State
Fighting the flying Asian carp: One mode of attack
Mississippi Today
The Mississippi River and other waterways in the state have been invaded, and the enemy is Asian carp.
http://mississippitoday.org/2016/10/25/fighting-the-flying-asian-carp-one-mode-of-attack/
Latest report says menhaden thriving in the Gulf
Sun Herald
OCEAN SPRINGS
A commission that assesses the health and viability of the menhaden population in the Gulf released a report this week that says despite massive commercial hauls, the menhaden population is sound.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/jackson-county/article110179307.html
NEW RULES MAY HELP BOOST SOLAR POWER IN MISSISSIPPI
MPB
Fans of solar power in Mississippi believe its time may have finally arrived. As Evelina Burnett reports, lower costs, more reliable technology, and new solar-friendly regulations may be making the energy source more common.
http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2016/10/24/new-rules-may-help-boost-solar-power-in-mississippi/
Stay issued in Aberdeen solar lawsuit
Daily Journal
ABERDEEN – City officials will have to wait a little longer to resolve a civil case over a planned solar energy plant to be built on the north end of Aberdeen.
http://djournal.com/news/stay-issued-aberdeen-solar-lawsuit/
Lawmakers question government travel spending
Clarion Ledger
Lawmakers looking for ways to further curtail state spending are focused this week on government travel, an area where many agencies haven’t appeared to scrimp even as they’ve cut services and staff.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2016/10/24/legislative-reform-committees/92668312/
Oil Spill
Was BP oil spill money misused? Former official defends fish testing
AP
BATON ROUGE — A former Louisiana Cabinet official is fending off criticism about the way he managed a program to ensure seafood from the Gulf of Mexico was safe to eat after a massive oil spill in 2010.
Attorney sentenced in BP fraud case
WTVA
OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) -- An Oxford attorney is heading to prison and has been ordered to repay money in a BP oil spill related fraud case.
http://www.wtva.com/news/Attorney_sentenced_in_BP_fraud_case.html
Regional
EPA faults Tennessee for lax water quality enforcement
The Tennessean
The Environmental Protection Agency criticized Tennessee state regulators for significant shortcomings in their enforcement of the Clean Water Act and other federal pollution laws.
Wells detect high levels of heavy metals near Georgia Power plants
AJC
Arsenic and other heavy metals — with toxicity levels 20 or 30 times federal standards — have been discovered in the groundwater near a half-dozen Georgia Power plants, according to newly released utility data.
Urgency in rebuilding coastal wetlands stressed in master plan discussion
Times-Picayune
Louisiana's senior coastal official on Monday (Oct. 24) called the upcoming approval of the 2017 rewrite of the state's master plan for coastal restoration and storm surge protection "the issue of a lifetime" because of the urgency surrounding the need to begin building major restoration projects.
$5 nutria bounty = less wetland damage
Times-Picayune
Slideshow
http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2016/10/nutria_bounties_less_wetland_d.html#4
Shrimp size on the rise after Hurricane Matthew
Post and Courier
In the midst of fallen trees and other debris, Hurricane Matthew left a sweet little calling card: shrimp, big ones.
National
Is EPA’s Limiting of Wastewater Decision Akin to New Rule?
Bloomberg
Should a federal agency’s refusal to apply an appeals court order on a regulation or policy nationwide be viewed as “re-promulgating” a rule and thus have legal consequences, an appellate judge asked at the start of oral arguments Oct. 21 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s wet weather policies ( Ctr. for Regulatory Reasonableness v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 14-01150, oral arguments 10/21/16 ).
http://www.bna.com/epas-limiting-wastewater-n57982079036/
Study: CO2 levels will stay above key measure for 'generations'
The Hill
Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have passed a critical scientific juncture from 2015 and are likely to stay above it for “generations,” a meteorological group reported Monday.
Species may be listed as threatened based on climate change projections, court says
LA Times
Federal authorities may list a species as “threatened” based on climate models that show habitat loss in the coming decades, an appeals court decided Monday.
http://www.sunherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article110265767.html
Taking Down Dams and Letting the Fish Flow
NY Times
BANGOR, Me. — Joseph Zydlewski, a research biologist with the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit of the United States Geological Survey, drifted in a boat on the Penobscot River, listening to a crackling radio receiver. The staccato clicks told him that one of the shad that his team had outfitted with a transmitter was swimming somewhere below.
Public-Housing Residents Fight Eviction Over Lead Contamination
People living in East Chicago, Ind., complex say they have few options after city ordered the site’s demolition
WSJ
EAST CHICAGO, Ind.—The West Calumet Housing Complex in this industrial city features townhouse-like homes with well-manicured lawns, a nearby park, a newly built school and a safe, family-friendly feel.
