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Mississippi River Basin and Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia

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This Action Plan describes a national strategy to reduce the frequency, duration, size, and degree of oxygen depletion of the hypoxic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico (the Gulf). The plan was submitted as a Report to Congress on January 18, 2001. The Action Plan is also available as a PDF file (36 pp, 6.4MB). Or order copies.

Related Resources

Draft 2008 Action Plan
    Read the Draft Action Plan
    (PDF, 31 pp, 558K)
    Public Comments
2001 Action Plan
Draft 2001 Action Plan
    Public Comments
2001 Press Release
Fact Sheet

The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force prepared this document following seven public meetings. As part of a process of considering options for responding to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia, a Federal interagency working group asked the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to conduct a scientific assessment of the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia through its Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. The working group then expanded to include States and Tribes and established the Task Force during the fall of 1997. The charge to submit a scientific assessment of hypoxia and a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico was written into law at the end of the 105th Congress (section 604(a) and (b) of Public Law 105-383). The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force held public meetings throughout the Mississippi River Basin to inform the public of the progress toward development of the assessment and action plan.

Long-Term Goals

The goals of this strategy are threefold and based upon five principles:

Encourage actions that are voluntary, practical, and cost-effective;
Utilize existing programs, including existing State and Federal regulatory mechanisms;
Follow adaptive management;
Identify additional funding needs and sources during the annual Agency budget process; and,
Provide measurable outcomes as outlined below in the three goals and strategies

Coastal Goal: By the year 2015, subject to the availability of additional resources, reduce the 5-year running average areal extent of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers through implementation of specific, practical, and cost-effective voluntary actions by all States, Tribes, and all categories of sources and removals within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin to reduce the annual discharge of nitrogen into the Gulf.

Within Basin Goal: To restore and protect the waters of the 31 States and Tribal lands within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin through implementation of nutrient and sediment reduction actions to protect public health and aquatic life as well as reduce negative impacts of water pollution on the Gulf of Mexico.

Quality of Life Goal: To improve the communities and economic conditions across the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, in particular the agriculture, fisheries, and recreation sectors, through improved public and private land management and a cooperative, incentive based approach.

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Copies

For copies of the Action Plan, contact:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds (4501T)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
E-mail: ow-hypoxia@epa.gov
(ow-hypoxia@epa.gov)

For citation of this document, use the following:
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force. 2001.
Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Washington, DC.

Other Resources

Integrated Assessment of Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, May 2000.

National Science and Technology Council Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, Washington, DC.

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For copies or more information, contact

National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research
Coastal Ocean Program, N/SC12
NOAA National Ocean Service
1305 East-West Highway, SSMC-4, Room 8219
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (301) 713-3338
E-mail: coastalocean@cop.noaa.gov