11.4.2013
Oil Spill
Appeals court to review BP settlement
Oil giant says deal was misinterpreted
AP
NEW ORLEANS — A year ago, lawyers for BP and Gulf Coast residents and
businesses took turns urging a federal judge to approve their settlement
for compensating victims of the company's massive 2010 oil spill.
http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20131104/NEWS01/311040008/Appeals-court-review-BP-settlement
A trial lawyer web entangles the BP settlement: James Varney
James Varney
The Times-Picayune
November 02, 2013 at 12:06 PM
While no one wants to see BP walk away from the lethal and environmentally
calamitous Deepwater Horizon well blowout, it's hard sometimes to see
what's unfolded as anything more than another trial lawyer feeding frenzy.
Perhaps that will calm soon.
http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2013/11/a_trial_lawyer_web_entangles_t.html
CYP seminar in Biloxi will address issues affecting South Mississippi
Sun Herald
By MARY PEREZ — meperez@sunherald.com
BILOXI -- The sixth annual Educate & Engage seminar Wednesday will focus on
the National Flood Insurance Program, BP restoration project, the
Mississippi film industry, Common Core and other issues that affect the
region.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/11/01/5079247/cyp-seminar-in-biloxi-will-address.html?sp-tk=9E38943B2FF0D95F023DAB19E4C73F8BFBAFEE72E193D87F778D22B40635F14CB5E9D0511CDA83EA0D953D400563F0D5129DD3E656BD6FB9394915B11714E921BF467F30DDE718E0C1560FAA5264B3A66644B68BBC65635125C87681E2CAFBE1ABB11EFFDF983C1BC78DCB462483F9DE2161E5A025DA2D908D29A45A2CEC123DDBC1E96BEDD60074DEF198C9DC9C75921CC21F8392785181603653785493DC1BB9214388
State
Oil pipeline to refinery in the ground in Jackson County
Sun Herald
By KAREN NELSON — klnelson@sunherald.com
JACKSON COUNTY -- The Plains Southcap crude-oil pipeline from Mobile to the
Chevron Pascagoula Refinery is in the ground in Mississippi.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/11/02/5081572/oil-pipeline-to-refinery-in-the.html
Geology underlies Pike history
Enterprise-Journal
Thursday, October 31, 2013 2:00 pm
By Ernest Herndon
You can tell a lot about an area by the ground under your feet - or a
geologist can, anyway. And a state geologist proved that recently by
presenting a history of Pike County through geology to the Mississippi
Commission on Environmental Quality.
David Dockery, Chief of the Surface Geology Division, Office of Geology,
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, got the idea for the
presentation from DEQ director Trudy Fisher.
"Trudy's idea was to have a presentation on the geology of each of the
counties that our commissioners lived in," Dockery said.
The presentation at the commission's October meeting was in honor of
commissioner Charles Dunagin of McComb.
"Geology is a very interesting subject, and I tried to make the point that
geology has a lot to do with history and our being here," Dockery said.
To summarize:
. The Citronelle Formation, a 2-million-year-old alluvial plain, became a
high plateau across southern Mississippi.
. That plateau came to support longleaf pine forest in southwest
Mississippi.
. Timber became a big business in Pike County as sawmill owners built
railroads to carry logs to the mills.
. The rail lines joined to become Illinois Central Railroad (now CN).
. Henry Simpson McComb moved his railroad shop from New Orleans to the Pike
County town that bears his name.
. The timber industry went bust after the virgin pine forest was cut.
. Oil was discovered in Pike County.
. When initial oil drilling played out, carbon dioxide was injected
underground to get more.
. Exploration of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil play got under way.
Before the 1700s, longleaf pine forests covered 30 million to 60 million
acres along the coastal plain from Virginia to east Texas, Dockery wrote.
Only about 3 percentof that forest remains. Longleaf pines can live up to
500 years and grow 120 feet tall.
B.L.C. Wailes, author of the first book on Mississippi geology, gave this
description of the region's virgin forests in 1844: "Here the timber
becomes
larger, and over considerable tracts the longleaf pine usurps almost
exclusive dominion. Straight, massive and branchless to near the top, which
seems to spread a canopy in the blue ether of the skies, there is a
grandeur
and majesty in these trees peculiar to such forests alone."
