Council Denies Motion to Adopt Property Near Superfund Site
Picayune Item
http://www.picayuneitem.com/2015/04/council-denies-motion-to-adopt-property-near-superfund-site/
Sports complex hearing Thursday
Vicksburg Post
The 200-acre Fisher Ferry property bought by the city in 2003 under the
Laurence Leyens administration is the most cost-effective site to build a
sports complex, according to a report from the consultants hired by the
Board of Mayor and Aldermen to look at potential sites for a multipurpose
recreation complex.
…Besides the $325,000 purchase price for the property, the city has spent
$2.7 million for preliminary plans, engineering and dirt work. The city has
spent an additional $55,343 since August 2012 to replace the concrete in
the drainage chutes on the site with riprap and grout under a Mississippi
Department of Environmental Quality mandate.
http://www.vicksburgpost.com/2015/04/08/sports-complex-hearing-tomorrow/
Jones County officials want to make Saturday trashy
WDAM
Jones County is getting trashy, but not for the reason you may think.
Officials are hosting a Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Saturday from 8
a.m. to noon.
http://www.wdam.com/story/28755334/jones-county-officials-ask-for-your-trash
Jackson's attempt to get emergency funds for water system stalled
City seeks a loan from state
WAPT
JACKSON, Miss. —Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber's attempt to get emergency funds
for the city's crumbling infrastructure is still a work in progress.
http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississippi/jackson/jacksons-attempt-to-get-emergency-funds-for-water-system-stalled/32265352
Restaurant Owner, City Officials Discuss Sewage Concerns
WTOK
Meridian, Miss. Last week, the College(Embedded image moved to file:
pic26962.jpg) Park McDonald's in Meridian was in for an unpleasant surprise
when a manhole by the restaurant began bubbling over with sewage.
Meridian's Public Works director says they believe a blockage was what
caused the buildup.
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Restaurant-Owner-City-Officials-Discuss-Sewage-Concerns-299111141.html
Christensen leaving Miss. Development Authority
Clarion Ledger
Mississippi Development Authority executive director Brent
Christensen will leave his post exactly three years after he took
it.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/business/2015/04/08/brent-christensen-mda-phil-bryant/25470077/
Former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott says time to critique Katrina response
WLOX
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina,. former U.S. Senator Trent Lott said
it's time to take a hard look at what we did right, what we did wrong, and
what we can do better next time.
http://www.wlox.com/story/28756983/former-us-senator-trent-lott-says-time-to-critique-katrina-response
Perspectives of the Mississippi Delta — photos by Rory Doyle
Delta Farm Press
Rory Doyle is a Maine native who grew up exploring that state's beautiful
woods and coastline. He is currently working as Delta State University's
photographer/news writer, and he works for a number of freelance clients in
the Mississippi Delta and beyond.
http://deltafarmpress.com/soybeans/perspectives-mississippi-delta-photos-rory-doyle#slide-4-field_images-123581
Oil Spill
Point Sur preps for research voyage to Barrier Islands
WLOX
The University of Southern Mississippi's newest research vessel is getting
ready for its first offshore trip this weekend. The Point Sur will take a
group of students around the Barrier Islands for sampling and side scan
sonar studies.
http://www.wlox.com/story/28752727/point-sur-preps-for-research-voyage-to-barrier-islands
Oil spill fund could help shape coastal health
Groups pressing to spend millions to address issues with state's bays
Houston Chronicle
They are fairly small patches, greenish smears carpeting the bottom in
shallows along the south shoreline of West Galveston Bay. A dozen acres
here. Fifty acres there. Most people other than duck hunters, anglers and
other keen observers of marine life don't even notice them. But these
stands of bottom-hugging aquatic vegetation - shoalgrass, mostly - hold
outsized significance.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Oil-spill-fund-could-help-shape-coastal-health-6188094.php
$54.5M in RESTORE projects vie for $4.3M
Pensacola News Journal
More than a few ideas will have to be cut during the first round of
RESTORE Act money available to Santa Rosa County, with about $54.5
million in requests vying for just $4.3 million in funding.
