State
Newton County Amnesty Day approaches
Meridian Star
By Cheryl Owens
September 10, 2015 4:05 am
Newton County homeowners who want to get rid of used paint, old
batteries and tires and other clutter will be able to during the annual
Hazardous Household Materials Amnesty Day.
http://www.meridianstar.com/news/local_news/newton-county-amnesty-day-approaches/article_f041afba-5770-11e5-b06e-cf2abfd92ade.html
Drought affecting the reservoir levels
WAPT
The bone dry conditions are taking a toll on the reservoir levels, which is
the main supply of drinking water to the Jackson area.
http://www.wapt.com/weather/drought-affecting-the-reservoir-levels/35180728
Regional
Southern Co. goes shopping again, buys another wind facility
Sun Herald
As Mississippi Power customers worry about how high their rates will go to
pay for the Kemper County lignite plant, its parent, Southern Co. and
subsidiary Southern Power announced Wednesday the purchase of a second wind
project in Oklahoma.
http://www.sunherald.com/2015/09/09/6405155/southern-co-goes-shopping-again.html
National
Federal Court Denies States' Request to Temporarily Block EPA Carbon Rules
Rules call for power-plant carbon emissions to be cut 32% by 2030 from 2005
level
WSJ
WASHINGTON—A federal court denied a request by more than a dozen states on
Wednesday to temporarily block the Obama administration's carbon
regulations while they mount a full legal challenge to the rules.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-court-denies-states-request-to-temporarily-block-epa-carbon-rules-1441836470
Massive biz blitz aims to torpedo ozone rule
The Hill
Major business groups are in the midst of a coordinated,
multimillion-dollar effort aimed at sowing opposition to the Obama
administration's smog pollution regulations.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/253170-massive-biz-blitz-aims-to-torpedo-ozone-rule
Obama's smog plan splits black leaders
Politico
President Barack Obama's aggressive environmental agenda is running into a
surprising source of opposition: Black elected leaders.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/epa-smog-rule-battle-lines-drawn-in-poor-communities-213481
Poll: 'Overwhelming' support for EPA smog rule
The Hill
Nearly three-quarters of United States voters want the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to put further limits on the ozone pollution that
causes smog, a new poll found.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/253064-poll-overwhelming-support-for-epa-smog-rule
House Chairman: EPA Actions in Mine Spill 'Inexcusable'
AP
The chairman of the House Science Committee said Wednesday the
Environmental Protection Agency's actions in causing a toxic mine spill
that fouled rivers in three Western states were "inexcusable."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-chairman-epa-actions-mine-spill-inexcusable-33628789
AP Exclusive: Drilling Boom Means More Harmful Waste Spills
AP
Carl Johnson and son Justin are third- and fourth-generation ranchers who
for decades have battled oilfield companies that left a patchwork of barren
earth where the men graze cattle in the high plains of New Mexico. Blunt
and profane, they stroll across a 1 1/2-acre patch of sandy soil —
lifeless, save for a scattering of stunted weeds.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/drilling-boom-brings-rising-number-harmful-waste-spills-33595086?singlePage=true
Opinion
Salvaging a Lesson From the Animas River Spill
The EPA employees at fault won't face criminal charges. Neither should
companies that make similar mistakes.
WSJ
By BILL WEHRUM
Sept. 9, 2015 7:33 p.m. ET
The Animas River disaster in Colorado is looking worse and worse for the
Environmental Protection Agency. On Wednesday, EPA officials faced grilling
from a congressionalcommittee for the agency's Aug. 5 spill of three
million gallons of toxic wastewater into a tributary of the Animas during
the cleanup of an abandoned mine near Silverton, Colo.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/salvaging-a-lesson-from-the-animas-river-spill-1441841582
Press Releases
Recovery plan available for endangered frog
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing the availability of
the final recovery plan for the dusky gopher frog, federally listed
as endangered.
The dusky gopher frog, a stocky frog with a loud, guttural call, is
heard less often now in the longleaf pine forests of Mississippi.
Once also found in Louisiana and Alabama, now it is only found in
four locations in Harrison and Jackson counties in southern
Mississippi.
"The dusky gopher frog is considered to be one of the 100 most
endangered species in the world and this final recovery plan
provides direction the Service and its partners can take to recover
this rare species," said Cindy Dohner, the Service's Southeast
Regional Director. "We are working closely with the states of
Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, U.S. Forest Service, The Nature
Conservancy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, private landowners,
universities and conservation institutes like the Memphis Zoo, on
several recovery efforts to benefit this frog."