In the 1870s Fernwood Lumber Co. began operation near Crystal Springs,
moving to a site between McComb and Magnolia in the 1880s. In 1910, the
sawmill was processing 100,000 board feet of lumber daily, Dockery said.
"Fernwood Lumber Co. became one of the largest lumber operations in
southern
Mississippi and continued operation into the late 1920s, but closed when
the
last of the virgin pines were cut."
In 1872, Henry McComb of New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad,
a
predecessor of IC Railroad, moved the railroad's maintenance shops to Pike
County.
"Summit originated as a railroad town and was named Summit because it was
thought to be the highest point on the Illinois Central Railroad between
New
Orleans and Jackson, Tenn., though Brookhaven actually has that
distinction," Dockery wrote.
In 1937, a California Co. seismic crew shot a line east of Highway 51 and
found the Ruth Salt Dome, the Mallalieu structure and the Brookhaven
structure. Five years later the company struck oil in Brookhaven Field.
In 1944, oil was discovered at Mallalieu Field in Lincoln County, Gwinville
Field in Jefferson Davis County, and Baxterville Field in Lamar and Marion
counties. In 1959, Shell Oil discovered oil at Little Creek and McComb
fields.
"The Little Creek Field produced over 50 million barrels of oil and 26
billion cubic feet of gas," Dockery said. "In the McComb Field, 25
successful producing wells were drilled before the first dry hole was
drilled. By the end of 1960, the field accounted for 20 percent of
development activity in the Southeastern United States. Through 2004, the
field produced 30 million barrels of oil from 190 wells.
"Both Little Creek and McComb fields were converted to secondary oil
recovery operations by water injection and then to tertiary oil recovery by
carbon dioxide injection (CO2 piped from the Jackson Dome). As of Dec. 31,
2011, Denbury Resources estimated proved reserves by carbon dioxide
injection at McComb Field as 6,540,000 barrels of oil."
Just a little bit of geology can have far-reaching effects.
Decades ago, an 11-year-old Osyka girl, Emily Hoskins, found a curious
fossil - a rock with the imprint of a seashell and part the shell still
present.
"She later studied geology at Tulane University, where she earned her Ph.D.
degree," Dockery said. "Later, Dr. Emily Vokes became chairman of the
Tulane
Geology Department and a world-renowned expert in fossil seashells."
Jackson County reaping benefits of Chevron base oil expansion
Sun Herald
By CHRISTINA STEUBE — csteube@sunherald.com
PASCAGOULA -- The expansion of Chevron Pascagoula Refinery to make room for
the Pascagoula Base Oil Project is nearly complete.
The refinery will begin producing 25,000 barrels of premium base oil per
day beginning in the first quarter of 2014.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/11/03/5083438/jackson-county-reaping-benefits.html
Chevron: 'We think Pascagoula is set up for success' with $1.4 billion base
oil plant
Mississippi Press
April M. Havens
November 03, 2013 at 7:26 AM
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- When Chevron Corp.'s $1.4 billion base oil plant
comes on line at the Pascagoula refinery next year, there's little doubt
the product will sell.
The facility is expected to produce about 25,000 barrels per day of Group
II premium base oil, which goes into automotive, industrial and process
oils, metalworking fluids and greases.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/11/chevron_we_think_pascagoula_is.html#incart_river
Biologist Scott Hereford of Mississippi Sandhill Crane Refuge earns
regional USFW honor
The Associated Press
November 02, 2013 at 3:28 PM
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' waterfowl study team
and a biologist at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge
in Gautier, Miss., are among 32 people and groups honored by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/11/scott_hereford_of_mississippi.html#incart_river
Tax law treats state workers unfairly, lawyer says
No one else faces 100% garnishment of wages
AP
State law currently requires the Mississippi Department of Revenue to
garnish 100 percent of the wages of a government official or employee
should that person become delinquent in paying taxes.
http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20131104/NEWS01/311040006/Tax-law-treats-state-workers-unfairly-lawyer-says
Regional
Vitter criticizes EPA's dead zone approach
Houma Today
By Xerxes Wilson
Published: Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.
U.S. Sen. David Vitter is criticizing the federal government for taking a
"heavy-handed" approach to remedy the Gulf dead zone.
