FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

America's WETLAND Foundation

AEC Leaders Call for Full Funding of Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan To Reduce
'Dead Zone'

NEW ORLEANS (April 21, 2009)-Leaders from across America's Energy Coast
(AEC) today called upon President Barack Obama and members of Congress to
take immediate steps to reduce the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico by
fully funding the 2008 Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan.  

"Every year, miles and miles of our waters become virtually lifeless because
state and Federal agencies do not have the resources necessary to monitor
and prevent the massive runoff of nutrients that feed huge algae blooms,
deplete water oxygen levels and ultimately suffocate fish and other vital
ecosystems in the Gulf," R. King Milling, chair of America's WETLAND
Foundation, said today on behalf of the Foundation's America's Energy Coast
initiative.  

"For years, scientists and policy makers at all levels of government have
been studying the hypoxia problem. There is now a plan for reducing nutrient
runoff that enters the Gulf and the nation must take action to implement
it."  

"Ducks Unlimited views the conservation Gulf Coast wetlands as one of the
key priorities of our continent-wide Wetlands for Tomorrow Campaign, and we
realize that saving the Gulf Coast includes wetlands conservation from the
headwaters to the mouth of the Mississippi River. It will take a unified
effort on the part of diverse groups and federal support to stop the dead
zone and see this endeavor through," said Don Young, executive vice
president of Ducks Unlimited.

The hypoxic "dead zone" is an area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico
caused by excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers
and other sources, flowing into the Gulf from the Mississippi and
Atchafalaya rivers. The Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008, developed by the
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, calls for a
wide suite of actions, including wetland restoration as the most cost
effective means of dealing with the Gulf "dead zone."

Full funding of the Hypoxia Action Plan was one of a number of actions
called for by the AEC in its Accord for a New Sustainability released last
year in Houston and its subsequent Action Framework presented in Washington,
DC, this past December.  The initiative brings together leaders of industry,
the national environmental community, academia, and government to seek
solutions to sustain the Gulf region of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama - its fragile coastal environment and the critical economic and
energy activities that take place there for the benefit the entire country.

"The 8,500 square mile area just off Louisiana's coast where the Mississippi
River drains makes up the second largest hypoxic zone in the world," said
Karen Gautreaux, head of governmental relations for The Nature Conservancy
of Louisiana, and co-chair of the AEC's Domestic Energy Security Development
Task Force.  

"The fact that this area of oxygen-depleted waters has more than doubled in
size over the last 20 years, is alarming to the scientists, environmental
leaders and coastal communities, especially communities that depend on
fisheries for economic and cultural resources.  The Nature Conservancy and
other organizations have been working cooperatively on conservation projects
throughout the Mississippi River Basin that help to reduce nutrients and
limit input at the source, but the Federal government must take the lead
role in addressing this problem and provide the resources that are needed to
improve water quality throughout the Basin and ultimately in the Gulf,"
Gautreaux said.

In the absence of targeted Federal funding, a patchwork of local, state,
Federal and non-profit agencies have implemented programs to tackle the
problem, but most experts agree a systematic approach is critical to better
understanding and managing nutrient inputs across the 31-state Mississippi
and Ohio River basins.

"The effort to reduce Gulf Hypoxia has been a cooperative state and federal
undertaking, and as stakeholders we recognize that funding and interagency
and interstate coordination are absolutely vital to resolving this national
environmental problem," said Doug Daigle of the Lower Mississippi River
Sub-basin Committee and member of the Coordinating Committee of the Gulf
Hypoxia Task Force.  

"This is yet another reason the wetlands are so critically important to our
nation. Up-river wetlands play a critical role in filtering nutrient runoff
before it even enters the Mississippi River, and downriver they serve as the
last line of defense against the 'dead zone' because they clean the river
water before it empties into the Gulf," said Dr. Robert Twilley, Professor
of Oceanography and Coastal Science and Associate Vice Chancellor at
Louisiana State University.

"Despite their strategic importance, the wetlands off Louisiana's coast are
still washing away at the astonishing rate of more than 17 square miles a
year.  The continued loss of this invaluable landscape poses a significant
threat to the economic and environmental sustainability of our nation.  We
must invest in wetlands restoration and other efforts to reduce the dead
zone now."

The AEC Accord urges policy makers to view the Mississippi River Delta as a
complete system that requires comprehensive solutions.  The organization
plans to convene a set of hearings in upriver states to connect interests
that for years have separated, including the impact of the disappearing
coast on habitat and migratory waterfowl that populate the entire river
basin of 31 states.  Additionally, plans are underway to host "World Delta
Dialogues" in 2009 and 2010, drawing on expertise of countries who host the
world's major deltas in an effort to seek common solutions to growing
challenges.

For more information about the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008, visit
www.epa.gov/msbasin.