State
MDEQ awards county $28K for solid waste assistance
Delta Democrat-Times
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality earlier this week announced it has awarded Washington County a solid waste assistance grant totaling $28,361.
Wicker, Cochran announce $10.1 million grant for debris removal
NewsMS
Senator’s Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran announced a $10.1 Million dollar grant that will remove debris from Holmes, Montgomery, and Yazoo counties
NEW GARBAGE CARTS IN HARRISON COUNTY
WXXV
Team Waste and the Harrison County Utility Authority started delivering new 96 gallon garbage cans around Harrison County earlier this week.
Cleanup for Kickoff event happening this Saturday
Oxford Eagle
With the first Ole Miss home game fast approaching next weekend, Leadership Lafayette is hosting a new event to make Lafayette County look as nice as possible for visitors coming for football.
Miller, Montgomery urge caution with new lake offer
Commercial Dispatch
District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller say their fellow board members could be sinking money into a want, not a need, if Oktibbeha County pursues a new $2 million offer from former Mississippi State University basketball coach Rick Stansbury for his Starkville Wet 'N Wild property at Oktibbeha County Lake.
...Almost $800,000 has been spent to shore up the lake's levy after rapid drawdowns -- when the lake's water level rises and falls in a short amount of time -- led to slope failures along Oktibbeha County Lake Road, and issues with seepage and the lake's slide gate and emergency spillway remain.
Public Service Commission extends deadline on Kempter settlement
Sun Herald
Instead of setting a date for a status meeting to settle the issues with the Kemper energy facility, the Public Service Commission on Friday extended the deadline for the parties to reach an agreement.
See your shrimp or sunset in an upcoming calendar
Sun Herald
South Mississippians, check those photos on your phones.
You might have one worthy of the next Mississippi Department of Marine Resources calendar.
The DMR has announced its photo contest for the 2018 calendar, and the deadline to submit an entry is Sept. 29.
World Marine divests in Pascagoula shipyard due to decline in oil market
Mississippi Press
PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- World Marine LLC, a shipyard services company with a presence on the Gulf Coast, announced on Friday that it has completed a transaction divesting its Pascagoula shipyard.
Pressure rises on Mississippi public pension fund to seek more money
AP
An outside adviser is telling Mississippi's public pension system that it should change its accounting policies in a way that would sharply increase required contributions to keep the system solvent over the long run, adding to financial pressure on the Public Employees Retirement System.
Regional
TVA suspects arsenic came from other sources
Commercial Appeal
Just a curved pipe protruding from the ground, monitoring well No. 203 lies at the edge of a harbor and at the center of a mystery.
With restaurant help, oyster reef to be built along Barataria Bay
AP
State moves to give oysters breathing room
Houston Chronicle
The fate of Texas's oysters in the wake of Hurricane Harvey seems an insignificant sidelight to the devastation being wrought by the storm.
Coming soon to the mouth of the Mississippi River: 30-foot radar masts
Times-Picayune
Radio transmitters capable of detecting the location and speed of Gulf of Mexico currents will soon be installed near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The transmitters, generally 30 feet tall, can be used for boat navigation and Coast Guard search-and-rescue efforts, and to track oil spills.
Old accident in Mississippi Delta holds lessons for saving Louisiana's coast
Times-Picayune
An oyster farmer by the name of Cubit had no grand designs when, in 1862, he dug a ditch into the east bank of the Mississippi River; he simply wanted a shortcut for his skiff. But his cut in the lower river delta at Pilottown, about 15 miles below Venice, unleashed the land-building power of the muddy Mississippi. It poured through, widening the ditch into a broad canal that allowed enough river sediment through to create more than 75 square miles of coastal wetland in less than a century.
UA names water institute leader
Tuscaloosa News
A University of Alabama microbiologist has been chosen to lead the campus’ newly launched Alabama Water Institute.
How invasive lionfish became unstoppable in the Gulf of Mexico
Al.com
Lionfish have long been a prized aquarium species, with striking coloration and unusual looking fins sure to spice up any saltwater tank.
National
EPA to host 10 hearings on water rule rewrite
The Hill
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning 10 public hearings to gather input on its effort to write a new version of an Obama-era water pollution rule.
Volkswagen engineer sentenced for role in emissions cheating
The Hill
A Volkswagen engineer was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release Friday for his role in designing and implementing software the company used to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
EPA cancels sponsorship of awards for climate leadership
The Hill
The Environmental Protection Agency has dropped its sponsorship of a climate change awards program co-sponsored by two environmental organizations.
