State
Beware of swimming in 3 sections of the Mississippi Sound
WLOX
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) -For just a few days there were no water contact
advisories for the Mississippi Sound. But, that changed on Thursday when
the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued three water
contact advisories.
http://www.wdam.com/story/31961805/beware-of-swimming-in-three-sections-of-the-mississippi-sound
Mississippi anglers get early start on red snapper
Clarion Ledger
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources announced on
Wednesday the dates for red snapper season in state waters and this
year, anglers will get an early start.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/2016/05/12/ms-anglers-early-start-red-snapper/84271598/
Fitch Cuts Southern Company's Debt Ratings
AP
A bond rating agency is downgrading Southern Co.'s debt, citing money the
electrical utility will borrow to finance its purchase of natural gas
utility AGL Resources.
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Fitch-Cuts-Southern-Companys-Debt-Ratings-379268791.html
Oil Spill
BP millions 'leveraged' for maximum impact
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -Leaders helping coordinate more than a decade's worth of
BP restoration projects, worth hundreds of millions say the work is just
beginning.
http://www.wdam.com/story/31961752/bp-millions-leveraged-for-maximum-impact
CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON COASTAL ISSUES
MPB
This year's State of Our Coast conference gathered hundreds of people in
Biloxi to talk about an array of coastal issues. MPB Gulf Coast reporter
Evelina Burnett was there and says topics ranged from seafood to
environmental to economic issues.
http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2016/05/12/conference-focuses-on-coastal-issues/
Regional
Sewer line repair expected to cost Memphis $5.6 million
Commercial Appeal
Fixing a sewer-line rupture that dumped at least 350 million gallons of raw
sewage into McKellar Lake this spring likely will cost Memphis $5.6
million, city officials said Thursday.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/city/sewer-line-repair-expected-to-cost-memphis-56-million-32a7279d-5f55-72fa-e053-0100007faf68-379249771.html
Shell Moves to Contain Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
The likely cause of the sheen is a release of oil from subsea
infrastructure, according to the company
WSJ
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it has sent boats to clean up and contain
an oil spill that leaked an estimated 2,100 barrels of crude into the Gulf
of Mexico Thursday.
Shell said it is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard and National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work out a cleanup plan after
isolating the leak and shutting off production from nearby wells. The
company said its efforts so far include sending four response vessels as
well as aircraft.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/shell-moves-to-contain-oil-spill-in-gulf-of-mexico-1463141669
National
EPA Issues Final Rules Cutting Oil, Natural Gas Methane Emissions
Regulations, part of Obama's climate-change agenda, to impose standards for
new oil, natural gas wells
WSJ
WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued the
first-ever federal standards aimed at curbing methane emissions from the
oil and natural gas industry, the latest in a series of regulations the
Obama administration is pursuing in an effort to clamp down on greenhouse
gas emissions from fossil fuels.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/epa-issues-final-rules-cutting-oil-natural-gas-methane-emissions-1463067378
Obama administration announces historic new regulations for methane
emissions from oil and gas
Washington Post
The Obama administration on Thursday announced a set of much-anticipated —
and first ever — steps to regulate oil and gas industry emissions of
methane, a powerful greenhouse gas second only to carbon dioxide in its
role in the climate debate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/12/obama-administration-announces-historic-new-regulations-for-methane-emissions-from-oil-and-gas/
House panel votes to delay new ozone rules
The Hill
A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel voted Thursday to delay the
Obama administration's new ozone pollution standards and make future
regulations more friendly to industry.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/279683-house-panel-votes-to-delay-ozone-pollution-rules
U.S. lawmakers put pressure on EPA over handling of glyphosate review
Reuters
U.S. lawmakers have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
explain why it published - and then withdrew - documents related to its
review of glyphosate, the chemical in Monsanto Co's Roundup herbicide,
according to a letter seen by Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-glyphosate-epa-idUSKCN0Y32WV
New regs for Friday: Pipelines, swap dealers, emergency alerts
The Hill
Gas: The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is
delaying new pipeline safety regulations.
