Oil Spill
Transportation bill won't send BP fine money to the Gulf Coast
Published: Friday, March 30, 2012, 6:23 AM Updated: Friday, March 30,
2012, 7:34 AM
By The Associated Press
Congress has passed a stopgap three-month transportation bill that does not
include a provision to send 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the
2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to Gulf states, according to the Associate
Press.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/03/transportation_bill_wont_send.html
BP Says U.S. Withholding Evidence of Extent of Oil Spill
Bloomberg
By Joe Schneider - Mar 30, 2012
BP Plc (BP/) said the U.S. government is withholding evidence that would
show the oil spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico was smaller
than claimed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-30/bp-says-u-s-withholding-evidence-of-extent-of-oil-spill.html
Photos document BP oil still contaminates "cleaned" Louisiana marshes,
state officials say
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
Wetland areas in north Barataria Bay and the Pass a Loutre Wildlife
Management Area at the mouth of the Mississippi River continue to show
signs of oil that state officials say is from the BP oil spill, according
to photos posted on Flickr by the state Coastal Protection and Restoration
Authority.
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/03/photos_document_bp_oil_still_c.html
State News
Summit decides on sewage
By Matt Williamson
Enterprise-Journal
Summit officials agreed Wednesday to proceed with plans to upgrade sewage
lagoons in order to meet environmental standards in a move that is a
harbinger for higher water bills.
But first, the town must get permission from the Mississippi Department of
Environmental Quality to proceed with the work.
http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_010ee024-79cb-11e1-beb5-001a4bcf887a.html
Hearing today for Kemper plant
AP
JACKSON — State utility regulators will consider issuing a temporary
certificate sought by Mississippi Power Co. to continue work at its Kemper
County coal-fired power plant when the Public Service Commission meets
Friday in Jackson.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20120330/NEWS01/203300312/Hearing-today-Kemper-plant
Daisy Street project proceeds
Natchez Democrat
NATCHEZ — After a long and stormy road, residents on Daisy Street will soon
be getting the flood relief they have awaited for years.
…the city, Gardner said, had to notify the Archives and History,
Environment Quality, Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and other departments,
as well as a representative of the Choctaw Native American tribe.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/03/30/grant-project-proceeds/
Beach advisories issued
Sun Herald
By MARY PEREZ
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality today issued advisories for
two Harrison County beaches.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/03/28/v-print/3850640/beach-advisories-issued.html
Our View: Consider the environmental costs of growth
Editorial – Commercial Dispatch
March 29, 2012 11:02:27 AM
Tuesday in his presentation to Columbus-Lowndes Development Link Trust
members economic development guru Bill Fruth said something that gave us
pause. Fruth was talking about how community attitudes and laws can be a
deterrent for new business.
…We all understand and welcome the benefits of new manufacturing: jobs,
higher pay, increased revenue for government coffers. But do we know the
costs? What is happening to our air and our water table? It is, after all,
our air, our water. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is
charged with enforcing federal and state laws to "... conserve the air and
water and to protect, maintain and improve the quality thereof for public
use."
And while we don't mean to criticize DEQ, history shows that government has
not always been the most vigilant protector of the environment.
http://www.cdispatch.com/opinions/article.asp?aid=16294
National News
Memphis works on decree with EPA to comply with Clean Water Act
Commercial Appeal
By Amos Maki
Friday, March 30, 2012
The city of Memphis and state and federal agencies are working behind
closed doors to hammer out what will likely be a costly consent decree to
bring the city into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/mar/30/memphis-works-on-decree-with-epa/?print=1
Senate Republicans take aim at Obama gas 'fracking' regulations
The Hill
By Ben Geman - 03/29/12 09:36 AM ET
Senior Senate Republicans are floating legislation that would slam the
brakes on Obama administration efforts to expand regulation of the
controversial oil-and-gas drilling method called "hydraulic fracturing" on
federal lands.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/218969-senate-republicans-take-aim-at-federal-gas-fracking-rules
High Methane in Pennsylvania Water Deemed Safe by EPA
Bloomberg
By Mark Drajem - Mar 30, 2012
Tests by the Environmental Protection Agency of water in Dimock,
Pennsylvania, found elevated levels of methane consistent with leakage from
gas drilling nearby, according to scientists who reviewed the data.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/high-methane-in-pennsylvania-water-deemed-safe-by-epa.html
Fracking Gas Is Writing America's Energy Policy
Forbes
Much of what the United States might have achieved through a visionary
energy policy—lower prices, lower carbon emissions, less reliance on dirty
coal and foreign oil—is coming to pass as a result of abundant natural gas
from hydraulic fracturing, said the recently retired CEO of one of
America's largest energy companies.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2012/03/29/fracking-gas-is-writing-americas-energy-policy/
Why fracking and coal can't get along
Washington Post Blog
By Brad Plumer, Published: March 29
Now that the EPA has set limits on carbon-dioxide emissions from new power
plants, there are basically two options left for generating electricity
from fossil fuels in the future. First are modern natural-gas plants, which
can easily meet the EPA's standards. Second, in theory, are coal-fired
plants that can capture their carbon and store it deep underground.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-fracking-and-coal-cant-get-along/2012/03/29/gIQA3UbqiS_blog.html
NC lawmakers lay out fracking plans this year
AP
RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican lawmakers said Wednesday they expect to take a
careful, measured approach to drafting state regulations for allowing a new
method of natural gas drilling called fracking, but an existing ban on the
activity in North Carolina is likely to remain until 2014 or later.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/03/29/nc-lawmakers-lay-out-fracking-plans-this-year/
A New Weapon in the Fracking Wars
NY Times
By MIREYA NAVARRO
In recent months, efforts to restrict future natural gas drilling in New
York State have ranged from proposed buffer zones around gas wells for the
protection of watersheds and aqueducts to outright drilling bans enacted by
towns and villages.
Enter the historic preservationists.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/a-new-weapon-in-the-fracking-wars/?pagemode=print
Bee research details harm from insecticides
Washington Post
By Marc Kaufman, Published: March 29
New research has begun to unravel the mystery of why bees are disappearing
in alarming numbers worldwide: Some of the pesticides most commonly used by
farmers appear to be changing bee behavior in small but fatal ways.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/new-bee-research-details-harm-from-insecticide/2012/03/29/gIQAZrnGjS_story.html
