On the Trail of Oil-Munching Organisms
NY Times
By KATE YANDELL
Two years ago today, BP’s Macondo well was in the midst of its 87-day spree of spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Tar balls and oil slicks were showing up on beaches from Texas to Florida.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/on-the-trail-of-oil-munching-organisms/?pagemode=print
Mental health services planned in spill deal
AP
A $14.4 million share of the BP oil spill settlement will bring mental health counselors to areas across four states affected by the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.wlox.com/story/18798759/mental-health-services-planned-in-spill-deal
Gov. Bobby Jindal signs bill directing Gulf oil spill money to coastal restoration
By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
Baton Rouge -- Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed legislation that will direct money Louisiana receives from the Deepwater-Horizon-BP oil spill to coastal protection and restoration programs.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/06/gov_bobby_jindal_signs_bill_di.html
Ex-BP engineer faces February trial tied to oil spill
Reuters
(Reuters) - A former BP Plc engineer who is the first individual to face criminal charges related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been scheduled to face a jury trial on February 25, a federal judge decided.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-bp-oilspill-engineertrialbre85e034-20120614,0,4610349.story
Jury sides with Kevin Costner in BP spill lawsuit
By The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal jury late Thursday rejected claims that Kevin Costner and his business partner duped fellow actor Stephen Baldwin and a friend out of millions of dollars from a BP contract for using oil cleanup devices in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/06/jury_sides_with_costner_in_bp.html
State News
Fish release scheduled for Friday in lower Pearl
AP
Picayune, MS (AP) - The state was releasing blue catfish into the lower Pearl River on Friday, the fourth restocking since a 2011 equipment malfunction caused a spill from a Louisiana paper mill.
Officials with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks were handling the release at Walkiah Bluff near Picayune.
http://www.wlox.com/story/18797932/fish-release-scheduled-for-friday-in-lower-pearl
State plans another fish release in Pearl
The Picayune Item
POPLARVILLE — Staff from two state agencies will release 1,500 large blue catfish in the Pearl River in the wake of a chemical spill by a Bogalusa, La., Temple-Inland mill that killed hundreds of thousands of fish in the river in August 2011. This will be the third major release of fish into Pearl River since the spill occurred.
http://picayuneitem.com/local/x500778322/State-plans-another-fish-release-in-Pearl
Pearl being restocked after fish kill
Clinton News
About 14,000 pounds of harvestable-sized blue catfish will be released into the Pearl River near Picayune (Walkiah Bluff) on Friday at 10 a.m., part of a continued recovery effort by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.http://www.clintonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120614/SPORTS/206140312/Pearl-being-restocked-after-fish-kill
Hattiesburg hosts 2nd hearing on waste water system
WDAM
Hattiesburg residents met with engineers and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality officials in Palmer's Crossing Thursday night, to help city leaders decide on what type of waste water treatment system the city will use in the future. A second of three scheduled public hearings gave residents a chance to look at three options the city is considering to treat waste water.
http://www.wdam.com/story/18794027/hattiesburg-hosts-2nd-hearing-on-waste-water-system
Fracking study presented
By Ernest Herndon, Enterprise-Journal
A consultant who presented a 467-page report on fracking was highly optimistic Thursday, but urged area officials to take steps now to minimize potential problems.
Charlotte Batson of Batson & Co. outlined her findings to some 150 people at the Percy Quin State Park Convention Center on Thursday morning, followed later in the day by presentations in Liberty and Woodville.
http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_cb97b132-b70f-11e1-bbe5-0019bb2963f4.html
National News
EPA proposes stricter standards for soot pollution
By MATTHEW DALY — Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a step that officials said would save lives, the Obama administration on Friday announced new air quality standards intended to reduce the amount of soot that can be released into the air.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/06/14/4008866/epa-sets-tighter-standards-for.html
EPA to tighten national soot standards
Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin, Published: June 14
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it will tighten the nation’s soot standards, a move that could help deliver major health benefits by the end of the decade but force some oil refiners, manufacturers and other operations to invest in expensive pollution-abatement upgrades.
Report finds quake risks linked to carbon storage, fracking wastewater injections
The HIll
By Ben Geman - 06/15/12 01:03 PM ET
A major new report concludes that more research is needed to better understand risks of seismic activity linked to injections of wastewater from natural gas drilling, potential large-scale underground storage of carbon dioxide emissions and other energy technologies.
