GULF OF MEXICO

Along 350 miles of Texas coast—from the Sabine River to the Rio Grande—anglers today can catch an assortment of species.

The Biden administration oversaw one of the largest oil and gas lease sales in American history just days after pledging to take action on climate change at the international climate summit.

Environmentalists are fuming after the Department of the Interior auctioned leases to drill for oil in an 80-million-acre section of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning.

The Biden administration is opening more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to auction for oil and gas drilling.

Energy companies have offered a combined $192 million for drilling rights on federal oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico in the first government lease sale under President Joe Biden.

The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday will auction vast oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated to hold up to 1.1 billion barrels of crude.

Researchers use Atlantic mackerel for bait on long-lining fishing sampling expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico.. C-IMAGE Consortium, CC BY-NDOver the decade since the Deepwater Horizon spill, thousands of scientists have analyzed its impact on the Gulf of Mexico. The spill affected many different parts of the Gulf, from coastal marshes to the deep sea. At the Center for Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem, or C-IMAGE at the University of South Florida, marine scientists have bee

The VB 10,000, the largest lift vessel built in the U.S., is a catamaran-style heavy-lifting barge with four cranes that had been working for a year to remove the Golden Ray cargo ship that capsized in September 2019.

It looks like New Orleans and Florida got quite the show.

SpaceX's Crew-2 astronauts returned to Earth late Monday (Nov. 8), splashing down off the Florida coast in a nighttime landing.

Four astronauts splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 8, completing a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon Endeavour's return to Earth will clear the way for launch of four more astronauts Wednesday.

Four astronauts are back on Earth after a 200-day space station mission.

Splashdown will close out a 199-day mission for four Crew Dragon astronauts.

HARLINGEN — The first major cold front of the year is headed toward the Rio Grande Valley and should arrive early Thursday morning and last until Friday afternoon.

The Halloween weekend begins wet and windy in the Fredericksburg area.

The asteroid that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago unleashed a catastrophic series of events.

Thousands of miles of inactive oil pipelines have been abandoned on the seafloor. Aging platforms pose an additional risk.

A pattern change will render this week cloudy and damp in Fredericksburg.

The oil producer group should tap the flexible policy it loves so much.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also issued another Ozone Action Day for...

A combination of strong demand and weak supply is sending crude toward $80 a barrel. That won’t help those already worried about gas and electricity prices.

The first-ever launch into Earth's orbit with only civilians aboard is expected to take off Wednesday morning. Follow our live coverage of the Inspiration4 flight.

Tropical Storm Nicholas slowed to a crawl over the Houston area after making landfall earlier as a hurricane. An AP reporter says the big problem is going to be rain and flooding. (Sept. 14)

Nicholas has made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, putting parts of Texas and Louisiana under threat of major flooding. Also, the youngest astronaut on SpaceX’s upcoming all-civilian crew pens a note to self. All that and all that matters in today’s Eye Opener. Your world in 90 seconds.

Strong winds swept through Freeport, Texas, on Sept. 14 as Nicholas pushed through the area, bringing with it heavy rain and storm surge.

Nicholas strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Monday as it headed toward landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast and it was expected to bring heavy rain and floods to coastal areas from Mexico to storm-battered Louisiana. (Sept. 14)

Nicholas developed into a hurricane late Monday night before making landfall in Texas, bringing intense winds, drenching rains and flooding storm surge to the coast.

Reed Timmer is in Matagorda, Texas, as Nicholas arrives along the coast creating problems with wind and storm surge.

Dozens of wildfires continue burning across the western U.S., and on Sept. 13, President Joe Biden visited the area to survey the damage.

Powerful wind gusts, rising storm surge and heavy rain slammed the Gulf Coast on Monday evening as Tropical Storm Nicholas bore down on Texas.

While many families prepared for flooding from Tropical Storm Nicholas on Sept. 13, this family of ducks was enjoying the day.

Tropical Storm Nicholas is taking aim at Louisiana and Texas, which are still recovering from previous storms. Meanwhile, President Biden is visiting several western states hit hard by wildfires. CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli joins CBSN's Tanya Riviero with the latest on the forecast.

