Water & Oceans

"What To Know About The 'Red Tide' Hitting Florida Beaches"

"The harmful "red tide," which has been known to discolor coastal waters and kill marine life off the coast of Florida, has returned for another year.

The toxic organism that paints the waters red was detected in February and was found at higher-than-normal levels in several Southwest Florida counties in recent days, state officials said.

Since it returned, grisly photos of dead fish washing up on Florida beaches have proliferated, and federal authorities are warning people of the possibility of respiratory irritation from contaminated air."

Source: NPR, 03/07/2023

Green Groups Sue Biden Administration Over Gulf Offshore Oil Lease Sale

"A coalition of environmental organizations on Monday announced a lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM), arguing the bureau’s sales of leases in the Gulf of Mexico were unlawful. In the lawsuit, plaintiffs argued BOEM’s plans to lease more than 70 million acres of Gulf waters for fossil fuel development are based on a “deeply flawed” environmental review."

Source: The Hill, 03/07/2023

"EPA Mandates States Report On Cyber Threats To Water Systems"

"The Biden administration on Friday said it would require states to report on cybersecurity threats in their audits of public water systems, a day after it released a broader plan to protect critical infrastructure against cyberattacks."

Source: AP, 03/06/2023

"Nations Reach Accord To Protect Marine Life On High Seas"

"For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, representing a turning point in a yearslong effort to bestow order on vast stretches of the planet where conservation has previously been hampered by a confusing patchwork of laws."

Source: AP, 03/06/2023

From Swine Waste, Student Journalist Extracts Prize-Winning Story

Industrial hog farmers tout swine biogas as a clean, green energy source, but others point to its messy side. A young journalist who investigated the underreported stench of environmental racism associated with this technology learned valuable lessons along the way to producing a feature story that won her a Society of Environmental Journalists’ award for outstanding student reporting.

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Will Thousands of Orphan Wells Be Safely Plugged?

Abandoned oil and gas wells are found in significant numbers in some 27 states. Reporters who want to track their status can dig into several databases, but will need to support their data crunching with lots of shoe-leather and ground-truth reporting. Reporter’s Toolbox has insights into what the databases offer. Plus, a primer on API numbers.

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Diving Deeper on the Wetlands Beat Yields Groundbreaking Coverage

Two journalists covering water policy used a wide range of reporting techniques, from FOIA appeals to on-the-ground reporting, to get at the heart of how problems with wetlands and waterways in the United States are tied to climate change concerns. Inside Story spoke with Hannah Northey and Kevin Bogardus of E&E News about their award-winning beat reporting.

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