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20131102/ARTICLES/131109882/1211/NEWS01?Title=Vitter-criticizes-EPA-8217-s-dead-zone-approach
National
Global warming likely to make bad things worse, scientists forecast
The Associated Press
November 03, 2013 at 12:47 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many of the ills of the modern world — starvation,
poverty, flooding, heat waves, droughts, war and disease — are likely to
worsen as the world warms from man-made climate change, a leaked draft of
an international scientific report forecasts.
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/11/global_warming_likely_to_make.html#incart_river
EPA defends outreach on carbon rules amid GOP attacks
The Hill
By Ben Geman
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday defended the scope of
its outreach on climate change regulations as coal country lawmakers accuse
the agency of turning a blind eye to their states.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/189010-epa-defends-outreach-on-carbon-rules-amid-gop-attacks
Obama takes on climate-fueled storms
The Hill
By Ben Geman
President Obama on Friday demanded "new strategies" to boost the nation's
resilience to powerful storms, drought, heat waves and other dangerous
weather linked to climate change.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/188970-obama-order-seeks-to-bolster-climate-change-defenses
Obama asks federal agencies to 'prepare' for climate change. Here's what
that means.
Washington Post
By Brad Plumer, Updated: November 1, 2013
Climate scientists tend to agree that even if humans stopped burning fossil
fuels today, we'd still see some further warming and climate change from
all the carbon dioxide we've already loaded into the atmosphere. We'll need
to adapt regardless — it's just a question of how much.
The White House underscored that point on Friday when it issued a new
executive order directing federal agencies to help states and communities
prepare for the effects of climate change, including sea-level rise,
storms, and droughts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/01/obama-asks-federal-agencies-to-prepare-for-climate-change-heres-what-that-means/?print=1
Power Plants Try Burning Wood With Coal to Cut Carbon Emissions
NY Times
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON — Even as the Environmental Protection Agency considers
requiring existing coal-fired power plants to cut their carbon dioxide
output, some utilities have started to use a decidedly low-tech additive
that accomplishes that goal: wood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/business/power-plants-try-burning-wood-with-coal-to-cut-emissions.html?ref=earth&_r=0&pagewanted=print
Could fracking boom peter out sooner than DOE expects?
USA Today
Surging oil and gas production is nudging the nation closer to
energy independence. But new research suggests the boom could peter
out long before the United States reaches this decades-old goal.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/03/fracking-boom-bust-us-energy-independence/3328561/
Press Releases
EPA Releases Agency Plans for Adapting to a Changing Climate
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released
its draft Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans for public review
and comment. In support of President Obama's Climate Action Plan and
Executive Order on Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate
Change announced today, the Implementation Plans provide detailed
information about the actions EPA plans to take across the country to help
communities adapt to a changing climate.
"To meet our mission of protecting public health and the environment, EPA
must help communities adapt to a changing climate," said EPA Administrator
Gina McCarthy. "These Implementation Plans offer a roadmap for agency work
to meet that responsibility, while carrying out President Obama's goal of
preparing the country for climate-related challenges."
The impacts of a changing climate – including increased extreme weather,
floods, and droughts – affect EPA's work to protect clean air and water.
The draft Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans recognize that EPA
must integrate climate adaptation planning into its programs, policies,
rules, and operations to ensure that the agency's work continues to be
effective even as the climate changes.
EPA released its draft agency Climate Change Adaptation Plan on February 9,
2013 for public review and comment, and expects to issue the final version
this Fall. In 2009, all federal agencies were required to develop Climate
Change Adaptation Plans by the federal Interagency Climate Change
Adaptation Task Force. Under Executive Order 13514, the Task Force was
charged with developing recommendations for the President on how to
increase the nation's resilience to climate change. The new Implementation
Plans provide information about how EPA will meet the agency-wide
priorities identified in the draft Climate Adaptation Plan released earlier
this year.
The comment period on EPA's draft Climate Change Adaptation Implementation
Plans closes on January 3, 2014.
More information on EPA's Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/fed-programs/EPA-impl-plans.html
More information on EPA's draft Climate Change Adaptation Plan:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/fed-programs.html
More information about EPA's climate adaptation activities:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/adaptation.html
