State
Sludge contract controversial as utility commissioner lobbies for Flowood firm
Madison County Journal
A Canton Municipal Utilities commissioner apparently attempted to negotiate a sludge removal contract worth nearly $800,000 on behalf of a Flowood firm, according to an audio recording obtained by the Madison County Journal.
http://www.onlinemadison.com/Content/Default/Top-Story-Homepage/Article/Sludge-contract-controversial-as-utility-commissioner-lobbies-for-Flowood-firm/-3/606/38486
Hammack fired as emergency director
Madison County Journal
Madison County supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to fire Butch Hammack as Emergency Management Agency director. District 1 Supervisor Sheila Jones made the motion in open session.
Support needed for Aberdeen Community Cleanup
Monroe Journal
ABERDEEN – Break out the gloves, trimmers and desire for beautification. A citywide cleanup known as the Aberdeen Community Cleanup will gives citizens and volunteers a chance to participate in an organized effort to beautify the town on Sept. 17 from 8 a.m. until noon.
http://djournal.com/monroe/2016/09/08/support-needed-aberdeen-community-cleanup/
Bryant orders more budget cuts
Clarion Ledger
Gov. Phil Bryant is ordering cuts averaging about 1.6 percent to most state agencies' budgets to cover a $57 million "accounting error" lawmakers discovered after they set the $6 billion state budget for the fiscal year that began in July.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/07/bryant-budget-cuts/89975564/
Oil Spill
Ala. Legislature approves BP bill, ends special session
Montgomery Advertiser
On Tuesday, a BP settlement bill was dodging bullets fired by several sides who did not seem interested in coming out of the trenches.
Regional
EPA adds Memphis to National Priorities List due to contamination
Fox 13
The EPA is adding a hazardous waste site in Memphis to the Superfund program's National Priorities list.
NOAA: Climate change played significant role in Louisiana's torrential August rainfall
The Advocate
Climate change is significantly increasing the likelihood that intense, heavy rains of the type Louisiana saw in August will happen with greater frequency, researchers say in a report released Wednesday.
National
Obama on Climate Change: The Trends Are ‘Terrifying’
NY Times
MIDWAY ATOLL — Seventy-four years ago, a naval battle off this remote spit of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean changed the course of World War II. Last week, President Obama flew here to swim with Hawaiian monk seals and draw attention to a quieter war — one he has waged against rising seas, freakish storms, deadly droughts and other symptoms of a planet choking on its own fumes.
EPA Finalizes Rule to Reduce Smog-Forming Pollution Transported Across State Lines
KIOW
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized updates to the agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that will help protect communities in the eastern U.S. from smog-forming pollution that crosses state lines and will help states meet the 2008 air quality standards for smog, or ozone.
EPA names Gold King Mine a Superfund site
The Hill
Federal regulators have designated the Gold King Mine, the source of a major waste spill in Colorado last year, a Superfund site.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/294865-epa-names-gold-king-mine-a-superfund-site
Firefighting Chemicals Are Contaminating the Water of 16.5 Million People
Newsweek
Like those of many locals, the lives of the Amico family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were inextricably linked with Pease International Tradeport, a large office park built in the early 1990s on the site of what used to be a military installation.
http://europe.newsweek.com/firefighting-chemicals-contaminating-water-165-million-people-496229
U.S.’s Aging Oil-Reserve Infrastructure Needs an Update
Energy Department report also questions whether such a large strategic stockpile is still needed
WSJ
WASHINGTON—The U.S. government’s reserve stockpile of nearly 700 million barrels of oil is increasingly ineffective due to aging infrastructure and a booming domestic oil industry, according to an Energy Department report released Wednesday morning.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-s-aging-oil-reserve-infrastructure-an-update-1473256811
DEQ bends on E. coli ruling
Jackson Hole News and Guide
Faced with criticism from the public and federal agencies, Wyoming environmental regulators have reduced the reach of a plan that downgrades E. coli bacteria standards on low-flow streams around the state.
to https://gis.deq.wyoming.gov/maps/recreation/.
DEQ appointee defends environmental credentials
Detroit News
Lansing — A former oil industry lobbyist tapped by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to lead the embattled Department of Environmental Quality faced scrutiny from Democrats Wednesday as a Senate committee considered her appointment.
