When it comes to the Manasota Key beach renourishment project, Sarasota County commissioners have some thorny decisions to make Tuesday regarding their portion of the project.

Recently seen around St. Pete: A squad of 20-somethings took turns pushing pucks down a shuffleboard court, giving each other congratulatory fist bumps and dipping into their cooler to fish out another can of White Claw.

Two bills — HB 401 and SB 680 — are currently moving through the Florida legislature to ban all fin sales.

Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration plans an expansion of coastal restoration and flood protection efforts that for the first time will target greenhouse gas emissions by Louisiana industry as a way to reduce future sea level rise.

All six barges that were blown ashore by Hurricane Harvey 30 months ago have been removed from San Jose Island, a barrier island and wildlife refuge off the Texas coast, Kirby Corporation announced February 19.

A potent neurotoxin that has long been associated with mass die-offs of marine mammals during harmful algal blooms has been detected in bottlenose dolphins from the Indian River Lagoon estuary.

The University Press of Mississippi, publisher of the Third Coast Book Series, brings to the American shoreline and the people who live, work, recreate, and make a living there -- an entirely new perspective on the issues all coastal communities face. And, listen to the American Sdhlreloine Podcast with the publisher and four of the book authors. It's a great show (See the link at the bottom of the story).

Citizens of the Coastal Bend: The Texas Department of Transportation has written you a letter. The three-page, single-spaced missive can be a bit dense in parts, but one thing is clear: TxDOT is not backing down from its condemnation of the engineering firm recently fired from the Harbor Bridge project in Corpus Christi. It also noted in the letter that the move could result in further delay of the $930 billion project, already two years behind schedule.

Saturday marked the 500th-day anniversary of Hurricane Michael. After millions of cubic yards of debris have been pushed away, the crests of progress can be seen as the wave of development becomes more visible for the Mexico Beach shoreline.

Studies of the health hazards of toxic algae blooms have focused largely on the danger of direct contact with contaminated water in lakes, rivers and the ocean. Now a new study shows that even airborne exposure to the bacteria from a toxic bloom could also pose a risk.

That hurricanes can create sudden and dramatic changes to the landscape is obvious to anyone who lives along the Gulf of Mexico's coast. They are powerful, high-energy destructive forces that can flood homes and fell trees, and can leave a lasting impression on all those affected by them; however, the mark hurricanes leave on unpopulated areas, such as Florida's Everglades National Park, have been less known until now. In a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, researchers from different universities, including LSU, examined how Hurricanes Wilma in 2015 and Irma in 2017 fertilized the Florida Coastal Everglades, paradoxically facilitating mangrove wetlands recovery.

The Florida Legislature is expected to act soon on whether to overturn a controversial 2018 law that prohibits the public from setting foot on the dry sand of beaches that abut private property in Walton County in the Panhandle.

Flooding is the costliest natural disaster, according to environmental economist Katherine Zipp, assistant professor of environmental and resource economics and a faculty member in the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, at Penn State. She is part of a team that is studying how floodplain damages affect long-term housing development in high flood-risk areas. This includes a model that takes into consideration climate change and how that could impact flooding.

Opponents are happy town leaders who voted against the project are sticking to their decision.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer over 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for March 18, 2020, as part of President Trump’s America First Offshore Energy Strategy.

In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Julia Nesheiwat, a former professor and State Department official who is currently serving as Florida’s first chief resilience officer. Nesheiwat elaborates on the unique challenges Florida faces, as a sprawling, populous state with many coastal communities potentially imperiled by climate change. Discussing the diverse responsibilities of her role, Nesheiwat explains how she works alongside leaders from government, academia, and the private sector to devise proactive solutions to climate challenges and encourage collaboration across the whole state.

Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers have been awarded nearly $2 million in Texas Coastal Management Plan grants to study issues affecting the water quality of Baffin Bay, Texas; to continue a popular oyster reef restoration, outreach, and citizen science project; and to model the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge on the Texas Coast.

Many people wonder how the excess CO2 is affecting the planet and its atmosphere. Charles Amsler, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, continues to search for these answers as he dives into the depths of the Antarctic Ocean to closely examine ocean acidification.

The destructive power of a hurricane appears to do plenty of good for mangroves in the Florida Everglades.

A top ten of record-breaking US weather events of the last decade reveals Hurricane Harvey is the most extreme of the decade, and similar others were among the costliest and deadliest on record, according to magazine Weatherwise.

Scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Ocean Sciences Division are optimizing the placement of ocean gliders and the usage of glider data to improve the Navy’s ability to predict ocean conditions.

The vacation rental platform collects the bed tax in 44 Florida counties.

Florida Rep. Chris Sprowls, a Republican, declared it so in September 2019 at a speech designating him the next speaker of the House: “We need to stop being afraid of words like ‘climate change’ and ‘sea level rise.’” And Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has used the term repeatedly since his campaign for the job in 2018, even saying it three times in a news release that announced a new statewide job, chief resilience officer, tasked with preparing Florida for sea level rise.

Some Manasota Key residents couldn’t contain their excitement over the weekend.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer over 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for March 18, 2020, as part of President Trump’s America First Offshore Energy Strategy.

Louisiana will get $130 million in BP oil spill money to link its second-largest coastal swamp back up to the Mississippi River, and Alabama will receive funds to add up to 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares) to a wildlife management area.

Work could soon begin on a long-debated beach access point on Perdido Key after Escambia County Commissioners voiced support Thursday for the idea moving forward, despite a pending challenge in court and warnings of more lawsuits.

Who is responsible for killing the dolphins? That’s what authorities in Florida in the United States want to know, as they pursue new cases of intentional shootings while adding some important advice for everyone on how to avoid putting the dolphins at risk.

Florida has experienced numerous harmful algal blooms in recent years, including blue-green algae and their toxins in 2016 and 2018. Despite their intensity and frequency, there is scant data on human exposure to these blooms and concentrations of the toxins they produce in tissues of exposed individuals. The most common routes of human exposure to these toxins include direct contact, ingestion and inhalation. Little is known about airborne exposure to these toxins in recreationally and occupationally exposed humans.

A proposed preserve off Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties is drawing criticism as too restrictive

Major oil spills are catastrophic events that immensely affect the environment and society, yet determining their spatial extent is a highly complex task. During the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout, ~149,000 km2 of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) was covered by oil slicks and vast areas of the Gulf were closed for fishing. Yet, the satellite footprint does not necessarily capture the entire oil spill extent. Here, we use in situ observations and oil spill transport modeling to examine the full extent of the DWH spill, focusing on toxic-to-biota (i.e., marine organisms) oil concentration ranges. We demonstrate that large areas of the GoM were exposed to invisible and toxic oil that extended beyond the boundaries of the satellite footprint and the fishery closures. With a global increase in petroleum production–related activities, a careful assessment of oil spills’ full extent is necessary to maximize environmental and public safety.

US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer over 78 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for 18 March 2020. The sale would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. East and Gulf Coasts differ in how ocean and atmospheric circulation and sea level interact to produce storm surges, and both regions will experience greater storm surges as global warming progresses, according to new research from a University of Arizona-led team.

Risa Palm, Georgia State University and Toby W. Bolsen, Georgia State University

In a state seemingly overrun by water, state government doesn’t manage its resources very well and faces threats to Louisiana’s water supplies, according to a Legislative Auditor’s analysis released Monday.

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) on Monday announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allocated $274,300,000 for the Port of Mobile in its Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan, officially providing the final resources needed to dredge Alabama’s seaport.

Retired Jacksonville doctor Harry Lee is donating his million-dollar collection of shells to the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

Swollen rivers could impede levee repairs, inundate homes and delay the planting of crops

Various agencies describe what carrying-capacity study determined and next steps.

Coastal Louisiana has changed a lot in the last century. By comparing aerial photographs from the 1930s to today, we can see that change across the coast — from an ecosystem once dominated by extensive marshes and lush swamps to one increasingly covered with open water and “ghost forests.”

The loggerhead sea turtles that nest on Anna Maria Island could share space with bulldozers this spring and summer.

GALVESTON, Texas – Jacobs-Stantec has been selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and build a 26.7-mile-long levee and floodwall system along the coastline along the Southeast Texas coastline, according to a news release from the company.

Residents of Terrebonne and Lafourche are used to getting bad news about the area and state’s vanishing coastline.

The Bert Harris Act was enacted in 1995 to protect property rights. Pinellas beach officials hope to defeat proposed changes that could result in multi-million dollar costs to cities if they opt to change existing zoning.

