The current outbreak, which began in October 2017 off southwest Florida, has been tied to a record 589 sea turtle…
The current outbreak, which began in October 2017 off southwest Florida, has been tied to a record 589 sea turtle deaths and 213 manatee deaths, the Herald-Tribune reported, citing figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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Suppose this has anything to do with it?
ecowatch.com – Hundreds of Offshore Fracking Wells Dump Billions of Gallons of Oil Waste Into Gulf – EcoWatch
No question. Will this be repeated in the future?
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grace diemand There seems to be conflicting stories about what is actually happening.
NEW ORLEANS— The Center for Biological Diversity, Gulf Restoration Network and Louisiana Bucket Brigade today sued the Trump administration for permitting oil companies to dump waste from fracking and drilling into the Gulf of Mexico without evaluating the dangers to water quality, marine species or the environment.
biologicaldiversity.org – Trump Administration Sued for Letting Oil Companies Dump Offshore Fracking Waste Into Gulf of Mexico
Then another post I saw says:
Despite claims from activist groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, operators are not allowed to dump “unlimited fracking wastewater” into the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, they’re wrong about several things (shocker, we know). First, these groups are referring to a permit granted by the U.S. EPA, which allows for the regulated discharge of wastewater from offshore oil and gas development offshore (it’s sometimes called an NPDES, if you’re interested in the nitty gritty). The permit sets limits on the amount that can be discharged, requires monitoring and testing of wastewater, as well as other provisions to ensure this does not hurt water quality or people’s health. Fractivists don’t like to mention that stuff, because it’s not so scary now, is it?
Additionally, fracking isn’t often used in offshore oil and gas production. Even when fracking is used, it’s done on a much smaller scale, using just two percent of the volume of water typically used for onshore operations. Not only does the NPDES permit require operators to follow strict regulations when it comes to discharging wastewater (i.e. not “unlimited”), the vast majority of it isn’t even from fracking.
Steve MacLellan Yes, some is industrial runoff, some is agricultural runoff, and some is naturally occurring algae blooms from what I have read. Add the effects of other pollutants and the effect of climate change on ocean temp and currents also contributes. What is increasingly clear is that we are killing our bodies of water in many different ways..
We are killing this world — no doubt about it!