Gulf’s ‘dead zone’ forecast to be smaller than average, but still twice reduction goal
June 6, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The oxygen-depleted “dead zone” that forms each year in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana and Texas is forecast to cover about 4,155 square miles (10,761 square kilometers) this year.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A 9-mile (14-kilometer) stretch of Florida sugar-white sand in an unspoiled natural setting alongside the Gulf of Mexico is the nation's best beach for 2023, according to the annual ranking released Thursday by the university professor known as “Dr.
Court ends challenge to 2021 Gulf oil and gas lease sale
April 28, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — A lawsuit by environmentalists seeking to block the 2021 sale of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases auctioned off by the federal government was rejected Friday by a federal appeals court in Washington.
$3.1 million proposed to settle 2017 spill in Gulf of Mexico
April 19, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana energy company has reached a tentative $3.1 million settlement with the federal government over a 2017 Gulf of Mexico oil leak.
Police: 4 dead in plane crash off Florida’s Gulf Coast
April 6, 2023 GMTVENICE, Fla. (AP) — The bodies of two men and two women have been recovered following a small plane crash just off Florida's Gulf Coast, police said Thursday.
The plane had just taken off from Venice Airport when it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico west of the city’s fishing pier just after 9:30 p.m.
Oil drilling in Gulf safer, but concerns linger, report says
April 4, 2023 GMTThirteen years after the massive Deepwater Horizons spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico, regulators and industry have reduced some risks in deep water exploration in the gulf but some troublesome safety issues persist, a new study by the National Academy of Sciences said.
Gulf of Mexico oil worse for climate than thought, study
April 3, 2023 GMTOffshore oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico are releasing far more climate-changing methane than official estimates show, according to a new study published Monday.
Companies bid $264M in Gulf oil sale mandated by climate law
March 29, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Oil companies offered a combined $264 million for drilling rights in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in a sale mandated by last year’s climate bill compromise.
US Court strikes down charter boat tracking rule
February 25, 2023 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — An appeals court has struck down a federal fisheries management rule requiring operators of privately owned charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to equip their vessels with tracking devices, a victory for a group of Louisiana and Florida charter operators who challenged the rule in a 2020 lawsuit.
Biden considers 1st offshore wind auction in Gulf of Mexico
February 23, 2023 GMTThe Biden administration said Wednesday it is considering the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, a key part of a push to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 to help fight climate change.
EXPLAINER: What came together to make deadly Alabama tornado
January 13, 2023 GMTDENVER (AP) — A La Nina weather pattern, warm moist air coming from an unusually toasty Gulf of Mexico, likely juiced by climate change, and a decades long eastward shift of tornadoes came together to create the unusually early and deadly storm system that hit Alabama Thursday, meteorologists said.
All four bodies recovered in Gulf of Mexico helicopter crash
January 4, 2023 GMTBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The bodies of all four people who were aboard a helicopter that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico while departing an oil platform last week have been recovered.
Search suspended for 4 missing in Gulf helicopter crash
December 30, 2022 GMTBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for four people on board a helicopter that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico while departing an oil platform Thursday morning.
Although the crash is not a closed case, crews will not resume the search unless they receive new information, said Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard’s 8th District, which is headquartered in New Orleans.
4 missing after helicopter crashes in Gulf of Mexico
December 30, 2022 GMTBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard spent hours searching the waters off Louisiana for four people on board a helicopter that crashed Thursday while departing an oil platform.
“It is always a difficult decision to suspend a search,” said Lt.
3 rescued after helicopter crash near Louisiana oil rig
December 16, 2022 GMTPORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people Thursday after a helicopter crashed into the Gulf of Mexico while attempting to land on an oil rig platform.
The Coast Guard said one of the three had back injuries.
Airplane crash in Gulf of Mexico leaves 2 dead, 1 missing
December 5, 2022 GMTVENICE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities were searching Monday for the pilot of a small airplane that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, with two people confirmed dead.
Authorities in Venice, Florida, said they were looking for a 42-year-old man in an area offshore from the Venice Municipal Airport.
Cruise passenger who fell overboard recalls experience
December 2, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — He spent nearly 20 hours alone, treading water in the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship and being saved on Thanksgiving. James Michael Grimes spoke about the experience Friday, saying it has taught him to not take life for granted.
Man sentenced for faking death to avoid sex abuse charges
November 29, 2022 GMTMOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for faking his own death in Alabama to avoid criminal charges of impregnating a teenage girl in his home state of Mississippi.
‘Miracle’: Missing cruise ship passenger found OK in water
November 26, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a passenger who went overboard from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico was rescued on Thanksgiving after likely being in the water for hours.
The 28-year-old man was reported missing at noon Thursday while the vessel, the Carnival Valor, was heading to Cozumel, Mexico.
