Bi-Weekly Report 
   January 20, 2015

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AgenciesAt the Agencies


 
NOAA announces two new Habitat Focus Areas

NOAA has selected two sites in the southeast and Caribbean as Habitat Focus Areas -- places where the agency can maximize its habitat conservation investments and management efforts to benefit marine resources and coastal communities. These two new areas are Puerto Rico's Northeast Reserves and Culebra Island, and Florida's Biscayne Bay.

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is the Nation's Scorekeeper in terms of addressing severe weather and climate events in their historical perspective. As part of its responsibility of monitoring and assessing the climate, NCDC tracks and evaluates climate events in the U.S. and globally that have great economic and societal impacts. 

EPA Approves Maryland's New Limits on Trash in Lower Patapsco Waterways, Including Baltimore Harbor

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Maryland today announced a new set of pollution limits for trash for portions of the Patapsco River.  These limits, also known as a Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL, require the control of trash entering the tidal shoreline of the Middle Branch and Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River, including Baltimore Harbor and the upstream watersheds of Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls.  


StatesIn the States and Regions

East Coast 

Dredging, sand transfer plant part of shoreline report - Florida 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be dumping 200,000 cubic yards of sand in the near shore from the inlet maintenance dredging project. Beaches near Dunbar and Wells roads could begin seeing sand pumped as early as Friday as part of the Midtown Beach re-nourishment project. It's dependent on weather. Trucks setting up near Peruvian Avenue to truck about 88,600 cubic yards of sand to the South End to place between Sloan's Curve and the south end of the Par 3 Golf Course for dune restoration above the mean high water line. An additional 42,400 will be placed at Midtown and trucked to Reach 8. 

Beach work planned in North Wildwood 

Five Mile Beach's first federal beach project remains under discussion, but it will be at least 2017 before the first grain of sand is moved to North Wildwood's badly eroded north end.  As envisioned, the project will be unique in Cape May County. Instead of pulling sand from inlet shoals to build shrinking beaches, the project calls for sand to be removed from the too-wide beaches in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest.  While some sand will go to North Wildwood, most of the sand will be used to add dunes to beaches the length of the island.

Offshore sand tapped to fight IOP erosion

Fast-moving dump trucks greet beach visitors to Wild Dunes at the east end of the island as the city wages another battle in its war against erosion.  This time, a new strategy is being employed. City Council authorized $130,000 to build a 100-yard-long natural bridge from the mainland to a sand-rich shoal exposed at low tide.

Life along the salt marsh: Protecting tidal creeks with vegetative buffers

South Carolina is home to approximately 350,000 acres of salt marsh, comprising 30 percent of all tidal salt marsh in the United States. This is impressive as the salt marsh ranks as one of the most biologically productive ecosystems on Earth (second only to the rainforest), providing vital wildlife habitat and nursery grounds to many species of birds and fish.

Gulf Coast 


An Army Corps of Engineers representative described the agency's confidence in the 17th Street Canal's ability to perform during a storm as he addressed flooding fears at the Jefferson Parish Council on Wednesday. Brett Herr, a senior project manager for the corps, said he had been called to address the council after a Sept. 3 WWL television report on the canal's failures during Hurricane Katrina.

 


While the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill represented an unprecedented environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, the influx of funding earmarked for coastal restoration projects now represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make lasting impacts on the region impacted by the spill.  As the government restoration process moves from theory into practice, many of the environmental groups who've worked on the spill since 2010 have shifted their focus to form what they call the Alabama Renewal Group, a collaboration of like-minded organizations hoping to help the state get the most positive economic, environmental and community benefit from its undetermined pool of oil spill fine money and to offer a unified voice from several organizations.


The Port of Houston Authority says it plans to undertake significant infrastructure improvements in the next few years to ensure that the Port of Houston can accommodate the advent of larger vessels and increased cargo resulting from the pending Panama Canal expansion in 2016, as well as the expected future demographic growth in the region. 

West Coast and Pacific Islands 


A seawater desalination plant under construction near San Diego will be the nation's largest when complete. Is it really necessary?  After three years of drought, California's reservoirs are filled with more mud than water. Many farmers can't irrigate their fields and have no choice but to leave them fallow.


Ground was broken this week on a tsunami-proof school building on the coast at Westport. It is the first of its kind in North America. As devastating as the Japan and Indian Ocean tsunamis were, important lessons were learned on how to survive them. Get to high ground. Better yet, get to a tall structure that can withstand the walls of water. There hasn't been such a "vertical evacuation structure" anywhere in this part of the world until now.


