If the glove don't fit . . .

Environmental Groups Sue to Block BP’s Plan to Drill in Deep Gulf Waters

With its aggressive push for offshore oil & gas production & deregulation frenzy (e.g., withdrawing protections of endangered whales as a national emergency), can we rely on Trump Administration to prevent another BP oil spill from this ultra-deep development? Gift 🔗
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/c...

Guest Column: Louisiana’s next coastal plan needs more transparency Huge changes have been made to Louisiana’s coastal management plan, but the current administration has not been shown any scientific modeling for the new approach, nor released clear timelines. The la...

Commentary by leader of environmental coalition that has worked with the state of Louisiana on science-based coastal planning decries abandonment of river-based solutions and lack of coherent strategy by current Governor Landry. Couldn't agree more.

Guest 🔗 www.nola.com/opinions/gue...

Trump’s Go-To Justification for Contentious Decisions: National Security

Go figure. Trump says offshore wind turbines are "driving whales crazy" and pose a threat to national security, but that measure to protect endangered whales in the Gulf of Mexico from effects of oil drilling in Gulf of Mexico is a threat to national security.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/u...

Actually, one of the unique things about Earth (that makes it suitable for life) is that water is available, at temperatures and pressures encountered on our surface, in all three (solid, liquid, gas) forms.

Oh--and fossil fuels is getting rid of one of them (solid) rather quickly.

This Mississippi River spillway protects New Orleans from flooding. But is there a better way? More frequent spillway openings, including a record-setting deluge of water in 2019, have killed off oyster reefs, fueled harmful algae blooms and badly hurt tourism in neighboring Mississippi.

The water has to go somewhere: complex tradeoffs in managing the distribution of high discharges of the Mississippi River with flood protection, navigation and oysters. @mikejsmith504.bsky.social
Gift 🔗 www.nola.com/news/environ...

1.7 million pounds of nitrate-nitrogen traveling down the Des Moines River today.

Hutzell: Andy Harris ♥ Viktor Orbán. Here’s why that’s bad. COLUMN | Why does Rep. Andy Harris love Viktor Orban? If you want to know who Maryland’s lone Republican in Congress is, take a look at the Hungarian strongman facing a tough reelection Sunday.

Maryland congressman Andy Harris, whose father is Hungarian, supported Viktor Orbán's failed reelection. Interesting insights @rickhutzell.bsky.social.

While Orbán, like Trump, is a corrupt authoritarian at least he conceded when he lost an election.

www.thebanner.com/opinion/colu...

The “America First,” president wants to cut billions of dollars from American innovation and scientific research.
 
From NASA to NIH, no one would be spared.
 
We cannot let this budget pass.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

In Europe “corn,” from Germanic via Old English, just meant a cereal grain, e.g. wheat or oats, not specifically that tall grass from the Americas, which Europeans distinguish as maize. Been to Cornmarket in Oxford or Dublin or drank Korn schnapps in Germany?

Charybdis is also a genus of swimming crabs, a species of which is native of northwestern Indian Ocean, including the Persian Gulf, and has invaded the eastern Mediterranean off Israel and Turkey.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charybd...

Love those amphipods!

Predatory behavior?

Louisiana now has nearly 6,500 orphaned wells — more than ever before, and 2,000 more than it had just two years ago.

We tracked down four companies that are largely responsible for that spike. They owned almost 1,200 now-orphaned wells.

www.nola.com/news/busines...

Fortunately, we can dial back our fertilizer use in much of the world -- without compromising crop yields or food production.

This helps curb N2O emissions *and* lowers water pollution from nitrate runoff. Win-win!

Here's more on these solutions:

drawdown.org/explorer/imp...

Louisiana's $1.5 billion coastal plan hits delay in legislature. Advocates want answers. The delay is the latest turn in a long-running controversy surrounding Gov. Jeff Landry's move to cancel major plans to divert river sediment to rebuild lost wetlands.

Louisiana legislature questions Gov. Landry's abandonment of science-based sediment diversions from river to sustain wetlands over long run in favor of just building temporary walls to stem encroachment. @mikejsmith504.bsky.social
www.nola.com/news/environ...

