State
Council mulling consent decree contract
Northside Sun
Mayor Tony Yarber’s proposal to hire a new consent decree manager is being mulled over by the Jackson City Council.
http://northsidesun.com/news/council-mulling-consent-decree-contract#sthash.md6T1jox.dpbs
Meridian man spots city workers dumping dead dogs
Tip helps end practice; employees face discipline
Meridian Star
A Meridian man's sharp eye and tip to the city has ended the practice of Meridian employees illegally dumping animal carcasses just off the roadway.
THE WILDFLOWER PROJECT
WCBI
WINONA, Miss. (WCBI) – The reason behind the Wildflower Project is to make the city of Winona more beautiful. Mississippi Senator Lydia Chassaniol of Winona, and Keep Mississippi Beautiful came up with the plan to plant the flowers.
http://www.wcbi.com/video-wildflower-project/
Oil Spill
Deepwater Horizon memorial sculpture coming to Elysian Fields Ave.
Times-Picayune
On Friday morning (Sept. 9), a group of 11 human figures made from thousands of doubloon-sized steel disks will appear on the median of Elysian Fields Avenue, near the corner of Dauphine Street. The circle of stark, life-sized sculptures by Laurel, Miss. artist Jason Kimes is meant to memorialize the 11 men who died when BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2016/09/deepwater_horizon_sculpture_me.html
Regional
200 birds oiled in Bay Long spill as cleanup continues, Coast Guard says
Times-Picayune
About 200 oiled birds have been spotted in southern Barataria Bay where anexcavating marsh buggy cut a pipeline on Monday, causing a spill of 5,300 gallons of crude oil, a Coast Guard "unified command" press release said Thursday (Sept. 8).
USDA grants $1.3 million to Louisiana organizations for conservation efforts
The Advocate
Against stiff competition, two Louisiana groups received a collective $1.3 million of the $26.6 million ingrants for agriculture and conservation innovation announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
National
EPA sued over clean water rules to curb ocean acidification
Reuters
Environmentalists sued the Obama administration on Thursday seeking new federal water-quality standards designed to protect marine life against the corrosive effects of carbon emissions absorbed into the ocean from the burning of fossil fuels.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-oceans-idUSKCN11E1PA
Old toilets used to build oyster bed in New York City
Washington Post
New York City's original huddled masses, oysters, teemed along the shoreline centuries ago. By some estimates, up through the 1600s every other oyster in the world lived in New York Harbor, according to Mark Kurlansky, author of "The Big Oyster." Such abundance would not last.
California signs tougher climate change rules into law
Tribune News
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders embarked on a new era in California's effort to combat climate change Thursday when the governor signed a law committing the state to some of the most drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions in the world.
Oil! Massive shale discovery in Texas
CNN
An overlooked corner of West Texas is believed to contain billions of barrels of newly-discovered shale oil.
Apache (APA) revealed the huge find this week after more than two years of stealthily buying up land, extensive geological research and rigorous testing.
The Houston company estimates the discovery, dubbed "Alpine High," could be worth at least $8 billion.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/apache-huge-oil-discovery/index.html
Press Releases
| USDA Announces $26 Million Investment to Spur Agricultural Innovation |
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| Matching Contributions by Public and Private Partners Bring Total Investment to $59 Million for 45 Projects to Address Water Quality and Other Conservation Concerns |
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| WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2016 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the investment of $26.6 million by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) into 45 projects that will spur innovative conservation initiatives on both rural and urban farms across the country. Public and private grantees will provide matching investments, bringing the total value of support to $59 million. The investment is made through USDA's Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, which fosters innovation in conservation tools and strategies to improve things like on-farm energy and fertilizer use as well as market-based strategies to improve water quality or mitigate climate change. The 2016 projects focus on water quality, conservation finance and assistance to historically underserved USDA customers. Approximately 25 percent of the funding announced today will go to projects that benefit historically underserved producers, military veterans, and new and beginning farmers. "The Conservation Innovation Grant program is a highly competitive conservation grant program that helps put the very best conservation tools to work on privately held farms and forests, for maximum environmental impact," said Vilsack. "This investment will offer farmers, ranchers and forest landowners new ways to protect their natural resources and new revenue streams to keep their operations viable, building on the record amount of conservation work that has already been done under this Administration. Demand for this type of support outpaces what USDA can provide alone, but outside partners are willing to make additional investments because they see the good it can do for the environment and for their communities." With funding from this announcement, USDA has invested nearly $173 million to fund 414 national CIG projects since 2009. For this round of funding, USDA received 170 applications requesting more than $100 million, which far exceeded the initial funding target of approximately $20 million. USDA is making an investment of $26.6 million today, which will leverage an additional $32.5 million in matching investments from the grantees, more than doubling the federal investment. In 2015, CIG began supporting the burgeoning field of conservation finance and impact investing to attract more private dollars to science-based conservation solutions. Of the 45 projects receiving funding today, 13 are conservation finance awards. These new projects support the design and implementation of approaches to attract private capital to working lands conservation. The selected projects address diverse natural resource issues such as pollinators; sage-grouse conservation; forest, carbon and corporate chain sustainability; and organic farming. Below are highlights of several new projects from the three focus areas this fiscal year. A full listing of this fiscal year's selected projects is available here: www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/cig. