7.15.14
State
Ocean Springs man dies from flesh eating bacteria
WLOX
OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (WLOX) -Nick Duvernay grew up in Ocean Springs. His
family said he loved the water and was an avid diver, fishermen and spear
fisher. Last Sunday, he spent the day on the water with his family.
http://www.wlox.com/story/26015890/ocean-springs-man-dies-from-flesh-eating-bacteria
Swim at your own risk: Dangerous bacteria could be in waterways
WVUE
NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) -Water lures people during summer months. But
waterways can breed deadly bacteria when the weather is warm.
http://www.wlox.com/story/26016613/swim-at-your-own-risk-dangerous-bacteria-more-prevalent-in-waterways-in-summer
Chickasaw County Consider Inmate Labor for Recycling Facility
WCBI
HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) – Chickasaw County leaders are considering a prison
recycling farm that could help inmates pay off fines and create another
incentive for new industries.
http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/video-chickasaw-county-considers-inmate-labor-for-recycling-facility
Judge: Sanctions against Pickering, Hood and state attorneys warranted
Sun Herald
BY ANITA LEE
GULFPORT -- Chancery Judge Jennifer Schloegel on Monday denied Attorney
General Jim Hood's request to set aside her May ruling that the DMR and
State Auditor's Office willfully violated the Public Records Act,
warranting sanctions against Hood, Auditor Stacey Pickering and assistant
attorneys general involved.
http://www.sunherald.com/2014/07/14/5698357/judge-sanctions-against-pickering.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1
Megasite zoning request heads to Hinds supervisors
Clarion Ledger
Hinds County's megasite could soon be legally cleared to host a
large industrial project.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/business/2014/07/14/megasite-clinton-hinds-phil-bryant/12636577/
National
Study: States can handle EPA power plant rules
The Hill
An independent analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
proposal to limit carbon dioxide pollution from power plants concluded that
states are "well positioned" to handle the federal government's
requirements under the rules.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/212165-study-states-can-handle-epa-power-plant-rules
Older Tank Cars to Be Phased Out Under Industry Proposal
Bloomberg
By Jim Snyder and Thomas Black - Jul 15, 2014
The oil industry and the railroads that haul its crude have offered U.S.
regulators a joint plan to phase out a type of older tank car tied to a
spate of fiery accidents, according to two people familiar with the
proposal.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-07-14/oil-industry-u-s-railroads-said-to-agree-on-tank-car-standard.html
Did fracking cause eight earthquakes in 30 hours in Oklahoma?
The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded eight earthquakes across central
Oklahoma in a span of about 30 hours, and some scientists are suggesting
Mother Nature isn't necessarily to blame.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/did_fracking_caused_eight_eart.html#incart_river
California Expected to Set Mandatory Water Curbs
Reservoirs' Water Levels Have Fallen to Less Than Half Their Capacities
Wall Street Journal
SAN FRANCISCO—California is poised to institute mandatory statewide water
restrictions for the first time, as the impact of a three-year drought
continues to spread across the Golden State.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/california-expected-to-set-mandatory-water-curbs-1405367707
Press Releases
Oak Ridge Becomes Southeast's First Green Power Community
Contact Information: Jason McDonald, (404) 562-9203, mcdonald.jason@epa.gov
ATLANTA – On Monday, the City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee becomes the newest
member of EPA's national Green Power Communities initiative. Oak Ridge
becomes the first city in the Southeast to take part in the national
initiative.
"We applaud the City of Oak Ridge for increasing their use of clean and
renewable energy sources," said Beverly Banister, Director of the Air,
Pesticides, and Toxics Management Division at the EPA Southeast regional
office in Atlanta. "This is a great example of a community working together
to help ensure a cleaner environment for us all.
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages
organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental
impacts associated with purchased electricity use. To be designated as a
Green Power Community a local government must purchase or produce green
power in amounts that meet EPA minimum purchase requirements set by
community electricity usage.
Green power is defined as electricity generated from renewable resources
such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydropower.
The local government must also initiate a community-wide green power
campaign to encourage local businesses and residents to buy green power.
To meet this requirement, the City of Oak Ridge Electric Department relied
on a partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and its Green Power
Switch program, which offers consumers and businesses the opportunity to
purchase 150-kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy. "The community's
enthusiasm for the program was infectious and generated more than 300 new
Green Power Switch enrollments – more than triple the original goal," said
Rob Manning, TVA Executive Vice President and Chief External Relations
Officer. "It was an honor to play a role in their efforts."
Oak Ridge will join over 30 cities and towns across the U.S. who
collectively use more than six billion kilowatt hours of green power
annually, equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) from
the electricity use of more than 636,000 average American homes. Green
power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind,
geothermal, biogas, and low-impact hydropower – environmentally-preferable
resources that produce no net increase of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
The Honorable Tom Beehan, Mayor of the City of Oak Ridge, will make the
announcement during the Oak Ridge City Council meeting at 7:00 pm. Mayor
Beehan will be joined by Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller, City of Oak Ridge, and
Rob Manning, Executive Vice President and Chief External Relations Officer
Tennessee Valley Authority.