Energy company laying off 135 in Louisiana, offshore
November 10, 2022 GMTLAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — An energy company is laying off 135 employees at a Louisiana office and various offshore locations.
Lafayette news outlets report that Houston, Texas-based QuarterNorth Energy made public its layoff plans for the Lafayette office and the offshore locations in a notice to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Ian ruins man-made reefs, brings algae bloom to Florida
November 1, 2022 GMTFORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian not only ravaged southwest Florida on land but was destructive underwater as well. It destroyed man-made reefs and brought along red tide, the harmful algae blooms that kill fish and birds, according to marine researchers who returned last week from a six-day cruise organized by the Florida Institute of Oceanography.
1 dead, 2 injured in helicopter crash off Louisiana coast
October 27, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — One person died in a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana's coast, and two survivors were reported in critical condition, authorities said Thursday.
The crash was reported Wednesday evening south of Morgan City.
Work begins on new pump station on Bayou Lafourche
October 23, 2022 GMTDONALDSONVILLE, La. (AP) — Louisiana officials have broken ground for a critically needed $96 million pump station that could help revive the marshes and barrier islands that protect a large area of south Louisiana from hurricanes and sea level rise.
Will to live, life jackets: Boaters survive 28 hours, sharks
October 12, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two anglers whose boat sank over the weekend in the Gulf of Mexico clung to an improvised float and fought off sharks while the third swam what felt like miles to search for help.
2 from sunken boat fend off sharks during Coast Guard rescue
October 10, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two people from a sunken fishing boat were fending off sharks in the Gulf of Mexico when a crew rescued them and one other person from waters off the Louisiana coastline, the Coast Guard said.
Water drains from Tampa Bay from Ian’s winds, then refills
September 29, 2022 GMTTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Water driven back by powerful winds drained from Tampa Bay as Hurricane Ian approached Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday, and some dared to venture out on the exposed bay floor.
Ian eventually made landfall as a major hurricane near Fort Myers, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south.
New report: Oil spills from offshore transportation way down
September 28, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Oil and natural gas spills from tankers and pipelines in U.S. waters dropped dramatically from the last decade of the 1990s to the one from 2010 through 2019, according to a federal report Wednesday.
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for winds, floods
September 28, 2022 GMTHurricane Ian nears Cuba on path to strike Florida as Cat 4
September 27, 2022 GMTHAVANA (AP) — Hurricane Ian was growing stronger as it barreled toward Cuba on a track to hit Florida’s west coast as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.
Vulnerable Tampa Bay braces for storm not seen in a century
September 27, 2022 GMTST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — It’s been more than a century since a major storm like Hurricane Ian has struck the Tampa Bay area, which blossomed from a few hundred thousand people in 1921 to more than 3 million today.
Key West honors Queen Elizabeth at Southernmost Point marker
September 16, 2022 GMTKEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The Southernmost Point marker in Key West, Florida, a landmark delineating the continental United States’ southernmost spot of land, became a memorial to Queen Elizabeth II on Friday when city workers installed a British flag and royal purple banner at the much-photographed site beside the Atlantic Ocean.
US takes aim at some Trump offshore safety rule rollbacks
September 13, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Department of the Interior said Monday that it wants to reverse some Trump administration rollbacks of offshore safety rules to prevent blowouts like the BP catastrophe that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Mexico’s oil company acknowledges releasing methane plume
September 8, 2022 GMTMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos oil company acknowledged Thursday it released a plume of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in the Gulf of Mexico late last year, but said it was far smaller than Spanish researchers said.
Gas prices drop below $4 in NJ for first time since March
August 27, 2022 GMTTRENTON, N.J. (AP) —
Gas prices have dropped below $4 for the first time since March amid stable crude oil prices near the end of the summer driving season.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $3.99, down 11 cents from last week.
Man admits faking death to avoid sex abuse charges
August 22, 2022 GMTMOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A military veteran pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to faking his own death off the Alabama coast to try to avoid sexual abuse charges in Mississippi.
Jacob Blair Scott pleaded guilty to charges of sending a false distress call that led to a Coast Guard search; illegally shipping weapons across state lines and giving false information, according to court records.
Climate bill’s unlikely beneficiary: US oil and gas industry
August 19, 2022 GMTBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. oil industry hit a legal roadblock in January when a judge struck down a $192 million oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico over future global warming emissions from burning the fuels.
Ruling clears Biden’s 2021 pause on new oil, gas leases
August 17, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — A judge’s order that forced the Biden administration to resume sales of oil and gas leases on federal land and waters was vacated Wednesday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
Drought, sluggish Mississippi River make small dead zone
August 3, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drought made the Mississippi River sluggish and led to a smaller than average dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico — an area where there’s too little oxygen to support marine life, the scientist who's been measuring it for decades said Wednesday.
