5.6.2013
Oil Spill
BP money will help Pascagoula complete Promenade project
Sun Herald
By LEIGHANNE LOCKHART — llockhart@sunherald.com
PASCAGOULA -- The Beachfront Promenade project was one of four restoration
projects in South Mississippi coastal communities to receive funding from
additional BP money provided to the state totaling $69 million.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/03/4641280/bp-money-will-help-pascagoula.html
Administration sets $600M in Gulf restoration projects
The Hill
By Megan R. Wilson - 05/03/13 12:35 PM ET
The Obama administration announced nearly $600 million in additional
restoration projects to improve the environmental damage along the Gulf
Coast.
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/energyenvironment/297637-deepwater-horizon-spill-brings-another-600m-in-restoration-projects
State News
Louisiana's levee plan concerns Mississippi leaders
Sun Herald
By MICHAEL NEWSOM — mmnewsom@sunherald.com
GULFPORT -- Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann told the Sun Herald he's
worried a new levee in Louisiana could place low-lying areas of South
Mississippi in danger because water would be pushed toward Hancock County
and other Coast areas.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/04/4642729/louisianas-levee-plan-concerns.html#storylink=misearch
Lucas hired at MDMR
The Associated Press
BILOXI, MISS. — Kelly Lucas has been named chief scientific officer at the
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/05/4643028/lucas-hired-at-mdmr.html
Volunteers Keep West Point Clean
WCBI
WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)-Some volunteers gathered in West Point Saturday
morning for the community wide clean-up day.
http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/video-volunteers-keep-west-point-clean
Lack of auditing resources a regional problem
Sun Herald
By MICHAEL NEWSOM — mmnewsom@sunherald.com
GULFPORT -- Out of Mississippi's 120 state agencies, boards and
commissions, dozens have gone years without a comprehensive state audit,
including the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, which went a
decade without a full state review.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/04/4642722/lack-of-auditing-resources-a-regional.html
Mississippi state agency audits at a glance
Sun Herald
Mississippi audits at a glance
Each budget year, the largest eight or nine state agencies were audited.
Since 2003, some combination of these agencies were among those audited in
each year: departments of Human Services, Education, Health,
Transportation, Medicaid, Corrections, Finance and Administration and
Insurance; the Legislature; the Treasurer's Office; and the Mississippi
Development Authority.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/05/04/4642567/mississippi-state-agency-audits.html
National News
Squeezing More From Ethanol
NY Times
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON — Faced with a crop of lemons — too much ethanol, a population
of cars not tuned to burn it effectively and a driving public leery of the
fuel's properties — the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to
make lemonade.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/automobiles/squeezing-more-from-ethanol.html?ref=earth&_r=0&pagewanted=print
Residents near U.S. ports say expansions taking heavy toll
Washington Post
By Darryl Fears, Published: May 5
The big trucks roar out of Port Newark like a beastly herd, snorting,
grinding gears and belching exhaust as they rush through the predominantly
black South Ward neighborhood.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/residents-near-us-ports-say-expansions-taking-heavy-toll/2013/05/05/78842a82-a77f-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html
States, including Oklahoma, urge EPA to stay out of oil-field emission
regulation
The Oklahoman
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and 12 other state attorneys general
this week asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency not to settle with
several northeastern states about oil-field methane emission, saying
regulatory authority should remain with the states.
http://newsok.com/states-including-oklahoma-urge-epa-to-stay-out-of-oil-field-emission-regulation/article/3806240
Carbon tax backers quietly forge ahead
The Hill
By Ben Geman - 05/05/13 06:00 AM ET
Activists are quietly forging ahead with their campaign for carbon taxes
despite long odds on Capitol Hill.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/297751-carbon-tax-backers-quietly-forge-ahead
Mesothelioma Doctors, Lawyers Join Hunt for Valuable Asbestos Cases
Wall Street Journal
By DIONNE SEARCEY
On the asbestos law firm website of Roger G. Worthington is a photo of him
and Dr. Robert Cameron in an operating room, both in scrubs, hovering
above the splayed chest of a gravely ill person who is the legal client of
one and patient of the other.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324373204578374963941095622.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_4
Opinion
Our Views: Oil leak may have effects
Baton Rouge Advocate
The recent third anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf
of Mexico passed with little public notice. But three years after the April
20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the release of
millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the long-term effects
on the Gulf's ecology remain uncertain. There's a continuing need for
monitoring possible consequences, as evidenced by some recent research by
scientists from LSU, the University of California at Davis and Clemson
University.
http://theadvocate.com/news/opinion/5879422-123/our-views-oil-leak-may
Washington Watch: Oil disaster recovery a matter of opinion
by jordan blum
Baton Rouge Advocate Washington bureau
Praised be!
More than three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the Gulf of
Mexico and the Gulf states are back and virtually better than ever.
That is, at least, according to BP.
http://theadvocate.com/columnists/5882226-55/washington-watch-oil-disaster-recovery
Press Releases
EPA Strengthens Conflict of Interest Review Process for Science Review
Panels
WASHINGTON — The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
that it has improved its conflict of interest review process for
contractor-managed peer reviews. EPA has put a new oversight process in
place to ensure that contractors follow all existing conflicts of interest
guidance and requirements. In addition, EPA will now ensure that the public
has the opportunity to review and comment on a peer review panel's
composition when influential scientific documents are being considered.
"We are committed to scientific integrity at EPA," said EPA Acting
Administrator Bob Perciasepe. "Improving the contract-managed peer review
process and increasing transparency will lead to stronger science at the
agency."
This revised process will apply to all future technical documents
designated as Influential Scientific Information or Highly Influential
Scientific Assessments where independent peer reviews will be conducted by
panels selected and managed by independent contractors. For future peer
review panels, EPA will now publish the names, principal affiliations and
resumes of candidates being considered for the panel. Members of the public
will be able to provide comments on the candidates for a period of at least
three weeks.
After selecting the final peer review panel, the contractor will consult
with EPA to review whether the contractor followed existing conflicts of
interest guidance and requirements, and identify and provide input on any
issues. In addition, the names of the final peer review panel members will
be posted publicly before the meeting takes place. This process will ensure
that existing conflicts of interest guidance and requirements are applied
correctly and where a potential conflict of interest is identified, allow
EPA to determine whether the contractor's plan to address the conflict is
acceptable. The new process does not change EPA's existing standards for
determining conflicts of interest.
More information about scientific research at EPA: http://www.epa.gov/ord/