The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP7 (ScenarioMIP-CMIP7) Abstract. Scenarios serve as a critical tool in climate change analysis, enabling the exploration of future evolution of the climate system, climate impacts, and the human system (including mitigation...

So... now we can breathe again. Let's talk about ScenarioMIP.

The final version is now up on GMD - and there's some changes since the first draft. /THREAD/

gmd.copernicus.org/articles/19/...

Don’t be complacent, Trump is still intending to decimate US science and will continue to so for the next three years.

Lots of noise, and a fair bit of nonsense, coming out around CH4 v. CO2 abatement. But missing in all of this is that reductions in CH4 emissions at any time are an unalloyed good: Good for climate, good for air quality, good for public health, good for the economy. We should be doing far more.

Bob Marshall: Louisiana’s got the best coastal science, but it is often ignored. Louisiana spent $21 billion to get the very best coastal science. So why, columnist Bob Marshall asks, are the state’s leaders looking the other way?

It's just tragic to see the science-based planning for the endangered Louisiana coast built over more than 20 years ignored by Governor Landry. This on the same day that Trump's "God Squad" declares open season on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico. Wake up, folks.
www.nola.com/opinions/gue...

Remember the names of these heinous people: DOI's Doug Bergum, DOA's Brooke Rollins, Army's Daniel Driscoll, COE's Pierre Yared, EPA's Lee Zelden, and NOAA's Neil Jacobs. There is more crude oil and natural gas exported from Gulf of Mexico ports to other countries than produced in the Gulf.

The ‘God Squad’ Waives Environmental Rules for Offshore Drilling

More like the Extinction Squad. The oil & gas industry has long treated the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice zone. Now, because Trump started a war in that other Gulf, they are going to lift species protections because it is needed for "national security." Gift 🔗
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/c...

The task force's recommendations are all unanimous.

Reducing CO2 emissions is paramount. But reducing methane is necessary for avoiding critical warming thresholds. Warning we could soon cross these limits while downplaying the importance of methane reductions is hypocritical.

Hausfather's recent blog said methane's influence was only for 10 years, that of CO2 10,000 years. That's a huge exaggeration. A pulse of methane has real climate impacts for 40+ years, and those from CO2 are declining by 20% after 100 years. Figure below is based on IPCC 2013.

Science for Communities flyer which lists the events included in the series and dates of each seminar.

UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory just announced the 2026 "Science for Community" series!

Join us April 21–May 5 to learn about:
🔹 DNA & jaguar tracking
🔹 Real-time sturgeon forecasting
🔹 Acoustic whale monitoring
🔹 AI & genomic mapping
🔹 Emerging contaminants

Register: www.umces.edu/cbl/s4c

Trump to revoke protections for endangered species in Gulf of Mexico President is convening so-called ‘God squad’ to override provisions of Endangered Species Act for ‘national security’

Trump to revoke protections for endangered species in Gulf of Mexico www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Why the Iran War May Force Countries to Rely Less on Natural Gas

According to an industry advocate, U.S. natural gas exporters "are positioned to be enormous winners.” But analyst says prices most likely will rise in the United States, too. Meanwhile, importing countries are switching to renewables, nuclear, & (sigh) coal.
Gift 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/b...

He Helped Write the Clean Air Act. He Fears for Its Future.

Tom Jorling, the lawyer who advised Republicans in passing the 1970 Clean Air Act, says regulating greenhouse gas emissions is "perfectly consistent." Its goal is to protect human health and welfare“ with a specific reference to climate that is "unambiguous.” Gift 🔗
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/28/c...

A close look at data on oil and gas employment in Louisiana | The Data Center This brief examines the shifting role oil and gas plays in Louisiana’s economy. As the industry increasingly sheds jobs as technology advances and work automated, how will communities keep from fallin...

Energy dominance? Well-paying jobs in Louisiana's offshore oil & gas extraction have declined, leaving capital-intensive energy sector investments that generate few permanent local jobs. www.datacenterresearch.org/reports_anal...