Florida recycled over 500,000 tonnes of oyster and clam shells from restaurants into the Gulf of Mexico since 2007. Initially doubted, this effort successfully restored damaged marine habitats, improved water quality, boosted fish populations, and protected coastlines, inspiring similar programs across several US states.
Tropical Storm Bertha is churning towards the northern Gulf Coast, threatening Florida to Louisiana with heavy rain, flash flooding, dangerous storm surge, and damaging winds. Meanwhile, Hurricane Fausto has strengthened in the eastern Pacific but poses no immediate threat to land.
Environmental groups have sued the Trump administration over its approval of BP's $5bn Kaskida oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, filed exactly 16 years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The project will drill 6,000ft underwater plus miles into the seabed to extract 80,000 barrels daily from a 10bn-barrel deposit, starting in 2029. The lawsuit alleges BP failed to provide required safety information and cannot contain a potential 4.5m-barrel spill.
