G u l f C o a s t
- Journal
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Texas
- Record Flooding
- Shelter
- Dodging Storms
- General Mayhem
- Winter Storms 2015-2016
- Random List of Areas (For Now)
Journal
26 August 2017
Hurricane Harvey has made landfall twice into Texas as a Category 4 storm, causing wind damage, flooding, and power outages. Expected to linger for the next 4 or 5 days.
24 January 2016
Winter Storm Jonas caused severe weather, including some tornadoes and a little snow, in the Gulf Coast.
25 May 2015
Record floods and severe weather in central Texas has destroyed homes and killed four people, twelve are still missing. More rain is forecast this week.
waterforeststarlight online gift shop
www.waterforeststarlight.us.com
waterforeststarlight2
Pinterest: Gulf Coast
Louisiana
Office of Conservation - Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
CCA Louisiana
Louisiana Conservation Projects - Ducks Unlimited
Conservation Districts.org
Texas
Texas Conservation Alliance
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Central Texas Conservation Partnership
Alabama
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Conservation Alabama
Coastal Conservation Association Alabama
Alabama Forestry Commissions
Mississippi
Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee
Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee
Wildlife Mississippi
Coastal Conservation Association Mississippi
Florida
Florida's Aquatic Preserves
Florida Forest Service
www.freshfromflorida.com
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
www.myfwc.com
Florida State Parks
www.floridastateparks.org
Florida Trail Association
www.floridatrail.org
Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail
www.floridabirdingtrail.com
Mote Marine Laboratory
Conservation Trust for Florida
Florida Conservation Coalition
www.floridaconservationcoalition.org
Coastal Conservation Association Florida
Panama City Beach Conservation Park
www.pcbeach.org/ecotourism/panama-city-beach-conservation-park
Panthera
National Park Service
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Donors Choose
Gulf of Mexico Alliance
Lionfish University
Shelter
Dodging Storms
General Mayhem
Winter Storms 2017-2018
1 June 2016
The flooding continues. Texas got about a year's respite before the storms began rolling in again this spring, and the rain continues today.
25 May 2015
Record floods and severe weather in central Texas has destroyed homes and killed at least four people, twelve still missing.
Please visit www.visitflorida.com
Florida National Scenic Trail
www.floridatrail.org
1,300 miles, from the Everglades to the Panhandle
Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail
www.floridabirdingtrail.com
2,000 miles, a self tour connecting birding and wildlife viewing sites.
Florida Paddling Trails Association
www.floridapaddlingtrails.com
Pensacola
"The Great Carrier Reef"
USS Oriskany
A retired 911ft aircraft carrier that was sunk in 2006 for the purpose of creating a new reef.
Blackwater River State Forest
Gulf Islands National Seashore
80% of the park is submerged.
Destin
Hundred Fathom Curve
Tallahassee
Wakulla Springs
Topsail Hill Preserve State Park
1,600 acres: Includes the Gulf shore and two dune lakes.
Apalachicola
Apalachicola National Forest
Tate's Hell State Forest
Mud Swamp/ New River Wilderness
ANERR: Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve
St. Mark's National Wildlife Reserve
St. Vincent's: Red wolf propagation site (?)
Otter Springs
Big Bend Wildlife Management Area
Big Bend Saltwater Paddling Trail: 105 miles.
Crystal River
Hernando County: Adventure Coast
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge
Withlacoochee State Trail
46 miles.
Weeki Wachee Springs Stae Park
Here there be mermaids.
Mermaid Theater
Sarasota
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Anna Maria Island
Punta Gorda
Babcock Webb Wildlife Management Area
Tampa
Florida Aquarium
Fort Myers
Six Mile Cypress Slough
Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium
Sanibel Island
J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge
Bradenton
South Florida Museum: Parker Manatee Aquarium
Clearwater Marine Aquarium
Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge
Big Cypress National Preserve
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Picayune Strand State Forest
Collier-Seminole State Park
Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park
Florida
Places to go...