The PHMSA proposed new rules for gas transmission and gathering pipelines
in April, but is not extending the comment period to give the public more
time to consider the changes.
The public has until July 7 to comment.
http://thehill.com/regulation/279662-new-regs-for-friday-pipelines-swap-dealers-emergency-alerts
Press Releases
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry Results,|
| Additional $72.3 Million Soil Health Investment to Support Paris Agreement |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
|WASHINGTON, May 12, 2016 – Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack shared the first |
|results of USDA's Building Blocks for Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry, one year |
|after he unveiled the plan at Michigan State University. In addition to providing |
|specific goals and results of the many actions that USDA is taking to help farmers, |
|ranchers, and forestland owners respond to and help mitigate climate change, Vilsack |
|announced a new $72.3 million investment to boost carbon storage in healthy soils |
|during a speech on climate at the Center for America Progress in Washington, DC. |
| |
| |
|"American farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners are global leaders in conserving |
|rural America's natural resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Vilsack.|
|"With today's announcements, USDA is providing the necessary tools and resources called|
|for under the President's Climate Action Plan so producers and landowners can |
|successfully create economic opportunity and provide the food, fiber and energy needs |
|of a growing global population." |
| |
| |
|On April 23, 2015, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced USDA's 10 Building Blocks |
|for Climate Smart Agriculture, a comprehensive set of voluntary programs and |
|initiatives that is expected to reduce net emissions and enhance carbon sequestration |
|by over 120 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2025 - about two percent of |
|economy-wide emissions. The ten "building blocks" span a range of technologies and |
|practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon storage, and generate |
|clean renewable energy. USDA also supports global food security through in-country |
|capacity building, basic and applied research, and support for improved market |
|information, statistics and analysis. |
| |
| |
|Today's "USDA Building Blocks for Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry Implementation|
|Plan and Progress Report" catalogues the progress made over the past year and provides |
|new details on the Department's framework for helping farmers, ranchers, and forestland|
|owners respond to climate change. |
| |
| |
|Since 2009, USDA programs and partnerships have supported climate mitigation and |
|adaptation efforts. These efforts led to the 2015 Building Blocks announcement that, |
|for the first time, set aggressive, annual benchmarks in a strategic plan that |
|leverages partnerships, data, and technology. The effort relies on voluntary, |
|incentive-based conservation, forestry, and energy programs to reduce greenhouse gas |
|emissions, increase carbon sequestration, and expand renewable energy production in the|
|agricultural and forestry sectors. Through this initiative, USDA is committing to |
|reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon stored in forests and soils by |
|over 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2025. That amount|
|is the equivalent of taking 25 million cars off the road, or offsetting the emissions |
|produced by powering nearly 11 million homes. |
| |
| |
|Vilsack also announced a new investment, a targeted allocation of $72.3 million for |
|conservation practices that advance the building block goals in areas such as soil |
|health and nutrient stewardship through the Natural Resources Conservation Service's |
|(NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The Building Blocks plan |
|estimates that the agriculture and forestry sectors can reduce up to 18 million metric |
|tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 by promoting healthier soils nationwide. In |
|fiscal year 2016, NRCS will invest approximately $300 million through EQIP for |
|practices that have climate change benefits, such as nutrient management, on-farm |
|energy improvements and forestry management plans. This funding is in addition to the |
|more than $1.4 billion in EQIP funding that NRCS has invested since 2009 in climate |
|beneficial conservation practices, working with landowners to meet their multiple |
|objectives for improved operations and environmental outcomes. |
| |
| |
|Also today, NRCS is finalizing updates to make EQIP more responsive and flexible to the|
|unique needs of farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in different parts of the |
|country. The final rule responds to public input and makes permanent the changes tested|
|under an interim final rule over the course of 2015. Forest landowners now have |
|increased flexibility regarding implementation of their forest management plans and |
|provisions related to how land transfers affect program participation are clarified. |
| |
| |
|Selected USDA actions since April 2015 include: |
| |
| |
