State
MDEQ: More parts of the Mississippi Sound not safe for swimming
WLOX
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) -There are now eight water contact advisories for
parts of the Mississippi Sound. Tuesday the Mississippi Department of
Environmental Quality issued water contact advisories for Long Beach Beach
from Oak Gardens Avenue eastward to Girard Avenue and Biloxi West Central
Beach from Travia Street to Iberville Drive.
http://www.wdam.com/story/31881919/mdeq-more-parts-of-the-mississippi-sound-not-safe-for-swimming
Meridian's Household Hazardous Waste Day Set for Saturday
WTOK
Meridian, Miss. Meridian residents will have the opportunity this weekend
to dispose of items they can't just throw away in the trash.
http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Meridians-Household-Hazardous-Waste-Day-Set-for-Saturday-377961591.html
Boaters prepare to offer Deer Island ferry service
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -A plan to boost tourism by increasing public access to
Deer Island is moving forward. On Tuesday, the DMR hosted a workshop for
boat captains interested in ferrying visitors to and from the near shore
island. A brand new public pier on Deer Island is ready. The next step:
Finding boat owners interested in transporting visitors.
http://www.wlox.com/story/31882206/boaters-prepare-to-offer-deer-island-ferry-service
Budget cuts slow handling of Mississippi income tax returns
AP
JACKSON, MISS.
A second round of midyear budget cuts took place just as the Mississippi
Department of Revenue was swamped with thousands of individual income tax
filings.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/business/article75371247.html
Oil Spill
How the government got BP to pay the biggest environmental penalty in
history
BY DEL QUENTIN WILBERTribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The first order of business when John Cruden took over as the
Justice Department's top environmental lawyer was holding BP financially
accountable for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill that fouled the Gulf of
Mexico with millions of barrels of oil.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/article75360182.html
BP oil spill settlement bill dead in Senate committee
WALA
MONTGOMERY, AL (WALA) -A bill that would have sent part of the oil spill
settlement money to the coast and would have provided money for Medicaid
appears to be dead in a Senate committee.
http://www.fox10tv.com/story/31883753/bp-oil-spill-settlement-bill-dead-in-senate-committee
National
Nearly every state suing over Obama's climate plans is burning less coal
anyway
Washington Post
More than two dozen states have sued over the Obama administration's
signature climate rule, the Clean Power Plan, which seeks to cut back the
nation's greenhouse gas emissions in coming years by shifting away from
carbon-intense power sources, such as coal, in favor of cleaner forms of
electricity generation.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/05/nearly_every_state_suing_over.html#incart_river_index
Lobbying Continues Unabated on EPA's Clean Power Plan
Bloomberg
Near-impossible odds of legislative success and upcoming oral arguments in
federal appeals court haven't deterred entities from continuing aggressive
lobbying of Congress on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power
Plan.
http://www.bna.com/lobbying-continues-unabated-n57982070620/
Watchdog dings EPA on facility inspection data
The Hill
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not kept accurate, consist
records of air pollution inspection data for facilities, its internal
watchdog said.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/278585-watchdog-dings-epa-on-facility-inspection-data
Feds ask judge to end coal lawsuit against EPA
The Hill
The government is asking a federal judge to end a lawsuit against the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before it goes to trial this summer.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/278518-feds-ask-judge-to-end-coal-lawsuit-against-epa
Toxic blob from 1970s may be nearing Cleveland water plant on Lake Erie
AP
CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio environmental regulators say sludge material dredged
from the Cuyahoga River and dumped into Lake Erie in the 1970s might be
moving toward a Cleveland water treatment plant.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/05/03/0503-toxic-blob-nearing-cleveland-water-plant.html
Press releases
EPA Celebrates Programs, Tools to Prevent Asthma Attacks
(WASHINGTON) – May is Asthma Awareness Month, when the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) spotlights ways people can take simple steps to
help prevent asthma attacks. EPA also honors local asthma management
programs for their leadership in improving the lives of people living with
asthma, especially those in underserved communities.
"Asthma is fundamentally connected to the health of our environment –
whether it's the air outside, or in our homes," said Administrator Gina
McCarthy. "By working together across the environmental, housing, social,
and medical sectors, we can do even more to raise awareness about this
critical public health issue and protect those who are most vulnerable,
including the more than 6 million children in the U.S. with asthma."
On May 12, EPA will honor the winners of the agency's National
Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management. Each winner is an
outstanding national model for comprehensive asthma care. These four
winners are: AmeriHealth Caritas of Philadelphia; Urban Health Plan of
Bronx, N.Y.; New England Asthma Innovation Collaborative of Boston; and
Public Health – Seattle and King County of Seattle. For more information on
these winners, go to
www.epa.gov/asthma/national-environmental-leadership-award-asthma-management
.