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/santa-rosa/2015/04/08/restore-project-santa-rosa-compete-million-funds/25486353/
Regional
Environmental group says appeals court ruling on EPA 'dead zone' strategy
not all bad news
Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
April 08, 2015 at 3:35 PM
The Natural Resources Defense Council says a Tuesday appeals court ruling
reversing a lower court judge's order for the Environmental Protection
Agency to consider new rules limiting nutrient pollution in the Mississippi
River that causes the annual spring low-oxygen "dead zone" along
Louisiana's coast was not all bad news.
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/04/environmental_group_says_appea.html#incart_river
National
EPA failed to upgrade rules limiting toxic air pollutants, environmental
lawsuit argues
Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
April 08, 2015 at 8:38 PM
Environmental groups filed suit Wednesday (April 3) against the
Environmental Protection Agency to force it to consider updating rules
limiting toxic air pollutants involving 21 separate industrial processes.
Earthjustice, a national environmental law organization, is representing
the New Orleans-based Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Baton Rouge-based Louisiana
Environmental Action Network and seven other environmental groups from
across the nation in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington,
D.C.
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/04/epa_failed_to_upgrade_rules_li.html#incart_river
Sierra Club targets half of US coal-fired plants
The Hill
The Sierra Club set a new, ambitious goal Wednesday to close half of the
country's coal-fired power plants by 2017.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/238191-sierra-club-targets-half-of-us-coal-plants
EPA seeks to ban fracking wastewater from going to public treatment plants
April 9, 2015 12:00 AM
By Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to ban publicly owned
wastewater treatment facilities from taking untreated waste fluids from the
unconventional oil and gas industry in a move that would guarantee the end
of a disposal practice that the industry and states have already abandoned.
http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2015/04/09/EPA-seeks-to-ban-fracking-wastewater-from-going-to-public-treatment-plants/stories/201504090063
Press Releases
USDA To Help Waterways In Mississippi River Basin
Jackson, Miss. – Targeted conservation work in the Mississippi River basin
will unite the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), farmers and
local organizations to help clean waterways that flow into the nation's
largest river. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is
investing $10 million this year in 27 new high-priority watersheds and 13
existing projects that will help improve water quality and strengthen
agricultural operations. This investment is part of a commitment of $100
million over four years to address critical water quality concerns in
priority watersheds while boosting rural economies.
NRCS worked with state agencies, farmers and other partners to identify
high-priority watersheds that align with established state priorities and
have strong partnerships in place. Conservation systems implemented in
these areas will reduce the amount of nutrients flowing from agricultural
land into waterways, curb erosion and improve the resiliency of working
lands in the face of droughts and floods. This investment builds on $18.5
million already allocated to projects in the basin in fiscal year 2015.
These projects are funded through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy
Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). This includes funding from the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program, to
help farmers adopt conservation systems to improve water quality and other
related resource concerns.
In Mississippi, NRCS is working with the Delta Farmers Advocating Resource
Management (F.A.R.M), Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission
and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to improve the
Tommy Bayou /Brook Bayou watersheds in Bolivar County, Christmas Lake
Bayou/Stillwater Bayou watersheds in Bolivar and Washington Counties and
Long Lake watershed in Sunflower and Bolivar Counties.
Mississippi's NRCS is currently taking applications within the new MRBI
watersheds. This is a continuous signup however only applications received
by May 15, 2015, will be considered for funding this fiscal year in the new
watersheds listed above. You can locate a NRCS office near you by visiting
http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?agency=nrcs.
Mississippi State Conservationist Kurt Readus stated, "Farmers are
conservation-minded individuals and NRCS and our partners are proud to be
able to offer financial and technical assistance in helping them improve
the water going into the tributaries of the Mississippi River."
Conservation systems include practices that promote soil health, reduce
erosion and lessen nutrient runoff. This includes systems such as cover
crops, reduced tillage and nutrient management and irrigation systems that
capture and recycle nutrients back to the field.
Findings from a 2014 report by the USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment
Project (CEAP) show that conservation work on cropland in the Mississippi
River basin has reduced the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus flowing to
the Gulf of Mexico by 18 and 20 percent, respectively. CEAP models have
also shown that the targeted approach of MRBI has enhanced the per-acre
conservation benefit by 70 percent for sediment losses, 30 percent by
nitrogen losses and 40 percent for phosphorus losses, when compared to
general program activities.