|- USDA has increased its emphasis on soil health to increase the organic matter in soil|
|and improve microbial activity, which in turn sequester more carbon, help plant crops |
|better cope with excess or too little water, improve wildlife and pollinator |
|habitat—all while harvesting better profits and often better yield. As part of its soil|
|health focus, USDA established a Soil Health Division at NRCS in 2015, and continues to|
|provide financial and technical assistance to farmers to implement a focused set of |
|conservation practices including, but not limited to, tillage management, cover crops, |
|and grassed waterways. |
| |
| |
|- Through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), NRCS will invest |
|approximately $300 million in practices in Fiscal Year 2016 that have climate change |
|benefits, including today's announced $72.3 million specifically for practices that |
|advance the building block goals. This funding is in addition to the more than $1.4 |
|billion that NRCS has invested since 2009 in funding for EQIP practices that have |
|climate-related benefits. |
| |
| |
|- In October 2015, USDA announced that the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) is |
|awarding $12.5 million in grants and loans to support the installation of 17 anaerobic |
|digesters and biogas systems in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, |
|North Carolina, Ohio and Washington. In total, USDA announced $102 million in loan |
|guarantees and $71 million in grants for more than 1,100 renewable energy and energy |
|efficiency projects to help rural small businesses and agricultural producers reduce |
|energy usage and costs in their operations nationwide. These projects are expected to |
|generate enough energy to power more than 83,000 homes for a year and reduce emissions |
|by 455,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of eliminating a year's worth |
|of pollution for more than 131,500 cars. |
| |
| |
|- In September 2015, USDA, in partnership with the Softwood Lumber Board and the |
|Binational Softwood Lumber Council, announced the winners of the U.S. Tall Wood |
|Building Prize Competition. The two winning development teams were granted a combined |
|$3 million in funding to support the development of tall wood demonstration projects in|
|New York and Portland, Oregon. By using wood as a substitute for more energy- and |
|greenhouse gas-intensive building materials, these projects both store carbon and |
|offset emissions from more conventional building materials. |
| |
| |
|- As of January 2016, USDA has 23.6 million acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve |
|Program, which provides financial incentives to farmers and ranchers to remove |
|environmentally sensitive agricultural land from production. Since 1985, CRP has |
|sequestered an annual average of 49 million tons of greenhouse gases, equal to taking 9|
|million cars off the road; prevented 9 billion tons of soil from erosion, enough to |
|fill 600 million dump trucks; and reduced nitrogen and phosphorous runoff by 95 and 85 |
|percent, respectively. |
| |
| |
|This month, USDA is examining what a changing climate means to agriculture and how USDA|
|is working to reduce greenhouse gases. For more information, visit the latest chapter |
|of USDA's Medium page, How Food and Forestry Are Adapting to a Changing Climate. |
| |
| |
|America's farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have a track record of extraordinary |
|productivity gains and natural resource stewardship. Today, producers are working |
|alongside USDA and other partners to make their operations and communities more |
|resistant to a changing climate. As leaders in sustainable land management and |
|efficient production systems, U.S. producers and landowners are setting an example for |
|the rest of the world in successful implementing climate change solutions. |
| |
| |
|# |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
EPA Awards 18 Grants for Environmental Workforce Development and Job
Training
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced the selection of 18 grantees for approximately $3.5 million in
Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) grants. Each
grantee will receive funds to operate environmental job training programs
that advance environmental justice by providing opportunities for residents
living in areas impacted by contaminated lands. Trainees gain experience
for jobs related to cleanup activities in their own communities.
"EWDJT grants transform lives by providing individuals the opportunity to
gain meaningful long-term employment and a livable wage in the growing
environmental field," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of
EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management. "Individuals completing
training have often overcome a variety of barriers to employment."
Assistant Administrator Stanislaus announced the selection of the grant
recipients at the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response
training session for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC), one of the
organizations chosen to receive funding this fiscal year. As of today, the
LACC has graduated more than 460 students from its EWDJT program and has
placed more than 80 percent of graduates in jobs in the environmental
field.
