State
Percy Quin is ready
Enterprise-Journal
“There’s a lot going on, and money is being spent at Percy Quin.”
Park administrator Will Busby gave an update on the state of the park Tuesday in remarks to the McComb Lions Club, and in light of the upcoming resumption of fishing on Lake Tangipahoa after a multi-year hiatus, it promises to be a busy autumn.
http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_5f57b6c6-6ae2-11e6-96d0-cf776f0aa31c.html
USM Marine Research Center planned at Port of Gulfport
WLOX
GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -Bids will go out in the next 30 days for a $10 million USM Marine Research Center. That educational facility will be built near a busy intersection that serves as the "front door" for the Port of Gulfport.
http://www.wlox.com/story/32843420/usm-marine-research-center-planned-at-port-of-gulfport
City of Hernando Awarded $400,000 Brownfields Grant
Memphis Daily News
The city of Hernando has earned a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will be used to clean up a brownfields site for redevelopment.
Audit: FEMA grant funds for Louisville at risk
Clarion Ledger
Federal funding to rebuild a Louisville factory is in jeopardy after the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to properly approve changes to the project, according to an audit released this month.
DRA ANNOUNCES $15 MILLION FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
MPB
Millions of dollars in grants will go toward improving infrastructure in the delta region. MPB's Ezra Wall reports. The Delta Regional Authority says $15 million in grants will help complete eight infrastructure projects in Mississippi. The projects range from sewer projects in Cleveland and Lexington to establishing an urgent care clinic in Belzoni.
http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2016/08/26/dra-announces-15-million-for-infrastructure/
Biloxi says Secretary of State owes city $1.2 million
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -The City of Biloxi and the Institutions of Higher Learning are joining forces against the Secretary of State in Chancery Court to get money they say they are owed.
http://www.wlox.com/story/32845264/biloxi-says-secretary-of-state-owes-city-12-million
Regional
EPA launches federal investigation into Smyrna creek spill
WSB
SMYRNA, Ga. - Nearly two weeks after a chemical spill at Apollo Technologies in Smyrna sent 2,300 gallons of carburetor cleaner into a creek, turning the water that flows through Dana McPherson's neighborhood white, we've confirmed through our sources that the EPA has launched a federal criminal investigation.
National
Study: Ethanol increases carbon emissions
The Hill
Replacing traditional gasoline with ethanol results in a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions, a new study concluded.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/293291-study-ethanol-increases-carbon-emissions
Obama plans to create world's largest marine protected area
AP
The White House says that President Barack Obama will expand a national monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating the world's largest marine protected area.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/nation-world/article98005342.html
San Fernando Valley will soon store 5 billion gallons of stormwater
LA Times
The Tujunga Spreading Grounds may look like a vast, barren plot of dirt.
But it’s what’s beneath the dirt that matters.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stormwater-20160823-snap-story.html
As toxic algae bloom spreads, will Michigan add Lake Erie to impaired list?
MLive
LANSING, MI — As this summer's harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie grows in toxicity, Michigan environmental regulators are still reviewing whether to add the state's portion of the lake to a list of impaired waters that was supposed to be in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's hands this spring.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/08/michigan_lake_erie_impaired_tm.html
Opinion
Ethanol mandate is relic of a different time: Column
Clarion Ledger
Be careful what you wish for, which sums up the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, better known as the ethanol mandate.
Press Releases
MSU-led Northern Gulf Institute renews agreement with EPA
August 25, 2016
Contact: Diane Godwin
STARKVILLE, Miss.—A coastal-based research cooperative led by Mississippi State is extending its memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Northern Gulf Institute provides the Gulf of Mexico region with diverse, science-based services to help protect the ecosystem while continuing to ensure healthy communities situated along its borders.
University officials recently were notified of the institute’s five-year renewal by counterparts with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
While the original NGI-EPA collaboration that began in 2013 covered areas around Florida’s Tampa Bay, this latest agreement covers the entire gulf region.
Along with NOAA and other regional partners, both agencies are working to maintain and enhance a wide range of activities focused on restoration and management activities. Their ultimate goal: to provide coastal communities with equitable, efficient and effective solutions that safeguard the natural environment and human well-being.
In addition to MSU, the Northern Gulf Institute includes the universities of Alabama-Huntsville and Southern Mississippi, Florida State and Louisiana State universities, and the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory near Mobile.
For more information about the MOU renewal, contact Steve Ashby, at sashby@gri.msstate.edu or Jim Harvey atharvey.jim@epa.gov.