As Tropical Storm Nicholas continued to churn in the Gulf of Mexico Monday morning, residents across Cameron County were busy getting sandbags to protect their homes from potential flooding.

Here's a look at where Tropical Storm Nicholas is, where it's headed and the impacts it could have in Corpus Christi.

While the most severe parts of the storm are not expected to hit Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards tweeted that all of southern Louisiana should "keep a close eye on Tropical Storm Nicholas."

Heavy rain could start late Sunday and run through at least Tuesday, causing flooding, high winds and deadly storm surge.

Thunderstorms due to the storm are forecasted throughout the whole week.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring an area of potential tropical development in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico early this Sunday morning. This system, regardless of development, looks to increase rain chances across the area later today and into early next week, NHC reports. A tropical depression is likely to form later today or tonight. The NHC said an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft has been sent to investigate the system. Rain chances from 50% to 70% are in the forecast for the Rio Grande Valley for Sunday.

With the potential for a tropical system to develop in the Gulf of Mexico in the next 48 hours, the National Weather Service in Brownsville is urging residents in the Rio Grande Valley to pay close attention to the weather.

The National Hurricane Center in Florida continues to monitor an area in the southern Gulf of Mexico that has a high probability of developing into a tropical storm Sunday or Monday.

Something is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico that has caught the attention of...

Hurricane Ida appears to have caused a sizable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is visible from space. Satellite images show oil slicks on the water near the East Timbalier National Wildlife Refuge near Louisiana.

A disorganized disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico is moving away from the Texas coast.

Southern eyes are remaining on the Gulf Coast.

Health officials in Louisiana say seven nursing home residents died, with five of the deaths storm-related, after they and hundreds of others were moved to a warehouse as Hurricane Ida approached. One nurse said the living conditions were dangerous and unsanitary. Correspondent Jessi Mitchell reports.

A one-foot diameter pipeline was displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and sheared in half by Hurricane Ida.

Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida have identified the apparent source as one-foot diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and broken open. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the busted pipeline does not belong to them. The company said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the ruptured pipeline.

Doctors are being pushed by some of their patients to prescribe Ivermectin, despite it being an "unproven" medication for COVID-19. Arthur Caplan, the director of the division of medical ethics at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, joins CBSN's Lana Zak to explain why this drug is dangerous and how some doctors are feeding into misinformation.

Coast Guard teams have been dispatched to help determine the extent of the damage from the spill, which is situated roughly two miles off the Louisiana coast. Officials say the source remains unclear.

An apparent miles-long oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is seen in aerial survey imagery released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows what appears to be a large oil slick near an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Officials say that a natural gas odor has been detected on Grand Isle and that conditions remain "very dangerous."

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Oil companies began gradually to restart some of their refineries in Louisiana, and key fuel pipelines fully reopened, providing hopeful signs that the region’s crucial energy industry can soon recover from the blow of Hurricane Ida.

Companies evacuated oil and gas platforms south of Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida but a far greater worry was potential damage to refineries and petrochemical plants in its projected path from flooding and storm surge.

A North Texas animal shelter is taking in more than 40 at-risk, homeless animals in Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida’s landfall.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered a mandatory evacuation for a small area of the city outside the levee system.

Landfall is expected along the Louisiana Gulf Coast on Sunday

A tropical system could form by Sunday

The National Hurricane Center said Fred has regained tropical storm status in the Gulf of Mexico as parts of the Caribbean began seeing impacts from tropical depression Grace.

A U.S. Coast Guard commander says a technical issue prevented it from relaying severe thunderstorm and marine warnings one day last April when a Seacor Power lift boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving 13 dead in hurricane-force winds.

Researchers say this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” is larger than average.

U.S. government forecasters say they expect the Atlantic hurricane season to be busier than they first thought.

If you’ve been to a beach along the Gulf of Mexico - from Texas to Florida - you’ve likely heard you need to shuffle your feet to help avoid getting stung by a stingray in a move dubbed the “stingray shuffle.”

Every coastline in the U.S. will experience rapidly increasing high-tide flooding due to “moon wobble” and climate change, according to a new study.

Given it’s location next to the Gulf of Mexico, one would think that the Tampa Bay region would have an extensive history with hurricanes. On the contrary, that's not the case.

