EXTRA...

Middleboro asks state to intervent, stop meetiing; Warming waters force cod northward; Oil Spills Are Commonplace

Middleboro casino opponents ask state officials to intervene

“Please explain what is going on in this process,” Powell pleaded in a letter to Coakley that also said voters have been denied timely information and the town is incurring costs for town meeting without the availability of funding.MIDDLEBORO —Casino opponents are asking state officials to intervene as the town finalizes plans for Saturday's historic vote on a multi-million casino pact.  Resident Jessie Powell on Wednesday asked Attorney General Martha Coakley to rule on the legality of the town meeting and the Middleboro-Lakeville Clergy Association has asked Gov. Deval Patrick to reject the extension of gambling in the region...

This comes as Secretary of State William F. Galvin continues to question plans for the town meeting vote. A representative from the secretary of state's office will be in Middleboro Thursday to meet with town leaders, Galvin's spokesman Brian Mcniff confirmed Wednesday...  Read the rest of this Brockton Enterprise story here.  
__________________________

Report: Warming waters may force cod northward

If the pace of global warming is not slowed by reducing fossil fuel emissions, by mid-century increasing water temperatures could drive cod from Georges Bank, according to a new report on climate change.

In its consideration of cod, primary attention was given to likely water temperatures and conditions on Georges Bank, an oval underwater plateau about 70 miles offshore situated between Cape Cod and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, which separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic.But even if emissions are reduced, the report of the Union of Concerned Scientists found that with more slowly rising water temperatures, while "Georges Bank would remain suitable for adult cod ... yield and productivity may decline as these waters become less hospitable for the spawning and survival of young cod."

Lobsters on Georges Bank will fare better

The report offered little long-term hope for cod fishing south of Georges Bank, where only a small fraction of cod are caught - less than 1 percent of the regional total. The report predicted that cod would move north to find optimal temperatures and provide improved fishing in the Gulf of Maine...  As waters warm, south of Cape Cod is expected to lose its coastal lobster fisheries by mid-century, but "Maine may see its lobster habitat expand," the report said...  Read the rest of this Gloucester Times story here.   
_____________________________

Oil Spills Are Commonplace, Decried, and Tolerated

Far from isolated mega-catastrophes -- such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound -- oil spills occur routinely around the world, causing environmental and economic damage, provoking investigations by regional governments, and often leaving the victims unsatisfied.

Entering the words "oil spill" in the Google News search engine returned more than 2,500 distinct articles published in the last 30 days on the topic.  At the top of the news right now is the 100-foot fountain of petroleum that smothered the Canadian town of Burnaby this week, after a pipeline was pierced by a road-excavation crew.

Fifty homes were evacuated and the contamination spread to the nearby Burrard Inlet, a harbor and wetlands ecosystem home to a variety of marine wildlife, inclding four species of salmon.

..In Massachussets, a state senator complained that four years after a "catastrophic" spill near Cape Cod, coastal waters are still vulnerable after the state's Oil Spill Prevention Act was largely nullified by a federal court. The U.S. Justice Department successfully argued that coastal regulation was the domain of the Coast Guard, not states. The ruling is currently under appeal; the Standard-Times of Bedford, Mass., reports that more than 2 billion gallons of petroleum products pass through Cape Cod every year...  Read the rest of this NewsDesk story here.