prices today by more than $1 a barrel as energy companies shut down production facilities in the storm's path, reports Reuters. US crude rose $1.54 to $117 per barrel this morning, after briefly surging to over $118 when NYMEX opened for electronic trading hours earlier than usual.
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Hurricane, now Category 3, projected to slam into oil platforms, refineries
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 30, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Hurricane Gustav is on path to smash into the Gulf Coast's oil-production infrastructure, which could reverse the recent downward trend in gas prices, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. More than a quarter of oil produced in the US comes from the Gulf of Mexico, and producers have already begun evacuating workers from platforms as a precaution. Gustav climbed to Category 4 hurricane today.
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updated
Category 3 Gustav headed for the Gulf
Shreveport Times Aug 27, 08 5:22 PM CDT
(Newser)
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New Orleans has a wary eye on Tropical Storm Gustav and may begin evacuations as early as Friday—the third anniversary of Katrina. The storm's path could yet spare the city, but if it hits this weekend, Gov. Bobby Jindal said he wants to be ready, the Shreveport Times reports. He's put Louisiana's National Guard on alert and declared a state of emergency that would make 700 buses available for the most needy.
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Only Dolly kept oxygen-free area from becoming largest ever
Washington Post Jul 31, 08 3:22 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Scientists are increasingly concerned about the growing "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, an oxygen-poor mass of water that cannot sustain most sea life, which now covers 8,000 square miles, nearly the largest ever. Created by fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi, the zone would be even bigger if not for the ocean-stirring power of Hurricane Dolly, reports the Washington Post .
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Tropical storm gunning for upgrade to hurricane, but small one
Reuters Jul 22, 08 6:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Tropical Storm Dolly is en route to hurricane status, and hurricane conditions are expected by the end of today on the southern Texas coast near the Mexican border, Reuters reports. With winds currently around 50mph, Dolly is crossing the Gulf of Mexico from where it emerged over the Yucatan peninsula.
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As yacht rapidly sank, safety officer gave his life pushing his 2 crewmates to safety
CNN Jun 10, 08 7:53 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Survivors of a capsized college yacht yesterday hailed the boat's safety officer as a hero who gave his life to save theirs, CNN reports. Roger Stone died after pushing two of his Texas A&M University crewmates to safety from below decks last week as the craft rapidly took on water. The five who made it out of the boat spent 26 hours in the Gulf of Mexico before being rescued.
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Seal only one of its kind to vanish because of human causes
MSNBC Jun 7, 08 4:47 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Caribbean monk seals, the sea dwellers first discovered during Columbus’s second voyage in 1494, are officially extinct—the only seal to vanish because of human causes, MSNBC reports. “Humans left the Caribbean monk seal population unsustainable after overhunting them,” a biologist explained. The seal, a native of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, hadn’t been spotted for 50 years.
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FDA says outbreaks linked to algae toxin in fish high on the foodchain
Associated Press Feb 6, 08 8:41 AM CST
(Newser)
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The Food and Drug Administration has confirmed outbreaks of food poisoning among people eating fish from the northern Gulf of Mexico. Ciguatera poisoning is caused by toxins from poisonous algae that have accumulated in the tissue of large fish. The higher the fish is on the food chain, the more poison can build up, so fish like grouper, snapper, amberjack, and barracuda are the most dangerous, reports the AP.
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Fishing practices slammed as 'totally out of control'
Washington Post Dec 24, 07 4:50 PM CST
(Newser)
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Bluefin tuna can grow to three-quarters of a ton, traverse the Atlantic in less than a month, and are growing rapidly extinct—thanks to fishing practices that are "totally out of control," one US official said. Marine biologists who track Bluefin populations are finding their suggestions rejected by world governments. “We know enough to save this species,” one conservationist said. “We don’t have the will.”
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