State
A year later, Jackson's lead-water issue not solved
Clarion Ledger
Some Jackson residents have experienced elevated lead in their water for at least a year and a half, but it's not unusual that it's taken the city this long to correct the issue.
Oakmont gets preliminary nod from planning panel
Oxford Eagle
The Oxford Planning Commission approved the preliminary plat for the Oakmont Subdivision located outside the city limits, with the condition the developer must apply for annexation into the city of Oxford.
…Jeff Williams, the engineer for Oakmont, said the PSC won’t review the request until the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality signs off on the development’s waste treatment plans.
http://www.oxfordeagle.com/2016/12/13/oakmont-gets-preliminary-nod-from-planning-panel/
CMR votes to extend oyster season
WLOX
BILOXI, MS (WLOX) -Fresh Mississippi oysters should be available just before Christmas. That's because the CMR voted Tuesday to extend oyster season, despite its staff's recommendation that all the reefs be closed.
http://www.wlox.com/story/34044410/cmr-votes-to-extend-oyster-season
SMALL BUSINESS RECEIVES $1,200 CHECK FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY
WCBI
AMORY, Miss. (WCBI)- A locally owned cleaner’s received a nice check early this morning.
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley and Atmos Energy presented Carlisle’s Cleaners in Amory with a 12-hundred-dollar check to offset equipment upgrades.
http://www.wcbi.com/video-small-business-receives-1200-check-energy-efficiency/
Oil Spill
USM purchasing $7.7 million fish hatchery
WLOX
STONE COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -It's an aquaculture program that will benefit research, academics and the so-called "blue economy." The state is using $ 7.7 million of BP money to purchase a fish hatchery in Stone County.
http://www.wlox.com/story/34033609/usm-purchasing-77-million-fish-hatchery
Southern Miss to Lead Gulf Oyster Restoration through Oyster Aquaculture
USM
The University of Southern Mississippi plans to obtain an existing hatchery and aquaculture facility that will allow the University to lead oyster restoration efforts in an effort to boost the state of Mississippi’s oyster population and grow the state’s Blue Economy.
http://news.usm.edu/article/southern-miss-lead-gulf-oyster-restoration-through-oyster-aquaculture
Trumbull to Oversee BP Oil Spill Settlement Funds
WMBB
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran named Representative Jay Trumbull to chair the select committee on Triumph Gulf Coast.
http://www.mypanhandle.com/news/trumbull-to-oversee-bp-oil-spill-settlement-funds/618801299
BP Internal Report Reveals Near-Miss Accidents
Report blames poor handling of engineering data but says commitment to safety is unwavering
WSJ
LONDON— BP PLC has had several near-miss accidents at facilities around the world caused by lapses in how it handles engineering data, an internal report has found, six years after a fatal blowout in the Gulf of Mexico exposed its safety problems.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/bp-internal-report-reveals-near-miss-accidents-1481643691
Regional
Louisiana may use private money to fix wetlands, coast under new federal law
Times-Picayune
While much of the to-do about the latest major water bill to pass Congress focused on lead-tainted drinking water in Flint, Michigan, and the drought in California, tucked among its provisions are details that could signal a major shift in how environmental restoration projects are financed in Louisiana.
Louisiana coastal work delays could cost billions of dollars, study says
Times-Picayune
Adding another urgent note to Louisiana's effort to rebuild its coastline, a new study says delays in creating wetlands and ridges in open water with sediment dredged from elsewhere could balloon costs by 200 percent to 600 percent. That's because of additional wetlands erosion, increased construction costs and inflation during the delays.
EPA set to study lead contamination in Southside soil
Chattanooga Times Free Press
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting today to announce plans to study lead in residential soil, focusing on a small number of residential areas in downtown/Southside Chattanooga.
National
Reversing Course, E.P.A. Says Fracking Can Contaminate Drinking Water
NY Times
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that hydraulic fracturing, the oil and gas extraction technique also known as fracking, has contaminated drinking water in some circumstances, according to the final version of a comprehensive study first issued in 2015.
EPA Fracking Report Offers Few Answers on Drinking Water
AP
Is hydraulic fracturing — better known as fracking — safe, as the oil and gas industry claims? Or does the controversial drilling technique that has spurred a domestic energy boom contaminate drinking water, as environmental groups and other critics charge?
After six years and more than $29 million, the Environmental Protection Agency says it doesn't know.
Fracking Can Taint Drinking Water, EPA Report Finds
Environmental agency’s study on hydraulic fracturing walks back earlier findings
WSJ
WASHINGTON—Fracking can affect drinking water supplies in certain circumstances, the Obama administration said in a long-awaited report issued Tuesday, leaving open the possibility of more widespread impacts that it says can’t be determined with current data.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fracking-can-impact-drinking-water-epa-report-finds-1481652649
Donald Trump Picks Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke as Interior Secretary
Former Navy SEAL would lead efforts to open up federal lands and waters to fossil-fuel development
WSJ
WASHINGTON—Donald Trump has selected Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to lead the Interior Department, according to a transition official, tapping a freshman Republican congressman who, like the president-elect, is often at odds with environmentalists but has opposed efforts to sell federal lands to states.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-picks-rep-ryan-zinke-to-run-interior-department-1481668785
Donald Trump Picks Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy Secretary
Perry, a Trump rival in the Republican primary, once advocated for eliminating the agency
WSJ
WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Texas Gov. Rick Perryto lead the Energy Department, according to two transition officials, selecting a climate-change skeptic who led the nation’s biggest energy-producing state for nearly 15 years.
Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump
Washington Post
Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.