More information on EPA's Green Power Communities:
www.epa.gov/greenpower/communities
More information on EPA's Green Power Partnership Program:
www.epa.gov/greenpower
EPA Supporting Small Businesses by Advancing Sustainable and Innovative
Products and Research
Twenty-one businesses receiving funding to strengthen the economy and the
environment
WASHINGTON: – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced that 21 small businesses in 15 states are receiving funding from
the EPA to develop and commercialize innovative, sustainable technologies
to address current environmental issues . The agency's Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) program is providing $2 million in funds to
advance these innovative products and research.
"A strong economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand. With this
funding we are providing opportunities for small companies to ultimately
take their ideas and technology from the laboratory into the market place,"
said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. "Their contributions strengthen the
economy while fostering public health and environmental protection."
Each year, EPA provides a solicitation and funding opportunity for small
businesses in a competitive two phase process. In Phase I, small businesses
can receive up to $100,000 for "proof of concept" of their technology, and
successful Phase I companies can apply to develop and commercialize their
technology with Phase II funding totaling up to $300,000. The small
businesses announced today are part of Phase I of the SBIR program.
Many of the SBIR recipient companies go on to leverage EPA's funding to
bring their designs to reality, expand business, and create products that
help protect human health and the environment. Companies that previously
won SBIR contracts include Faraday Technology Inc., which developed a
non-carcinogenic chrome plating process, and Cambrian Innovation, which
created the EcoVolt system that treats wastewater and generates energy in
the process.
Faraday Technology, currently planning to open a new alpha-scale facility
in Clayton, Ohio, is using EPA's funding to commercialize its technology as
it partners with Boeing and attempts to replace millions of pounds of
hexavalent chromium, a cancer causing chemical, that are in use in heavy
duty machinery. Cambrian Innovation's EcoVolt system is being tested and
used by several wineries and breweries including Lagunitas, enabling them
to produce methane to power and heat their operations while treating
wastewater on site.
Among the 21 companies awarded this year, three companies, SimpleWater,
LLC, Lucid Design Group, Inc., and Environmental Fuel Research, LLC,
previously received EPA's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) award. The
P3 program is an annual student design competition that affords
undergraduate and graduate student teams the opportunity to research and
design innovative, sustainable methods and products that solve complex
environmental problems. This additional SBIR funding allows these former P3
student teams to continue developing and commercializing their sustainable
technologies.
This year's recipients of EPA's Phase I SBIR contracts are:
Arizona
· Green Materials for Doubling the Life of Drinking Water Pipeline
California
· ECAR-Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation for Affordable Water
Security in America
· Software Framework for Enabling Innovation in Behavior-based Energy
Conservation in Commercial Buildings
· Environmental Sensing System Enhanced with Nested Concentrating
Electrodes (ESSENCE) for Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
· Development of a Cost Effective Nutrient Removal Onsite Household
Wastewater Treatment System for Environmentally Fragile Areas
Connecticut
· Low-Cost, Regenerable Air Filter for Efficient Gaseous Pollutants
Removal
Massachusetts
· Enhanced Decontamination of Wetted Pipe Material
· High Flux Nanofiltration Membrane for Emerging Contaminant Control
· Micro-Channel Electrochemical Production of Dimethy Carbonate
Maryland
· Low-power, Small Form-Factor Benzene Sensor for Mobile Devices Based
Exposure Monitoring
Minnesota
· Field Deployable PFCs Sensors for Contaminated Soil Screening
Missouri
· Next Generation of High Capacity Perchlorate Selective Resins for
Drinking Groundwater Treatment
Montana
· Direct Conversion of Municipal and Agricultural Wastes to Biodiesel
and Ethanol Utilizing a Unique Extremophilic Fungus
New Hampshire
· Ultracell-Advanced Cellulose Insulation
New Jersey
· Lithium-ion Batteries Based on Aqueous Electrolyte: A New Generation
of Sustainable Energy Storage Devices
New Mexico
· Inexpensive High Performance Continuous Ammonia Monitor
Ohio
· MetaMateria Technologies LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Phosphorus Removal
and Recovery from Municipal Wastewater using Nano-Enhanced Media
· Development of Zinc Coatings on Steel by Cermaclad to Replace
Galvanizing Picking Lines
Pennsylvania
· Biofuel Production from Grease Trap Waste
Virginia
· Innovative Filters Using Nanomaterial for Removal of Gaseous
Pollutants and Particles for Contaminated Air Streams
Washington
· Process Development for Sandwich Core Structure PLA Thermoformed
Objects
The solicitation for the next round of SBIR Phase I awards will open this
month.
More information about the EPA SBIR Phase I awards:
http://www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir/14awards
More information about EPA's SBIR Program: www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir
More information about the SBIR Program across the Federal Government:
www.SBIR.gov
More information about the EPA's P3 Program: www.epa.gov/ncer/p3
