Thursday, November 30, 2017

News Clippings November 30, 2017

State

Roberts' retirement not tied to MDEQ investigation, mayor says
Meridian Star

Although Meridian Public Safety Department director Buck Roberts is no longer with the city, the mayor says Roberts' retirement is not connected to a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality investigation currently under way.

Road trashed
WLBT

Residents in one Hinds County neighborhood say they're fed up with people using their area as a dumping ground. This mess that has piled up along East Palestine Drive in Hinds County.

Supervisors Launch Anti-Litter Campaign
North MS Herald

COFFEEVILLE – Supervisors have launched an anti-litter campaign with an initial appropriation of $10,000 to combat the longstanding littering problem in the county. Using the slogan, Yalobusha Clean, the goal is to promote the campaign with social and print media, road signs and other marketing material. 

New program could help green businesses stay in the black
WLOX

GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -Every small business could use some networking.
A program started by the Gulf Coast Heritage Area targets the backbone of the Coast’s tourism industry.

DISEASE FOUND IN DEER HAS WILDLIFE SPECIALISTS CONCERNED
WCBI

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The disease Chronic Wasting Disease has become a concern in many states with deer populations.

Nettleton schools benefit from TVA rebate for systems upgrades
Monroe Journal

Nettleton School District Superintendent Brian Jernigan hosted a visit from representatives of Alpharetta, Georgia-based Schneider Electric Nov. 8 as part of a $23,760.43 rebate check presentation from the Tennessee Valley Authority for energy-conserving upgrades made across the school district.

Mississippi Power hearings won't be the end, barring deal
AP

Regulatory hearings beginning next week may not, after all, set final rates for a $7.5 billion Mississippi Power Co. plant.

MORE MUW STUDENTS TREATED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE EXPOSURE
WTVA

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) – Crews are continuing to determine the root cause of a carbon monoxide leak inside a residence hall at Mississippi University for Women (MUW).

Ridgeland homeowners win interim rulings in Costco case
MBJ

Nine homeowners opposing the building of a Costco Wholesale store on Highland Colony Parkway in Ridgeland have won two interim rulings since they filed an appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Map project allows users to see Lafayette County then and now
Oxford Eagle

Since Lafayette County was born in 1835, the lay of the land has undergone great changes, from mostly forest to the rise and fall of the railroad to paved roads and eventually highways.
Thanks to the work of the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation, people can now view how the county has changed over the last 180 years and how it compares to how it looks today.


State Government

Republicans win 2 runoffs for Mississippi legislative seats
AP

Republicans have picked up another seat in the Mississippi Senate, adding to their majority.
Neil Whaley of Potts Camp won a special election runoff Tuesday in Senate District 10 in Marshall and Tate counties.


Regional

NC scientist tapped as Trump adviser quits DEQ, sees ‘politicization of science and law’
News & Observer
RALEIGH 

The former secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality has resigned from the state agency after being put on paid administrative leave nearly a month ago.


National

Industries that cheered Trump's climate regulation rollbacks now worry they'll go too far
LA Times

he energy companies and industry groups that successfully pushed the Trumpadministration to scrap Obama-era action on climate change have a new message for the fossil fuel enthusiasts now calling the shots: Don’t go too far.

Senate panel advances controversial environmental nominee
The Hill

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday advanced one of President Trump's environmental nominees who has been criticized for her disbelief in the science behind climate change and other issues.

NOAA nominee vows to leave family-run weather company
The Hill

President Trump’s nominee to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Wednesday he will leave his family-run weather forecasting company if he is confirmed to the post.

Climate Scientists Watch Their Words, Hoping To Stave Off Funding Cuts
NPR

Scientists appear to be self-censoring by omitting the term "climate change" in public grant summaries.

EPA plans $22.6 million cleanup for contaminated East Chicago industrial land
Chicago Tribune

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced a $22.6 million plan to clean up former DuPont industrial land in East Chicago.

American Farm Towns, With Changing Priorities, Reject Industrial Agriculture
n support for new plants
WSJ

TONGANOXIE, Kan.—Rural Americans are turning their backs on the industry that made the U.S. the biggest meat-exporting country in the world.


Press Releases

U.S. EPA settles with Wal-Mart, General Services Administration over California diesel rule
11/29/2017

LOS ANGELES – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced recent settlements with Wal-Mart Transportation, LLC, and the United States General Services Administration (GSA) that require upgraded diesel particulate filters on their truck fleets to resolve alleged violations of California’s Truck and Bus Regulation. Wal-Mart will also fund an environmental project to reduce air pollution at schools in the Los Angeles area.  