The final recovery plan lays out a strategy to help recover this
endangered frog by ensuring sustainable and healthy populations and
reducing threats to the species. It describes actions necessary for
the frog's recovery, establishes criteria for downlisting it to
threatened status, and estimates the time and cost for implementing
the needed recovery actions.
Specific recovery actions in the recovery plan include developing a
strategy to manage and enhance existing dusky gopher frog
populations and their habitat; identifying and securing additional
populations and habitat; and establishing new populations through
translocations or reintroductions. Conducting research to guide land
management and to provide further information on dusky gopher frog
life history and ecology is also a task outlined in the plan.
One example of an ongoing dusky gopher frog recovery effort
specified in the recovery plan is a frog rearing project at the
Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. In March and
April of this year, 1,596 tadpoles were stocked in the refuge's 50
rearing tanks. To date,1,226 juvenile frogs have been released into
Sawdust Pond. The goal of the project is to have a self-sustaining,
breeding population of dusky gopher frogs. Partnering with the
Service in this project are Western Carolina University, the U.S.
Forest Service, De Soto National Forest, U.S. Forest Service's
Southern Research Station Harrison Experimental Forest, Mississippi
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and The Nature
Conservancy.
In the recovery plan, the Service outlines a path to downlist the
dusky gopher frog to threatened status by reducing the threats to
the species and preventing its extinction. Downlisting to threatened
will be considered when there are six genetically viable
populations, each with at least two breeding ponds no more than a
mile apart and not separated by any major barriers, such as highways
or developed areas, which would disrupt movement of frogs between
ponds. Also,
Ten years of monitoring must demonstrate that these populations are
stable; at least two successful breeding events must be documented
over a three-year period. In addition, the frog's breeding and
upland habitat areas must occur in sufficient quantity and quality
to support growing populations and be protected long-term through
management agreements, public ownership or other means.
As presented in the recovery plan, the six genetically viable
populations across its historic range could include one population
in Louisiana within portions of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and
Washington Parishes; two populations in south-central Mississippi
within Forrest County and portions of George, Greene, Jones, Lamar,
Marion, Pearl River, Perry, Stone, and Wayne Counties; two
populations in south Mississippi within Hancock and Harrison
Counties and portions of Jackson, George, Pearl River, and Stone
Counties; and one population either in eastern Mississippi within
portions of George, Greene, Jackson, Perry, and Wayne Counties or in
Alabama within Mobile and Washington Counties and a portion of
Choctaw County.
The dusky gopher frog's disappearance from much of its historical
range was primarily due to habitat destruction and alteration of the
frog's longleaf pine upland and breeding habitats. Continuing
threats to the species' habitat include fire suppression and habitat
modification due to land uses, such as urbanization, forestry and
agriculture. Additionally, small population sizes and vulnerability
to catastrophic events, such as droughts, threaten the frog.
To view the recovery plan on the web, please visit
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/recovery-plans.html. Request a
paper copy of the plan by contacting the Service's Mississippi
Ecological Services Field Office at (601) 321-1126.
EPA Awards Green Infrastructure Grant of $20,000 to Mississippi State
University
Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, 404-562-8293 (direct), 404-562-8400
(main), marraccini.davina@epa.gov
ATLANTA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $20,000
grant to Mississippi State University to carry out a green infrastructure
demonstration and training project.
The university will create a 1,500-square-foot rain garden on its campus.
According to the project narrative, students will be involved "at every
aspect of the design, construction, maintenance and monitoring of the
project." Students in art, landscape architecture, landscape contracting,
and civil and environmental engineering will participate.
After project completion, students will maintain the rain garden and use it
to conduct water quality tests. They will also install informational kiosks
to educate others about green infrastructure.
"The breadth of experience students are going to get from this project is
remarkable," said Ken Kopocis, EPA's deputy assistant administrator for
water. "They will be prepared to contribute to green infrastructure on a
number of fronts in their careers."
Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils and natural processes to manage
wet weather runoff, treating stormwater as a resource rather than a waste.
It can enhance resiliency for communities and landscapes faced with water
pollution and climate change impacts by increasing water supplies, reducing
flooding, combatting urban heat island effect, and improving water quality.
The award encourages sustainable stormwater management by educating the
next generation of scientists, designers and engineers about green
infrastructure. By supporting demonstrations and training, colleges and
universities can advance the implementation of green infrastructure to
protect water quality.
This award builds on the success of EPA's Campus RainWorks Challenge, in
which faculty and student teams design green infrastructure projects for
their campuses. Mississippi State won a $1,000 second-place prize in 2013.
EPA also awarded a $20,000 grant to Kansas State University to use its
International Student Center rain garden and the meadow at the Marianna
Kistler Beach Museum of Art as "living laboratories" for green
infrastructure monitoring.
