State
HCUA votes to pursue legal action against the City of Gulfport
WLOX
The Harrison County Utility Authority has decided it will sue the City of Gulfport for not meeting its obligation under the solid waste contract. At Thursday's meeting with attorneys on hand, the contract issue was debated.
Volunteers gear up to “sweep” Pearl River of growing filth
NewsMS
Cleanup teams dispatched from 30 locations along the Pearl River will take to the water this September in the first Pearl River Clean Sweep. The event will celebrate drinkable, swimmable, fishable water in 15 counties, 2 parishes, 2 states and over 490 miles of one of the state’s most valuable waterways.
Oil Spill
Mississippi Aquarium to bring jobs to the coast, announces exhibits
NewsMS
The Mississippi Aquarium is currently being built and plans are already underway for exhibits.
Visitors will get to see animals unique to the Gulf, a bird aviary where people can interact with birds, as well as, dolphins and other marine wildlife.
Regional
TVA agrees to hold off using new wells pending outcome of contamination probe
Commercial Appeal
The Tennessee Valley Authority will refrain using five controversial water wells to cool a power plant it is constructing until researchers are certain the pumping won't suck arsenic and other contaminants into the source of Memphis' drinking water, according to an agreement announced Thursday between the agency and state and local officials.
Small earthquake occurs near Alabama-Mississippi line
AP
LIVINGSTON, ALA.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a small earthquake occurred overnight in western Alabama near the Mississippi state line.
Gov. Roy Cooper keeps a close eye on GenX water investigation, tours water treatment plant
WECT
BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WECT) -Governor Roy Cooper is keeping a close eye on the GenX water investigation and spent Thursday morning touring a water treatment plant in Brunswick County.
Low-cost water quality sensors will soon be deployed across Georgia
AJC
A new network of low-cost water quality sensors will soon be deployed across Georgia, after federal environmental officials agreed to fund a program to help track the health of local waterways.
National
National Institutes of Health wipes references to climate 'change' from site
The Hill
References to "climate change" have been wiped from parts of The National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Environmental Health Science division website, according to a report by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative.
Interior recommends Trump shrink national monuments
The Hill
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Thursday he's asking President Trump to shrink “a handful” of national monuments that previous presidents designated to protect land and water.
US seeks prison sentence for VW engineer in diesel scandal
AP
DETROIT
U.S. prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence for a Volkswagen engineer who had a key role in the company's diesel emissions scandal.
Environmental Group Maps NYC ‘Green’ Rooftops
The Nature Conservancy of New York says the project could help expand green spaces
WSJ
Hundreds of acres of green roofs have sprouted in New York City in recent years, and now a group is mapping their locations.
Opinion
The Park Service’s Botched Bottle Ban
Obama’s behavioral economists must have been on vacation.
WSJ
Vacationers can now buy bottled water in national parks, after the Trump Administration this month ended an Obama-era policy that sought to reduce plastic waste. Environmentalists responded with predictable outrage, but reversing the ban is healthier and greener.
Is ‘Food Waste’ Really Such a Waste?
The optimal amount of waste is not zero.
WSJ
By Marc F. Bellemare
When it comes to food, many people think “waste not, want not” is an effective public policy. “Up to one third of all food is spoiled or squandered before it is consumed,” the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says.
Press Releases
Secretary Zinke Sends Monument Report to the White House
Date: August 24, 2017
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke sent a draft report to the president which included his findings and recommendations on national monuments that were under review as a result of the April 26, 2017 executive order. The report summary can be read here. The extensive 120-day review included more than 60 meetings with hundreds of advocates and opponents of monument designations, tours of monuments conducted over air, foot, car, and horseback (including a virtual tour of a marine monument), and a thorough review of more than 2.4 million public comments submitted to the Department on regulations.gov. Additionally, countless more meetings and conversations between senior Interior officials and local, state, Tribal, and non-government stakeholders including multiple Tribal listening sessions. The review was initiated by President Trump in order to restore trust in the multiple-use mission of the Department and to give rural communities a voice in federal land management decisions. In order to make the process transparent and give local residents and stakeholders a voice, the Secretary announced on May 5, 2017 the opening up of a formal comment period for the review, as the President directed. This was the first time ever that a formal comment period was open on regulations.govfor national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act. “No President should use the authority under the Antiquities Act to restrict public access, prevent hunting and fishing, burden private land, or eliminate traditional land uses, unless such action is needed to protect the object,” said Secretary Zinke.“The recommendations I sent to the president on national monuments will maintain federal ownership of all federal land and protect the land under federal environmental regulations, and also provide a much needed change for the local communities who border and rely on these lands for hunting and fishing, economic development, traditional uses, and recreation.”
