12.18.2013
Oil Spill
Coast Residents Comment On Latest Round of Oil Spill Projects
MPB
BY EVELINA BURNETT
Mississippi Coast residents are again expressing their views on how
millions of post-BP oil spill restoration dollars should be spent.
http://mpbonline.org/News/article/coast_residents_comment_on_latest_round_of_oil_spill_projects
Few show to comment on restoration projects
Sun Herald
BY LAUREN WALCK
The line was not long for those looking to comment on proposed oil spill
restoration projects Tuesday night.
The meeting at USM Long Beach -- the only one in Mississippi -- is one of
10 scheduled across the Gulf Coast through January.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/12/17/5202500/few-show-to-comment-on-restoration.html
BP files fraud suit to cut oil spill seafood fund payout
Reuters
Tue, Dec 17 2013
HOUSTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - BP Plc filed a fraud lawsuit in U.S. court on
Tuesday to halt some of the $2.3 billion it set aside to compensate
commercial fishermen for losses claimed after the British oil company's
2010 offshore oil spill, the biggest in U.S. history.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/17/bp-oilspill-idUSL6N0JW3UX20131217
BP Seeks to Halt Seafood-Industry Fund Payments
Oil Company Claims Deck Hands Submitted False Claims
Wall Street Journal
By TOM FOWLER
Updated Dec. 17, 2013 5:00 p.m. ET
BP PLC is asking a federal judge to halt payments from a $2.3 billion fund
it set up to compensate the seafood industry in the wake of its 2010 oil
spill in the Gulf of Mexico, alleging a lawyer representing thousands of
deck hands submitted false claims.
BP filed suit on Tuesday against attorney Mikal Watts, whose offices were
raided by the U.S. Secret Service earlier this year, saying the company was
duped by his assertion that 43,000 seafood industry workers were ready to
sue over lost wages stemming from the months-long spill.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304173704579264594184431298
Jury at a 'at a standstill' in trial of ex-BP engineer Kurt Mix
The Associated Press
December 17, 2013 at 6:18 PM
Jurors have adjourned for the night after saying are having difficulty
reaching a verdict in the trial of a former BP engineer charged with trying
to obstruct a probe of the company's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/12/jury_at_a_at_a_standstill_in_t.html#incart_river
State
Mississippi Development Authority drilling rules OK with DMR, face legal
challenge
Opposition poised for action
Sun Herald
BY PAUL HAMPTON
BILOXI -- Opponents of offshore drilling in the Mississippi Sound hope a
judge will block rules on drilling and exploration after a Jan. 6 hearing
even though they've been approved by the Department of Marine Resources.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/12/17/5199913/dmr-director-signs-off-on-states.html
D.M.R. Wants Control of Environmental Decisions
WXXV
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (D.M.R.) is making sure any
decisions that have an environmental impact are staying in their hands.
http://www.wxxv25.com/news/local/story/D-M-R-Wants-Control-of-Environmental-Decisions/a5NioZQpbkemzRD-V8GfSw.cspx
Developer pleads guilty to filling wetlands in Hancock County
Sun Herald
BY ROBIN FITZGERALD
GULFPORT -- A real estate developer from Fairhope, Ala., has pleaded guilty
to illegally filling wetlands in Hancock County in violation of the federal
Clean Water Act.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/12/17/5201975/developer-pleads-guilty-to-filling.html
Pascagoula park projects get about $300,000 boost
Sun Herald
BY TAMMY LEYTHAM
PASCAGOULA -- The city will get about $300,000 in grants toward three
separate projects following action by the Pascagoula City Council during
its meeting Tuesday night.
http://www.sunherald.com/2013/12/17/5202498/pascagoula-park-projects-get-about.html
National
Applying Creativity to a Byproduct of Oil Drilling in North Dakota
NY Times
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
WATFORD CITY, N.D. — Viewed from outer space, the 1,500 blazing oil well
flares burning off excess natural gas illuminate the plains of western
North Dakota more brilliantly than Minneapolis hundreds of miles away.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/business/energy-environment/applying-creativity-to-a-byproduct-of-oil-drilling-in-north-dakota.html?ref=earth&_r=0&pagewanted=print
Feds back 'mid-range' punishment for EPA fraudster, despite 'massive'
deception
Published December 17, 2013
FoxNews.com
A high-ranking EPA official who cheated the government out of nearly $1
million by pretending to be a CIA agent faces sentencing on Wednesday --
though federal prosecutors are only backing a "mid-range" punishment for
what they called a "crime of massive proportions."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/17/fed-say-epa-official-fraud-scheme-was-outrageous-but-ok-medium-range-sentence/?intcmp=latestnews
Senate GOP press EPA over ozone effort
The Hill
By Julian Hattem
Republican senators are pushing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
to calculate and disclose the amount of money the agency spent on a failed
effort to issue tough standards for smog.
