8.1.13
Oil Spill
Halliburton will plead guilty Sept. 19 to destruction of evidence in Gulf
oil spill
Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
July 31, 2013 at 8:45 PM
Halliburton Energy Services Inc. pleaded not guilty in federal magistrate
court in New Orleans on Wednesday to a single misdemeanor charge of
destroying evidence involving employees erasing results of two sets of
computer model tests conducted after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster,
which resulted in the deaths of 11 rig workers and the massive Gulf oil
spill in April 2010.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/07/hallburton_pleads_not_guilty_t.html
State News
Low aquifers a concern for farmers
Bolivar Commercial
by Kevin Pearson
07.31.13 - 02:56 pm
Dr. Dean Pennington, executive director of Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Joint
Water Management District, discussed Delta water resource issues with those
present at the Delta Area Young Farmer Emerging Issues Conference hosted by
the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation recently at the Monsanto in Scott.
http://www.bolivarcom.com/view/full_story/23256230/article-Low-aquifers-a-concern-for-farmers?instance=homesecondleft
Miss. Plans To Study Oil Sands for Potential Oil
MPB
BY EVELINA BURNETT | PUBLISHED 01 AUG 2013 06:00AM
Mississippi and Alabama will soon launch a new study of oil sands in both
states. The assessment will look at what it will take to extract the
billions of barrels of oil estimated to be under the surface.
http://mpbonline.org/News/article/miss._plans_to_study_oil_sands_for_potential_oil
Mississippi DMR closer to getting CIAP manager
Sun Herald
By PAUL HAMPTON — jphampton@sunherald.com
BILOXI -- The Department of Marine Resources is closer to having a firm to
manage its Coastal Impact Assistance Program.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/31/4839819/mississippi-dmr-closer-to-getting.html
Amory taking steps to bring recycling bins back to town soon
Monroe County Journal
by Emily Tubb | 4:00 am | August 1, 2013
AMORY – Since Mississippi Industrial Waste Management pulled its recycling
program June 27, many residents have been wondering the reason why and what
the city is doing about it.
http://monroecountyjournal.com/2013/08/01/amory-taking-steps-to-bring-recycling-bins-back-to-town-soon/
Ripley to hold annual electronic drive Friday
Southern Sentinel
by Beth Thomas | 9:51 am | July 31, 2013
As a community service project, the South Tippah School District, City of
Ripley and 5R Processors, Ltd. will host an electronic recycling drive from
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Ripley High School Event Center. Tippah
County residents are welcomed to drop off any unwanted, unused or
non-working electronic item to be disposed of responsibly.
http://southern-sentinel.com/2013/07/31/ripley-to-hold-annual-electronic-drive-friday/
Despite cost overruns, Bentz says Kemper still subject to PSC rate cap
By MICHAEL NEWSOM and MARY PEREZ — Sun Herald
Despite new cost overruns at Mississippi Power's Kemper County power plant
project, Southern District Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz said
Wednesday he still won't vote for the company to charge ratepayers anything
above $2.4 billion overall to pay for it.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/31/4838463/southern-co-ceo-kemper-plant-is.html
National News
Dolphins in distress: Unusual mortality event continues after 41 months;
officials look to minimize human impact
Press Register
Dennis Pillion
July 31, 2013 at 6:22 PM
ORANGE BEACH, Alabama -- An "unusual mortality event" continues for
dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico, with more than 1,000 dolphins
stranded since February 2010, far above the average numbers from 2002 to
2009.
http://blog.al.com/gulf-coast/2013/07/dolphin-human_interactions_a_g.html#incart_river
Trains, not pipelines, channel new U.S. oil boom
By CURTIS TATE — Sun Herald
DELAWARE CITY, Del. -- Who needs a pipeline when you have a railroad?
While Republicans in Congress accuse President Barack Obama of killing
American jobs by delaying a decision on the controversial Keystone XL
pipeline, the Delaware City refinery, 100 miles northeast of Washington,
never needed it.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/07/31/4839765/trains-not-pipelines-channel-new.html
House Republicans seek to force changes in EPA 'fracking' study
The Hill
By Ben Geman - 07/31/13 05:26 PM ET
The House Science Committee will mark up legislation Thursday that forces
the Environmental Protection Agency to alter its ongoing study of the
effects of oil-and-gas "fracking" on drinking water resources.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/314833-house-republicans-seek-to-force-changes-in-epa-fracking-study
House panel votes to block Interior's 'fracking' rule
The Hill
By Ben Geman - 07/31/13 03:07 PM ET
The House Natural Resources Committee voted mostly along party lines
Wednesday for GOP legislation that would block Interior Department efforts
to expand regulation of oil-and-gas "fracking" on public lands.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/314765-house-panel-votes-to-block-interiors-fracking-rule
Lawmakers gird for overhaul of out-of-date toxic chemical safety rules
The Hill
By Julian Hattem - 07/31/13 02:33 PM ET
Lawmakers in the Senate are staking out claims on a bipartisan bill to
reform the nation's decades-old toxic chemical law.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/314753-lawmakers-gird-for-overhaul-of-toxic-chemical-rules
Press Releases
EPA Proposes Rule to Modernize Clean Water Act Reporting
E-reporting initiative will increase efficiency, ease burden for states and
improve public access to data
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a
rule that would modernize Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting processes for
hundreds of thousands of municipalities, industries, and other facilities
by converting to an electronic data reporting system. The proposed
e-reporting rule would make facility-specific information, such as
inspection and enforcement history, pollutant monitoring results, and other
data required by permits accessible to the public through EPA's website.