Mexico's state-owned oil company says it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico.

System will bring heavy, flooding rains for parts of the Gulf Coast

High winds and heavy rains are striking coastal Louisiana and Mississippi as a disorganized and unpredictable tropical weather system churns through the Gulf of Mexico.

The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season is heating up and it’s heating up fast. An area of disturbed weather in the southern Gulf of Mexico is showing signs of organization.

The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season has a 60% chance to be above average

More heavy rainfall and strong storms possible

A South Texas fisherman landed a whopper 876-pound bluefin tuna last month about 150 miles off the coast of Port Aransas, breaking a nearly 40-year state record.

SpaceX has delivered four astronauts back to Earth, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.

Texas can get up to $79 million in BP oil spill restoration money, Mississippi nearly $69 million, and Florida almost $74 million for recently approved ecological projects and programs.

NASA and SpaceX are promising more Coast Guard patrols and fewer pleasure boaters for this weekend's splashdown by four astronauts.

As the search for survivors of a capsized lift boat ends, attentions turn to comforting the loved ones of the dead and missing, a grim hunt for bodies and a painstaking investigation that could take as long as two years.

The U.S. Coast Guard says it has covered an area larger than the state of Rhode Island in its search for a dozen people missing off the Louisiana coast after an offshore oilfield vessel capsized in a storm.

The $12 million Great Red Snapper Count estimated that the Gulf holds about 110 million adult red snapper -- those at least 2 years old. More than 60% of the red snapper were in areas that previously had not been checked, according to the study by 20 scientists from 14 universities and NOAA. The report estimated that about 48 million adult red snapper swim off Florida, 29 million off Louisiana, 23 million off Texas and 10 million off Mississippi and Alabama. He noted that the red snapper count received twice as much funding as all of the studies he oversees at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Congress voted for the study in 2016, as red snapper recreational seasons got shorter and shorter while anglers kept seeing more and bigger fish.

Not only did they see a huge pod of orca whales swimming in the Texas gulf, but some of those orcas swam right up to the boat to check them out. AdHardeman said the encounter lasted about 30 minutes until the group of orcas got bored and swam back to join their pod. Orcas do live in the Texas Gulf but are rarely sighted. Hardeman started his career 17 years ago in Alaska and has been working on offshore fishing boats in the Texas gulf for about 10 years. Hardeman said he’s happy he can share the video of his orca encounter so others can enjoy it too.

– A small parade of rescued young sea turtles has headed into the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana — a bright note in a tough season for sea turtles. Sea turtles get cold-stunned and lethargic when the water around them chills down so fast they can’t swim to warmer waters. Those released this week at Grand Isle were Kemp's ridley sea turtles, like most of those injured in New England, where volunteers rescued 775 turtles, said Kate Sampson, regional sea turtle stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Texas turtles were likely in relatively good shape because the cold came on so quickly, she said. AdSo many green and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were found off Texas in February that the South Padre Island Convention Center was used as an emergency sea turtle hospital.

The Interior Department said Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 that it is postponing onshore and offshore oil lease sales planned for next month in line with President Joe Biden's executive order on climate change. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)NEW ORLEANS – The Interior Department said Friday that it is postponing onshore and offshore oil lease sales planned for next month in line with President Joe Biden's executive order on climate change. The onshore sales were postponed to confirm the adequacy of underlying environmental analyses, said Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz. AdLow interest and small attendance at offshore lease sales covering different parts of the Gulf of Mexico prompted President Barack Obama's administration to combine them. “Canceling this huge offshore Gulf oil auction helps protect our climate and life on Earth," said Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity.

In the closing months of the Trump administration, energy companies stockpiled enough drilling permits for western public lands to keep pumping oil for years. Its effect could be further blunted by companies that stockpiled enough drilling permits in Trump's final months to allow them to keep pumping oil and gas for years. But Biden’s move could be the first step in an eventual goal to ban all leases and permits to drill on federal land. Oil and gas extracted from public lands and waters account for about a quarter of annual U.S. production. But there are other ways an ambitious Biden administration could make it harder for permit holders to extract oil and gas.

