Water & Oceans

"As hope dimmed for the lives of 11 crew members missing since a drilling rig exploded in flames in the Gulf of Mexico, authorities turned their focus to controlling an oil spill that could threaten the fragile ecosystem of the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts." Latest news accounts vary on how much oil, if any, may still be seeping to
the surface from the deepwater well.
 

"Indigenous activists threatened a clash with Brazil's government as they dispatched boats carrying 150 men on Wednesday to occupy the planned site of a controversial hydro-electric dam in the Amazon, a chief said."

"Baltimore's revitalized waterfront draws millions of visitors a year, but could it ever be a place where people actually take a dip? Or catch fish? That's the vision of a local group that wants to make Baltimore's harbor swimmable and fishable within a decade."

"The last ship of Japan's Antarctic whaling fleet sailed home Monday with the lowest catch in years, a shortfall whalers blamed on high-seas clashes with the militant environmental group Sea Shepherd."

"Maritime authorities have pulled off an incredibly complex salvage operation without spilling any more oil into Great Barrier Reef waters. Nine days after the coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Douglas Shoal off Rockhampton it has been refloated, and is now anchored in safe waters."

Pollution at many of Florida's best-known springs is killing aquatic ecosystems. Time is running out in this session of the legislature for a bill aimed at repairing and protecting Florida's aquatic gems.

"The corals, whales and giant clams of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are in the path of a 'coal highway' to China that may see shipments jump 67 percent by 2016, increasing the threat of an ecological disaster after a coal carrier ran aground last week."