EPA estimates that, once the rule is fully implemented, the 46 states and
the Virgin Island Territory that are authorized to administer the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program will collectively
save approximately $29 million each year as a result of switching from
paper to electronic reporting.
"In addition to dramatically cutting costs for states and other regulatory
authorities, the e-reporting rule will substantially expand transparency by
making it easier for everyone to quickly access critical data on pollution
that may be affecting communities," said Cynthia Giles, assistant
administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
"The e-reporting rule will also allow states and other regulatory
authorities to focus limited resources on the most serious water quality
problems, which will lead to increased compliance, improved water quality,
and a level playing field for the regulated community."
Currently, facilities subject to reporting requirements submit data in
paper form to states and other regulatory authorities, where the
information must be manually entered into data systems. Through the
e-reporting rule, these facilities will electronically report their data
directly to the appropriate regulatory authority. EPA expects that the
e-reporting rule will lead to more comprehensive and complete data on
pollution sources, quicker availability of the data for use, and increased
accessibility and transparency of the data to the public.
The CWA requires that municipal, industrial or commercial facilities that
discharge wastewater directly into waters of the United States obtain a
permit. The NPDES program requires that permitted facilities monitor and
report data on pollutant discharges and take other actions to ensure
discharges do not affect human health or the environment.
Most facilities subject to reporting requirements will be required to start
submitting data electronically one year following the effective date of the
final rule. Facilities with limited access to the Internet will have the
option of one additional year to come into compliance with the new rule.
EPA will work closely with states to provide support to develop or enhance
state electronic reporting capabilities.
EPA has already scheduled several webinars in an effort to help states,
trade organizations, and other interested parties better understand the
details and requirements of the proposed rule. Over the next few months,
EPA expects to schedule additional webinar sessions.
The proposed rule will be available for review and public comment for 90
days following the publication date in the Federal Register.
View the proposed rule in the Federal Register:
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/30/2013-17551/npdes-electronic-reporting-rule
More information on webinars:
http://www2.epa.gov/compliance/proposed-npdes-electronic-reporting-rule
EPA Strengthens Chemical Assessment Process to Protect Public Health
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
changes to its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program to improve
the scientific foundation of assessments, increase transparency in the
program and the process and allow the agency to produce more IRIS
assessments each year. IRIS is a human health assessment program that
evaluates information on health effects that may result from exposure to
environmental contaminants. These high quality, science-based health
assessments are used to inform decisions to protect public health and the
environment.
"EPA is committed to producing high quality scientific assessments in a
timely and transparent manner," said Lek Kadeli, principal deputy assistant
administrator of EPA's Office of Research and Development. "The
improvements announced today will further strengthen our IRIS assessments
and enable the agency to better protect human health and the environment by
completing more health assessments for chemicals that are being used across
our country every day."
Consistent with recommendations from the National Research Council, EPA
will now begin releasing preliminary materials and hold a public meeting
early in the assessment development process to explain the criteria for
selecting studies and to ensure that critical research was not omitted.
Meeting with the public earlier in the process will result in more timely
opportunities for the public to provide input into the assessment and
comment on the information available for each chemical assessed.
EPA is also using a new document structure for IRIS assessments that is
clearer, more concise and more systematic to make the information more
accessible. To improve transparency, the agency is enhancing the IRIS
website by providing more detailed information regarding assessment
schedules, stakeholder meetings and updates on IRIS progress.
Additionally, the agency is implementing "stopping rules" for IRIS that
will provide a cut-off point for accepting new data for individual IRIS
assessments and raising scientific issues related to the assessment. With
these changes, EPA's goal is to increase the number of assessments being
completed each year and provide more accurate assessment development
timelines to the public.
The IRIS database contains crucial information about how and at what level
chemicals may impact human health. When combined with exposure
information, governments and private entities use IRIS to help characterize
the public health risks of chemical substances, thereby supporting risk
management decisions designed to protect public health.
More information about IRIS: http://www.epa.gov/iris
More information about the IRIS process:
http://www.epa.gov/iris/process.htm