Press releases
Governor Phil Bryant Adjusts Fiscal Year 2017 Budget
Jackson, Miss. – Gov. Phil Bryant announced today that he has adjusted the state budget for fiscal year 2017.
“I am adjusting the budget for fiscal year 2017 to correct an accounting error that was discovered after the regular legislative session ended,” Gov. Bryant said. “This represents an overall adjustment of less than 1 percent to the state’s $5.8 billion budget. It is the governor’s statutory responsibility to balance Mississippi’s budget. I will uphold that duty.
“It is important to remember that general fund spending has increased 26 percent, five times the rate of inflation, the last four years. That kind of growth over such a short period of time is simply unsustainable. To address this, the Legislature has assembled a bipartisan panel, led by Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, that is already working to enact meaningful reform. Together, we will ensure that taxpayer dollars pay only for those services and programs that have clear benefits for Mississippians.”
Other than those bound by court orders or statutory exemptions, agencies not subject to the adjustment are the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, Financial Aid, Military and Veterans Affairs.
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EPA Finalizes Rule to Reduce Smog-Forming Pollution Transported Across State Lines
Cost-effective final rule provides public health benefits for Americans in the East
CONTACT: Enesta Jones, jones.enesta@epa.gov, 202.564.7873, 202.564.4355
ATLANTA- Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized updates to the agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that will help protect communities in the eastern U.S. from smog-forming pollution that crosses state lines and will help states meet the 2008 air quality standards for smog, or ozone. The CSAPR Update will continue to reduce summertime emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) from power plants that contribute to downwind ozone problems in the eastern U.S.
“Today’s update builds on the decades of success under the Clean Air Act that has led to significant cuts in nitrogen oxide emissions from the power sector,” said Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “The common-sense actions that power plants can take to quickly and affordably reduce this harmful pollution will help protect the health and lives of millions of Americans, restore visibility at our nation’s most treasured parks, and ensure that air quality continues to improve in the eastern United States.”
The CSAPR Update identifies cuts in power plant NOX emissions in 22 states that contribute significantly to downwind ozone air quality problems and can be achieved using existing, proven and cost-effective control technologies. The cuts in NOx emissions under the final rule will lead to significant improvements in air quality starting in the 2017 ozone season (May-September).
EPA estimates that in 2017 this rule and other changes already underway in the power sector will help cut ozone season NOx emissions by 80,000 tons—a 20 percent reduction from 2015 levels. By reducing ozone exposure, the final rule will provide annual benefits of up to $880 million in 2017, far outweighing the estimated costs of $68 million. For every dollar invested, American families would see up to $13 in health benefits.
The final CSAPR Update also provides improvements to visibility in national and state parks, and increases protection for sensitive ecosystems including Adirondack lakes and Appalachian streams, coastal waters and estuaries, and forests.
NOX emissions can react in the atmosphere to create ground-level ozone pollution, especially during the warm summer months. These pollutants can travel long distances, often crossing state lines and making it difficult for other states to meet and maintain the air quality standards for ozone that EPA establishes to protect public health.
Following the Clean Air Act’s “good neighbor” mandate to limit interstate air pollution, the rule will help states that are struggling to protect air quality from pollution emitted outside their borders, and it uses an approach that can be applied in the future to help areas continue to meet and maintain air quality health standards.Under the "good neighbor" provision, states develop state implementation plans while EPA plays a backstop role by issuing federal implementation plans (FIPs) if a state fails to submit an approvable plan. Today's action provides the FIP for all 22 affected states under EPA's backstop obligation.
CSAPR, which was finalized in 2011, was designed to help states meet the 1997 ozone standards. EPA’s approach in the 2011 rule has now been affirmed by the Supreme Court and EPA is applying this same approach to the 2008 ozone air quality standards to help states address transported ozone pollution under the strengthened standards. The final CSAPR Update reflects stakeholder input and more than 15,000 comments received during the public comment process for the proposal, a public hearing, and a July 2015 Notice of Data Availability (NODA). The rule also responds to the July 2015 decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, addressing the court's concerns regarding ozone season NOx emissions budgets for 11 states.
More information: https://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/final-cross-state-air-pollution-rule-update
EPA Adds Sites to National Priorities List to Reduce Risk to Public Health and Environment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding 10 and proposing to add eight hazardous waste sites to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL). These sites have contamination from a variety of sources, including manufacturing, mining, battery recycling and dry cleaning.
