State
CLEANUP CONTINUES AROUND SUNKEN TUG BOAT
WCBI
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Booms are collecting motor oil from a sunken tug boat at the Lowndes County Port.
MDEQ to conduct survey on Little Tallahatchie River
Daily Journal
JACKSON – The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality will be installing electronic monitoring equipment this week to help conduct a water sampling survey on the Little Tallahatchie River in Union County.
MDEQ to release red dye into river for survey purpose
WTVA
UNION COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) - Electronic monitoring equipment will be installed this week in Union County to help conduct a water sampling survey on the Little Tallahatchie River.
36,000 lbs of trash removed in first-ever Pearl River Clean Sweep
NewsMS
Over 1,000 volunteers swarmed the Pearl River this weekend. Working in teams, they dragged litter, debris, trash and other pollutants out of the river that serves as one of Mississippi’s largest watersheds.
Hazardous waste collection this weekend in Hancock Co.
WLOX
HANCOCK COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -The Coast Electric Power Association will host its annual waste collection event on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Broken pump spewing sewage into backyards in Fondren neighborhood
WLBT
The repair work on a broken sewage line in a Fondren neighborhood has some residents wondering if the conditions are legal.
Shale Support is growing operations
Picayune Item
Within Pearl River County and Hancock County is a company that mines and processes a number of aggregates for a number of uses.
State Government
TWO STATE AGENCIES SAY THEY CUT BUDGETS AHEAD OF HEARING
MPB
Despite Mississippi's opioid epidemic and rising medical costs, two state agencies say they're reducing their budgets ahead of legislative hearings.
Legislative watchdog hammers MDE over education contracts, purchases
Clarion Ledger
The state’s legislative watchdog panel has issued a scathing report about Mississippi Department of Education contracts and purchases that raises questions of cronyism, illegal invoice splitting, and lack of transparency and oversight.
Making Mississippi healthy: Department receives public health accreditation
Clarion Ledger
Mississippi's Department of Health could garner more grants and funding after receiving accreditation from the national Public Health Accreditation Board.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/25/making-mississippi-healthy-department-receives-public-health-accreditation/698906001/
Oil Spill
When the next oil disaster happens, the US will be better prepared, researchers say
Sun Herald
Among the 31 research projects that will share $50 million in Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative are three from the University of Southern Mississippi.
National
Civil servants complain Trump is sidelining workers with expertise on climate change, environment
LA Times
Interior Department manager Joel Clement figured his new bosses in the Trumpadministration might disapprove of his climate-change-focused work protecting Alaskan villages from rising seas.
Park Service report: Obama water bottle sales ban had ‘significant’ benefits
The Hill
An internal National Park Service (NPS) staff report concluded that an Obama administration effort to ban sales of bottled water at some parks had “significant environmental benefits.”
Does the Colorado River Have Rights? A Lawsuit Seeks to Declare It a Person
NY Times
DENVER — Does a river — or a plant, or a forest — have rights?
This is the essential question in what attorneys are calling a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit, in which a Denver lawyer and a far-left environmental group are asking a judge to recognize the Colorado River as a person.
Walker names former legislator as DNR secretary
AP
MADISON, WIS.
Gov. Scott Walker picked former legislator Dan Meyer to serve as the next state Department of Natural Resources secretary Monday, placing his old state Assembly colleague in the middle of contentious political battles over mining, permitting a massive electronics plant and chronic wasting disease.
'Critter shelf' project aims to help wildlife cross NY roads
AP
BOONVILLE, N.Y.
The New York state Department of Transportation and The Nature Conservancy are testing a new "critter shelf" installed in a highway culvert to help wildlife cross safely.