Wild Hog Removal During Deer Season
11/29/2017 9:40:02 AM
From MDWFP

As you sit in the deer stand this year, there is a chance you could have your quiet hunt interrupted by a sounder of wild hogs marching through the woods.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Solicits Public Input on Proposal to Celebrate the Conservation Achievement of Waterfowl Hunters in the 2018 Federal Duck Stamp
November 29, 2017

Over the past century, waterfowl hunters have helped create and conserve millions of acres of wetland habitat, not only providing places for a wide diversity of wildlife to thrive, but also helping in flood control and water purification efforts, and creating significant economic stimulus for rural communities.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

News Clippings November 29, 2017

State

Well permits indicate stagnant oil play
Enterprise-Journal

A Jackson company’s plans to dump stormwater runoff and landfill leachate into wells previously permitted for the disposal of chemicals associated with oil production could be a sign of a continued lull in the local oil industry.
Injection Disposal Services LLC in Jackson has permits before the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to convert three of its wells from Class II disposal wells into Class I non-hazardous wells, according to a legal ad that ran in Monday’s Enterprise-Journal.

Oyster conservation center could be coming to Point Cadet
WLOX

The Biloxi City Council on Tuesday learned details of an economic development project a Point Cadet that aims to highlight the oyster industry, conservation, and eco-tourism. The project already has the blessing of the Commission on Marine Resources.

Donate your used Christmas tree to a good cause, but don’t put tinsel on it
Sun Herald
MOSS POINT 

Workers at The Pascagoula River Audubon Center are creating a quarter-acre of marsh — not an easy task — and now they want Christmas trees as part of the process.

MANY MUW STUDENTS SICKENED AFTER A CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK AT A RESIDENCE HALL
WCBI

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s been a long day for many of those Mississippi University for Women students.

AG Commissioner announces website to find local Christmas tree farms
WJTV

The Mississippi Department of Agriculture & Commerce launched a website to help shoppers find Christmas trees.


State Government

Gulf Coast lawmaker proposes less time to pass general bills
Daily Journal

Mississippi legislators would have fewer opportunities to pass new laws impacting their constituents, for better or worse, under a proposal being advocated by a Gulf Coast lawmaker.


National

EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Signals His Environmental Strategy
In visit to Disney food-waste program, he pointed to corporate partners and shift in regulatory power
WSJ

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—In less than a year since taking the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt has repealed the Obama administration’s Clean Power Planand Waters of the United States rule, encouraged President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and removed scientists dependent on EPA funding from serving on the agency’s advisory boards.

EPA hears worries about climate in heart of coal country
AP

After more than four decades as a coal miner, Stanley Sturgill ambled into an ornate room at West Virginia's state capitol Tuesday to deliver a stark message to the Trump administration: Climate change is real and continuing to burn the dirty fossil fuel hurts future generations.

U.S. repeal of carbon rule criticized in coal country
Reuters

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (Reuters) - Health groups, environmentalists and a former coal miner criticized the Trump administration’s proposal to dismantle an Obama-era rule to slash carbon emissions from power plants at a public hearing held in the heart of coal country on Tuesday.
The hearing also heard from many coal supporters who said that the plan would cost utilities billion of dollars, which would likely result in mining job cuts.

Trump's EPA Backs a Climate Change Tweak Environmentalists Like
Bloomberg

The Trump administration took a small step toward addressing climate change last week -- it just didn’t put it quite in those words.

Air pollution is making you worse at your job
Washington Post

Poor outdoor air quality is likely to have a negative impact on your job performance, even if you work indoors at a desk, according to a new working paper from researchers at Germany's Leibniz University and the Columbia Business School.

Idaho Asks Federal Agency to Regulate Oil Injection Wells
AP

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over regulating underground injection wells needed by the state's oil and natural gas industry to economically dispose of wastewater.


Press Releases

DC Circuit Court Grants Trump EPA Request to Extend Deadline for Farmers to Report Emissions from Livestock Operations
11/28/2017

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, November 22, 2017, in response to a request from the Trump administration EPA, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals effectively extended the deadline for farmers to report air releases of hazardous substances from animal waste at livestock operations until January 22, 2018. The decision postponed the effective date of the Court’s April 2017 decision vacating an EPA rule that exempted these farms from certain statutory reporting obligations.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Happy Holidays from ALBFA

The ALBFA is a non-profit advocacy and educational group formed to promote redevelopment of brownfield sites throughout the State of Alab                                                         

Happy Holidays from ALBFAGreat Things are Happening!

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      Trey Hess, P.E.
      Brownfield Redevelopment Director
         601-790-0170 
        
601-953-2564 
     Simplifying the Complex