Gasoline Prices Surge After Hurricane Harvey
Impact expected to spread further afield than previous tropical storms
WSJ
Press Releases
Duck Populations Remain High for 2017
8/25/2017 11:39:07 AM
From MDWFP
JACKSON – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service, along with other partner organizations, recently completed their annual waterfowl breeding population and habitat surveys in the northern United States and Canadian provinces known as the waterfowl “breeding grounds”. These surveys monitor breeding duck populations and critical wetland habitat conditions, which are directly related to the number of birds available to head south during the upcoming fall and winter. Estimates from these surveys are used to help set waterfowl hunting season frameworks like bag limits and the number of hunting days allowed.
Population estimates for four of the ten surveyed duck species in the traditional survey area increased this year. Following a record year, mallard numbers decreased by 11 percent but still remained well above their long term average. Blue-winged teal and gadwall populations showed the greatest increases (18 percent and 13 percent, respectively). Northern pintail and northern shoveler populations also experienced increases. Other duck species with reported decreases in their overall numbers were American wigeon, green-winged teal, canvasback, redhead, and scaup.
“Despite decreases in estimates of total ducks and some individual species, breeding duck populations are still doing very well, overall,” said Houston Havens, Waterfowl Program Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. However, Mississippi hunters are reminded that many factors will combine to determine whether or not large numbers of migrating waterfowl show up in Mississippi wetlands. Fall and winter weather, as well as wetland habitat conditions here on the wintering grounds, play major roles in duck migrations, which will ultimately define the quality of this hunting season for Mississippi’s duck hunters.
EPA and the Army Seek Input in the Review of the Waters of the U.S. Rule
Stakeholder sessions will be held weekly between September and November
08/25/2017
Contact Information:
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of the Army (the agencies) will hold 11 sessions to give stakeholders an opportunity to provide recommendations on a revised definition of “waters of the United States.” The agencies will hold nine two-hour long teleconferences that will be tailored for specific sectors, plus one that will be open to the general public. The agencies will also hold one in-person session for small entities.
“EPA is committed to an open and transparent process for reviewing the definition of ‘waters of the United States,’” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Receiving input from across the country will help us make informed decisions as we move through our two-step process that will return power to the states and to provide regulatory certainty to our nation’s farmers and businesses.”
These sessions follow the February 28, 2017, Presidential Executive Order on "Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the 'Waters of the United States' Rule." The February Order states that it is in the national interest to ensure that the Nation's navigable waters are kept free from pollution, while at the same time promoting economic growth, minimizing regulatory uncertainty, and showing due regard for the roles of Congress and the States under the Constitution.
To meet these objectives, the agencies are following an expeditious, two-step rulemaking process. The recommendations gathered through these stakeholder sessions, in addition to the feedback the agencies are hearing through ongoing outreach to state, local and tribal governments, will help inform the step two rulemaking, which would revise the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.
The stakeholder sessions will be held on a weekly basis beginning September 19 and will continue each Tuesday thereafter for ten weeks. Each will run from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern time. Information on how to register for each of these meetings is available on the EPA website. Registration for each webinar will close a week prior. Those wishing to provide verbal recommendations during the teleconference will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. Due to the expected volume of participants, individuals will be asked to limit their oral presentation to three minutes. Stakeholder Sessions Schedule
· September 19, 2017 – small entities (small businesses, small organizations and small governmental jurisdictions)
· September 26, 2017 – environment and public advocacy
· October 3, 2017 – conservation, e.g., hunters and anglers
· October 10, 2017 – construction and transportation
· October 17, 2017 – agriculture
· October 24, 2017 – industry
· October 31, 2017 – mining
· November 7, 2017 – scientific organizations and academia
· November 14, 2017 – stormwater, wastewater management and drinking water agencies
· November 21, 2017 – general public
The agencies are also planning an in-person meeting with small entities, which will be held on Monday, October 23, 2017, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time at the U.S. EPA’s Headquarters.
The agencies will also be accepting written recommendations on the step two rulemaking effort through a non-regulatory docket (EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0480), which will be available when the notice is published in the Federal Register. The agencies ask that this information be submitted on or before November 28, 2017.
EPA Approves TCEQ Request to Expand Emergency Fuel Waiver
08/26/2017
Contact Information:
WASHINGTON -- Following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in Texas, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has approved the request from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to expand the emergency fuel waiver to include additional inland areas of the state.
The waiver will now include the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth reformulated gasoline (RFG) area, the 98-county area required to use low volatility fuel, and the 110-county area required to use Texas Low Emission Diesel (TxLED).
The waiver authority was exercised under the Clean Air Act and was granted by EPA Administrator Pruitt, in coordination with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, at the request of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Richard Hyde and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
The waiver supersedes the August 25, 2017 waiver and applies until September 15, 2017. As required by law, EPA and DOE evaluated the situation and determined that granting a short-term waiver was consistent with the public interest.
To mitigate any impacts on air quality the Clean Air Act provides strict criteria for when fuels waivers may be granted, and requires that waivers be limited as much as possible in terms of their geographic scope and duration.
