11/27/12
Oil Spill
Judge sets meeting to discuss BP plea deal
AP
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge has scheduled a closed-door meeting Thursday
to discuss BP's agreement to plead guilty to criminal charges stemming from
its deadly 2010 rig explosion and response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/11/judge_sets_meeting_to_discuss.html#incart_river
Texas still waiting for $100M in restoration funds from BP oil spill
Officials have received 188 suggestions from public on how to spend money
Posted: November 27, 2012 - 7:47am
By KATE GALBRAITH
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
AUSTIN — Texas has been promised at least $100 million for coastal
restoration in the wake of the massive BP oil spill that harmed the Gulf
of Mexico in 2010.But no Texas projects have been announced, and an
official involved with the talks did not sound optimistic about getting
dollars flowing quickly to causes like protecting marshland or sea life.
http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2012-11-27/texas-still-waiting-100m-restoration-funds-bp-oil-spill#.ULTO7Ie_FKZ
BP: Many settlement opt-out requests weren't valid
AP
BP and a team of plaintiffs' attorneys say only about half of the
businesses and individuals who asked to be excluded from a proposed
settlement over the company's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
submitted valid requests.
http://www.wlox.com/story/20187922/bp-many-settlement-opt-out-requests-werent-valid
Why BP is not a takeover target
Fortune
With a $130 billion market cap, and billions of dollars in unknown
liabilities, BP is still one big toxic mess.
By Cyrus Sanati
FORTUNE -- It's one of the largest companies in the world. Could it really
be a takeover target?
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/26/bp-takeover/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+(Top+Stories)
State News
PRCC signs partnership with EPA
Gulf of Mexico program promotes student environmental studies
Hattiesburg American
Sofia Tent spent last summer studying environmental justice at Stennis
Space Center, as part of an internship with the Environmental Protection
Agency's Gulf of Mexico program.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20121127/NEWS01/311270007/PRCC-signs-partnership-EPA
PRCC, EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program ink agreement
By David A. Farrell
The Picayune Item
POPLARVILLE — Pearl River Community College President Dr. William A. Lewis
and the EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program Director Ben Scaggs signed a
memorandum of understanding on Monday that will see the Program use PRCC
honors students in projects aimed at improving the environmental quality of
the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement was actually between the PRCC Honors
Institute and the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program.
http://picayuneitem.com/local/x942835128/PRCC-EPA-s-Gulf-of-Mexico-Program-ink-agreement
Sewage Improvments Begin in Crawford
WCBI
CRAWFORD, Miss. (WCBI)- Every town must maintain infrastructure to keep
their community safe, sanitary and livable. But those improvements are
expensive and city leaders must find ways to upgrade without draining the
budget or increasing taxes.
http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/video-sewage-improvments-begin-in-crawford
Keep Tupelo Beautiful
WCBI
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)-Despite the freezing temperatures this morning
volunteers gathered to keep Tupelo beautiful.
http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/keep-tupelo-beautifulc
OSHA cites Mississippi Phosphates for safety, health violations
Sun Herald
PASCAGOULA -- Mississippi Phosphates Corp. has been cited by the federal
government for 40 safety and health violations following the deaths of two
workers in separate incidents at the company's Pascagoula plant.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/11/26/4323586/osha-cites-mississippi-phosphates.html
AP analysis: Corrections, Medicaid deficits are hurdles for Mississippi
legislators
AP
JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi legislators head into the 2013 session
knowing they have deficits to address in corrections and Medicaid.
Any others? That's all rather tentative right now about six weeks out from
the Jan. 8 start.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/11/ap_analysis_corrections_medica.html#incart_river
National News
EPA strengthens water quality guidelines for beaches
States can decide whether to adopt the new standards, issued to protect
people swimming, surfing and boating in coastal waters.