On Friday, Jan. 9, the Oregon State Marine Board approved awarding a roughly $105,000 grant to the Tillamook County Parks Department to finance dredging the approach to the County-owned Memaloose Point boat launch on Bayocean Road. The Tillamook County Board of Commissioners plan to approve the grant agreement, which requires work be completed prior to June 15.


Great Lakes 


The U.S. Agriculture Department's Regional Conservation Partnership Program is announcing $370 million in projects, including $40 million in Great Lakes region projects, Sen. Debbie Stabenow said Wednesday. The Great Lakes projects - backed by 130 local projects - were created by the farm bill signed into law last year. Stabenow was chair of the Agriculture Committee that passed the five-year, $956 billion farm bill.


Scientists who have reported that the Great Lakes are awash in tiny bits of plastic are raising new alarms about a little-noticed form of the debris turning up in sampling nets: synthetic fibers from garments, cleaning cloths and other consumer products. They are known as "microfibers" - exceedingly fine filaments made of petroleum-based materials such as polyester and nylon that are woven together into fabrics.


For more than 50 years, the Moses-Saunders dam on the St. Lawrence River has slowly been killing Lake Ontario.  For half a century, the lake has been cut off from the natural ebb and flow of water that shapes and revitalizes coastal wetlands that border the lake. And during these five decades, we have allowed one of New York's and the world's great ecological resources to wilt and begin to die.


NewsIn the News


New Research May Solve Puzzle in Sea Levels Rise

A team of researchers reported Wednesday that the ocean did not rise quite as much as previously believed in the 20th century. They proposed a seemingly tiny adjustment that could make a big difference in scientific understanding of the looming problem of sea-level rise.
 
 

ASBPA - In defense of dunes

An article in the latest edition of a long-running coastal journal confirms what many experts and officials have long believed: Coastal dunes are real and natural assets in protecting both our shorelines and the people and things along them.
"Shore & Beach," published by the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), recently issued a special issue devoted to coastal dunes, inspired both by research done in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the growing interest in more resilient coasts using more natural means when possible.


Frequently used for take-out containers, disposable drink cups and other single-use products, EPS is a hazard to our environment-not only because of its brittle nature and propensity to fragment into small pieces-but also because it can't be recycled, economically. This is compounded by the fact that we use so much of it! Last year, the city of New York collected about 28,500 tons of polystyrene! (That's a lot of take-out!) After the announcement was made official, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "These products cause real environmental harm and have no place in New York City." 


In partnership with New York Sea Grant, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens yesterday announced $89,000 in grants for four projects that will help Great Lakes coastal communities to increase storm resiliency and protect water quality.


 


AnnoucementsAnnouncements

 

 

OneNOAA Science Seminars, Month of February 2015

  

Title: Land Based Sources of Pollution in Faga'alu Bay, American Samoa

Date & Time: Thursday, February 5, 2015, 12pm - 1pm (ET)

 

Title: Weather-Climate Linkages: Analysis, Modeling, and Prediction Efforts

Date & Time: Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 2pm - 3pm (ET) 

 

Seminars are open to the public. For remote access, location, abstracts and more, visit the OneNOAA Science Seminar Calendar at: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/    

 

Seminars are posted in Eastern Time and subject to changes without notice; please check the web page for the latest seminar updates. 


 
2015 NOAA Satellite Conference


The 2015 NOAA Satellite Conference (NSC 2015) for environmental satellite users will be held April 27-May 1, 2015, in Greenbelt, Maryland. The conference will bring together users and providers of polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite data, products, and applications and provide them with a venue and opportunity for greater collaboration. NSC 2015 will consist of invited oral and poster presentations with an emphasis on environmental satellite technological, scientific, educational, and training opportunities and services to raise awareness of upcoming enhancements and prepare for their use. Participation is expected from 40 countries and will include members of NOAA, NASA, Department of Defense, Environment Canada, EUMETSAT, and the Hydrometeorological Services of countries in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and Asia.

 

January 25-28, 2015                       

February 22-25, 2015                      

February 23-25, 2015                      

February 24-25, 2015                      

March 30 - April 2 2015                

September 6-9, 2015                       

October 4-8, 2015                            

 

Best regards,

The CSO Team

cso@coastalstates.org



The Voice of the Coastal States and Territories on Ocean, Coastal & Great Lakes Affairs

             

www.coastalstates.org  Call us: 202.508.3860    cso@coastalstates.org


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