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Water Log 28.2, August, 2008

Interesting Items

Around the Gulf

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management fined Chevron $30,000 for releasing higher amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than permitted at the Hatter’s Pond natural gas field near Creola, Alabama. The field is owned by Four Star Oil and Gas, which is operated and partially owned by Chevron. VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids and liquids and contain a variety of hazardous chemicals, including benzene, which may cause adverse health effects upon exposure. Four Star had been cited in 2004 and 2005 for similar air pollution problems.

According to the New York Times, rising prices for corn and soybean feed are driving some catfish farmers out of business. Today, more than half the cost of raising catfish is feeding them. In an industry already struggling to compete against cheaper foreign imports, the rise of feed is simply too much for some producers. This is bound to have significant ripple effects in regions, like the Mississippi Delta, heavily invested in catfish farming. Empty ponds mean less jobs, both on the farms and in processing plants.

The forecast for this summer’s “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is pretty grim. The “dead zone” is an area where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support life. The phenomenon is caused when algal growth, which has been stimulated by nutrient loading, settles to the bottom. The decaying algae consume oxygen faster than it can be replenished. Because the massive Midwest floods are expected to deliver higher than usual amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Gulf, scientists at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and the Environment predict the hypoxia area to cover between 8,400 - 8,800 square miles off the Louisiana-Texas coast. If their prediction holds true, this would be the largest dead zone on record.

For readers following the expansion of the strategic petroleum reserve in Richton, Mississippi, a new resource is available - the Richton Reporter, a quarterly newsletter by the Department of Energy’s Office of Strategic Petroleum Reserves for the Richton Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) process. The Summer 2008 issue contains basic information about the project and the SEIS process. The comment period on the content and scope of the SEIS closed on April 29, 2008. The DOE will now begin work on the draft SEIS due out late this year or early next year. The Richton Reporter and additional information about the project is available at
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/expansion-eis.html .

University of Mississippi