Gulf of America

An aerial view of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on June 7, 2024. Farming nutrients from throughout the Mississippi River basin wash down into the Gulf of Mexico, creating an annual “dead zone” of low oxygen conditions. Aerial support provided by SouthWings.

Size of 'dead zone' in the Gulf expected to be about average this year. Funding woes for research and action could be much bigger.

Elise Plunk (Louisiana Illuminator)

The annual forecast for the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, which president Trump has renamed the Gulf of America, predicts the section of water where oxygen is unnaturally low will be about average in size this year.

Tulane University graduate student Augustine Nwokoye removes a water sample from the PS 200 isokinetic sediment sampler in the Lower Mississippi River Delta on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

Coastal Desk

Mississippi River loses most of its sediment—and land building ability—before reaching the Gulf

Delaney Dryfoos (The Lens)

New research shows that typically, less than 10% of land-building alluvium reaches the Bird’s Foot Delta region, the southernmost reach of the river, where it meets the Gulf.

Coastal Desk

Federal court invalidates Gulf oil drilling lease

Wesley Muller (Louisiana Illuminator)

In a legal setback for fossil fuel advocates, a federal court has invalidated a large offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling Thursday in favor of environmental groups that sued to block the lease after it was scheduled for auction in 2023.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signs an executive order March 13, 2025, to change all references to the Gulf of Mexico in state laws and documents to the “Gulf of America.” State lawmakers joined Landry for the ceremony before his luncheon speech to business organizations at the Cypress Columns event venue in Gray.

Politics

Gov. Landry signs order for ‘Gulf of America’ change to all state laws, documents

Greg LaRose (Louisiana Illuminator)

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Thursday that directs state agencies to change all references to the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana laws and other documents to the “Gulf of America.”