The industry saw Wednesday’s auction as potentially the last opportunity to lease federal waters for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for the next four years. In the last opportunity for oil companies to bid on federal Gulf of Mexico waters under a Trump administration, the federal government on Wednesday leased more than a half-million acres to companies for offshore oil drilling and production. Oil companies have struggled this year as the pandemic, combined with less faith from Wall Street investors, have left them strapped for cash. A handful of Texas energy companies, including a subsidiary of Murphy Oil, which recently said it would relocate its headquarters to Houston from Arkansas, made smaller offers. “This lease sale is pouring fuel on the flames of climate change,” said Emma Pabst, a global warming solutions advocate with Environment Texas.

Hurricane experts were closely watching the Caribbean, where Tropical Storm Iota formed Friday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Iota could bring dangerous wind, storm surge and as much as 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall to northern Nicaragua and Honduras. The storm was located about 350 miles (560 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph). Iota is a record-setting 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season. Earlier, firefighters in Tampa had to rescue around a dozen people who got stuck in storm surge flooding on a boulevard adjacent to the bay.

One death in Florida was linked to the storm, along with some scattered flooding and forecasters said the tropical storm was on a path offshore of South Carolina that would eventually take it further out to sea. That came amid a combination of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico being carried up by a cold front that had pushed Eta across Florida earlier. Earlier Thursday, Eta was in the Gulf of Mexico when it slogged ashore near Cedar Key, Florida. Before that first brush with Florida, Eta first hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane and killed at least 120 people in Central America and Mexico, with scores more missing. A 29th named system, Tropical Storm Theta, was centered late Thursday about 440 miles (705 kilometers) south of the Azores and moving east.

Hurricane Zeta passed through Wednesday leaving much of the city and metro area without power. Even as Zeta battered the south, the upcoming election was still on the mind of some residents. “Guys, we received the brunt of Zeta, and Zeta gave us a good punch,” McInnis told WDSU-TV. More than 875,000 customers were without electricity in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including about 350,000 in metro New Orleans. Winds could be “especially severe” in the southern Appalachian Mountains, where flash flooding is possible, the hurricane center said.

Clouds gather over Playa Gaviota Azul as Tropical Storm Zeta approaches Cancun, Mexico, early Monday morning, Oct. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Victor Ruiz Garcia)MIAMI – Hurricane Zeta lashed Mexico's Caribbean coast resorts around Tulum with high winds and rain Monday night as it headed toward the Yucatan Peninsula and then a possible landfall on the central U.S. Gulf Coast at midweek. It was the second time this month that boat captain Francisco Sosa Rosado had to perform the same maneuver, after Hurricane Delta hit the resort in early October. Trees felled by Hurricane Delta barely three weeks earlier still littered parts of Cancun, stacked along roadsides and in parks. There was also a Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005, but that year had 28 storms because meteorologists later went back and found they missed one, which then became an “unnamed named storm."

Zeta is moving toward the east-northeast near 55 mph (89 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue through tonight. On the forecast track, the center of Zeta will emerge over the western Atlantic this evening. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph (85 km/h) with higher gusts. A sustained wind of 39 mph (63 km/h) and a gust to 46 mph (74 km/h) were recently reported at Ocean City, Maryland. RAINFALL: The last of the heavy rainfall along the track of Zeta will impact the Mid-Atlantic through this evening.

Environmental groups have asked a federal court to toss out the government's assessment of oil and gas activity's likely effects on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico. A lawsuit filed Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, says the report doesnt consider the likelihood of another catastrophic oil spill like BP's Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010. He predicted the litigation will be lengthy because both the report and suit cover a huge area and many species. It will be largely a battle of experts, he said, but allegations about ignoring large spills are a strength of the suit. The suit said NOAA underestimated the largest spill likely.

Marcus Peterson walks past a downed tree in his yard after Hurricane Delta moved through, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Jennings, La. It then moved over Lake Charles, a city where Hurricane Laura damaged nearly every home and building in late August. While Delta was a weaker storm than Category 4 Laura, it brought significantly more flooding, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said. Forecasters warned that heavy rain, storm surges and flash floods continued to pose dangers in areas from Texas to Mississippi. They arrived back in Lake Charles last weekend, got a new roof on Monday and had to evacuate again Thursday.