National Guard halts public events in all lead-contaminated armories
Oregonian
The National Guard is halting all community events in toxic armories across the country, taking significant steps to prevent lead exposure just a week after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive revealed that lead from indoor firing ranges contaminated hundreds of the buildings.
Here's what EPA says it's doing about lead in tap water
USA Today
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new Drinking Water Action Plan in late November that the agency called a “national call to action.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/13/heres-what-epa-says-s-doing-lead-tap-water/94812122/
Opinion
Letter to the Editor
Clarion Ledger
Behold the MDEQ Permit Board
In November, at an administrative hearing, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s permit board unanimously upheld its earlier ruling on a water permit it issued for the expansion of the Renaissance at Colony Park.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/12/13/letters-editor-dec-14-2016/95374122/
Press Releases
U.S. EPA Releases Final Report on Impacts from Hydraulic Fracturing Activities on Drinking Water Resources
EPA’s report concludes that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources under some circumstances and identifies factors that influence these impacts
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing its scientific report on the impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources, which provides states and others the scientific foundation to better protect drinking water resources in areas where hydraulic fracturing is occurring or being considered. The report, done at the request of Congress, provides scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources in the United States under some circumstances. As part of the report, EPA identified conditions under which impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities can be more frequent or severe. The report also identifies uncertainties and data gaps. These uncertainties and data gaps limited EPA’s ability to fully assess impacts to drinking water resources both locally and nationally. These final conclusions are based upon review of over 1,200 cited scientific sources; feedback from an independent peer review conducted by EPA’s Science Advisory Board; input from engaged stakeholders; and new research conducted as part of the study.
"The value of high quality science has never been more important in helping to guide decisions around our nation’s fragile water resources. EPA's assessment provides the scientific foundation for local decision makers, industry, and communities that are looking to protect public health and drinking water resources and make more informed decisions about hydraulic fracturing activities,” said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, EPA's Science Advisor and Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Research and Development. "This assessment is the most complete compilation to date of national scientific data on the relationship of drinking water resources and hydraulic fracturing."
The report is organized around activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle and their potential to impact drinking water resources. The stages include: (1) acquiring water to be used for hydraulic fracturing (Water Acquisition), (2) mixing the water with chemical additives to make hydraulic fracturing fluids (Chemical Mixing), (3) injecting hydraulic fracturing fluids into the production well to create and grow fractures in the targeted production zone (Well Injection), (4) collecting the wastewater that returns through the well after injection (Produced Water Handling), and (5) managing the wastewater through disposal or reuse methods (Wastewater Disposal and Reuse).
EPA identified cases of impacts on drinking water at each stage in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle. Impacts cited in the report generally occurred near hydraulically fractured oil and gas production wells and ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality, to contamination that made private drinking water wells unusable.
As part of the report, EPA identified certain conditions under which impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities can be more frequent or severe, including:
- Water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing in times or areas of low water availability, particularly in areas with limited or declining groundwater resources;
- Spills during the management of hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals or produced water that result in large volumes or high concentrations of chemicals reaching groundwater resources;
- Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into wells with inadequate mechanical integrity, allowing gases or liquids to move to groundwater resources;
- Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids directly into groundwater resources;
- Discharge of inadequately treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater to surface water resources; and
- Disposal or storage of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in unlined pits, resulting in contamination of groundwater resources.
The report provides valuable information about potential vulnerabilities to drinking water resources, but was not designed to be a list of documented impacts.
Data gaps and uncertainties limited EPA’s ability to fully assess the potential impacts on drinking water resources both locally and nationally. Generally, comprehensive information on the location of activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle is lacking, either because it is not collected, not publicly available, or prohibitively difficult to aggregate. In places where we know activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle have occurred, data that could be used to characterize hydraulic fracturing-related chemicals in the environment before, during, and after hydraulic fracturing were scarce. Because of these data gaps and uncertainties, as well as others described in the assessment, it was not possible to fully characterize the severity of impacts, nor was it possible to calculate or estimate the national frequency of impacts on drinking water resources from activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle.
EPA's final assessment benefited from extensive stakeholder engagement with states, tribes, industry, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community, and the public. This broad engagement helped to ensure that the final assessment report reflects current practices in hydraulic fracturing and uses all data and information available to the agency. This report advances the science. The understanding of the potential impacts from hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources will continue to improve over time as new information becomes available.
For a copy of the study, visit www.epa.gov/hfstudy.
CMR approves increased size
for Spotted Seatrout
BILOXI, Miss. – The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 13, to approve increasing the minimum size of Spotted Seatrout to 15 inches.
The vote also included allowing no Spotted Seatrout take for charter captains and crew.
The new regulation will go into effect after the Secretary of State’s Office approves the paperwork, likely by the middle of January 2017.
Commissioners also voted to open the western portion of the Mississippi Sound for oyster dredging for no more than five days beginning Dec. 15 through Dec. 22, with the exception of Area 1B. This area includes the St. Joe Reef and will be closed to dredging and tonging.
The reefs in the Western Sound also will be open for tonging if the two reefs in the Biloxi Bay are closed. Currently, the Biloxi Bay reefs are closed due to poor water samples. Tonging will end in all areas on Feb. 28, 2017.
In other action, CMR members voted to issue a temporary moratorium on selling commercial crab licenses through April 30, 2017. Commissioners said the move will conserve the blue crab resource because demand and price for the crabs is expected to increase.
The CMR also approved a state record for Inshore Lizardfish, which was established by Aaron Gautier of Pascagoula. Gautier caught the 4.416-ounce fish using conventional tackle.