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/energy-environment/193405-senate-gop-press-epa-over-ozone-effort
U.S. lawmakers want hearing on natural gas methane emissions
Reuters
Tue, Dec 17 2013
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers concerned about the
growing U.S. reliance on natural gas for electricity on Tuesday called for
a congressional hearing on emissions of methane - a potent greenhouse gas -
from oil and gas production.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/17/usa-climate-methane-idUSL2N0JW1DS20131217
EPA to Continue 'Vigorous' Enforcement Of Major Violators in 2014, Giles
Says
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Bloomberg
By Anthony Adragna
Dec. 16 --The Environmental Protection Agency will prioritize enforcement
actions for major air and water pollution violations in 2014 while
increasingly relying on new monitoring technologies that will enable more
efficient enforcement, the agency's chief enforcement officer told
Bloomberg BNA.
http://www.bna.com/epa-continue-vigorous-n17179880773/
Water scarcity escalating due to climate change, report says
The Hill
By Rebecca Shabad
Climate change could put millions more people at risk of water scarcity, a
new study suggests.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/193350-water-scarcity-escalating-due-to-climate-change-report-says
EPA's lead-free hydrant mandate rejected
The Hill
By Ramsey Cox
The Senate passed a House bill Tuesday that would override guidance from
the Environmental Protection Agency requiring new fire hydrants be
lead-free by early next year.
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/193432-congress-rejects-epa-fire-hydrant-guidance
Press Releases
EPA Releases Chemical Screening Data on 1,800 Chemicals
Agency improves access to chemical data and announces ToxCast Data
Challenges
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
the release of chemical screening data accessible through the new
interactive Chemical Safety for Sustainability or iCSS Dashboard. The iCSS
Dashboard provides access to data from innovative screening technologies
for chemicals that are found in industrial and consumer products, food
additives and drugs.
"EPA's use of cost effective advanced chemical screening techniques has
transformed this country's knowledge of the safety of almost 2,000
chemicals currently in use," said Lek Kadeli, acting assistant
administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. "Today's
release marks an important milestone in communicating and improving our
understanding of the impact chemicals have on human health and the
environment."
As part of this data release, EPA is announcing the ToxCast Data
Challenges, a series of challenges inviting the science and technology
community to work with the data and provide solutions for how the new
chemical screening data can be used to predict potential health effects.
Challenge winners will receive awards for their innovative research ideas.
The data were gathered through advanced techniques, including robotics and
high-throughput screening, as part of an ongoing federal collaboration to
improve chemical screening. The collaboration, Toxicity Testing in the 21st
Century (Tox21), is comprised of EPA, the National Institutes of
Environmental Health Sciences/National Toxicology Program, National Center
for Advancing Translational Sciences and the Food and Drug Administration.
"Making these data publicly available will help researchers across
disciplines to better identify hazardous chemicals, " said Raymond Tice,
Ph.D., who heads the Biomolecular Screening Branch at the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH. "We are
pleased to be a partner in these collaborative efforts and look forward to
further enhancing the amount of Tox21 data available to the public."
"Our robotics screening system is an integral part of the Tox21 effort as
it provides unparalleled speed, reliability and high-quality reproducible
data," said Anton Simeonov, Ph.D., who is the Tox21 lead at the National
Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. "The public release of Tox21
data is sure to accelerate chemical assessment."
Only a fraction of chemicals in use in the United States have been
adequately assessed for potential risk. This information is useful for
prioritizing chemicals for potential risk as well as predicting if chemical
exposures could lead to adverse health effects.
More information:
iCSS dashboard: http://actor.epa.gov/dashboard/
Tox21: http://epa.gov/ncct/Tox21/
EPA Chemical Safety Research: http://www.epa.gov/research/chemicalscience/
ToxCast Data Challenges: http://epa.gov/ncct/challenges.html
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