EPA adds sites to the NPL when mismanagement of contamination threatens public health and the environment. EPA typically initiates Superfund involvement at a site because states, tribes or citizens ask for the agency’s help. The agency may also find contamination during its own investigations.
Superfund doesn’t just address legacy sites; nine of the 18 sites EPA is adding or proposing today were in operation within the last two decades.
These sites can threaten the health of entire communities. Some groups of people, such as children, pregnant women and the elderly, may be at particular risk. During environmental emergencies, health threats — poisoning, injuries from fires and explosions — are often urgent and immediate. At other sites, health effects such as cancer and birth defects may be more long term. Superfund cleans up or isolates contamination, keeping it away from people and the environment.
Ecosystems at Superfund sites can be harmed in two primary ways. First, contaminants can accumulate in plants and animals at abnormally high concentrations, reducing survival and growth rates. This accumulation can alter the composition of species in an area, seriously damage or destroy the ecosystem, and render fish, shellfish, game and plants inedible. Second, activities at some sites have resulted in destruction of vegetation and topsoil. The lack of plants means there is nothing to mitigate stormwater runoff or provide wildlife habitat.
“The sites on the NPL pose the highest risk to the environment and public health,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management. “By cleaning up these sites, not only are we benefitting the health of our people and our ecosystems, in many cases, we are benefitting local economies. Many Superfund sites can be safely redeveloped, providing communities with new revenue streams.”
For all Superfund sites, EPA tests air, water and soil to determine which hazardous substances are present and whether they pose a threat to human health, the environment or both. Where risks greater than acceptable levels exist to public health or the environment, EPA develops and executes plans to clean up contamination.
The following sites have been added to the NPL:
- Anaconda Aluminum Co. Columbia Falls Reduction Plant in Columbia Falls, Mont.
- Argonaut Mine in Jackson, Calif.
- Bonita Peak Mining District in San Juan County, Colo.
- Dorado Ground Water Contamination in Dorado, P.R.
- Eldorado Chemical Co. Inc. in Live Oak, Texas
- North 25th St. Glass and Zinc in Clarksburg, W.Va.
- SBA Shipyard in Jennings, La.
- Valley Pike VOCs in Riverside, Ohio
- Wappinger Creek in Dutchess County, N.Y.
- West Vermont Drinking Water Contamination in Indianapolis, Ind.
The following sites have been proposed for addition to the NPL:
- Anaconda Copper Mine in Yerington, Nev.
- The Battery Recycling Company in Bo. Cambalache, P.R.
- Former Custom Cleaners in Memphis, Tenn.
- Highway 18 Ground Water in Kermit, Texas
- Microfab Inc (Former) in Amesbury, Mass.
- Old HWY 275 and N 288th Street in Valley, Neb.
- Post and Lumber Preserving Co. Inc. in Quincy, Fla.
- Sant-Gobain Performance Plastics in Village of Hoosick Falls, N.Y.
Superfund cleanups benefit the health of those who live on or near Superfund sites. Academic research has shown these cleanups reduce birth defects close to a site by as much as 25 percent. Additionally, cleanups involving lead-contaminated soil have contributed to documented reductions in children’s blood-lead levels. If left unaddressed, elevated blood-lead levels may result in irreversible neurological deficits, such as lowered intelligence and attention-related behavioral problems.
When EPA cleans up a site or a portion of a site, it frequently returns to beneficial uses. More than 850 Superfund sites nationwide have some type of actual or planned reuse underway. For example, the Coalinga Asbestos Mine in Coalinga, California, is home to 33 businesses that employ over 450 people, providing annual employment income of about $16.3 million. Two new residential developments are also located there, providing much-needed housing in a rapidly growing community.
Cleanups increase tax revenue and create jobs during and after cleanup. EPA reviewed 454 Superfund sites supporting use or reuse activities. The agency found at the end of fiscal year 2015 that these sites had approximately 3,900 businesses with 108,000 employees and annual sales of more than $29 billion.
Community partnerships are critical to Superfund site cleanups. EPA's goal is to work with community partners at every site by establishing an effective process to fully explore future uses before the cleanup remedy’s selection. This approach gives EPA the best chance of ensuring remedies are consistent with a site’s likely future use.
For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and proposed sites: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/current-npl-updates-new-proposed-npl-sites-and-new-npl-sites
For information about Superfund and the NPL: http://www.epa.gov/superfund
