One of the most popular herbicides in the world can cause cancer, California health officials say, and they might demand warnings saying so.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/28/health/california-glyphosate-cancer-chemical-listing/index.html Press Releases
Gov. Bryant Announces Treasury’s Award of RESTORE Projects (JACKSON, Miss.) -- Gov. Phil Bryant announced today that the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has issued grant awards for six Mississippi RESTORE projects.
“This is good news as we continue to propose and implement projects to support the economic and natural resource recovery of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the entire Gulf region resulting from the oil spill,” Gov. Bryant said. “I had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Steven Mnuchin in May to discuss Mississippi’s priorities. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and Treasury have, and will continue to work together, to improve the processes which will result in additional awards in the imminent future.”
The projects are:
Mississippi Aquarium ($17 million) -- Direct Component funds and leveraged funding from the City of Gulfport will be used for construction of the Coastal Community Gallery Building on the Mississippi Aquarium campus. The Coastal Community Gallery Building is anticipated to be approximately 42,000 square feet (including tanks) and will serve as the primary aquarium building.
“The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s approval of RESTORE Act funding for the Mississippi Aquarium is confirmation of tireless work by countless people, from the Governor’s office to the local level, in seeing a grand vision through to fruition. It sets the stage for the next step of development for what will be the premier family attraction on our Gulf Coast. The timing could not be better!” said Billy Hewes, Mayor, City of Gulfport.
Stennis Hangar ($2 million) -- Direct Component funds and leveraged funding from the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission will be used to construct a new hangar at the Stennis International Airport. The hangar will be approximately 24,640 square feet and will support aerospace industry growth.
Off-Bottom Oyster Aquaculture ($1 million) -- RESTORE funds will be used to support workforce development and job creation by developing and implementing a two-phase Off-bottom Oyster Aquaculture Program to support training in alternative oyster harvesting methods for Gulf Coast oystermen and fishermen. Includes the development of an off-bottom oyster farming park for the purposes of education, training, research and development of off-bottom oyster aquaculture farming along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Fiber Optic Infrastructure Planning ($5 million) – Funding for planning activities to identify the needs to improve fiber optic infrastructure along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Planning activities may include, but are not limited to, assessing existing fiber optic infrastructure, identifying fiber optic infrastructure needs, and assessing applicable solutions to enhancing fiber optic infrastructure.
Earlier this month Treasury also approved awards for the Port Bienville Trans-Loading Terminal Facility Completion and the Jackson County Corridor Connector Road – Phase I projects.
Port Bienville Trans-Loading Terminal Facility Completion ($8 million) -- RESTORE funding will be used to construct approximately 1,600 linear feet of rail spur, 1,200 linear feet of bulkhead, and 9,300 square yards of dock area. This project will improve the terminal for use in trans-loading of materials and will support container-on-barge operations. The terminal may also be used to support supply vessels in the offshore industry.
Jackson County Corridor Connector Road – Phase I ($10.2 million) -- The Mississippi Gulf Coast has seen significant development near the intersection of I-10 and I-110 in recent years. Existing transportation networks have also developed to support the increase in traffic to the area; however, traffic congestion, system continuity, and traveler safety still pose challenges. This project will construct Phase I of a multi-phased project and will provide support to the existing transportation networks by constructing 1.1 miles of new roadway connecting Mallett Road/Sangani Boulevard to Cook Road.
These projects are part of Mississippi’s initial Multiyear Implementation Plan (MIP) which includes proposed projects totaling more than $54.1 million. The projects were proposed to the governor by the GoCoast 2020 Commission and announced in December 2015.
The RESTORE Act requires the state, through MDEQ, to prepare the MIP for Direct Component Funding, which is administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Some of the eligible activities that can be included in the state’s MIP include: restoration and protection of natural resources; mitigation of damage to natural resources; workforce development and job creation; improvements to state parks; infrastructure projects, including ports; coastal flood protection; and, promotion of tourism and Gulf seafood.
