What's Killing The Dolphins?

I think it's the lack of off-shore drilling.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Dolphins are washing up dead along the East Coast this summer, perplexing scientists who fear a recurrence of a large-scale die-off several decades ago.

A federal government group is scrambling to identify possible causes for the deaths seen from New York to the Chesapeake Bay. Among the suspects, depending on the location, are viruses, bacteria, biotoxins—poisons produced by algae—environmental changes, pollution and injuries from ships and fishnets. There is no indication the deaths in the various regions are related.

In July alone, teams in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia recovered 91 dolphin bodies, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In July 2012, teams in those states found only 10 dead dolphins.
Virginia found 49 dolphins in July—the norm for the month is seven. Maryland has had 15 dolphin deaths this year, about double the normal amount.

Marine mammal experts worry that the incidents may be the beginning of a widespread rise in dolphin mortality, similar to one of the late 1980s, when almost 800 dolphin bodies washed up on beaches from New Jersey to Florida. Scientists theorized that event was caused either by a biotoxin stemming from algae, or a virus similar to distemper.

Out in California where they still a lot of off-shore drilling, the dolphins are doing just fine. We saw schools of them during our last visit, and local folks talked about all the dolphins this year. My hunch is they do well around drilling rigs, for all kinds of reasons.