Oil Spill
Mardi Gras, Super Bowl prompts oil spill trial postponement
by Associated Press
Published: October 26,2012
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge — citing the distractions of Mardi Gras and
the Super Bowl — has postponed the trial designed to identify causes of the
BP well blowout that spawned the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico.
http://msbusiness.com/index.php/2012/10/26/mardi-gras-super-bowl-prompts-oil-spill-trial-postponement/
BP asks to abandon plugged containment dome on bottom of Gulf of Mexico
Friday, October 26, 2012, 8:21 PM
By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
BP has asked the U.S. Coast Guard to allow it to abandon a containment dome
on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico that it capped and plugged this week
after concluding it was the source of oil causing repeated sheens near the
site of the company's failed Macondo well.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/10/bp_asks_to_abandon_plugged_con.html
INSIGHT-BP oil spill settlement before election seen unlikely
Reuters
Sat, Oct 27 2012
By Chris Baltimore
HOUSTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - For a president locked in a tough re-election
fight, it may look like political gold: a settlement between the U.S.
Justice Department and BP Plc over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that could
send billions of dollars to Florida, one of a handful of politically
divided states that could decide the Nov. 6 contest.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/27/bp-oilspill-election-idUSL1E8LN5WM20121027
Fishermen confront BP spill deadline
Houston Chronicle
GRAND BAYOU, La. – Most decisions about the details of a huge class-action
settlement of damage claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will
come from stately offices and a federal courtroom in New Orleans.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/28/fisherman-confront-bp-spill-deadline/
State News
Community Encouraged to Recycle Electronics
WTOK
Often times, people simply toss their old electronics in the trash when
they replace them with new ones. But there's an alternative that's better
for our environment.
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Community-Encouraged-to-Recycle-Electronics--176122821.html
Locals Participate in Trash Pick Up
WTOK
Meridian Mainstreet held its bi-annual downtown clean up.
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Locals-Participate-in-Trash-Pick-Up--176133371.html
RECYCLING
By Jeremy Pittari
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE — RECYCLING — Samuel Prince stopped at the recycling bin near
Roseland Park Baptist Church Friday afternoon to drop off some food boxes
and various plastics. Picayune began its recycling program late this year.
The program will accept various products, including cardboard, aluminum and
some plastics.
http://picayuneitem.com/local/x1400201230/RECYCLING
Mississippi lacks state tax credits, net metering for alternative energy
MBJ
by Becky Gillette
Published: October 29,2012
Currently it is more profitable for businesses to go "green" by purchasing
energy-efficient and alternative energy devices than it is for residents,
says Shelley Rhoden, president of Alternative Energy Solutions
(www.alternateenergyms.com).
http://msbusiness.com/index.php/2012/10/29/mississippi-lacks-state-tax-credits-net-metering-for-alternative-energy/
National News
Scientists size up area of hypoxia in the Gulf
Des Moines Register
The Pelican research vessel was transformed at each sampling stop into a
whir of activity during its Gulf of Mexico monitoring cruise in July.
The main mission of the 13 scientists and students aboard the 116-foot ship
owned by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium was to track patterns
of low oxygen, also known as hypoxia.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121028/NEWS/310280047?nclick_check=1
Some call for tougher fertilizer regulations
Iowa preparing report that details plans to cut sewage plant runoff
Des Moines Register
There are things Iowa farmers and other landowners can do to reduce the
flow of nitrate pollution into the Mississippi River and, eventually, into
the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121029/NEWS/310290017/Some-call-for-tougher-fertilizer-regulations?dead-zone
More Dead Zone Stories from Des Moines Register
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/section/dead-zone
Farmers Watching Their Water Use
Growers Are Reluctantly Trying to Irrigate Less to Preserve Their
Threatened Underground Aquifer
Wall Street Journal
HOXIE, Kan.—For decades, farmers here have tapped a vast underground
reservoir to irrigate their fields to grow corn, soybeans and wheat. Now
they are reluctantly starting to reduce their water use, fearing a
dwindling supply could otherwise make them the last generation to grow
bumper crops in this arid patch of the High Plains.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444592704578062901539482028.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
BP Ends Plan for Biofuel Plant
By REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — BP said Thursday that it had canceled plans to build
a plant in Florida to turn tough grasses such as sorghum and cane into
cellulosic biofuel, the second big oil company this year to back out of
plans to produce "next generation" ethanol from nonfood crops.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/energy-environment/bp-ends-plan-to-build-a-biofuel-plant.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print
Court challenges to EPA's oil and gas air emissions rules filed
State Journal
By Pam Kasey - email
Small natural gas producers could be unfairly burdened by the Environmental
Protection Agency's August air emissions rules for the oil and gas
industry, according to a court challenge.
http://www.statejournal.com/story/19926696/court-challenges-to-epas-oil-and-gas-air-emissions-rules-filed
David Vitter threatening to fight potential Romney EPA chief
Times Picayune
Washington -- The election is still more than a week away, but already Sen.
David Vitter, R-La., is expressing reservations about a potential
Environmental Protection Agency administrator or Energy secretary in a
possible Romney administration.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/10/vitter_threatening_to_fight_po.html#