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MDEQ Announces Winners of Beach Outfalls Challenge
Best High School, College Teams Also Recognized in Inaugural Public Prize Competition
(LONG BEACH, Miss.)
– The
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) announced today the three winners of its
Beach Outfalls Challenge:
- Allen Engineering and Science (Jackson, Miss.)
- MMMM (Biloxi, Miss.)
- Sustainable Active Landscapes Team (On-beach) (Bay St. Louis, Miss).
MDEQ also recognized the top college team, Ian Hunter Land Arch from Virginia Tech, and the top high school team, The EnviroNeers of Madison Central High School in Madison, Miss.
The goal of the Beach Outfalls Challenge is to enhance Mississippi’s ability to restore and maintain ecological integrity of priority bays and estuaries by providing measurable improvements to water quality and reducing significant sources of degradation.
“The Beach Outfalls Challenge sparked truly innovative thinking among people who care deeply about the water quality of the Mississippi Sound,” said Gary Rikard, MDEQ Executive Director. “We’re thrilled with promising solutions presented by our finalists today and are looking forward to developing and testing them further.”
The Beach Outfalls Challenge kicked off in January, when teams initially registered to participate. After a review of design submissions, a panel of judges named 12 teams as Semi-Finalists in April. The public had an opportunity to vote on the solutions, which factored into the identification of the six Finalist teams. Each team prepared a presentation detailing its solution for judges to evaluate at the Beach Outfalls Challenge Showcase, held today at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach. Winners were announced at the end of the event.
The other Finalist teams were:
- GSRC/Compton (Baton Rouge, La.)
- Sustainable Active Landscapes Team (In-stream) (Bay St. Louis, Miss.)
- Sustainable Outfall Solutions (Biloxi, Miss.)
MDEQ will soon move to the next phase of this project which includes procuring engineers to fully develop these winning design ideas and building pilot-scale demonstrations to determine each design’s viability for improving water quality.
For more information about the Beach Outfalls Challenge, please visit
http://beachoutfallschallenge.org/.
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$1 Million Grant will Help Mississippi Address Leaking Underground Petroleum Storage Tanks EPA supports state efforts to perform cleanup work ATLANTA (June 28, 2017) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $1,094,000 grant to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to assist the state in cleaning up petroleum contamination from leaking underground storage tanks throughout the state. This grant is funded through the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund for the purpose of supporting state efforts to address this type of contamination. States may use these funds to support staff that oversee the cleanup projects or to pay for contractual services to perform cleanup projects. Some states, including Mississippi, use the funding for a combination of both.
“Grants made under the LUST Trust Fund to our partners like MDEQ give states the flexibility to cleanup petroleum contamination from leaking underground storage tanks,” said
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “EPA is providing funds directly to Mississippi so that the state may determine how best to address its unique and critical environmental challenges.”
This grant will help protect citizens and the environment in Mississippi by supporting the state’s efforts to both clean up and prevent petroleum releases from USTs. Last fiscal year, Mississippi reported 113 new confirmed discharges, 100 cleanups completed and 419 still remaining to be addressed. Mississippi’s goals for this year are to complete 80 cleanups and to further reduce confirmed releases at UST facilities by five percent compared to last year.
A portion of the funds can be used by the state to carry out enforcement, corrective action and cost recovery activities. To the extent the State is successful in recovering LUST Trust Fund expenditures—including interest—from liable owners/operators, it will dedicate and use these funds for additional LUST cleanup activities.
In 1986, Congress created the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to address petroleum releases from federally regulated underground storage tanks (USTs) by amending Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. In 2005, the Energy Policy Act expanded eligible uses of the Trust Fund to include certain leak prevention activities.
The LUST Trust Fund provides money to oversee cleanups of petroleum releases by responsible parties; enforce cleanups by recalcitrant parties; pay for cleanups at sites where the owner or operator is unknown, unwilling, or unable to respond, or which require emergency action; and conduct inspections and other release prevention activities. The Trust Fund is financed by a 0.1 cent tax on each gallon of motor fuel sold nationwide.
