State
Chemicals, lawyers, public agencies commingle in Grenada
Clarion Ledger
A former official responsible for protecting Mississippi's environment is representing two companies accused of contaminating a Grenada community’s groundwater.
Grenada contamination: A timeline
Clarion Ledger
Cleanup at the contaminated Grenada Manufacturing site in Grenada began more than 25 years ago. Now, three entities are facing a lawsuit brought by residents who claim the companies acted negligently and damaged their property.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2016/08/20/grenada-contamination-timeline/89002786/
Hearing set for Nov. 8 on MDEQ permit granted for Renaissance expansion
MBJ
A hearing will be held Nov. 8 by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in a challenge to its approval of a water permit for a proposed expansion of the Renaissance at Colony Park in Ridgeland that would include a disputed Costco Wholesale store.
http://msbusiness.com/2016/08/hearing-set-nov-8-mdeq-permit-grantred-renaissance-expansion/
Utility Authority fiscally sound
Picayune Item
Members of the Pearl River County Utility Authority’s Board of Trustees received updates on how the organization’s finances are faring and updates concerning ongoing projects.
http://www.picayuneitem.com/2016/08/utility-authority-fiscally-sound/
DMR: Possible oyster aquaculture sites include areas near Deer, Cat Islands
WLOX
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) -The Department of Marine Resources is pursuing several oyster aquaculture projects, and it could have a dramatic impact on the future of the oyster industry in Mississippi.
County's solar farms meeting expectations
Commercial Dispatch
Imagine a farm that requires no workers and where every day is harvest.
That's what is happening on a 21-acre parcel near the Lowndes County Industrial Park, where the day's crop of sunshine has been collected since January.
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=52288
Aldermen pull plug on solar panels
Daily Corinthian
Citing concerns about how large solar grids could affect neighborhoods, the Corinth Board of Aldermen enacted a 30-day freeze this week on solar panels.
http://www.dailycorinthian.com/view/full_story/27254120/article-Aldermen-pull-plug-on-solar-panels?
On the Move: PPM Consultants
Clarion Ledger
•Jere “Trey” Hess, former chief of the Groundwater Assessment and Remediation Division for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, has been hired as director of Brownfields and Economic Development with PPM Consultants. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/money/business/2016/08/20/move-ppm-consultants/89048574/
Alligator hunting season set to open
WLBT
JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -This year, more than 6,000 people attempted to buy alligator permits during the first come, first serve internet purchase process back in July.
http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/32808518/alligator-hunting-season-set-to-open
‘Deep dive’ on state agencies complex
Daily Journal
JACKSON – The chart presented by Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves earlier this month screamed out for additional details.
http://djournal.com/news/deep-dive-state-agencies-complex/
Oil Spill
'Deepwater Horizon' filmmakers aim to honor, not exploit, disaster's victims
Times-Picayune
Perched some 50 feet in the muggy Louisiana night air, at the edge of a nearly full-size replica of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are watching their step. Teetering on the edge of a platform as cameras roll, the actors are struggling to launch a life raft as part of a fiery scene in which their characters -- based on real-life men aboard the rig when it exploded in 2010, killing 11 and triggering the BP oil spill -- prepare to plunge into the Gulf.
http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2016/08/deepwater_horizon_louisiana_set_123712.html
Regional
Water study: Alabama has 4th highest level of PFAS contaminants
Montgomery Advertiser
A few months after a water advisory was issued for north Alabama due to high levels of PFASs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a Harvard University study has found that Alabama has the fourth-highest concentration of the chemicals in its water supply behind California, New Jersey and North Carolina.
National
Can the EPA clean up one of America’s most toxic rivers?
Washington Post
NEWARK — For generations, it served as an engine of northern New Jersey’s industrial corridor. And for generations, it was polluted by the factories along its banks, which dumped chemicals, heavy metals and pesticides into increasingly murky water. “New Jersey’s biggest crime scene,” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the former mayor of Newark, has called it.
Public Access to EPA's New Chemical Decisions Welcomed
Bloomberg
The Environmental Protection Agency's Web page that posts its new chemical risk conclusions provides the public some safety assurance, a chemical manufacturer said.
http://www.bna.com/public-access-epas-n73014446611/
2 Puerto Rico Distributors Settle in Toxic Pesticide Probe
AP
The U.S. government announced Thursday that it imposed a $210,000 fine on two pesticide distributors in Puerto Rico as part of a widespread probe into a toxic pesticide that nearly killed an American family in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands.
Where the Shark Is a Bellwether
Off Long Island, scientists work to understand the apex predator
WSJ
Off the coast of Montauk on a sweltering day last week, four people slung themselves over the side of a fishing boat, holding on to their prize: a blue-gray dusky shark, just over 4 feet in length.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-the-shark-is-a-bellwether-1471828088
Opinion
State's energy assets key part of economy: McCullough
Clarion Ledger
Glenn McCullough, Guest columnist
Mississippi’s abundance and wide array of energy resources means we pay less than the national average for residential, commercial and industrial electricity. At the same time, Mississippi’s renewable energy resources are putting our people to work, processing the raw materials and restoring the forestland.
The Climate Prosecutors Can’t Dodge Congress Forever
The state officials who subpoenaed Exxon face questions from the House—and they have to answer.
WSJ
For a sense of how far the left will go to enforce climate-change orthodoxy, read the recently released “Common Interest Agreement” signed this spring by 17 Democratic state attorneys general. The officials pledged to investigate and take legal action against those committing climate wrongthink.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-climate-prosecutors-cant-dodge-congress-forever-1471818648
TVA is ignoring concerns about capping coal ash
Knoxville News Sentinel
The Tennessee Valley Authority may have made its call to keep polluting our water with its toxic coal ash, but it hasn't made its case to the state and citizens charged with enforcing laws that protect our clean water.
