Gulf "Dead Zone" Under Scrutiny

Obama administration to scrutinize area off the Louisiana coast

By: Michael Snowden | WKRG
Published: July 23, 2009

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The dead zone off Louisiana's coast, where
there is too little oxygen in the water for anything to live, is
getting new federal attention under President Barack Obama's
administration.
Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, has scheduled a teleconference Monday with Nancy
Rabalais, who has been studying the "dead zone" since 1970 and is
currently measuring this year's hypoxic area.
They and other officials and scientists will announce the
current size and talk about its implications and plans to reduce
it.
It's the first such joint announcement. NOAA spokesman Ben
Sherman says it's a new administration, and Lubchenco is a
scientist who has studied the dead zone and believes it's a
national issue.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)