Big Louisiana coastal restoration projects continue
July 30, 2022 GMTBELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has completed one of its biggest coastal restoration projects yet, and is at work on even bigger ones.
Climate change and vanishing islands threaten brown pelicans
July 27, 2022 GMTCHAUVIN, La. (AP) — Sliding off the side of her small boat, seabird biologist Bonnie Slaton wades through waist-high water, brown pelicans soaring overhead, until she reaches the shores of Raccoon Island.
18-year oil spill in Gulf: 1M gallons collected since 2019
July 12, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — One million gallons of oil have been collected since April 2019 from the site of the nation’s longest oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, the Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
Floating abortion clinic proposed in Gulf to bypass bans
July 10, 2022 GMTMONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A California doctor is proposing a floating abortion clinic in the Gulf of Mexico as a way to maintain access for people in southern states where abortion bans have been enacted.
Biden offshore drilling proposal would allow up to 11 sales
July 2, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration on Friday proposed up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the Alaska coast over the next five years — going against the Democrat's climate promises but scaling back a Trump-era plan that called for dozens of offshore drilling opportunities including in undeveloped areas.
Amberjack count: tags worth $250 to Gulf, S Atlantic anglers
June 28, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Scientists are trying to get a better estimate of greater amberjack populations in the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, and this means the chance at a $250 catch for anglers.
State launches $463 million project to elevate La. 1
June 25, 2022 GMTGOLDEN MEADOW, La. (AP) — State leaders have broken ground for a $463 million project that will elevate 8.3 miles of La. 1, one of the state's hurricane evacuation routes.
EPA to give $60M to 12 states to help curb water pollution
June 10, 2022 GMTDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government said Friday that it will distribute $60 million among 12 states that have waterways that flow into the Mississippi River to help them control farm runoff and other pollution that contribute to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical storm warning for parts of Florida, Cuba, Bahamas
June 4, 2022 GMTFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Tropical storm warnings were issued Friday for much of the Florida peninsula, Cuba and the Bahamas as a system that battered Mexico moves through the Gulf of Mexico, killing at least two in Cuba and bringing threats of heavy rain and wind for the weekend.
Goal is to shrink Gulf dead zone, but that’s not happening
June 2, 2022 GMTNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Decades of work haven’t shrunk the oxygen-depleted “dead zone” that forms each year in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana and Texas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting that this year's will be about the 35-year average.
Experts: Everything points to another busy hurricane season
May 31, 2022 GMTBatten down the hatches for another nasty hurricane season.
Nearly every natural force and a bunch of human-caused ones — more than just climate change — have turned the last several Atlantic hurricane seasons into deadly and expensive whoppers.
Officials: Florida panther killed
May 25, 2022 GMTNAPLES, Fla. (AP) — An endangered Florida panther has died.
It’s the 17th panther death recorded this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.
Biden cancels offshore oil lease sales in Gulf Coast, Alaska
May 12, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is canceling three oil and gas lease sales scheduled in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, removing millions of acres from possible drilling as U.S.
Coast Guard rescues 5 from sailboat in Gulf of Mexico
May 8, 2022 GMTMOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Five people were rescued from a disabled sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
News outlets report that the 36-foot sailboat put out a distress call Friday afternoon because of a broken mast.
Seattle woman dies snorkeling in Florida’s Dry Tortugas
April 8, 2022 GMTDRY TORGUAS NATIONAL PARK, (AP) — A 74-year-old woman died while snorkeling in the Dry Tortugas National Park, which is in the Gulf of Mexico west of Key West, Florida.
Carol Murrell Maillet of Seattle, Washington, was snorkeling along the fort wall by the beach on Thursday afternoon when family members heard her screaming, Monroe County Sheriff's officials said.
Seven Mile Bridge to close for annual footrace
April 1, 2022 GMTMARATHON, Fla. (AP) — The Seven Mile Bridge will close temporarily to vehicle traffic early Saturday for an annual footrace over the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Monroe County deputies will stop traffic from 6-9 a.m.
Wreck of only sunken Gulf whaler discovered 190 years later
March 23, 2022 GMTRoughly 15 years before Herman Melville introduced the world to Moby Dick, a whaling ship from Massachusetts sank near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Nearly 190 years later, experts say, it’s still the only whaler known to have gone down in the Gulf of Mexico, where the threat of enslavement at Southern ports posed a risk for Black and mixed-race men who often were part of whaling crews.
Trump plane makes emergency landing after engine failure
March 9, 2022 GMTA plane carrying former President Donald Trump was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans last weekend after suffering engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico.
The details of the emergency landing, first reported by Politico, were confirmed Wednesday by a person familiar with the incident who was not authorized to speak publicly about it and spoke on the condition of anonymity.