Record levels of plastic pollution found in Lake Erie

December 31, 2012

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Water samples taken this summer from Lake Erie contained more plastic pollution than any oceanic sample on record, researchers said.

Sherri "Sam" Mason, a professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia who led the first-ever Great Lakes plastic pollution survey in July, found Lake Erie is teaming with plastic pieces.

Pollutants ranging from bottle caps to paint chips were found during the survey intended to provide data on plastics discarded in the lake. But plastic bits almost too small to see with the naked eye were most prevalent.

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Source of persistent Gulf sheen remains a mystery

December 19, 2012

NEW ORLEANS -- Underwater inspections at the site of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig disaster have failed to identify the source of a persistent sheen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, officials said Tuesday.

The Coast Guard and BP both said the recent inspections confirmed that the company's Macondo well, which blew out in April 2010 and spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill, remains secure and isn't leaking oil. Relief wells that were drilled in 2010 to stop the gusher also were found to be secure during the four-day survey, BP said.

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Great Lakes Study Highlights Environmental Threats And Conservation Challenges

December 19, 2012

A research team, led by the University of Michigan, has developed a comprehensive map telling the story of human impact on the Great Lakes and identifying how “environmental stressors” stretching from Minnesota to Ontario are shaping the future of an ecosystem that contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. The map, three years in the making, was a collaborative effort with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a binational team of researchers from the Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping (GLEAM) project.
 
The results, published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describe an expansive and detailed effort to map and cross-compare environmental stresses and the ecological services provided by the five lakes.

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‘Substantial amounts of oil’ may still be leaking at Deepwater Horizon site

December 14, 2012

Speaking to CBS News for a segment aired Thursday, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) claimed that “substantial amounts of oil” may still be leaking from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon, resting at the epicenter of the worst accidental oil spill in human history.
 
“My concern is that substantial amounts of oil could still be leaking from the wreckage,” Markey said, commenting on reports of fresh oil slicks appearing in the Gulf of Mexico in recent months.

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