5.14.2013
Oil Spill
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation fund is launched to restore
Louisiana, Gulf Coast natural resources
By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
May 13, 2013 at 11:15 PM
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on Monday announced the creation
of a fund that will administer $2.5 billion from criminal plea agreements
approved earlier this year between BP and Transocean and the federal
government concerning the companies' roles in the blowout of BP's Macondo
oil well, the fire and explosion aboard Transocean's Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig that killed 11 crew members, and the ensuing three-month
uncontrolled release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/05/national_fish_and_wildlife_fou.html#incart_riverv
WSFA 12 News Special Report: Toxic Tar Balls
Just this year, crews have collected more than 8,000 pounds of tar on
Alabama's shores - that's equivalent to the weight of two cars. WSFA 12
News picked up at least 2 pounds in a short walk along Orange Beach back in
March.
http://www.wsfa.com/story/22236276/wsfa-12-news-special-report-toxic-tar-balls
Mississippi Casinos and the Upside of Disaster
Memphis Flyer
POSTED BY JOHN BRANSTON ON MON, MAY 13, 2013 AT 12:10 PM
All those television ads about how BP is cleaning up the Mississippi and
Alabama beaches after the 2010 oil spill have helped the Coast casinos
overtake Tunica as Mississippi's top gambling destination.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/CityBeatBlog/archives/2013/05/13/mississippi-casinos-and-the-upside-of-disaster
State News
Volunteers will make Mississippi waterways sparkle
WLOX
Mississippi Power and a team of volunteers will spend this sparkling
Tuesday adding a bit more sparkle to South Mississippi's waterways.
Cleanup teams will meet near Biloxi's Back Bay at 8:00 this morning to
participate in the company's Renew Our Rivers initiative.
http://www.wlox.com/story/22243996/volunteers-will-make-mississippi-waterways-sparkle
Transformer Emits Smoke At Grand Gulf
WJTV
Port Gibson - Officials say a transformer at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power
Plant near Port Gibson emitted smoke on Sunday but the reactor was not in
danger.
http://www.wjtv.com/story/22237937/transformer-emits-smoke-at-grand-gulf
Senator: Is federal bioenergy program undercutting foresters?
by MBJ Staff
Published: May 13,2013
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is questioning whether a U.S.
Department of Agriculture bio-based marketing program amounts to a bias
against traditional forest products and whether such policies are fair.
Cochran broached the topic at a Senate Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2014 budget request for the USDA.
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2013/05/13/senator-is-federal-bioenergy-program-undercutting-foresters/
Natron Wood investing $10M, bringing 200 jobs to Louisville
Clarion Ledger
Gov. Phil Bryant joined officials from Natron Wood Products on Monday to
announce the company's decision to locate a plant in Louisville.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130514/NEWS01/305140016/Natron-Wood-investing-10M-bringing-200-jobs-Louisville
National News
Beach litter mars U.S. – and world's – coastlines
By Erika Bolstad — McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — It's a beach bummer. Shorelines worldwide are clogged with
trash, so much so that during their annual cleanup last year, volunteers
with the Ocean Conservancy picked up refuse that weighed as much as 10
Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/13/4662371/beach-litter-mars-us-and-worlds.html
AP IMPACT: Obama administration allows wind farms to kill eagles, birds
despite federal laws
By Associated Press,
CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. — It happens about once a month here, on the barren
foothills of one of America's green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden
eagle slams into a wind farm's spinning turbine and falls, mangled and
lifeless, to the ground.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ap-impact-obama-administration-allows-wind-farms-to-kill-eagles-birds-despite-federal-laws/2013/05/14/fbaced8a-bc66-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html
Predator Fish in Cross Hairs
Western States Cull Pike, Citing Threat to Native Species; Anglers Up in
Arms
Wall Street Journal
USK, Wash.—Biologists in the West are waging a slaughter campaign against
a nonnative fish invading from the East, but some anglers are up in arms
about the war on the species.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324059704578471213642371462.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_6
Farm bill: Still a little something for everyone
By MARY CLARE JALONICK — Associated Press
WASHINGTON — There's still a little something for everyone in massive farm
bills that Congress is considering this week, even though the legislation
would cut billions of dollars from federal farm and food subsidies.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/14/4663109/farm-bill-still-a-little-something.html
Press releases
NFWF Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund Announced
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 13 -- The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
(NFWF) today announced the public launch of the Gulf Environmental Benefit
Fund through which NFWF will administer and monitor $2.544 billion from
plea agreements resolving certain criminal cases arising from the 2010
Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
With today's announcement, NFWF also outlined procedures and criteria for
selecting projects for funding in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama,
Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
As mandated in the plea agreements, NFWF has begun consulting with natural
resource management agencies in each of the five Gulf States and with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. The input of these agencies will be the primary means
through which project selection under the Gulf Fund will be coordinated
with actions of the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment
Trustee Council and the RESTORE Council.
"We will work to develop consensus among the state and federal resource
agencies to identify projects that meet the conditions of the plea
agreement to benefit the natural resources of the Gulf Coast," said Jeff
Trandahl, NFWF executive director and CEO.
Under the terms of the plea agreements between the Department of Justice
and BP and Transocean, the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund will receive a
total of $1.272 billion for barrier island and river diversion projects in
the state of Louisiana; $356 million for natural resource projects in each
of the states of Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi; and $203 million for
similar projects in the state of Texas. Payments into the fund will occur
over a five-year period, with more than half the funding coming in years
four and five.
The first payments totaling $158 million were received in April and the
next installments are scheduled for February 2014 under the terms of the
agreements.
The primary criterion for project selection is to "remedy harm and
eliminate or reduce the risk of future harm to Gulf Coast natural
resources" that were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as
required in the plea agreements.
Further criteria will emphasize projects that advance priorities in natural
resource management plans such as those called for under the RESTORE Act,
are within reasonable proximity to where impacts occurred as appropriate,
are cost-effective, maximize environmental benefits, are science-based and
that produce measurable and meaningful conservation outcomes to habitats
and species of a type impacted by the oil spill.
The plea agreements require that the funds designated for Louisiana be
allocated solely to barrier island restoration projects and river diversion
projects along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. In identifying
such projects, NFWF will give appropriate consideration to Louisiana's
Coastal Master Plan and the Louisiana Coastal Area Mississippi River
Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study.
Organizations or agencies interested in submitting project proposals for
consideration should direct that information to the lead state agency in
the appropriate Gulf state as identified on the NFWF website (
www.nfwf.org/gulf).
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a Congressionally chartered
non-profit corporation, is one of the largest private funders of
conservation projects in the United States. It is subject to oversight by
Congress and a board of directors that includes the heads of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), as well as representatives from states,
non-governmental organizations and industry. Its board is appointed by the
Secretary of the Interior.
