8.26.2013
Oil Spill
Around Washington for Monday, Aug. 26, 2013
Baton Rouge Advocate
by jordaN BLUM
The federal government announced Friday that it will initiate a new study
to analyze the impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and other
incidents in order to better assess future offshore oil-and-gas drilling.
http://theadvocate.com/columnists/6861428-55/around-washington-for-monday-aug
Leaders look to BP funds for water release aid
WZVN
An ironic twist of fate as Lee County commissioners look for help from a
corporation once vilified over environmental concerns to solve another.
http://www.abc-7.com/story/23242534/leaders-look-to-bp-funds-for-water-release-aid#.UhtZ4hsqjzY
State
MDEQ reopens Bayou Casotte after spill kills fish
by Associated Press
Published: August 25,2013
PASCAGOULA — The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has
reopened Bayou Casotte and nearby waters in the Mississippi Sound to
fishing and to swimming and other water contact.
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2013/08/25/mdeq-reopens-bayou-casotte-spill-kills-fish/
Fishing, water closure lifted for Bayou Casotte
Sun Herald
A fishing and water closure for Bayou Casotte was lifted Friday, according
to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/08/23/4897502/around-south-mississippi.html
MDEQ lifts closure for Bayou Casotte, ph values at normal levels
Mississippi Press
August 23, 2013 at 3:38 PM
JACKSON, Mississippi - The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
(MDEQ) Friday lifted a fishing and water contact closure that was issued
Aug. 19 for Bayou Casotte and the adjacent waters of the Mississippi Sound
within 1,000 feet of the mouth of the bayou.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/08/mdeq_lifts_closure_for_bayou_c.html
Illegal dump site cleaned in Tupelo
WTVA
Tupelo Environmental Planner Sherrie Cochran says she discovered evidence
of a very bad habit near downtown.
The back of Gum Tree Park was being used as an illegal dump site.
Cochran immediately called on the Mississippi Department of Environmental
Quality for help.
http://www.wtva.com/news/local/story/Illegal-dump-site-cleaned-in-Tupelo/8cppPdGjbU2isZBYZmyFIg.cspx
Group pitches Miss. for nuclear waste storage
Energy Institute floats state as site; opponents point to potential dangers
Clarion Ledger
The Mississippi Energy Institute is making a pitch to politicians and
business leaders that Mississippi get into the used nuclear fuel storage
business.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013308240001
Trouble for KiOR's biowaste-to-biocrude business
Commercial Dispatch
August 25, 2013 11:31:21 AM
Problems are emerging for KiOR, the Texas-based alternative fuel company
that began converting wood chips to fuel at its Columbus biorefinery
earlier this year.
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=26531
IMMS releases 17 sea turtles in MS Sound
WLOX
Senator Roger Wicker helped the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS)
in releasing 17 sea turtles into the Mississippi Sound on Friday.
http://www.wlox.com/story/23246343/imms-releases-17-sea-turtles-in-ms-sound
Mississippi coast is a paddler's paradise for kayak craze
The Associated Press
August 25, 2013 at 2:13 PM
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- The sky and trees were mirrored in the dark
stained water as Susan Ray began sliding a kayak into Old Fort Bayou in
Ocean Springs. Soon, she was slipping through the water and one by one,
more paddlers followed.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/08/mississippi_coast_is_a_paddler.html#incart_river
Eight years after Hurricane Katrina, many South Mississippi recovery
visions, plans realized
Sun Herald
By MICHAEL NEWSOM — mmnewsom@sunherald.com
In the aftermath of the widespread devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought
eight years ago, an aggressive planning effort was undertaken to draft the
vision for what the Mississippi Coast could become after the "worst natural
disaster in U.S. history."
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/08/24/4899320/eight-years-after-hurricane-katrina.html
A day in the Life of the Ross Barnett Reservoir
Clarion Ledger
7:15 a.m. Pelahatchie Bay Trading Post
The gas station/convenience store/breakfast, lunch and sandwich spot/bait
shop/hangout is a beacon that beats the sun for some, opening at 5:30 a.m.
to reel in the early risers before they do the same to fish in the Ross
Barnett Reservoir.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130825/OPINION03/308250026/A-day-Life-Ross-Barnett-Reservoir
Regional
Lawsuit would force the EPA to better monitor Florida waterways
Tampa Tribune
By Kate Bradshaw | Tribune Staff
Published: August 26, 2013
GULFPORT — Clam Bayou has long had a reputation as a dumping ground. Debris
and fertilizer runoff from nearby homes, businesses and industrial sites
wash into it from canals and sewers to the north.