The training programs serve unemployed persons, dislocated workers who have
lost their jobs as a result of manufacturing plant closures, minorities,
tribal residents, veterans, former gang members, ex-offenders, and other
individuals who may face barriers to employment.
The programs benefit local residents impacted by brownfield sites in their
communities by helping to provide opportunities to secure work and build
careers cleaning up these sites. Grantees work in areas historically
affected by unemployment, blight, economic disinvestment, and solid and
hazardous waste sites. The EWDJT program provides communities the
flexibility to deliver training that meets specific labor market demands in
in fields such as: brownfields assessment and cleanup, waste treatment and
stormwater management, emergency response, electronics recycling, solar
installation and green remediation.
EWDJT grants are awarded to a broad range of communities with multiple
indicators of need, including communities affected by natural disasters or
the closure of manufacturing facilities, Economic Development
Administration "Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership"
designated communities (http://www.eda.gov/challenges/imcp), and Housing
and Urban Development/Department of Transportation/EPA "Partnership for
Sustainable Communities" designated communities (
http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov). Past graduates of the EWDJT program
have worked on response and cleanup activities associated with the 2010 BP
oil spill along the Gulf Coast, the World Trade Center, and Hurricanes
Katrina, Rita, and Sandy.
Graduates develop a broad set of skills that improves their ability to
secure meaningful full-time employment. Since the inception of the EWDJT
grant program in 1998, more than 256 grants have been awarded exceeding $54
million. Approximately 14,700 individuals have completed training, and of
those, more than 10,600 individuals have been placed in full-time
employment with an average starting hourly wage of $14.34. This equates to
a cumulative job placement rate of nearly 72 percent of graduates.
Today's grantees include:
• Civic Works, Inc., Baltimore, Md.
• City of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
• Limitless Vistas, Inc., New Orleans, La.
• Energy Coordinating Agency, Philadelphia, Pa.
• Cypress Mandela Training Center, Inc., Oakland, Calif.
• Nye County, Tonopah, Nev.
• Redevelopment Authority of Cumberland County, Carlisle, Pa.
• Auberle, McKeesport, Pa.
• Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, Waterbury, Conn.
• City of Tacoma, Tacoma, Wash.
• City of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, Calif.
• Hunters Point Family, San Francisco, Calif.
• Los Angeles Conservation Corps, Los Angeles, Calif.
• City of Glens Falls, Glens Falls, N.Y.
• City of Springfield, Springfield, Mo.
• Lawson State Community College, Birmingham, Ala.
• Alaska Forum, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska
• Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Kingston, Wash.
For more information on EWDJT grantees, including past EWDJT grantees,
please visit:
https://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/
For more information on EPA's EWDJT program, please visit:
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding
To learn more about the EWDJT program, visit Assistant Administrator Mathy
Stanislaus' blog at:
https://blog.epa.gov/blog/2016/05/developing-green-job-opportunities-in-brownfields-impacted-communities/
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| USDA Releases Results of New Survey on Honey Bee Colony Health |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Survey Developed as Part of National Pollinator Action Research Plan Gives New Insight |
| into Losses of Managed Bee Colonies |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
|WASHINGTON, May 12, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture |
|Statistics Service (NASS) released the results of its first ever Honey Bee Colony Loss |
|survey today. The survey queried more than 20,000 honey beekeepers about the number of |
|colonies, colonies lost, colonies added, and colonies affected by certain stressors and|
|gleans state-level estimates on key honey bee health topics. The survey was developed |
|as part of the "National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other |
|Pollinators" released last summer, and gleans state-level estimates on key pollinator |
|health topics. |
| |
| |
|Results from the survey will provide statistically strong baseline information about |
|honey bee losses and can help guide honey bee management decisions in the United |
|States. NASS created the survey questions with input from beekeepers and researchers, |
|and other stakeholders. The results will allow USDA and other federal departments and |