While traveling across the country, Secretary Zinke met with hundreds of local stakeholders and heard concerns about some national monuments negatively impacting things like local revenue from federal lands, agriculture, private property rights, public access to land, traditional Tribal uses of the land, and timber harvesting.
Over the 120-day review, Secretary Zinke visited eight national monument sites in six states:
- Bears Ears (UT)
- Grand Staircase Escalante (UT)
- Katahdin Woods and Waters (ME)
- Northeast Canyons and Seamounts
- Cascade Siskiyou (OR & CA)
- Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks (NM)
- Basin and Range (NV)
- Gold Butte (NV)
The following national monuments were announced to have been removed from review prior to the August 24 deadline:
Many Texas Beaches Likely to Erode, Be Overwashed, or Inundated by Hurricane Harvey
USGS
New projections from the U.S. Geological Survey indicate Hurricane Harvey is likely to cause significant beach erosion along the Texas coastline, with water overtopping dunes and in some cases inundating areas.
As of Thursday afternoon, the USGS Coastal Change Forecast model is predicting that 100 percent of Texas’s 367 miles of coastline will undergo some level of beach erosion from the storm surge and large waves Hurricane Harvey will produce.
“Significant coastal erosion along the coastline of Texas is expected due to the rapid strengthening of Hurricane Harvey,” said Joseph Long, USGS Research Oceanographer. “While the forecasts are subject to change as Harvey approaches land, we are making these forecasts to help inform emergency managers and communities on the potential coastal erosion hazards to be prepared for during the storm.”
There are many factors and variables to consider when trying to determine what a large storm like Harvey might do to the coast. The USGS Coastal Change Forecast model uses the National Hurricane Center’s storm surge predictions and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wave forecast models as key inputs, and adds information about the beach slope and dune height to predict how high waves and surge will move up the beach and whether the protective dunes will be overtopped.
Results of the modeling indicate Hurricane Harvey could have a significant impact on the beaches and dunes coastal Texas.
The Coastal Change Forecast model is also projecting that 65 percent of Texas’s coastline will experience a more severe level of erosion hazard, known as dune overwash, particularly north of Corpus Christi up to the Galveston area. As waves and surge reach higher than the top of a dune, overwash occurs, often transporting large amounts of sand across coastal environments and roadways, depositing sand inland and causing significant changes to the landscape and possibly impeding transportation routes.
Inundation is the most severe level of coastal damage from a storm and occurs when beaches and dunes are completely and continuously submerged by surge. Currently, 37 percent of Texas’s coastline is projected to experience inundation in areas north of Corpus Christi to the Galveston area.
“The public should understand that whenever we have 100 percent of a coastline expected to experience erosion and a large portion of it projected to have dune overwash and inundation, that it is a very hazardous condition and that the beaches will look dramatically different after the storm passes,” Long said.
A map of these estimates can be viewed on the USGS’ Coastal Change Hazards Portal, which is easily accessible to the public. The coastal change forecast can be used by emergency managers to help identify locations where coastal impacts might be the most severe, such as where roads may be damaged or covered by sand and impassable even after the storm is over. While the final projections for Hurricane Harvey will continue to change, Harvey is forecasted to remain a powerful storm for several days and to bring damaging conditions to Texas and possibly other gulf coast states beaches as well.
As the USGS continues to take all appropriate preparedness and response actions as Hurricane Harvey approaches the Southeast coast, people potentially affected by the storm can visit http://www.ready.gov/ or http://www.listo.gov/ for tips on creating emergency plans and putting together an emergency supply kit.
