Open AccessMississippi Basin/Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan sent to Congress
Author(s) -
Pryor Donald,
Scavia Donald
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/01eo00024
Subject(s) - action plan , hypoxia (environmental) , compromise , plan (archaeology) , spring (device) , environmental science , structural basin , oceanography , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , archaeology , geology , ecology , law , political science , engineering , biology , mechanical engineering , paleontology , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , oxygen
Culminating an intense 5‐year effort, President Clinton sent to Congress on January 18 a consensus‐based action plan to deal with the summertime hypoxic “dead zone” that appears each spring and summer in the northern Gulf of Mexico (see Eos , July 18, 2000, p.321). The plan aims to reduce the hypoxic area to less than 5,000 square kilometers by 2015, about two‐thirds less than the running average over the past 5 years. The plan states that “the best current science” indicates that the aim should be for a 30% reduction in nitrate and other forms of nitrogen discharge from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. This represents a compromise that stops short of declaring a nutrient reduction goal.