Asthma is a respiratory disease that makes breathing difficult. Asthma
affects nearly 24 million Americans, including more than six million
children—with poor and minority children affected disproportionately. The
economic impacts of asthma amount to more than $50 billion per year from
direct and indirect costs, such as medical bills and missed school and work
days. EPA's comprehensive asthma program helps those with asthma through
environmental research and education, as well as through community-focused
outreach that aims to increase sustainable access to home visits.
Asthma sufferers can take some important actions to help control their
symptoms and still maintain active lifestyles with three simple steps:
Identify and avoid environmental asthma triggers; create an Asthma Action
Plan with help from your doctor; and pay attention to your local air
quality conditions through the http://airnow.gov website and Air Quality
Index app for your smart phone.
To learn more about preventing asthma attacks, go to www.epa.gov/asthma.
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| USDA Awards $16 Million for Research into Sustainable Crop and Livestock Production |
| Methods |
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| Next Round of Funding Will Support Pollinator Health, Plant and Animal Phenomics |
| Research |
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|WASHINGTON, May 3, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today awarded $16.5|
|million in grants to support research into methods for boosting agriculture |
|productivity and ensuring food security in the face of pests, diseases and a changing |
|climate. In addition, USDA announced that it is seeking applications for the next round|
|of projects, which will focus on pollinator health and plant and animal phenomics. The |
|grants are made available through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), |
|administered by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). |
| |
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|Established by the 2008 Farm Bill and re-authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill, AFRI is the |
|nation's premier, peer-reviewed competitive grants program for fundamental and applied |
|agricultural sciences. In the seven years since AFRI was established, the program has |
|led to true innovations and ground-breaking discoveries in agriculture to combat |
|childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water |
|availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate the|
|impacts of climate variability and enhance resiliency of our food systems, and ensure |
|food safety. |
| |
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|"In the face of diminishing land and water resources and increasingly variable climatic|
|conditions, food production must increase to meet the demands of a world population |
|projected to pass 9 billion by 2050," said Vilsack. "Funding in research to respond to |
|these challenges should be considered as an investment in our nation's future, an |
|investment which will pay big dividends in the years to come." |
| |
| |
|The awards and available funding announced today fall into the AFRI Food Security |
|Challenge Area, which funds projects that increase agricultural productivity and the |
|availability and accessibility of safe, nutritious food. Fiscal year 2015 projects |
|receiving support today focus on agriculture production systems, breeding and genomics |
|of crops and livestock, and a national strategy for sustainable crop and livestock |
|production. Since 2010, NIFA has awarded more than $219 million to the AFRI Food |
|Security Challenge Area. |
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|Fiscal year 2015 grants include: |
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| · USDA Agricultural Research Service, Fort Collins, Colo., $50,000 |
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| · University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill., $2,397,840 |
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| · Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., $500,000 |
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| · Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, $10,000 |
| |
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| · University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., $120,000 |
| |
| |
| · University of Maryland, College Park, Md., $2,397,840 |
| |
| |
| · Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., $2,327,840 |
| |
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| · University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., $2,000,000 |
| |
| |
| · North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D., $50,000 |
| |
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| · North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D., $2,147,839 |
| |
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| · South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D., $2,382,840 |
| |
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| · Utah State University, Logan, Utah, $150,000 |
| |
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| · Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., $40,000 |
| |
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| · Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., $2,000,000 |
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|Funded projects include North Dakota State University research to improve existing |
|cropping systems through innovative seeding and nutrient management of cover crops. |
|Purdue University will create a new open source framework that can help identify |
|combinations of policies to improve the environment while ensuring food security. |
|Information on all of these FY15 projects can be found on the NIFA website. |
| |
| |
|Fiscal year 2016 food security project proposals should emphasize pollinator health as |
|well as breeding and phenomics of food crops and animals. Applications are due July 7, |
|2016 for a total of $16.8 million in available funding. For the first time, grant |
|awards will be equally co-funded by eligible national and state commodity boards, as |
|authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. See the request for applications for more |
|information. |
| |
| |
|President Obama's 2017 budget request proposes to fully fund the AFRI program, doubling|
|the amount that was available in 2016 to $700 million. Since its creation, AFRI has |
|been funded at less than half the levels established in the 2008 Farm Bill, and USDA |
|has only been able to fund one out of 10 research proposals presented, leaving |
|thousands of innovative research proposals unfunded. |
| |
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|Since 2009, NIFA has invested in and advanced innovative and transformative initiatives|
|to solve societal challenges and ensure the long-term viability of agriculture. NIFA's |
|integrated research, education, and extension programs, supporting the best and |
|brightest scientists and extension personnel, have resulted in user-inspired, |
|groundbreaking discoveries that are combating childhood obesity, improving and |
|sustaining rural economic growth, addressing water availability issues, increasing food|
|production, finding new sources of energy, mitigating climate variability, and ensuring|
|food safety. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural science, visit |
|www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates, or follow us on Twitter |
|@usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts. |
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