Texas
Corpus Christi
www.visitcorpuschristitx.org/index.aspx
Padre Island National Seashore
National Park Service
Laguna Atascosa NWR
U.S. Fish & Wildlife
www.fws.gov/refuge/laguna_atascosa/
Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR
US Fish & Wildlife
www.fws.gov/refuge/attwater_prairie_chicken/
San Bernard NWR
Units: Dow Woods, Hudson Woods, Betty Brown
Lake Texana State Park
Texas Parks and Wildlife
tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/texana/
Big Bend National Park
National Park Service
Visit Big Bend
CMCP is based in North Carolina
And Welcomes All People
Praying for Texas
Florida: Gulf Coast
Texas
Alabama
Hurricane Season 2017
26 August: 5:00am: Hurricane Harvey has made 2 landfalls north of Corpus Christi, Texas, last night as a Category 4 storm, the first of that level to hit Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961. A Category 4 storm hasn't hit the U.S. since Hurricane Charley in 2004. Harvey is expected to stall out just inland of Texas, then travel slowly northward, causing life-threatening flooding, up to 30 inches (or more) near Houston. There's already been damage and power outages, but not much anyone can do about. Harvey is an inland Category 2 storm now, basically like a tiger on the loose in a china shop. The seawalls have been impressive in keeping the surge from blocking coastal roads, so far. It's that big swirling cloud above nearly half of the largest state in the lower 48 that's going to sit around for the next 4 or 5 days, that's our big problem.
2 landfalls: 1. Near Aransas Pass (?) 2. Compano Bay
3:00am CDT: Category 2 110mph/954mb/traveling NW at 6mph.
6:00am CDT: Category 1 85mph/972mb/traveling NW at 6mph.
25 August:
4:00am CDT: Category 2 105mph/967mb/traveling NW at 9mph.
7:00am CDT: Category 2 110mph/950mb/traveling NW at 10mph.
4:00pm CDT: Category 3 120mph/traveling at 10mph.
5:00pm CDT: Category 3 125mph/traveling at 10mph.
9:00pm CDT: Category 4 130mph/941mb/traveling NW at 8mph.
24 August:
4:00pm CDT: Category 1 85mph/976mb/traveling NNW at 10mph. Predicted to become a Category 3, and could increase after landfall. Could stall out, linger for days. Headed for Corpus Christi.
Hurricanes
Storms are named when wind speeds reach 39mph.
Tropical Depression < 39mph
Tropical Storm 39-73mph
Category 1 74-95mph
Category 2 96-110mph
Category 3 111-129mph
Category 4 130-156mph
Category 5 157+ mph
After the "W" the storms are named according to the Greek alphabet.
Mining
Offshore Oil
17 April 2015
The Interior Department plans to begin leasing areas of the Atlantic at least 50 miles off the shores of VA, NC, SC, and GA to interested oil drilling companies beginning in 2021. The 50-mile buffer was created to protect shoreline areas, many fragile, two areas in particular being the two largest estuaries in the country, the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds. Debates about whether there should be offshore drilling in this area at all have been going on for at least 30 years. Now it seems the green light's been turned on, with that orange-light 50-mile buffer.
According to the Interior Department, the buffer's 50-mile width was set in place in order to "minimize multiple use conflicts, such as those from the Department of Defense, NASA activities, renewable energy activities, commercial and recreational fishing, critical habitat needs for wildlife and other environmental concerns."
But plenty of citizens are saying that no buffer is wide enough and there should be absolutely no offshore drilling in the Atlantic.
Keep working on those "renewable energy activities," everybody. Act fast, save a dolphin. Save a way of life.
1 March 2015
The Department of the Interior has announced plans to open up the Mid- and South Atlantic coasts to mining for oil and gas, maybe starting in 2017. In 2014, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has decided to conduct seismic surveys along the Atlantic coast. People are concerned about the harm air guns used to conduct these surveys can cause to marine mammals and other marine life, and about the potential damage that drilling for offshore oil could cause.
The floor for discussion will be open on 12 March 2015, at the William and Ida Friday Center for Education in Chapel Hill, NC.
For more information, please visit the Southern Environmental Law Center site at www.southernenvironment.org
BOEM has "mitigation measures" for seismic surveys with marine mammals in mind: www.boem.gov/2012-JOINT-G02/ It expired 31 December 2014 and was written for a Gulf Coast survey, but it gives a general idea.
Coal Ash
1 May 2016
Here's something else tied up in red tape. Nobody wants the coal ash, and who can blame anybody, right? Now some people are wondering if maybe they can keep the ash where it is and reclassify it. Sometimes 2+2=4 no matter how hard you try to recalculate it, or run from it. No dice, baby. It is what it is. Recycle it, and take the time to create the correct facilities for the ash that can't be recycled.