Opinion
OUTDOORS COLUMN: RESTORE Act critical for Gulf Coast
By David Rainer, Special to Times-Journal | Posted: Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:19 pm
Many people along the Gulf Coast are not likely familiar with the RESTORE Act, a part of the transportation bill that is currently being debated in Congress.
http://times-journal.com/sports/article_ba989710-b67f-11e1-b150-0019bb2963f4.html
Press Releases
EPA Proposes Clean Air Standards for Harmful Soot Pollution
99 percent of U.S. counties projected to meet proposed standards without any additional actions
WASHINGTON – In response to a court order, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed updates to its national air quality standards for harmful fine particle pollution, including soot (known as PM2.5). These microscopic particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and have been linked to a wide range of serious health effects, including premature death, heart attacks, and strokes, as well as acute bronchitis and aggravated asthma among children. A federal court ruling required EPA to update the standard based on best available science. Today’s proposal, which meets that requirement, builds on smart steps already taken by the EPA to slash dangerous pollution in communities across the country. Thanks to these steps, 99 percent of U.S. counties are projected to meet the proposed standard without any additional action.
EPA’s proposal would strengthen the annual health standard for harmful fine particle pollution (PM2.5) to a level within a range of 13 micrograms per cubic meter to 12 micrograms per cubic meter. The current annual standard is 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The proposed changes, which are consistent with the advice from the agency’s independent science advisors, are based on an extensive body of scientific evidence that includes thousands of studies – including many large studies which show negative health impacts at lower levels than previously understood. By proposing a range, the agency will collect input from the public as well as a number of stakeholders, including industry and public health groups, to help determine the most appropriate final standard to protect public health. It is important to note that the proposal has zero effect on the existing daily standard for fine particles or the existing daily standard for coarse particles (PM10), both of which would remain unchanged.
Thanks to recent Clean Air Act rules that have and will dramatically cut pollution, 99 percent of U.S. counties are projected to meet the proposed standards without undertaking any further actions to reduce emissions.
Meanwhile, because reductions in fine particle pollution have direct health benefits including decreased mortality rates, fewer incidents of heart attacks, strokes, and childhood asthma, these standards have major economic benefits with comparatively low costs. Depending on the final level of the standard, estimated benefits will range from $88 million a year, with estimated costs of implementation as low as $2.9 million, to $5.9 billion in annual benefits with a cost of $69 million – a return ranging from $30 to $86 for every dollar invested in pollution control. While EPA cannot consider costs in selecting a standard under the Clean Air Act, those costs are estimated as part of the careful analysis undertaken for all significant regulations, as required by Executive Order 13563 issued by President Obama in January 2011.
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review its standards for particle pollution every five years to determine whether the standards should be revised. The law requires the agency to ensure the standards are “requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety” and “requisite to protect the public welfare.” A federal court ordered EPA sign the proposed particle pollution standards by June 14, 2012, because the agency did not meet its five-year legal deadline for reviewing the standards.
EPA will accept public comment for 63 days after the proposed standards are published in the Federal Register. The agency will hold two public hearings; one in Sacramento, CA. and one in Philadelphia, PA. Details on the hearings will be announced shortly. EPA will issue the final standards by December 14, 2012.
Map showing counties in attainment in 2020: http://epa.gov/pm/2012/map.pdf
More information: http://www.epa.gov/pm
USDA Commends Today’s Environmental Protection Agency Action allowing E15 to be Used by Model Year 2001 and Newer Passenger Vehicles
Posted by Sarah Bittleman, Senior Energy Advisor to Secretary Vilsack, on June 15, 2012 at 3:32 PM
At USDA we applaud today’s action by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that essentially completes the federal actions necessary to allow consumers to buy fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol (E15). This announcement gets us one step closer to giving American consumers a real choice at the pump. It also supports the “all –of-the-above” energy strategy, including production of renewable biofuels, implemented by the Obama Administration to help wean us off of imported oil.
The public has a right to choose between spending their money on imported oil or home-grown energy. Today’s action by EPA helps break down the ethanol “blend wall” thereby potentially allowing more ethanol into the market. Iowa State University has estimated that blending ethanol with petroleum keeps the price per gallon at the pump down by around a dollar a gallon. This is a demonstration of the Obama Administration making good on its commitments to work to reduce foreign oil imports and increase domestic energy production.
In addition, today the EPA has fulfilled its responsibility to the American public to ensure that E15 is a safe and reliable fuel. Home grown biofuels are providing sustainable rural jobs that cannot be exported. Today’s action proves yet again that renewable biofuels are not a dream of the future, but are a reality, and are making a difference today.
At the President’s and Secretary Vilsack’s direction, USDA is working to develop the national biofuels industry producing energy from non-food sources in every region of the country. Working with private and government partners, USDA is supporting research into innovative energy technologies and processes, helping companies build biorefineries – including the first ever commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities – and supporting farmers, ranchers, and businesses taking risks to pursue new opportunities in biofuels.
To read more about the EPA’s announcement, click here or go to the EPA website.