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc., ($462,794)-proposes to establish several conservation investment mechanisms to help overcome barriers associated with participating in three existing mitigation banking programs in Maryland and Virginia. National Corn Growers Association, ($1 million)-proposes to develop a greenhouse gas insetting framework that can serve as a model for corporations and other entities to encourage conservation adoption and achieve greenhouse gas reductions and water quality benefits (Missouri). Tennessee State University, ($792,504)-This 1890 Historically Black Land-Grant university proposes to enhance the current Southern Nursery Industry "Guide for Best Management Practices," while recommending modifications to the USDA NRCS Conservation Practice Standards that specifically address natural resource and water-quality concerns relating to the nursery industry (Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia). Resource Conservation District of Monterey County ($1,300,695)-proposes to establish a cooperative model for pooling resources to comply with water quality regulations, making conservation practices more widely applicable in high-value, irrigated agricultural lands, leading to a streamlined approach to compliance with water quality regulation in California and the development of a decision support tool to aid new cooperatives in identifying and implementing coordinated water quality improvement strategies. City of Chicago, ($1 million)-proposes to create an urban farming system or cohort-based model to assist farmers with a high potential to succeed in establishing businesses and prepare and place more land into land trusts or cooperative tenure arrangements. The project will expand upon and begin to measure impacts of farm site developments that balance environmental remediation, stormwater management and water conservation (Illinois). University of Hawaii, ($979,927)-proposes to develop an approach to optimize irrigation scheduling in intensive vegetable production systems across diverse climatic zones in the Pacific Islands (Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa). CIG is funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The maximum grant is $2 million per project and the length of time for project completion is three years. The CIG projects are designed to engage EQIP-eligible producers in on-the-ground conservation activities that accelerate transfer and adoption of innovative conservation technology and approaches. CIG awards competitive grants to local and state units of governments, American Indian tribes and individuals. Through CIG, USDA works with other public and private entities to accelerate transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the nation's most pressing natural resource concerns. Since 2009, USDA has invested more than $29 billion to help producers make conservation improvements, working with a record 500,000 farmers, ranchers and landowners to protect land and water on more than 400 million acres nationwide. For an interactive look at USDA's work in conservation and forestry during the Obama Administration, visit Caring for our Air, Land and Water. # |
EPA Awarded Three GreenGov Presidential Sustainability Awards
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) has received three White House Presidential GreenGov sustainability awards, including one for helping Long Island communities develop post-Hurricane Sandy climate resiliency strategies. The White House announced the 2016 GreenGov Presidential Awards winners at a ceremony Wednesday in Washington. The GreenGov Presidential Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s federal sustainability goals.
“At EPA, we are committed to sustainability and to leading by example,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “We are proud that recent efforts by EPA staff to advance climate resiliency, composting, and sustainable demolition practices are being recognized with a GreenGov Presidential award.”
EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were awarded this year’s Resilience Role Model Award for their work with state and local leaders to develop climate resiliency strategies and environmentally sustainable Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts on Long Island. The agencies are jointly developing tools and resources to help other communities facing similar recovery and resiliency challenges in the future.
EPA and the General Services Administration (GSA) received the Green Dream Team Award for their effort to establish a successful compost collection program at the EPA's Washington, D.C. headquarters. GSA is working to expand collection services to more than 50 other federal buildings in the National Capital region.
The 2016 Good Neighbor Award recognized EPA for creating a toolkit that helps municipalities make environmentally sound decisions during demolitions of vacant homes. The number of vacant homes across the nation grew by 44 percent from 2000 to 2010.
Other 2016 GreenGov awardees include NASA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/07/fact-sheet-white-house-announces-2016-greengov-presidential-awards-new
Chairman of Oil Spill Trustee Council Announced
Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday announced that Commissioner N. Gunter Guy, Jr., of Alabama’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has been named Chairman of the Trustee Council for theDeepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill.
The Trustee Council is guided by a yearly rotating State Chair and Federal Vice-Chair selected from the Council membership. Commissioner Guy began his tenure as Chair August 1, 2016. Guy has been serving on the Trustee Council since his appointment as Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources in January of 2011.
“As Commissioner of Alabama’s natural resources, Gunter is the best person to represent our state on this council,” Governor Bentley said. “Commissioner Guy will represent the entire gulf coast region as chairman and I know he will lead this group to do what is best for all of those affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Gunter will play an essential role in helping develop and achieve restoration projects and plans that will make the public and environment whole.”
“I am honored to serve as Trustee Council Chairman following our historic settlement of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Commissioner Guy said. “I look forward to working with the other state and federal members of the Trustee Council to begin critical work for the long-term management, implementation and administration of up to $8.8 billion in settlement funds for Natural Resource Restoration in and for the Gulf of Mexico. I am also thankful to Governor Bentley for entrusting me with the privilege and responsibility to represent him and the State of Alabama in this very important matter.”
the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, April 20, 2010, federal agencies joined with state agencies from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas to form the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustee Council. The Council studied the effects of the oil spill, and it continues to work collaboratively to restore the Gulf of Mexico to its natural condition had the oil spill never occurred.
Federal agencies that act as Trustees on the Council are NOAA under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For more information on the Trustee Council, visit the websitehttp://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/. For more information specific to Alabama, seehttp://www.alabamacoastalrestoration.org/.