|agencies to create a more unified and complementary approach to implementing the |
|National Strategy, which was unveiled in May 2015. |
| |
| |
|"Pollinators are essential to the production of food, and in the United States, honey |
|bees pollinate an estimated $15 billion of crops each year, ranging from almonds to |
|zucchinis," said Dr. Ann Bartuska, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education |
|and Economics. "This new data will add to USDA's robust scientific body of knowledge on|
|the inventory, movement and death loss of honeybees in the United States." |
| |
| |
|For this report, NASS surveyed 3,300 beekeeping operations with five or more colonies |
|on a quarterly basis, following their operations throughout the year. In addition, NASS|
|surveyed a sample of 20,000 beekeepers who have less than five colonies annually. Data |
|collected covers the state in which colonies are located, movement of colonies between |
|states, newly added or replaced colonies, number of colonies lost, colonies renovated, |
|and presence of colony stressors and specific signs of illness. The responses allow |
|USDA for the first time to differentiate patterns between small-scale and commercial |
|beekeepers, analyze data on a state-by-state basis, and compare more specific quarterly|
|losses, additions and renovations for larger scale beekeepers. |
| |
| |
|According to the survey released today, there were 2.59 million or 8% fewer honey bee |
|colonies on January 1, 2016 than the 2.82 million present a year earlier on January 1, |
|2015 for operations with five or more colonies. New quarterly colony data allow new |
|levels of analysis. For example, there was an 18% loss of colonies in the January-March|
|quarter in 2015 and a 17% loss in the same quarter in 2016. Honey beekeepers with five |
|or more colonies reported Varroa mites as the leading stressor affecting colonies. They|
|also reported more colonies with symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder lost in the first|
|quarter of 2016 with 113,930 than the 92,250 lost in the same quarter in 2015. |
| |
| |
|This research complements other information USDA and partners have been collecting for |
|years. For example, in March NASS released its annual report on honey production and |
|prices for 2015. This report, which is used by USDA, producers, economists, |
|agribusiness and others, found that U.S. honey production in 2015 from producers with |
|five or more colonies totaled 157 million pounds, down 12 percent from 2014. There were|
|2.66 million colonies from which honey was harvested in 2015, down 3 percent from 2014.|
|Honey prices were 209.0 cents per pound, down 4 percent from a record high of 217.3 |
|cents per pound in 2014. |
| |
| |
|In addition, for the past 10 years USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture |
|has helped fund collaboration between the Bee Informed Partnership and the Apiary |
|Inspectors of America to produce an annual survey that asks both commercial and |
|small-scale beekeepers to track the health and survival rates of their honey bee |
|colonies. This year's survey results, which were released May 10, were gleaned from the|
|responses of 5,700 beekeepers from 48 states who are responsible for about 15 percent |
|of the nation's managed honey bee colonies. |
| |
| |
|The data being released by NASS today adds to these two efforts by providing a baseline|
|federal statistical resource to track change of reported numbers and death loss in |
|colonies managed by small hobbyists up to the largest commercial producers. |
| |
| |
|The National Strategy, developed under the leadership of the U.S. Environmental |
|Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA) set three overarching goals: 1) reduce honey bee |
|colony losses to economically sustainable levels; 2) increase monarch butterfly numbers|
|to protect the annual migration; and 3) restore or enhance millions of acres of land |
|for pollinators through combined public and private action. The plan was accompanied by|
|a science-based Pollinator Research Action Plan. In addition to the surveys mentioned |
|above, a number of research activities within USDA's Research, Education and Economics |
|mission area have been initiated since the action plan was released; for example: |
| |
| |
|- NIFA is currently seeking applications for a total of $16.8 million in grant funding |
|for research projects with an emphasis on pollinator health; |
| |
| |
|- The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is organizing a national bee genebank as part|
|of the agency's response to ongoing problems facing the country's beekeepers. The |
|genebank, which will be located in Fort Collins, Colorado, will help preserve the |
|genetic diversity of honey bees, especially for traits such as resistance to pests or |
|diseases and pollination efficiency; |
| |
