Lawyers chosen by city of New Orleans will represent Wisner Trust in BP suit, federal judge rules
Thursday, August 23, 2012, 5:06 PM
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has agreed to allow attorneys representing the city of New Orleans to also represent the Edward Wisner Donation Trust in their damage lawsuits against BP involving the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In an order issued Thursday, Barbier agreed with attorney Basile Uddo that the team could represent both the city and the trust without running into a conflict of interest.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/08/lawyers_chosen_by_city_of_new.html
Lawyer at center of the case against BP holds 57 world records
Published: Friday, August 24, 2012, 4:15 AM
By Ben Raines, Press-Register
For as long as there have been high-pressure jobs, those in them have found ways to blow off steam.
http://blog.al.com/live/2012/08/lawyer_at_center_of_the.html
Hotel owners' anger flares over oil spill deal
Houston Chronicle
By Emily Pickrell
Published 7:51 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2012
Owners of small hotels on the Florida and Texas Gulf coasts say a proposed settlement unfairly excludes thousands in the tourism industry who suffered economic damages in the 2010 oil spill.http://www.chron.com/business/article/Hotel-owners-anger-flares-over-oil-spill-deal-3811331.php
State News
Litter control officer needs board OK
Natchez Democrat
Published 12:11amFriday, August 24, 2012
NATCHEZ — If given the board ofsupervisors’ final approval, the proposed Adams County litter control officer will be a single-person department working directly under the oversight of the board.
County Administrator Joe Murray said the budget he has created for the litter control officer at the behest of the board is for approximately $40,000, which includes the officer’s salary, benefits and associated employee costs such as fuel and vehicle repair allowance.
“Whoever is hired, we will have to send them to training, and we will apply for a Department of
Environmental Quality grant for the control officer,” Murray said. “The DEQ will provide the training forthem, and they will allow up to a 50 percent reimbursement of the salary for the first year and another 25 percent for the second year if they see the program is working.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2012/08/24/litter-control-officer-needs-board-ok/
Green energy officially switched on at landfill
Pontotoc Progress
08.23.12 - 04:42 pm
By REGINA BUTLER
A very special switch was thrown at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Landfill last Wednesday, to mark the successful completion and activation of a landfill gas-to-energy initiative.
http://www.pontotoc360.com/view/full_story/19910578/article-Green-energy-officially-switched-on-at-landfill?instance=home_news_right
SMEPA to purchase 15 percent of Kemper County plant
Thursday, August 23, 2012, 10:46 AM
The Associated Press
HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — The South Mississippi Electric Power Association says it will go through with its planned purchase of 15 percent of a Kemper County power plant.http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-business/2012/08/smepa_to_purchase_15_percent_o.html
Gov. Phil Bryant: No benefits for deferred-status immigrants
Thursday, August 23, 2012, 9:38 PM
The Associated Press
JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is ordering state agencies not to provide public benefits to immigrants receiving deferred deportation status from the federal government -- an order that reinforces current state law.http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/08/gov_phil_bryant_no_benefits_fo.html
National News
Judge: TVA liable for massive Tenn. coal ash spill
By KRISTIN M. HALL — Associated Press
NASHVILLE, TENN. — The Tennessee Valley Authority is liable for a huge spill of toxin-laden sludge in 2008 in Tennessee, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/08/23/4142262/judge-tva-liable-for-massive-tenn.html
Opinion
Fracking is too important to foul up
Washington Post
By Michael R. Bloomberg and George P. Mitchell, Published: August 23
In Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and even Texas, there is a fundamental debate over “fracking” — the hydraulic fracturing of shale rock that, together with horizontal drilling, unleashes abundant natural gas. Mostly, it’s the loud voices at the extremes who are dominating the debate: those who want either no fracking or no additional regulation of it. As usual, the voices in the sensible center are getting drowned out — with serious repercussions for our country’s future.
Press Releases
Sustainable farming controls water flow
By Bonnie Coblentz
MSU Ag Communications
MISSISSIPPI STATE – Much of agriculture’s success depends on effective water management, which must be done to keep both farmland and surrounding areas healthy.
Agriculture was a $6.7 billion industry in Mississippi last year, and the state is on track to match that value in 2012. That makes agriculture big business with a big responsibility to the environment.
