News & Public Affairs
Tampa Bay residents urged to plan ahead for tornadoes and active hurricane season listen
05/23/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: tornado, hurricane, weather, NOAA, Moore, Oklahoma
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is predicting a hyperactive hurricane season with between 7 and 11 hurricanes with 3-6 severe storms. And with the nation still reeling from the catastrophic tornado that ripped through Moore, Oklahoma this week, people are taking severe weather seriously.
Charlie Paxton is a science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in Ruskin. He says summer-time tornadoes can present a huge threat to Floridians.
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Be the first to commentEnvironmentalists are still concerned about oil disaster impacts listen
04/18/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP oil disaster, NOAA, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, USF, Gulf Restoration Network, oil spill, BP
Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf. Many officials are touting a swift environmental recovery, but environmentalists see alarming signs that Gulf of Mexico is far from healthy.
It’s been more than nine months since gushing oil well in the gulf was permanently capped. The worst human-caused environmental disaster in US history may no longer be daily fodder for front page news, but scientists and environmental groups say the disaster is...
Be the first to commentUSF researcher: oil still causing trouble in Gulf listen
02/08/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP Oil disaster, NOAA, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, USF, Gulf oil spill
Former Governor Charlie Crist and failed Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink plan to reiterate their support for a constitutional ban on oil drilling in state waters tomorrow in Tallahassee. To those who watched last year’s gulf oil disaster from afar, the problem may seem all but gone. But to researchers at USF St. Petersburg it’s still out there, weathered beyond smithereens, menacing the Gulf of Mexico food chain. Speaking to students and faculty recently at USF’s St. Pete campus, ...
Be the first to commentCharter, private fishing boats may be regulated separately listen
11/08/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Gulf of Mexico, fisheries, environment, Tampa Bay, NOAA, Ocean Conservancy
Florida is dubbed the fishing capital of the world, but overfishing has threatened this key industry for years. Charter fishing boat operators, environmental groups, and other stakeholders are meeting in Tampa this week to discuss a policy that may change the way fishing is regulated.
The concept is called "sector separation." It would result in a separate set of rules for those who, say, fish off bridges or their own boats, and those who make a living taking people out on charter boats. E...
6 commentsNearly six months after Deepwater Horizon explosion, cleanup continues listen
10/13/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP Oil disaster, NOAA, gulf of mexico, Florida, Bobby Jindal
Next week marks six months since the blowout at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The well is dead … the Obama Administration lifted its ban on deepwater drilling … but the story is far from over.
For those who watched the disaster unfold in what seemed like slow motion, it may feel like years since those initial reports of an explosion that killed eleven rig workers in the Gulf. At times, it almost seemed like a suspense flick. But the narrative arc of the biggest environmental disaster in U...
Be the first to commentSen. Nelson livid over Gulf spill misinformation listen
10/07/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Thursday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Nelson, Deepwater Horizon, NOAA, BP, BP oil spill, Gulf Oil Disaster, Barack Obama
A report alleging the federal government blocked worst case estimates of the Gulf oil gusher is bad news for the Obama administration, which is already having trouble with its image. Today that didn’t stop Bill Nelson from blasting its supposed decision to severely downplay the oil flow.
In a conference room overlooking the Downtown St. Petersburg waterfront today, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson is fuming.
Nelson has been one of the harshest critics of BP’s and the government’s response to...
Be the first to commentNOAA reopens federal waters off Panhandle listen
09/03/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP Oil disaster, NOAA, gulf of mexico, Florida
Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced it’s reopening a large chunk of federal waters of Florida’s panhandle to fishing. The announcement comes after sensory and chemical testing of area fin fish.
Roy Crabtree, Fisheries Administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service, said in a teleconference today there were three steps in assuring seafood in the more than 3,000 square-mile area was safe. The first was making sure there was no oil in the water. The next was what h...
Be the first to commentUSF, NOAA reseachers confirm oil plume listen
06/08/10 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, NOAA, USF, BP
Today, scientists from the University of South Florida and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reaffirmed a widespread suspicion: that there’s oil suspended beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. But they won’t say much else about it.
Dr. William Hogarth, dean of USF Marine Science, was plain about the significance of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
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Sen Bill Nelson visits oil spill incident command post in St Pete listen
05/07/10 Seán KinaneWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Bill Nelson, Gulf Oil Spill, BP oil spill, BP, USF St. Petersburg, NOAA
In order to respond to effects on the West Coast of Florida from the BP oil blowout, federal, state and local agencies have established an incident command post in St. Petersburg. Representatives from BP, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard, are among the groups stationed at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute on the campu...
Be the first to commentChemicals used to clean oil spill may have ill effects listen
05/03/10 Lisa MarzilliWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Gulf Oil Spill, NOAA, Chemical oil dispersants, environmental damage
One of the techniques being used by BP to tackle the massive oil spill is the use of chemical oil dispersants such as solvents, and other compounds. They’re used to reduce the effect of oil spills by changing the chemical and physical properties of the oil. However, they are controversial.
On a phone call with reporters today, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the use of such dispersants is unprecedented at the depths they’re being used.
Associate Professor Peter Harrison,...
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