State
Lafayette County awarded solid waste grant
Oxford Eagle
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality awarded Lafayette County a solid waste assistance grant of $18,182 that will be used by the county to clean up illegal dump sites.
http://www.oxfordeagle.com/2016/09/01/lafayette-county-awarded-solid-waste-grant/
Habitat Stewards Program seeks outdoorsy volunteers
Sun Herald
The Mississippi Habitat Stewards Program, a part of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, offers an opportunity for lovers of outdoors to make a difference on the Coast. Habitat Stewards volunteers devote time to improving natural sites.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/article99430427.html
MSDH names Byers new epidemiologist
Clarion Ledger
The Mississippi State Department of Health announced in a news release Thursday that Dr. Paul Byers will be the new state epidemiologist.
Mississippi bans imports of deer carcasses to fight disease
AP
JACKSON, MISS.
It's now illegal to bring a dead deer carcass back to Mississippi from 24 states and three countries.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/health/article99485277.html
DMR grants Coast man lifetime fishing license
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -Plenty of Coast fishermen have bragging rights, but Chase Thompson just might have topped them all.
http://www.wlox.com/story/32974636/dmr-grants-coast-man-lifetime-fishing-license
Regional
Fate of bottlenose dolphins factors into proposed southeast Louisiana sediment diversions
Times-Picayune
Freshwater carried into Barataria Bay and Breton Sound when the state's proposed sediment diversions are operated may make both locations so fresh that resident bottlenose dolphins -- already recovering from the effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill -- could become ill or abandon the home areas, according to scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
EPA haze plan finalized; state still opposes it
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its plan to reduce haze in national wildlife areas in Arkansas, a plan that state officials continue to oppose.
National
The Cost of Slashing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
President Barack Obama’s pledge to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 would cost $5.3 trillion, a new study shows
WSJ
President Barack Obama’s pledge to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 2005 levels by 2050 might cost more than $5 trillion over three decades, according to a new analysis.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/08/31/the-cost-of-slashing-greenhouse-gas-emissions/
Two Colorado Coal-Fired Power Units to Close as Part of Clean-Air Deal
Closures remove 527 megawatts of electricity-production capacity; towns worry about future
AP
DENVER—One coal-fired power plant in Colorado will shut down and part of a second plant will stop operating under an agreement that would make deep cuts in air pollution but cost at least 90 jobs over the next decade, officials said Thursday.
Zika spraying kills millions of honeybees
CNN
The pictures are heartbreaking: Millions of honeybees lie dead after being sprayed with an insecticide targeting Zika-carrying mosquitoes.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health/zika-spraying-honeybees/index.html
EPA fires back at Cuomo administration over PFOA crisis
EPA says state shouldn't blame feds over bungled PFOA response
Albany Times-Union
Gina McCarthy, the administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on Thursday fired back at New York's commissioners of health and environmental conservation, who this week accused the federal agency of giving "conflicting guidance" about a toxic chemical that polluted water supplies in eastern Rensselaer County.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/EPA-fires-back-at-Cuomo-administration-over-PFOA-9197894.php
Pope wants caring for environment added to 7 acts of mercy
CNN
Pope Francis proposed on Thursday that caring for the environment be added to the traditional seven works of mercy that Christians are called to perform, which include feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/europe/pope-environment-catholics/
Opinion
Can politics be avoided in tax-reform work?
Geoff Pender
Clarion Ledger
House Speaker Philip Gunn on Thursday said he wants to put politics aside as special panels of lawmakers look for ways to overhaul the state’s tax policies and spending.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/01/tax-reform-committee/89709500/
Press Releases
EPA Kicks Off Fifth Annual Campus RainWorks Challenge
College students compete to design green infrastructure for their campus
WASHINGTON – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its fifth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a competition for college and university students to design innovative solutions for our nation’s water infrastructure. Using their campuses as labs, teams develop green infrastructure systems to reduce stormwater pollution and build resilience to climate change. Since 2012, more than 420 student teams have participated in the challenge.
“Stormwater is one of the nation’s most significant water challenges, with increasing amounts of runoff polluting our nation’s streams, rivers and lakes,” said Joel Beauvais, Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “Through the Campus RainWorks Challenge, EPA invites our country’s future planners, designers, and engineers to apply their classroom learning and help us solve stormwater management problems through innovative green infrastructure design and technology.”
Teams may register for the 2016 Challenge from September 1st to September 30th. The 2016 Challenge winners will be announced in spring 2017. Each first-place team will earn a student prize of $2,000 and a faculty prize of $3,000 to support green infrastructure research or training. Second-place teams will win $1,000 for student teams and $2,000 for faculty research.
Green infrastructure decreases pollution to local waterways by treating stormwater where it falls and keeping more polluted runoff out of sewer systems. Green infrastructure features include green roofs, permeable materials, green streets, rain gardens and rain harvesting systems. Communities are increasingly using green infrastructure to supplement their “gray” infrastructure such as pipes, filters and ponds.
Green infrastructure can create vibrant communities by increasing economic activity, neighborhood revitalization, job creation and open space. It also strengthens a community’s resiliency to the impacts of climate change by reducing the burden on local water infrastructure, managing local flooding, reducing urban heat islands and lowering energy demands.
More information is available at www.epa.gov/campusrainworks
EPA Moves Swiftly to Carry Out New Chemical Reform Legislation
Agency tackles new legislative mandates set forth in first major update to environmental statute in 20 years
WASHINGTON— U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking action to ensure that the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, signed this June 22, 2016, delivers on the promise of better protecting the environment and public health. This bipartisan bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) outlines a number of responsibilities for EPA that must be completed within a tight timeframe.
