The $93 million Mississippi Aquarium is coming out of the ground on the East Beach service road in Gulfport, on track to open late this year or by early 2020.

Shell Oil is continuing its investment in the Terrebonne and Lafourche region with the construction of two new facilities in Houma.

A cadre of 30 oil and gas producers submitted 257 total bids in Wednesday’s Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region-wide auction, with the Mississippi Canyon drawing the highest bid and a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc far and away outbidding everybody. Of the 78.5 million acres on offer in Lease Sale 252, BOEM received bids on 1.3 million acres.

The most expensive coastal restoration project ever attempted in Louisiana will be delayed several months due to a series of permitting, design and engineering setbacks.

A civil case reveals conflict between economic development and environmental concerns.

As FEMA works out new NFIP rules, residents and officials look forward to more accurate mapping, but worry that the price of flood insurance for some property owners may significantly increase.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has proposed an August 2019 region-wide oil and gas lease sale for 78 million acres (31.6 million hectares) in all available federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Terrebonne District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. has been appointed to aid a state agency’s investigation of possible environmental damage caused by energy companies hin the parish.

The Carteret County announced yesterday that Reach 3 (east Indian Beach and Salter Path) under the Post Florence Renourishment Project was completed last Sunday.

It’s been six months since Hurricane Florence made landfall in the Wilmington area, and John Pike and his family are still not living in their home.

As coastal Louisiana continues to degrade, communities are left increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic storm flooding. The coastal wetlands, a century ago treated as disposable and often dredged for canals or drained and leveed for agriculture, grazing, or development, are actually an ecologically crucial habitat which acts as a natural buffer against extreme flooding. Restoring these coastal wetlands is imperative to protect Louisiana’s coast from further decline due to manmade and natural causes.

In the coastal bend of South Texas, the future of the global energy market is being constructed one epic infrastructure project at time.

Construction of Texas Brownsville LNG LLC’s proposed LNG project could result in adverse environmental consequences, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a Mar. 15 final environmental impact statement. Impacts would be less than significant if the project sponsor’s proposed impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures and the FERC staff’s additional recommendations are implemented, it added.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded a $92 million construction contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC, to deepen and widen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel (CCSC) from the Gulf of Mexico to Harbor Island, as part of the Channel Improvement Project (CIP).

In 2006, a year after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the U.S. government struck a deal to give states in the region a growing share of offshore drilling revenues to finance projects protecting them from future monster storms.

The Mississippi River has been at flood stage for months. Levees and spillways keep most homes and businesses safe and dry from the flood waters, but the high water still creates headaches for levee districts and industries like oil and gas, and fisheries.

WASHINGTON, D.C. March 13, 2019 – Environmental groups sued the Trump administration today to challenge an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico that will open up more than 78 million acres to offshore drilling without fully analyzing the risks to people, wildlife or the environment.

Two Louisiana homeowners have sued President Donald Trump’s administration for policy change delays that have kept thousands of victims of a massive 2016 flood from receiving federal aid.

Mississippi will spend more than $23 million in Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act money on six projects, Gov. Phil Bryant announced on Wednesday.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — County officials are scrambling to find $14.8 million to repair erosion damage to south- county beaches after Federal Emergency Management Agency rescinded $9.5 million it had promised for the project.

The General Land Office’s updated Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan, released Monday, is a beauty, with lots of spot color, graphics and maps. It’s worth a look. Spilling out over 234 pages, it includes 123 projects that GLO believes are preferred, in that they can do the most good to “restore, enhance and protect the coast.” Can’t argue with that. Call them Tier 1 projects, which is what GLO does.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has proposed to offer 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for August 2019. The sale would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

A Florida commercial and charter fisherman has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges and faces 10 days in jail over a video that shows him dragging a shark behind his boat at a high speed. The video went viral in the summer of 2017.

The state General Land Office has updated its master plan for coastal resiliency, which includes 17 projects in Jefferson and Orange counties, part of the effort to protect and promote “a vibrant and resilient Texas Coast.”

SHALIMAR — By the end of this week, Okaloosa County officials hope to find a dredge that can perform the county’s East Pass dredging/beach restoration work, possibly within the “100 days of summer” from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

As the oily, sun-soaked days of summer are soon upon us, it’s worth talking about how Northwest Florida is a place with an identity crisis. We tout our region as a “conservative” community — a place that honors God-given freedoms, personal liberties and homegrown, working-folk values above the machinations of shiny-shoe-wearing people like fancy-pants politicians.

WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Visit South Walton has already started renovating five beach access points and adding three new ones.

Mote Marine Lab CEO emphasizes jobs and economic impact.

Lobstermen’s Association president says fish devour young lobsters, calls for quota boost.

A study to determine which homes in Southwest Coastal Louisiana will qualify for voluntary relocation or elevation recently received funding after much back-and-forth between parish officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — The Nature Conservancy is acquiring nearly 6,270 acres of rolling, cream-colored dunes, criss-crossed with low vegetation and pocketed with pristine tidal flats on South Padre Island, where critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles crawl ashore each spring to lay eggs.

MANATEE -- As government officials began the annual budget process, the wish list for improvements across Manatee County ballooned quickly, prompting an inquiry into an untapped source of revenue — paid beach parking.

The Coastal Bend Bays and Estuary Program (CBBEP), a nonprofit organization in its 20th year of operation, is dedicated to protecting and restoring the health and productivity of local bays and estuaries. It works with local governments, conservation groups, teachers, students, and the public to raise awareness of natural surroundings.

DESTIN — Okaloosa County appears to be only a step or two away from an agreement for the much-needed dredging of Destin’s East Pass.

AUSTIN, Texas (Texas Tribune) - More than a year and a half after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the state, Texas Senate leaders announced a $1.8 billion trio of disaster relief bills on Wednesday that they said would create "a roadmap to prepare our state for future hurricanes and natural disasters."

Voters approved a bond referendum today to fund the upcoming beach renourishment project. The fill volume is estimated at 900,000 cubic yards of sand over 25,600 linear feet of shoreline. The project's total estimated cost is $30.4 million, and it assumes no federal participation.

Matagorda County Commissioners approve a proclamation in support of legislation to enable oyster mariculture in the Texas coastal waters.

MONROE, La. (The News-Star) - (3/3/19) According to our partners at The News-Star, the oyster dressing is safe this year. Since the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, 4 billion to 8.3 billion subtidal oysters were estimated to be lost across the Gulf coast. Many states are struggling.

TALLAHASSEE — Money from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill will help governments in four storm-battered Northwest Florida counties with anticipated property-tax losses caused by Hurricane Michael.

This past Tuesday, the Parkview Library along with the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways Exhibit, hosted a talk about the book “Bayou Farewell” and how it relates to today’s coastal erosion and its effect on the economic development of the area.

Texas has one of the largest coastlines in the nation, but it is the only coastal state that does not have an organized commercial oyster farming industry.

If any doubt existed that Alabama has the best artificial reef program in the world, Chris Blankenship made an emphatic declaration last week that Alabama’s artificial reefs are unparalleled anywhere on the planet.