6/16/14
Oil Spill
Bobby Jindal agrees to $1 billion earmark of BP oil spill money
The Associated Press
June 14, 2014 at 8:32 PM
BATON ROUGE - Gov. Bobby Jindal has agreed to pour $1 billion in BP oil
spill recovery money into Louisiana's "rainy day" fund and an elderly trust
fund that was drained to plug budget gaps.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/bobby_jindal_agrees_to_1_billi.html
BP oil spill investor lawsuit in U.S. gets May 2015 trial date
Reuters
Fri, Jun 13 2014
By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge set a May 2015 trial date on Friday for BP Plc to
face claims in a lawsuit accusing the company of misleading investors about
the severity of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/13/us-bp-lawsuit-idUSKBN0EO2FZ20140613
State
Toney leads farm tour in Mississippi
AP
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Heather McTeer Toney, the Environmental Protection
Agency's regional administrator in Atlanta, is leading a tour of the
Prewitt Farm in Boyle, Mississippi, on Monday.
http://www.knoe.com/story/25780866/toney-leads-farm-tour-in-mississippi
Mississippi Phosphates agrees to install air monitor to help appease
Cherokee residents
Mississippi Press
April M. Havens
June 13, 2014 at 11:47 AM
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Mississippi Phosphates Corp. has agreed to
install a sulfuric acid monitor in the Cherokee neighborhood to help
residents keep a check on emissions.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2014/06/mississippi_phosphates_agrees.html
Water Resources Bill Should Help Mississippi Ports, Projects
MPB
A water resources bill signed into law this week should have a wide-ranging
impact in Mississippi. MPB's Evelina Burnett looks at how the money will
flow throughout the state.
http://mpbonline.org/News/article/water_resources_bill_should_help_mississippi_ports_projects
Bill Walker's attorney asks for leniency in Monday's sentencing
Sun Herald
BY MARY PEREZ
An attorney for William Walker, the former director of the state Department
of Marine Resources, filed a motion Friday asking the judge not to follow
the sentencing guidelines and impose a lighter sentence when Walker appears
in federal court Monday in Hattiesburg.
http://www.sunherald.com/2014/06/13/5648604/bill-walkers-attorney-asks-for.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
Mover of the Week: David M. Donaldson
Clarion Ledger
David M. Donaldson is the new executive director of the Gulf States
Marine Fisheries Commission, based in Ocean Springs.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/money/business/2014/06/14/mover-week-david-m-donaldson/10469767/
National
Feds aren't inspecting 4 in 10 higher-risk wells, all in Mississippi were
checked
The Associated Press
June 16, 2014 at 7:16 AM
NEW CASTLE, Colorado -- Four in 10 new oil and gas wells near national
forests and fragile watersheds or otherwise identified as higher pollution
risks escape federal inspection, unchecked by an agency struggling to keep
pace with America's drilling boom, according to an Associated Press review
that shows wide state-by-state disparities in safety checks.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2014/06/feds_arent_inspecting_4_in_10.html#incart_river
A dilemma with aging coal plants: Retire them or restore them?
Washington Post
BY STEVEN MUFSON June 13
When the coal-fired power plant at the Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah
started up, Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for his fourth term as
president. The top music hits were sung by Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey and
Dinah Shore. D-Day was still a couple of months away.
People born that year are now collecting Social Security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-dilemma-with-aging-coal-plants-retire-them-or-restore-them/2014/06/13/8914780a-f00a-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html
EPA delays compliance with renewable fuel standard
The Hill
By Tim Devaney
Petroleum companies will get a breather from latest round of renewable fuel
standard, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is once again
delaying the deadline for compliance with the 2013 standards.
http://thehill.com/regulation/209285-epa-delays-compliance-with-renewable-fuel-standard
Opinion
Plastics waste likely to last long time
Hattiesburg American
Jolene Creighton
Seven billion people create a massive amount of waste, and
sometimes, strange things happen to the things we leave behind.
Take, for example, the Great pacific Garbage Patch.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/2014/06/15/plastics-will-last-long/10562357/
Press Releases
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| Vilsack Announces Farm Bill Funding for Bioenergy Research, Converting to |
| Biomass Fuel Systems |
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|WASHINGTON, June 13, 2014 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today |
|announced up to $14.5 million in funding for two USDA bioenergy programs |
|made available through the 2014 Farm Bill. USDA's Rural Development (RD) |
|announced it is accepting applications from companies seeking to offset the |
|costs associated with converting fossil fuel systems to renewable biomass |
|fuel systems, while USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)|
|announced the availability of $2.5 million in grants to enhance national |
|energy security through the development of bio-based transportation fuels, |
|biopower, and new bio-based products. |
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|USDA today also announced a valuable aid to those in, or interested in, |
|starting a bio-energy business, the Bioeconomy Tool Shed. The Tool Shed is a|
|portal offering users access to a complement of web-based tools and |
|information, statistical data and other resources related to the sustainable|
|production and conversion of biomass into products and fuel, a process often|
|referred to as the bioeconomy. |
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|"These USDA investments are part of the Obama Administration's |
|'all-of-the-above' energy strategy, and they benefit our economy as well as |
|the environment," Vilsack said. "USDA's support for bio-based technologies |
|is good for the climate, and enhances rural economic development while it |
|decreases our dependence on foreign sources of oil." He concluded, "These |
|and other USDA efforts will create new products out of homegrown agriculture|
|from this and future generations of American farmers and foresters." |
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|USDA plans to make up to $12 million in payments for eligible biorefineries |
|through RD's Repowering Assistance Program, which was reauthorized by the |
|2014 Farm Bill. Biorefineries in existence on or before June 18, 2008 are |
|eligible for payments to replace fossil fuels used to produce heat or power |
|with renewable biomass. Since President Obama took office, USDA has provided|
|$6.9 million to help biorefineries transition from fossil fuels to renewable|
|biomass systems. Applications, deadlines and details will be published in |
|the Federal Register on Monday, June 16, 2014. |
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|USDA is also seeking applications for NIFA's Sun Grants program that |
|encourages bioenergy and biomass research collaboration between government |
|agencies, land-grant colleges and universities, and the private sector. |
|Congress authorized the Sun Grant program in the 2008 Farm Bill and |
|reauthorized the program in 2014. The program provides grants to five grant |
|centers and one subcenter, which then will make competitive grants to |
|projects that contribute to research, education and outreach for the |
|regional production and sustainability of possible biobased feedstocks. The |
|project period will not exceed five years. |
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|The newest addition to the USDA Energy Web, the Tool Shed can help those |
|interested in bio-energy business ventures by providing access to the data |
|and information necessary to evaluate potential opportunities across the |
|entire supply chain: from feedstock production, to bioenergy production, |
|bioenergy use, and linkages between feedstock production, bioenergy |
|production and use. The tool is designed to assist in evaluating the |
|feasibility and opportunities for locating a new biorefinery. It provides |
|the stakeholder access to information on demographics, land use, biomass, |
|feedstock, economics, and financial management. |
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|Today's announcements were made possible through the 2014 Farm Bill, which |
|builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years |
|while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for the|
|taxpayer. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement |
|each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster |
|relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; |
|expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing |
|innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets |
|for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and |
|community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For |
|more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill. |
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