The milestones accomplished by the agency include:
•A plan released on June 29, 2016, that outlines activities for the first year of implementing the new law;
•The first determinations completed on seven premanufacture notices under TSCA in July, 2016. The new law requires the agency to make affirmative determinations on new chemical substances before they can enter the marketplace. Additional determinations will be released as they are completed;
•A series of public meetings held from August 9-12, 2016, to obtain comments and feedback from stakeholders on the processes that will be used to establish fees and prioritize and evaluate chemicals under the new law;
•A list of five mercury compounds released on August 26, 2016, that will be prohibited from export as of January 1, 2020. This action will prevent the ability to convert these compounds to elemental mercury after export from the United States.
Additionally, the agency is establishing the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) to provide independent advice and expert consultation on scientific and technical aspects on risk evaluations, methodologies, and pollution prevention measures or approaches. The call for nominations to serve on this committee was issued on August 26, 2016.
The new amendments to TSCA will help bring significant improvements to public health as EPA continues to take the steps necessary for its successful implementation.
More about the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act and EPA’s implementation activities and to sign up for updates, visit: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/frank-r-lautenberg-chemical-safety-21st-century-act
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Creates ESA Listing Workplan to Provide Predictability and Encourage Proactive Conservation of Imperiled Wildlife
As part of its ongoing efforts to improve the effectiveness and implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and provide the best possible conservation for our nation’s imperiled wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released today its National Listing Workplan <https://www.fws.gov/endangered/improving_esa/listing_workplan_actions.html>
for
addressing ESA listing and critical habitat decisions over the next seven years.
This announcement comes as Service biologists wrap up work on a previous list of more than 250 species that had been identified as candidates for protection under the ESA. This new workplan will allow the Service to meet its current and future ESA obligations while creating opportunity for partnerships aimed at delivering conservation on the ground to keep working lands working, protect local ways of life and reduce regulatory burdens, saving the ESA’s protection for the species that need it most.
The workplan identifies the Service’s schedule for addressing all 30 species currently on the ESA Candidate List and conducting 320 status reviews (also referred to as 12-month findings) for species that have been petitioned for federal protections under the ESA. The petitioned species are prioritized using a new methodology for determining how the agency
addresses 12-month findings under the ESA. https://www.fws.gov/news/Show
News.cfm?ref=service-announces-final-methodology-for-
prioritizing-and-addressing-&_ID=35748 Each status review is assigned to one of five priority categories, according to the urgency of threats, availability of relevant science and information, and ongoing conservation efforts by states and other stakeholders. The workplan also includes eleven additional species for which the Service plans to undertake discretionary status reviews, and one action impacted by court decisions.
“Our workplan is an achievable, grounded, science-based approach for conserving America’s most imperiled species that will provide greater transparency and predictability on our upcoming actions to state wildlife agencies, non-profit organizations, private landowners and other partners,”
said Service Director Dan Ashe. “This predictability allows many conservation efforts already underway the opportunity they need to reach their full potential and succeed in recovering species before they require federal protections.”
The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) said the workplan would assist the conservation efforts and planning processes for state wildlife agencies across the country.
“This new workplan will bring better certainty to the states as the Service addresses ESA listings and critical habitat decisions in the upcoming years,” said Dave Chanda, AFWA President and Director of New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. “Addressing those species of greatest concern in the evaluation and prioritization process will help states best focus on further data collection and the demonstration of effective state management actions.”
The ESA is the last best hope for America’s most imperiled animals and plants, but listing is neither the ultimate goal nor a measure of success.
By the time they become listed, some species are facing such an uphill struggle that recovery can take decades. A better path is to improve the fate of species before they ever need listing. The Service hopes that sharing this workplan will spur proactive conservation of imperiled species so federal protections aren’t needed. Recent successes by states, federal agencies, private landowners, non-profit organizations and industry collaborating on behalf of the greater sage-grouse, Columbia spotted frog, New England cottontail, mariposa lily, Page springsnail, Cumberland arrow darter, Goose Creek milkvetch and Yadkin River goldenrod meant these species did not require listing under the ESA.
The Service’s Southeast Region through an aggressive At-Risk species conservation effort is strengthening existing partnerships, building new ones, and completing a range of conservation actions, including better surveys and monitoring. As a result, to date, 72 species across the region do not need the ESA’s protection. Another dozen species’ status has improved from endangered to threatened and in some cases, like the Louisiana black bear, the species have been removed from the list and recovered.
The inclusion of a species in the workplan does not mean that it will be listed under the ESA. That decision is made only after a rigorous scientific assessment, or status review, of the species. In the event that a petitioned species does require ESA protections, the Service will seek to issue a listing proposal instead of adding the species to the candidate list, and will endeavor to simultaneously propose critical habitat designations. This represents a balanced, streamlined and cost-effective process.
The workplan will be updated as new information is received. Additional species petitions will be addressed based on their urgency and the Service’s capacity according to the prioritization methodology, with a forecast maintained of at least five years into the future. This will provide ongoing transparency and predictability to partners to assist them in their conservation efforts.
For more information about the National Listing Workplan, visit:
www.fws.gov/endangered/improving_esa/listing_workplan_actions.html
The Endangered Species Act is an essential tool for conserving the nation’s most at-risk wildlife, as well as the land and water on which they depend for habitat. The recent acceleration of successful recoveries and ESA delistings include three Channel Island fox subspecies, Louisiana black bear, Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel, Oregon Chub and Virginia northern flying squirrel. These successful recoveries demonstrate that when given the time and resources it needs, the ESA works.