LA Times
By Noam N. Levey, Washington Bureau
November 26, 2012, 7:24 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agencyupdated water quality
guidelines for the nation's beaches Monday, moving in response to charges
that the federal government has not done enough to protect bathers from
polluted water.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-beaches-20121127,0,2220243.story
GOP blocks bill to ease restrictions on hunters, fishermen, open access to
federal lands
By Associated Press, Published: November 26
WASHINGTON — A wide-ranging bill to give hunters and fishermen more access
to public lands stalled in the Senate Monday after Republicans said it
spends too much money.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/gop-blocks-bill-to-ease-restrictions-on-hunters-fishermen-open-access-to-federal-lands/2012/11/26/a8bca6ae-382e-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html
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| Sportsmen bill stumbles in Senate |
| Politico |
| By: David Rogers |
| November 26, 2012 08:03 PM EST |
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| A major sportsmen bill to improve wildlife habitat and expand access to federal |
| lands for hunting and fishing stumbled badly in the Senate on Monday night — |
| the victim of an obscure budget dispute over how to count a proposed $10 |
| increase in the price of duck stamps to pay for wetlands conservation. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84254.html?hp=l2
Wealth rises in USA's heartland
USA Today
The nation's oil and gas boom is driving up income so fast in a few hundred
small towns and rural areas that it's shifting prosperity to the nation's
heartland, a USA TODAY analysis of government data shows.
http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/1728123?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
Opinion
BP criminal fines could be a game changer for Louisiana's coast: Bob
Marshall
Times Picayune
When coastal groups begin considering candidates for conservationist of the
year awards, I hope Attorney General Eric Holder -- or at least his office
-- is at the top of their lists. That's because the details in the record
$4.9 billion fine his office has forced BP to pay for its Deepwater Horizon
crimes against the Gulf are nothing less than a game changer in the state's
struggle for addressing its starving, sinking, drowning coast.
http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/11/bp_criminal_fines_could_be_a_g.html
Game changer: 'Fracking'
USA Today
By now it's not news that "fracking" underground shale formations —
cracking them open with high-pressure jets of water, chemicals and sand —
has unlocked new supplies of natural gas and oil in places such as North
Dakota and Pennsylvania.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121127/OPINION01/311270010/Game-changer-Fracking-?odyssey=mod|
newswell|text|Opinion|p
Press Releases
EPA Recommends New Recreational Water Quality Criteria to Better Protect
Public Health
WASHINGTON -- Pursuant to an order from a U.S. District Court and as
required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of
2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today recommended new
recreational water quality criteria for states that will help protect
peoples' health during visits to beaches and waters year round. The
science-based criteria provide information to help states improve public
health protection by addressing a broader range of illness symptoms, better
accounting for pollution after heavy rainfall, providing more protective
recommendations for coastal waters, encouraging early alerts to beachgoers
and promoting rapid water testing. The criteria released today do not
impose any new requirements; instead, they are a tool that states can
choose to use in setting their own standards.
The criteria provide states and communities with the most up to date
science and information that they can use to determine whether water
quality is safe for the public and when to issue an advisory or a beach
closure. EPA has provided a variety of other tools to help states evaluate
and manage recreational waters.
The new criteria are based on several recent health studies and use a
broader definition of illness to recognize that symptoms may occur without
a fever, including a number of stomach ailments. EPA also narrowed from 90
days to 30 days the time period over which the results of monitoring
samples may be averaged. This produces a more accurate picture of the water
quality for that given time, allowing for improved notification time about
water quality to the public. This shortened time period especially accounts
for heavy rainfall that can wash pollution into rivers, lakes or the ocean
or cause sewer overflows.
The strengthened recommendations include:
· A short-term and long-term measure of bacteria levels that must be
used together to ensure that water quality is properly evaluated.
· Stronger recommendations for coastal water quality so public health
is protected similarly in both coastal and fresh waters.
· A new rapid testing method that states can use to determine if water
quality is safe within hours of water samples being taken.
· An early-alert approach for states to use to quickly issue swimming
advisories for the public.
· Tools that allow states to predict water quality problems and
identify sources of pollution, as well as to develop criteria for
specific beaches.
More information:
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/criteria/health/recreation/index.cfm
