State
Prehistoric fish discovered in the depths of Bluff Lake
Commercial Dispatch
July 22, 2016 11:50:46 AM
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STARKVILLE -- Alligators aren't the only prehistoric creatures lurking in the depths of the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge's waterways.
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=51686
Barnett Reservoir adding recreational amenities
Clarion Ledger
New recreational amenities are being added at the 33,000-acre Ross Barnett Reservoir.
New district engineer picked for Corps of Engineers
Clarion Ledger
The Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a change of command ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Vicksburg Convention Center.
Oxford High’s Envirothon team to compete in North American finals
Daily Journal
This week, the Oxford High School Envirothon team will be competing in the North American Championship in Ontario, Canada.
http://djournal.com/news/oxford-highs-envirothon-team-compete-north-american-finals/
Mississippi supports regional red snapper management bill
Sun Herald
Mississippi is in favor of regional management of red snapper.
The state supports H.R. 3094, known as the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act.
http://www.sunherald.com/sports/outdoors/article91490012.html
Marine Resources commissioner succumbs to cancer
Mississippi Press
BILOXI, Mississippi -- Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources member Ernie Zimmerman has died.
Critics: Mississippi's state bureaucracy out of control
Clarion Ledger
Need to do business with the state Massage Therapy Board? You might have to truck all the way out to Morton and, “if you go through the red light you have gone too far,” the state agency’s website instructs.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/07/23/state-agencies-boards/87258538/
Oil Spill
You won’t believe the upgrades coming to Pascagoula beach
Sun Herald
PASCAGOULA
Drivers should expect occasional lane and road closures as construction gets in full swing along Beach Boulevard from Beach Park, west to the Point.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/jackson-county/article91286997.html
BP Tries to Regain Footing as It Recovers From Spill
Company aims to show growth, but some aren’t sure it is primed for success
WSJ
LONDON— BP PLC is under pressure from investors and analysts to show it can rejoin the ranks of the world’s biggest oil companies now that the costs of the deadly Gulf of Mexico spill have largely come under control.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/bp-maps-growth-in-wake-of-spill-1469383639
Regional
Controversial water standards set for vote
Tallahassee Democrat
A plan widely condemned by environmental groups allowing higher levels of certain cancer-causing chemicals in Florida’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters could win approval from state regulators.
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2016/07/23/controversial-water-standards-set-vote/87393646/
Diversions should balance land building, fisheries, scientists say
Times-Picayune
New sediment diversions planned by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to rebuild rapidly eroding wetlands must balance land-building potential with their effects on fisheries and wildlife, an independent team of scientists said Thursday (July 21). Their report used the proposed mid-Barataria sediment diversion as an example because it is the project is closest to construction, possibly beginning as early as 2020.
National
Maturing oyster recovery projects bring calls for money
AP
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.
Oysters were once so abundant in New Jersey that vacationers would clamber off trains, wade into the water and pluck handfuls to roast for dinner. Their colonies piled so high that boats would sometimes run aground on them, and they were incorporated into navigation maps. Even earlier, Native American tribes would have oyster feasts on the banks of coastal inlets.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/health/article91565027.html
Sequel to Paris climate agreement developing in Vienna
NY Times
WASHINGTON — When negotiators from almost 200 countries gathered outside Paris in December for the United Nations summit meeting on climate change, they reached the first agreement to take action on curbing their planet-warming pollution. This weekend in Vienna, with far less attention, negotiators from those same countries are nearing a deal that many environmentalist advocates have called the most significant action of 2016 to reduce global warming.
A Fish Outlived the Dinosaurs. Can It Outlast a Dam?
NY Times
What has no teeth, no rib cage, is covered in bony scales and managed to outlive the dinosaurs? The answer is the pallid sturgeon. But after millions of years of survival, only about 125 of these wild “dinosaur fish” remain. And if something isn’t done to save this endangered species, it could vanish forever — all because of what’s going on at a single dam in Montana.