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. – Ripping tarps from already damaged roofs and scattering debris piled by roadsides, Hurricane Delta inflicted a new round of destruction on Louisiana as it struck communities still reeling after Hurricane Laura took a similar path just six weeks earlier. Delta's reach stretched as far west as Galveston, Texas, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from where the storm struck Louisiana. Tropical Storm Marco fizzled as it hit the southeast Louisiana tip just three days before Laura struck. “The wind is much worse than what Hurricane Laura brought,” Gove said in a message on Twitter.

This Oct. 8, 2020 photo made available by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Delta in the Gulf of Mexico at 12:41 p.m. EDT. Delta is the sixth storm this year and the second in a week to reach the threshold, Lillo calculated. Hurricanes Hannah, Laura, Sally and Teddy and tropical storm Gamma all gained at least 35 mph (56 kph) in strength in 24 hours. This year is particularly nasty and Delta is a good example, said study co-author Gabriel Vecchi, a Princeton climate scientist. “This season has given a lot of examples of these rapidly intensifying storms that we expect to be more common,” Princeton’s Vecchi said.

Louisiana residents who are still recovering from the devastation of a powerful hurricane less than two months ago braced for another hit as Hurricane Delta steamed north through the Gulf on Thursday after swiping Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the Associated Press reported. “They do not retire Greek alphabet storm names -- at least so far,” Gross said. The last time we went through all the letters of the alphabet and moved on to the Greek alphabet was 2005. In 2005, a record-breaking year of devastating hurricanes, we made it through six Greek letters. The Committee also agreed that it was not practical to retire into hurricane history a letter in the Greek alphabet.

Louisiana residents still recovering from the devastation of a powerful hurricane less than two months ago braced for another hit as Hurricane Delta steamed north through the Gulf on Thursday after swiping Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula. The projected path included the southwest area of Louisiana where Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall less than two months ago. Randazzo watched pieces of one of his restaurants, Panorama Music House, fly past a meteorologist’s car on a Facebook Live video during Hurricane Laura. The most recent forecast for Hurricane Delta has the storm making landfall “almost precisely” where Hurricane Laura struck — a region where homes and electrical infrastructure are still damaged, Edwards said in a radio interview. New Orleans, well to the east of the projected landfall area, was expected to escape the worst of Hurricane Delta.

Location 90 miles S of Knoxville Tennessee Wind 15 mph Heading E at 15 mph Pressure 29.77 Coordinates 84.1W, 34.5NDiscussionAt 1100 PM EDT (0300 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Delta was located near latitude 34.5 North, longitude 84.1 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the east near 15 mph, and this motion is expected to continue tonight and Monday morning. Maximum sustained winds are near 15 mph (30 km/h) with higher gusts. Some further weakening is possible tonight as a new surface low develops in the Carolinas, and Delta's surface low is expected to be absorbed by this new low pressure area on Monday. Moderate to major river flooring will continue across the Calcasieu and Mermentau river basins in Louisiana through much of next week

Tropical Storm Gamma has moved into the Gulf of Mexico, while Tropical Storm Delta has developed right behind it in the Caribbean. Here’s what you need to know:Tropical Depression GammaGamma is a tropical depression as of Monday night. Stay InformedTo follow along with the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, bookmark our hurricane page or download the KSAT Hurricane Tracker App. You can also find your local forecast anytime - including potential impacts from Tropical Depression Twenty-Two - on the KSAT Weather page. Types of Tropical SystemsNot all tropical systems are created equal!

– Louisiana will get nearly $215 million in BP oil spill money for two projects planned to restore more than 4,600 acres of marsh and other habitat in the New Orleans area, Gov. The money is from BP’s $8.8 billion settlement for natural resources damage caused by the blowout that killed 11 men and spewed more than 100 million gallons (380 million liters) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, leaving long-lasting effects. “The Mississippi River created our parish and the many historic ridges of our landscape,” said Plaquemines Parish President Kirk Lepine. It was based partly on the judge’s estimate that the 87-day Deepwater Horizon spill spewed nearly 134 million gallons (507 million liters) of crude into the Gulf — enough to fill the U.S. Capitol rotunda 13 times. Federal experts estimated the total at more than 176 million gallons (666 million liters), while BP estimated 102 million gallons (386 million liters).