There's this episode of Saved by the Bell where Hayley Mills' students mess around with the stock market and lose, and they end up with all these sacks of potatoes. She tells them to do everything they can to get rid of those potatoes.
North Carolina, this coal ash is our many sacks of potatoes. Moving it around doesn't make it go away, neither do shortcuts (which will cost everyone more in the long run), neither does pretending that it's something else so we don't have to mess with it at all.
1 October 2015
The fine imposed on Duke Energy has been reduced to $7 million, a steep decrease, so that more focus would be put on the actual clean-up of the problem areas. In one way it's okay, otherwise litigation might have dragged on forever. In another way, here's hoping that $34 million earmarked for environmental and conservation projects comes from somewhere, sometime soon.
14 May 2015
Duke Energy has been fined $102 million dollars due to 9 violations of the Clean Water Act. $34 million of theat gold mine will be used for environmental and conservation projects in NC and VA. The costs of the settlement will not be covered by Duke Energy's customers, but its shareholders. Duke Energy has also started paying for fresh water for residents living near coal ash ponds.
9 May 2015
The NC DENR is telling anyone living near a coal ash facility to not drink the water, but Duke Energy is claiming that the water's safe.
17 April 2015
"How will you handle that new coal ash slime?"
Chatham and Lee County residents are not particularly happy about over 20 million tons of coal ash being stored in their backyards. The plans for storage are still up for debate for the next few months. Has all of that coal ash been recycled as far as it can possibly go?
18 March 2015
Duke Energy plans to move 10 million tons of coal ash from at least 14 sites to 2 abandoned clay mines in Lee County. Dry, lined areas will be prepared for this move (whatever can't be further recycled, right?). This should be completed within 5 years. Some residents in Lee County are not at all thrilled. They are calling the choice to relocate the coal ash to their backyard "socioeconomic discrimination."
www.npr.org/2015/03/18/393672334/after-toxic-ash-spill-energy-company-and-locals-struggle-over-solution (Dave Dewitt)
20 December 2014
The EPA is making efforts to regulate coal ash waste, and some North Carolinians believe that NC's regulations are stricter. They are not strict enough, however, to speed the process of beginning to either remove the coal ash from outdated and leaky pits or reline and cover the pits. Coal ash waste does in fact contain a significant amount of toxic chemicals and needs to be considered hazardous. Nearly half of coal ash produced by power plants can be recycled. What is left over needs to be kept in facilities that are both heavily lined and covered. It's going to take some time and money to take care of the 14 Duke Energy pits in NC, 9 of which are problem pits, so covering them is the quickest and least expensive way to keep moisture from the coal ash, but that is by no means more than a quick fix until the ash can be moved to a better site.
21 August 2014
Legislation To Regulate Coal Ash Approved on Wednesday, 20 August. Waiting on Governor McCrory's signature.
17 July 2014
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dan River is back to the way things were before tons of coal ash spilled into it on 2 February 2014 at the Duke Energy Dan River Steam Plant in Eden, NC. They are basing this finding mainly on over 600 water samples taken after the spill, all of which indicating that the drinking water is safe. Also, Danville, Virginia had been reporting safe drinking water since the spill. Tests willl continue, even though the EPA won't be checking in daily anymore.
Of course this doesn't mean that the coal ash situation is resolved. That could take a few years (or more). Fore more information, please visit the Go Dan River, Danville, VA news site, www.godanriver.com.
Fracking
1 May 2016
No fracking that I know of has begun quite yet.
21 May 2015
Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens has halted fracking lease approval until the legality of the appointment of boards concerning fracking can be affirmed. This will be decided ultimately by the State Supreme Court. so until then, no sticking pipes in your front yards and turning on the water hose.
17 March 2015
It is now legal to apply for a fracking permit in NC. Fracking itself does not begin today. First, applications must be approved, and then approved applicants may face legal action brought forward by those who oppose.
20 December 2014
Governor Cuomo and the State of New York have decided to ban fracking.... so who's next?... going once... going twice...
25 August 2014
Fracking hearing in Sanford, NC. A main concern is boundary issues. There should be at least 200ft between the drill pad and the outer boundary of the fracking site.
21 August 2014
Fracking hearings have begun: First stop, N.C. State. Many expressed concerns for fracking safety. There will be 4 hearings in NC this week.
17 July 2014
The Mining and Energy Commission of North Carolina has listed over 100 proposed rules that may govern fracking, and from July to September, they have opened a public comment period for open comments.