A public hearing on a controversial oil terminal proposal in Plaquemines Parish was postponed Tuesday by Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Quality.

Something’s happening in Jackson that’s new for South Mississippi — the Coast has people in high places in state government.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana island that provides a crucial nesting ground for pelicans and other seabirds is being restored to nearly its former size after decades of coastal erosion and the devastating blow of an offshore oil spill 10 years ago.

Louisiana's continual land loss has created a monumental legal headache: When privately owned land vanishes under the water, who does it belong to?

A shrinking beach is about to get bigger. Work is set this month to replace the sand along Manasota Key’s shoreline. For years, storms and erosion have taken their toll. Now, equipment is being shipped from Georgia and is expected to arrive in the next day or two for use in a beach renourishment project.

Sea level rise that a federal program predicts will inundate land far inland of Apalachicola Bay by 2060 could wipe away gains Florida hopes to gain in its water war with Georgia.

NOAA supports resilient coastal communities and healthy, sustainable fisheries in Louisiana through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act Program.

"Get lost bums!"

After more than two years of repairs, guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) left the Mississippi coast for sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, Navy officials announced on Monday.

Cold Galveston Bay oysters on the half shell and January go hand in hand, like saltines and cocktail sauce. Cool temperatures have plumped up bivalves to their prime size by now and area restaurants are celebrating the bounty, although it may be short-lived.

This debate will come to a head Tuesday at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, the upshot of which may have significant implications for federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Within the boundaries of Orleans Parish, the shores of Lake Pontchartrain were once dotted with small coastal communities: West End, Spanish Fort, Milneburg, Seabrook, Citrus, Little Woods and South Point, as well as the train-stop hamlets of Lee, Micheaud (Michoud), Chef Menteur and the Rigolets in eastern New Orleans.

The fate of the Texas flounder fishery has arrived at another crossroads. A complete closure of flounder season from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 and an increase of the minimum size limit from 14 to 15 inches recently were proposed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

GILCHRIST, Texas (AP) — The last fish are leaving Rollover Pass.

According to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, background concentrations of the toxic algae were observed in the county.

It's been 51 years since the brown pelican was reintroduced to Louisiana after the species completely disappeared from the state due to pesticide use in the 1960s. Since then, it has thrived on Queen Bess Island, making it the third largest brown pelican rookery in Louisiana. Another battle looms, however.

GRAND ISLE, La. — The Ace of Trade trawler motored toward Dean Blanchard’s dock early last summer in southern Louisiana, its skipper slowly winching its nets into storage. Blanchard’s workers, strengthened by a lifetime at sea, worked shirtless in the humid summer air.

Ankle-deep in the overflow of the river that drew her here two decades ago, Calinda Crowe looked across her land, envisioning the future. She didn’t like what she saw. “You wake up to this,” she said, gesturing toward the water submerging everything but the concrete foundation of her raised home. “It upsets you, you know, because it’s supposed to be ‘dream home’ type stuff. Not with this.” A turtle floated to the surface near the bulkhead dividing her yard from the bayou.

City commissioners and the dozens of people packing City Hall Monday evening agreed to "row the boat" toward a legal action against the Army Corps of Engineers.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will not rehear a dispute between three South Texas municipalities and the company slated to build the largest liquefied natural gas terminal at the Port of Brownsville, the FERC said last week.

‘When the dead zone comes, it just kills everything.’

As part of ongoing efforts to address conflicts between double-crested cormorants and wild and stocked fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking for public input on future management options.

Conservation groups filed a petition today asking the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to adopt regulations that would protect diamondback terrapins from drowning in blue crab pots. These imperiled turtles are suffering population declines.

City Council member Greg Smith says the project will correct an erosion problem that forced the city to shut down part of the beach.

Not that there’s much skill this early, but ‘normal’ looks likely

The first meeting of resiliency committee comes with stark predictions about sea-level rise and Jacksonville's vulnerabilities

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to boost fines on environmental lawbreakers drew support Monday in its first legislative appearance.

Environmentalists and other opponents of three proposed liquefied natural gas export terminals at the Port of Brownsville are one step closer to filing a federal lawsuit to halt the projects after losing requests to have permit decisions reconsidered.

From Florida to West Virginia, cities and states are behind in meeting the challenge of climate change head on.

After months of controversy surrounding the Fort Myers Beach Margaritaville project, the resort's legal woes continue.

Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich will be asking the City Council this week to approve four measures designed to help avoid a repeat of last summer’s disastrous Bonnet Carre Spillway openings. The mayor also wants to see civic and community groups get involved.

The beach belongs, by law, to the people of Florida — the part that gets wet, that is; the part where you should not leave your towel and expect it to be there when you come back from a swim, unless you’re a highly competent student of the tide tables.

HARLINGEN — It’s a pearl of an idea. Wild oysters already are harvested in a strictly regulated fishery in Texas. But beginning as early as the end of this year, these prized shellfish raised on saltwater farms in the Laguna Madre and elsewhere along the coast could begin hitting seafood stores.

An artificial reef created in the Gulf of Mexico four years ago by Alabama Power and multiple partners appears to be teeming with life.

Using money from a settlement tied to a decade-old oil rig disaster, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved purchasing 1,100 acres on Matagorda Peninsula as part of a wider nature preservation effort along the Gulf of Mexico.

Residents are upset and alarmed over new high-occupancy construction built, operated and marketed for short-term tourist rentals in residential neighborhoods.

Wendy Gordon did not shy away from one of the most politicized words in modern politics on Wednesday afternoon at the University of Houston — Victoria North building, where she kicked off a conversation about coastal resiliency.

Coming weeks bring opportunities for the public to weigh in on watershed management on the west side of Mobile Bay, and to attend a Sustainability Summit on economic and environmental issues in coastal Alabama.

Louisiana officials are looking for ways to promote recreational access to waterways while protecting the rights of property owners and minimizing the costs to state taxpayers of any changes.

Richard Clark, Senior Vice President and head of Kosmos Energy’s Gulf of Mexico business unit, discusses the state of the E&P market, drilling activities, and future field developments in the region.

The United States will likely spend more money developing offshore wind capacity than offshore oil and gas within the next five years, according to a new study.

The homeowners have until Friday to apply for permits to move the rocks and remove the post and rope fence.

The scum of blue-green algae was so thick and invasive in Florida two years ago that it suffocated fish by the thousands. Birds dropped dead. And people stayed out of the water.

The photographer's series ‘Flood Zone’ provides an eerie glimpse into the future of America's sinking southern states.

A pair of property owners on the south end of the island want to build it behind their homes at 8150 and 8170 Estero Boulevard. But wildlife advocates say it would harm protected birds.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. has announced the closing and temporary closing of Highway 4 and Boca Chica beach for SpaceX testing activities.

After years of mostly ignoring climate change, Florida lawmakers waded deeper into the matter on Tuesday , advancing a proposal that would create a statewide Office of Resiliency and establish a task force to begin looking into how best to protect the state’s 1350 miles (2,173 kilometers) of coastline from rising oceans.

Four coastal Louisiana tribes and one in Alaska that say the U.S. government violated their human rights by failing to take action on climate change have submitted a formal complaint to the United Nations in Switzerland.

Oil companies will put decarbonisation “at the heart” of investment plans this year as factors like the climate emergency knock the industry’s confidence, according to a new survey.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced $2 million in grant awards for seven new projects through its Understanding Gulf Ocean Systems (UGOS) Grants 2 competition. The UGOS grants support projects focused on new theories, technologies, and methodologies to improve understanding and prediction of the Loop Current System (LCS) of the Gulf of Mexico.

Recycled plastic bottles get a new life as artificial islands on the Louisiana coastline.

Florida’s water needs this decade will grow by 20 percent and remediation of drinking water infrastructure will cost $18 billion, making water resources a top legislative priority for the Florida League of Cities, an advocacy organization representing more than 400 cities and towns.

A landmark settlement with an oil and gas company that could potentially unlock big dollars to help restore Louisiana’s disappearing coast has yet to advance, three months after the tentative agreement was announced. The deal with Freeport calls for the company to pay up to $100 million in cash and in what Carmouche calls “environmental credits.”

The federal agency says that in addition to coastal Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties in Mississippi, the declaration covers adjacent counties and parishes.

The Town has a goal to dredge canals within the community to keep them navigable and to maintain property values.

A judge has sentenced Mark Edward Zywotko, 47, of Cape Coral to 60 days in federal prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for committing mail fraud in the perpetration of a fraudulent scheme to overharvest more than 50,000 pounds of Gulf reef fish from the waters off Southwest Florida.