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Scientists Race To Save Miami Coral Doomed By Dredging
An anonymous reader writes "Miami scientists are scrambling to rescue a crop of coral at the bottom of one of the world's busiest shipping channels that they say could hold clues about climate change. 'The coral, which may hold clues about how sea life adapts to climate change, is growing in Government Cut. The channel, created more than a century ago, leads to PortMiami and is undergoing a $205 million dredging project — scheduled to begin Saturday — to deepen the sea floor by about 10 feet in time for a wave of new monster cargo ships cruising through an expanded Panama Canal starting in 2015. Endangered coral and larger coral have already been removed by a team hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the dredging work. But the remaining coral, deemed "corals of opportunity" in Corps lingo, can be retrieved with a permit. The problem, scientists say, is they only had 12 days between when the permits were issued last month and the start of dredging, not nearly enough time to save the unusual colonies thriving in Government Cut.'"
What the fuck does helping private companies make profit have to do with the U.S. Army?
Look, let's cut the crap. We know that global warming exists. We know that humans are responsible for it. Those are facts. Intelligent left-wingers realize this. Intelligent centrists realize this. Intelligent right-wingers realize this. There's nothing to debate! There are no "clues" needed!
And we already know what happens to animal life that's subjected to climate change: it dies out, sooner or later.
Save the coral, for crying out loud, but don't pretend that it's being done to preserve evidence of global warming. There is so much evidence already that even if these coral were harmed, it would have no impact.
Save the coral because the coral deserves to be saved.
Slashdot Beta will only be a stone around the neck of an already dwindling user base. It's time to tell the powers-that-be that this will not be tolerated.
Boycott Dice!
Boycott ThinkGeek!
Boycott Beta!
Giving 12 days to perhaps save a tiny bit of biodiversity and learn something about doomed nature is too generous, not to mention pointless, such a waste of time. Pave the Earth and be done with it, already! /sarcasm
Who cares about coral or the sea? It's better to poison and destroy the whole world so that walmart get it's chinese crap brought in on time.
Don't forget to chrome the Moon while you're at it!
That is exactly what the engineers do, so yes, it isn't a problem.
It's really hurting Slashdot. Would you few everything-denying American dipshits please go back to hotair.com or whatever cesspool you emerged from.
Miami won't last another century anyway. They could as well leave the corals right where they are. ;-)
Ezekiel 23:20
Though you're a troll, I'll answer. The Army is responsible for security of the nation. To do that, they have to be able to move a lot of stuff from garrison to wherever the war is. That quantity of shit moves 3 ways, truck, train and boat. Now, trucks and trains are clearly mostly for interestate commerce; you move stuff from one place to another inside the country. Therefore, they fit in the constitutional categories of postal service. It's a historical artifact, but federal support of them is justified under the postal clause of the constitution Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 empowers congress ..."To establisht post offices and post roads". But, the federal funding for those is through the Department of Transportation. Navigable waterways and ports, however, are much more an international commerce thing. The army started maintaining them to be able to support the armies out west, and that tradition has continued, since they have the expertise. Believe it or not, the Army has more boats than the Navy. Back to the point, though, having ocean facing ports is very much part of the Army's ability to move men and supplies, so it remains in that interesting mostly-civilian adjunct, the army corp of engineers. So how about hydropower? How is that a military thing? Well, the genesis of that was generating enough to separate uranium for the Manhattan project.
How apt a name...
No other coral can be used for their BS analysis, it must be that coral in that exact spot. Coral simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the waters around south florida, right?
Whatever you want to beleive.
I resent the blazes out of dredging to accommodate bigger ships. If anything we need far less ships here. Ships are a huge air pollution problem. You should see the cartons of cigarettes that people toss off of the cruise ships that wash up on Ft. Lauderdale's beaches. The other item is the tampon inserting tubes. They are plastic and we get all kinds of them in the surf.
I'm so bored with all these BS "endangered species stories. Enough is enough! Some things live, some things die. Deal with it, muthas.
yes beta sucks
I agree
You'd be fascinating. As it is? Not so much.
Struth! You Americans worry too much.
Just contact our Australian Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, he will be able to explain how mega dredging projects are actually good for the environment.
We have the biggest coral reef in the world, one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World, right on our doorstep... it's been there for about 18 million years. Too bad the bugger is in the way now, blocking access to more profit - ahem, job creation - for Gina & co.
What's another piece of coral anyway... they'll all be gone soon enough.