http://tbo.com/pinellas-county/lawsuit-would-force-the-epa-to-better-monitor-florida-waterways-20130826/
National
Former EPA official charged with stealing nearly $900K
AP
WASHINGTON – A former high-ranking official with the Environmental
Protection Agency was charged Friday with stealing nearly $900,000 from the
agency over 13 years.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/23/former-epa-official-charged-with-stealing-nearly-00k/
Vitter demands congressional investigation into EPA fraud case
By Carlo Muñoz - 08/24/13 03:53 PM ET
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is spearheading calls for a congressional
investigation into recent federal fraud charges against a former top
official at the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/318637-vitter-demands-congressional-inquiry-into-epa-fraud-case
Health effects of gas drilling under study
AP
By Kevin Begos,
PITTSBURGH — A project examining the local health effects from natural gas
drilling is providing some of the first preliminary numbers about people
who may be affected, and the results challenge the industry position that
no one suffers but also suggest that the problems may not be as widespread
as some critics claim.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fracking-health-study-provides-numbers-for-the-debate/2013/08/25/ad2bfafe-0da4-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_print.html
Obama position on fracking leaves both sides grumbling
BY SEAN COCKERHAM
MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's embrace of fracking is earning wrath
from environmentalists but little love from the oil and gas industry.
Obama praised the U.S. natural gas boom in a recent climate change speech
and credited it with delivering cleaner energy. The boom is a result of
hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which chemical-spiked water is pumped
underground to free oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/23/3582081/obama-position-on-fracking-leaves.html
Press Releases
Real-Time Monitoring Pays Off For Tracking Nitrate Pulse In Mississippi
River Basin To The Gulf Of Mexico
Cutting edge optical sensor technology is being used in the Mississippi
River basin to more accurately track the nitrate pulse from small streams,
large tributaries and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico.
Excessive springtime nitrate runoff from agricultural land and other
sources in the Mississippi drainage eventually flows into the Mississippi
River. Downstream, this excess nitrate contributes to the Gulf of Mexico
hypoxic zone, an area with low oxygen known commonly as the "dead zone."
NOAA-supported researchers reported that the summer 2013 dead zone covered
about 5,840 square miles, an area the size of Connecticut.
These optical sensors measure and transmit nitrate data every 15 minutes to
3 hours and are located at the mouth of the Mississippi River near Baton
Rouge, LA, and at several large tributaries to the Mississippi
River—including the Missouri River at Hermann, MO; Ohio River at Olmsted,
IL; Ohio, Illinois River at Florence, IL; and Iowa River at Wapello, IA –
to track how nitrate concentrations from different areas of the watershed
pulse in response to rainfall and seasons.
About 622 million pounds of nitrogen were transported in May and June of
2013 at the Mississippi River Baton Rouge station, said Brian Pellerin,
USGS research hydrologist. "This is roughly equivalent to the amount of
fertilizer nitrogen applied annually to about 4 million acres of corn."
Nitrate sensors in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin,
Missouri, and Arkansas provide new insights for researchers into the
storage and transport of nitrate from headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.
"Real-time information will improve our ability to measure the
effectiveness of management actions by allowing us to track the movement
and quantity of nitrate delivered from small streams all the way to the
Gulf Coast," said Lori Caramanian, the Department of the Interior's Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. "These sensors will give us an
unprecedented level of precision in tracing the origins of excessive
nitrate, and will be a valuable tool in tracking progress toward the goal
of reducing the size of the dead zone."
Real-time nitrate monitoring in Iowa is being used by drinking water
utilities to determine when to switch on nitrate-removal systems or when to
mix water with multiple sources that have lower concentrations. Both
actions result in higher costs for drinking water. "Real-time nitrate
concentrations in the Raccoon River at Van Meter, Iowa, peaked at 20.7
milligrams per liter in May 2013. This is more than double the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for drinking
water," said Kevin Richards, Director of the USGS Iowa Water Science
Center.
About USGS
The USGS, in cooperation with numerous local, state, and other federal
agencies, currently operates over 52 real-time nitrate sensors across the
Nation, of which 36 are in the Mississippi River Basin. These data are
available at USGS Water-Quality Watch. Real-time nitrate monitoring is
supported by the USGS National Stream Quality Accounting
Network,Cooperative Water Program, and the National Water-Quality
Assessment Program.
The USGS also continuously monitors water levels and streamflows at
thousands of the nation's streams on a real-time basis. These data are
available at USGS Current Streamflow Conditions.
http://www.wateronline.com/doc/real-time-monitoring-pays-tracking-nitrate-pulse-river-basin-mexico-0001
