State
MDEQ AWARDS SOLID WASTE ASSISTANCE GRANT TO GRENADA
WTVA
GRENADA, Miss. (WTVA) – The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has awarded the City of Grenada a grant to be used to clean up illegal dump sites and water bottle filling stations.
State Government
LINK CEO says MDA strategy, leadership costing state jobs
Commercial Dispatch
Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins claims the Mississippi Development Authority is undermining -- not promoting -- economic development efforts in the state.
Analysis: Bryant proposes free community college for some
AP
JACKSON, MISS. — Free community college for all Mississippians would be an ambitious and easy-to-explain goal. What Gov. Phil Bryant again proposed last week in his budget recommendation appears more limited, aimed at producing more technical graduates from community colleges.
Oil Spill
Sen. Broxson disagrees with Gov. Scott on funding for hatchery, if location changes
PNJ
Artificial Reef created in hopes of bringing fishermen and snorkelers to Hernando County
WFTS
HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. - The Gulf on the Nature Coast is much more shallow than others areas of the state and is not a good area for fish habitat. But with the help of BP Oil Spill money, Hernando County wants to change that.
Regional
CHEMICAL WASTE STILL GETS INTO TENNESSEE RIVER
WAAY
Despite huge Millington project, Tennessee lagging in solar power
Commercial Appeal
By as early as mid-December, construction crews will invade a 420-acre field in Millington and proceed to fill it with 580,000 sun-tracking photovoltaic panels, creating by far the largest solar-energy project in Tennessee.
National
The Daily 202: How EPA chief Scott Pruitt wants to redefine ‘environmentalism’
Washington Post
THE BIG IDEA: Love him or hate him for it, Scott Pruitt has done as much as anyone else in the executive branch to advance President Trump’s goal of what Steve Bannon called “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”
PFAS record may sink Trump EPA chemical safety nominee
MLive
A track record of defending weak safety standards for the type of unregulated chemicals polluting Michigan drinking water is being cited by some U.S. Senate Republicans as cause for opposing the Trump administration's nominee for chief regulator of toxic chemicals at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Can the private sector save America’s aging water systems?
CBS
Who owns the water pipes beneath your street?
Increasingly, it is a private company, a shift from the mostly public ownership of the systems used to provide drinking water and remove waste that has prevailed in the U.S. since the early 1900s.
Collins Joins Group Seeking Review of Air Quality Monitoring
AP
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Sen. Susan Collins is joining a pair of Democratic senators to call for a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's operation of air quality monitoring networks.
Sessions: DOJ prohibited from issuing guidance that creates new rules
The Hill
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo Friday that prohibits the Department of Justice from issuing regulatory guidance documents.
Michigan to work with EPA to monitor toxic groundwater
AP
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will work together to monitor a toxic plume of pollution in southeast Michigan.
4 in 5 Illinois debris sites high in toxins
AP
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — Four in five Illinois quarries that backfill with concrete and other demolition waste show higher-than-acceptable levels of toxins, according to state sampling results obtained by The Associated Press.
How Washington state might spend the $112.7M from Volkswagen emissions settlement
Seattle Times
Washington state plans to use its $112.7 million share of a federal settlement with Volkswagen to improve air quality and “transform the transportation system,” according to a statement from the state Department of Ecology.
Missouri limits use of weedkiller linked to crop damage
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri will limit the use of a weedkiller made by BASF SE after farmers complained the chemical drifted and harmed their crops, following a move by Arkansas to prohibit spray applications next year of the herbicide and rival products.
Opinion
BP millions will do wonders for the Coast — if invested wisely
Editorial – Sun Herald
We hope the Legislature heeds Gov. Phil Bryant’s advice and invests the remainder of the BP economic damages settlement wisely.
Is the state budget being nibbled to death by ants?
Geoff Pender
Clarion Ledger
Is the state budget being nibbled to death by ants?
As money remains tight, the governor and lawmakers usually focus on spending by the big-ticket state agencies and line items — K-12 and higher education, Medicaid, corrections, human services.
Mississippi’s health is the worst. State leaders don’t seem to notice.
Bill Crawford
Sun Herald
Have Mississippi leaders become so accustomed to bottom national rankings that they don’t care anymore?
Press Releases
Scientific Team Selected to Conduct Independent Abundance Estimate of Red Snapper in Gulf of Mexico
NOAA
November 17, 2017A team of university and government scientists, selected by an expert review panel convened by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, will conduct an independent study to estimate the number of red snapper in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
