10.2.13
Oil Spill
BP trial turns focus to spill response
Billions of dollars at stake in outcome of case before judge in New Orleans
AP
NEW ORLEANS — An employee of the company that owned the doomed Deepwater
Horizon drilling rig testified Tuesday that he was surprised when BP
scrapped his team's design to stop the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20131002/NEWS01/310020039/BP-trial-turns-focus-spill-response
BP trial witnesses, lawyers tussle over characterizing what happened during
the Gulf oil spill
Mark Waller
The Times-Picayune
October 01, 2013 at 8:33 PM
Tuesday at the BP trial was an exercise in conflicting characterizations of
the same events that unfolded as oil gushed from the Macondo well in the
Gulf of Mexico in 2010: BP was diligently working on multiple solutions
simultaneously, or it was jumping among options without following through.
A plan to lower another blowout preventer contraption atop the blown-out
one was imminently ready to deploy in May 2010, or risky and far from
achievable. Icy buildups in the deep sea threatened the operation, or they
weren't a major concern.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/10/bp_trial_witnesses_lawyers_tus.html#incart_river
State
Gautier to seek MDEQ grant for cleaning unauthorized dump sites
Mississippi Press
Joanne Anderson
October 01, 2013 at 11:42 PM
GAUTIER, Mississippi -- Gautier Mayor Gordon Gollott and the City Council
on Tuesday night authorized Economic Development and Planning Director
Chandra Nicholson to apply to the Mississippi Department of Environmental
Quality for a local government solid waste assistance grant in the amount
of $25,000 for clean-up of existing and future unauthorized dump sites
located on public or private property in the city.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/10/gautier_to_seek_mdeq_grand_for.html#incart_river
Regional
Water wars: Florida sues Georgia over water use from Chattahoochee, Flint
Rivers
The Associated Press
October 01, 2013 at 4:09 PM
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida charged ahead Tuesday with a lawsuit against
the state of Georgia that accuses its northern neighbor of consuming too
much fresh water from a river system that serves three Southeastern states,
including Alabama.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/10/water_wars_florida_sues_georgi.html#incart_river
Mississippi River's 1926 dead zone holds lessons for Gulf of Mexico today
by Matt Sepic, Minnesota Public Radio,
Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio
September 25, 2013
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Here in the land of 10,000 lakes, zebra mussels and Asian
carp have generally topped the list of recent marine environmental
concerns. But in the 1920s, before wastewater treatment plants were built,
there were far bigger problems.
A 1926 survey of the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and Hastings
turned up three fish.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/09/25/environment/mississippi-rivers-1926-dead-zone-holds-lessons-for-gulf-of-mexico-today
National
Second ex-EPA official questioned over taking car discount, pushing for
bonuses for friend
Washington Post
By Lenny Bernstein and Ann E. Marimow, Published: October 1
Another high-ranking former employee of the Environmental Protection Agency
came under fire Tuesday as members of Congress grilled him about accepting
an $8,000 discount on a Mercedes-Benz allegedly arranged by a lobbyist and
friend who did business with the EPA.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/second-ex-epa-official-questioned-over-taking-car-discount-pushing-for-bonuses-for-friend/2013/10/01/45621264-2ad2-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_print.html
Workers Pack Up and Head Home
In Washington, D.C., Furloughed Federal Employees Left Their Jobs for an
Indefinite Length of Time
Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—The idling of the federal government moved from the momentous to
the mundane on Tuesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which sent home more than 90% of its
16,000 workers, emailed employees a short checklist: First, check email
and read the bad news. Second, program voice mail and email to say: "I am
out of the office for the duration of the government shutdown. I will not
be checking messages, but will return your call upon my return to the
office." Third, be sure sensitive work documents aren't left in the open.
Fourth, shut off government computers and smartphones; and fifth, fill out
a final timecard, with no more than four hours of work on shutdown day.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303643304579109743040301948.html