Wes Burger, associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, said agricultural landscapes are intensely managed ecosystems that produce food, fiber and fuel to meet the needs of a growing global population with a growing appetite for goods and services.
“Meeting these growing demands in a sustainable manner will require efficient use of renewable natural resources,” Burger said.
“Natural communities, including wetlands, grasslands and forests, are an important component of these managed landscapes,” he said. “They produce essential environmental services, such as water filtration, nutrient cycling, soil conservation, aquifer recharge, pest management, pollination and wildlife habitat.
“Strategic incorporation of natural features into managed agricultural systems is the central tenet of conservation planning. Natural features contribute to the productivity of these systems and ensures their sustainability,” Burger said.
Robbie Kroger, an assistant professor of aquatic sciences in MSU’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, is working to develop and improve conservation practices that work for agriculture and are environmentally sustainable. He works for MAFES, the MSU Extension Service and the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
“The primary focus of my research is mitigating what is in the water before it goes downstream,” Kroger said. “Water that leaves a farm may contain residual herbicides and unused fertilizers that will have an impact on area surface waters and ultimately, the entire watershed.”
Kroger is trying to lessen the chemical load in water leaving the farm and reduce the amount that goes downstream. He works with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to encourage producers to follow Best Management Practices, or BMPs, to manage nutrients.
“Many BMPs advocate surface water capture. We continue to encourage growers to follow these practices, but we have a new emphasis on reusing surface water,” Kroger said.
His focus is on nutrients, specifically on preventing them from leaving agricultural settings and making their way through area ditches, creeks and streams to the Mississippi River and then the Gulf of Mexico. Excess nutrients in the Gulf lead to massive algal blooms, which deplete available oxygen and create dead zones for marine life.
“Our goal is to pay close attention at home to the aquifers and river systems in the Delta and protect the local systems all the way down to the Gulf,” Kroger said.
To do that, Kroger’s work attempts to control surface drainage.
“We want producers to control runoff, slow it down, build places to hold and capture water, and let the sediments settle out,” Kroger said. “The same strategies are used to manage nutrients as are used with pesticides.”
Kroger has started the Research and Education to Advance Conservation and Habitat, or REACH, program to showcase these BMPs. Interested growers can enroll their farms in the program, giving them access to MSU research and Kroger’s assistance, and making their farms models of sustainability for others to imitate.
“REACH is for the farmer, by the farmer,” Kroger said. “Our goal is to create a network of cooperative farms with different types of agricultural practices that will showcase conservation practices, how well they work for agriculture and the environment, and serve as models for sustainable methods.”
Among the techniques being put into place are low-grade weirs, or small dams, that slow down runoff water. When water is slowed or held briefly, the microbes in the soil and vegetation pull nutrients out of the water so they can be used by plants, reducing the nutrients going downstream.
“We’re quantifying how effective these BMPs are at nitrogen removal and phosphorous reduction,” Kroger said. “No one else in the country is testing the BMPs we’re testing.”
Kroger’s work is funded through MSU and several state and federal agencies, including the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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http://msucares.com/news/print/agnews/an12/120823water.html
SOUTHEAST DIESEL COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov
ATLANTA – During the recent Southeast Diesel Collaborative (SEDC) 7th Annual Partners Meeting in Atlanta, GA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 Air, Pesticides, and Toxics Management Division Director Beverly Banister, on behalf of the SEDC, presented the SEDC Leadership Awards to the 2011 winners. The awardees are:
Staples Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts - SEDC Industry Leadership Award for
• Outfitting their fleet with 53 electric delivery trucks, with six of these in service in Atlanta,
• Implementing efficiency initiatives including hybrid vehicles, advanced idle reduction technology, engine horsepower reduction, transmission changes, and route planning to improve fuel economy by 18 percent since 2006,
• Achieving fuel savings of 724,000 gallons and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 8000 tons annually in 2010.
The Alabama Department of Transportation - SEDC Community Leadership Award for
• Implementing a fleet replacement program to auction older diesel vehicles to acquire vehicles and equipment that meet the 2007 and 2010 diesel emission standards,
• Retrofitting 312 on road and off road vehicles and equipment with diesel oxidation catalysts, either stand-alone or in concert with a closed crankcase ventilation system,
• Maintaining a fleet of 1256 alternative fuel vehicles and supporting the development of biofuels infrastructure in Alabama,
• Deploying GPS units in two-thirds of their fleet to ensure accountability with their no idle policy.
The Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition - SEDC Visionary Champion Leadership Award for
• Partnering with the Kentucky Department of Education to purchase and create the largest hybrid bus fleet in the nation,
• Managing alternative fuel and advanced technology projects across the Commonwealth of Kentucky,
• Promoting sustainability partnerships with industry and other organizations.
The efforts by Staples, the Alabama DOT, and the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition demonstrated exemplary leadership in the use of latest clean diesel technologies, and serve as a role model for others to follow in effective collaboration and partnership to reduce diesel emissions.
This is the fourth year the SEDC Leadership Council has presented the Leadership Awards to recognize exemplary projects in emissions reductions in EPA Region 4. Nominated parties are judged on their effectiveness in meeting the SEDC’s goal to reduce emissions from existing diesel engines and the work done in several sectors to reduce these emissions. Previous years’ winners include United Parcel Service, Coca Cola Enterprises, Ingram Barge Company, the North Carolina Solar Center, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Miami-Dade County, Florida Government.
Organized in early 2006 by EPA Region 4, the Southeast Diesel Collaborative has enjoyed unprecedented success in bringing together leaders from federal, state and local governments, organizations, industry and academia to reduce diesel engine emissions across the eight southeastern states. Focused on promoting energy independence, a cleaner environment and growing, sustainable economies, this partnership offers wide ranging health and economic benefits to the public fleet, freight and non-road sectors.
The Southeast Diesel Collaborative is part of EPA’s National Clean Diesel Campaign, a program combining regulatory measures with voluntary initiatives to reduce the pollution emitted from diesel engines across the country. Visit the Southeast Diesel Collaborative website at: www.southeastdiesel.org.
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USDA Awards $26 Million in Conservation Innovation Grants |
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Projects include development of water quality trading markets in Chesapeake Bay and across the U.S. |
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"We're announcing 59 grants today in 47 states that will help some of America's top agricultural and conservation institutions, foundations and businesses develop unique approaches to enhancing and protecting natural resources on agricultural lands," Vilsack said. "The grants will help spur creativity and problem-solving to benefit conservation-minded farmers and ranchers. Everyone who relies on our nation's natural resources for clean water, food and fiber, for their way of life, will benefit from these grants." Twelve of the awarded grants are for development of water quality trading markets to demonstrate how farmers and ranchers can help municipalities, utilities and others overcome high pollution control costs. "We believe there are states around the nation that are on the cusp of having thriving water quality trading markets," Vilsack said. "These grant awards will help develop projects that create new revenue streams for farmers and ranchers while they are helping to improve water quality." This is the first time USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has offered a separate request for proposals that specified support for water quality trading markets. In a water quality trading program, point sources buy environmental benefits or "credits" from landowners who install specific conservation practices. Water quality trading is a market-based approach that enables facilities to achieve needed pollution controls through the purchase of credits for a particular pollutant. Farmers can produce water quality credits by implementing conservation practices that reduce nutrients or sediment losses, and generally at a much lower cost than a municipal treatment facility. The goal is to achieve water quality improvements more cost-effectively by bringing together participating buyers and sellers. In early August, one of the grant awardees, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), announced the signing of the first interstate water quality trading compact in the U.S. The states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio signed onto a plan to launch interstate water quality pilot trades in the Ohio River Basin in 2012. The grant award will help EPRI develop the trading registry to operate the Ohio River Basin program. Another grantee, the Willamette Partnership, has successfully facilitated trades of water temperature credits to improve salmon habitat in Oregon. This award will help the partnership develop a multistate agreement and rules for trading water quality and temperature credits in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In the Chesapeake Bay, five awardees will be facilitating and building infrastructure for water quality trading markets: the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc.; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Borough of Chambersburg; Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Conservation & Recreation; and Maryland Department of Agriculture. NRCS will work with the grantees to form a water quality trading network, a forum to share ideas, coordinate program development and evaluate program components. NRCS administers CIG as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Grants are awarded to state and local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes, non-governmental organizations and individuals. NRCS uses CIG to invest in innovative, on-the-ground conservation technologies and approaches with the goal of wide-scale adoption to address water quality and quantity, air quality, energy conservation and environmental markets, among other natural resource issues. For a complete list of CIG awardees and more information about NRCS conservation programs online, visit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov. # |
