State
Plans for chicken houses raise stink
Enterprise-Journal
Residents in the Pumping Station Road area of southeastern Pike County asked supervisors Friday to do something about a landowner’s plans to build eight chicken houses.
Supervisors agreed to write letters to the Legislature, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and Sanderson Farms poultry company, but the real answer may be countywide zoning, which supervisors said is easier said than done.
CITY EXPECTED TO FINISH REPAIR WORK ON MAJOR SEWER BREAK
Northside Sun
Construction is expected to wrap up this week on a major sewer main project on the Northside.
Public forum on trash collection to be Tuesday
Natchez Democrat
NATCHEZ — City Planner Riccardo Giani said all sorts of “avenues” exist for the city’s future waste collection and residents can help determine which path the city takes.
Officials asking public not to burn outdoors
Vicksburg Post
There is another season floating in the air beside Christmas.
Winter’s presence is marked not only by cooler temperatures, but lower humidity as high pressure areas move into the south bringing dryer air along with the low temperatures — a mixture that can leave the ground and vegetation dryer than normal and more prone to grass and wood fires.
Oxford’s trees are in good health overall
Oxford Eagle
Trees not only add to Oxford’s beauty but also provides more than $300,000 of benefits to the community, according to a recently completed tree survey.
What do seagulls really eat? It’s not all french fries and Cheetos
Sun Herald
What do seagulls do for food on the off-season? These are the winter months, when there are few beachgoers to throw food in the air.
State Government
Local city, county leaders favor legislation that kicks back cash, control
Clarion Ledger
Jackson metro-area leaders support legislation that kicks back more dollars and more local control to cities and counties as the 2018 legislative session nears.
Madison County
… Agenda boardroom minutes show the board has recently applied for several state grants from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and state Department of Health, among other state agencies.
CONGRESSMAN TRENT KELLY TO BE PROMOTED TO BRIGADIER GENERAL IN NATIONAL GUARD
WTVA
JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) – Col. Trent Kelly will soon be promoted to brigadier general in the Mississippi Army National Guard.
Oil Spill
PRCC closes deal on Hancock County property for campus
Hattiesburg American
POPLARVILLE – Pearl River Community College officials took another step forward Thursday in planning to build a new college in Hancock County.
Regional
Nutrient proposal advances
At issue is curbs on phosphorus
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The first proposed outline to trade nutrients through a watershed has been approved to take to Arkansas' pollution control board nearly three years after the state Legislature voted to allow the proposals.
Could Mississippi River diversions cause land loss instead of land gain?
Times-Picayune
The state of Louisiana's plan to unleash the Mississippi River into the wetlands of Plaquemines Parish to help rebuild the coast could drown brackish plants and accelerate wetland loss, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research hydraulic engineer.
$16 million project would fix 'Grand Canyon' of Fayette County
Commercial Appeal
A century after it was rerouted into a man-made channel with a highway-straight alignment, Cypress Creek continues to carve a ever-deepening, ever more threatening gash across the landscape of western Fayette and eastern Shelby counties.
National
Trump admin puts EPA climate science debate plan ‘on hold’
The Hill
The Trump administration is putting a halt to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s plans to organize a forum to challenge consensus on climate change science.
EPA consultant is investigating anti-Trump 'resistance' within the agency: report
The Hill
A top executive at a consulting firm hired by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been investigating agency employees critical of the Trump administration.
EPA employees who criticized administration had emails scrutinized: report
The Hill
Employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who spoke up about Trump administration policies had their emails scrutinized by a lawyer working for a Republican campaign research group, according to a report published Sunday by The New York Times.
That Ear-Splitting Leaf Blower? It Also Emits More Pollution Than a Car
The blowers and related devices are dirty because many use two-stroke engines
WSJ
Once autumn leaves are down, landscapers with leaf blowers strapped to their backs pour into America’s neighborhoods like hornets from a hive.
After Maria, Puerto Rico Struggles Under The Weight Of Its Own Garbage
NPR
Outside Puerto Rico's capital, a three-story-high mountain of debris and waste sits smack in the middle of what was a suburban soccer field before Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
EPA a fan of Toyota's leanness
Automotive News
Toyota's legendary leanness is just what the EPA needs, says EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Pruitt wants to hire Toyota Motor North America's nonprofit consulting arm to help improve administrative efficiency. The only problem is that the EPA also regulatesToyota.
Otter spotted eating trout at Colorado toxic mine site raises hope for new kind of cleanup
Emerging example of how to harness natural forces in cleanup costs big bucks – “many tens of millions” – that ailing EPA “superfund” system cannot provide
Denver Post
RICO — An otter popped up in the once-toxic water. Its appearance last winter — devouring a trout — has ignited hopes around an experiment to transform a scarred, mining wasteland into a naturalistic mountain valley.
BP, Once a Renewables Leader, Bets $200 Million on Solar
NY Times
LONDON — BP had been at the forefront when it came to major oil companies going green. It invested billions in renewables. It was quick to acknowledge the link between fossil fuels and global warming. It adopted the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.”
Is Brandon Road Lock and Dam wall in Joliet a feasible Asian Carp solution?
Herald-News (IL)
There’s a proposed wall that several State’s officials would like to see built and likely will be part of a congressional and national debate in 2019.
Energy Department Reorgs, Moving Energy, Science Offices
Bloomberg
The Energy Department is making broad changes with a reorganization that shuffles offices under two new undersecretaries—one for energy and one for science—in what agency leadership calls an effort to improve efficiency.
Press Releases
MDEQ Promotes a Green Holiday Season
(JACKSON, Miss.) – The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) encourages Mississippians to remember the environment this holiday season through waste reduction, reuse, and recycling practices to "green up" the holiday season. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of household trash increases by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and the New Year. MDEQ recommends considering the following "green" practices during the holiday season:
Decorating Ideas
· Consider having a potted Christmas tree that can be replanted in the wild, in the yard, or kept and re-used the next year.
· Recycle Christmas trees or consider using an artificial tree that can be used every year. Discarded Christmas trees can be used for fish spawning habitats, for mulch for public landscaping projects and homeowner use, for boiler fuel, and for lake, river, and beach front stabilization. Local governments can provide information about the recycling of Christmas trees.
· Use trimmed branches from Christmas trees for wreaths or hearth or table decorations rather than discarding them immediately.
· Decorate with holly, cedar, berries, cranberries, popcorn, fruits and nuts--some which can be consumed and all of which can be composted.
Gift Shopping and Wrapping
· Take re-usable canvas tote bags for shopping and avoid using plastic bags--particularly for just one item.
· Consider re-using wrapping or other reusable paper when wrapping Christmas gifts. If every American family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials that would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
· Have children make their own wrapping paper by designing and coloring brown paper grocery bags, using old homework pages, old Christmas Cards, or hand drawn pictures. Grandparents will appreciate the special touch of a grandchild to any gift.
· Consider using commonly discarded paper items for wrapping gifts—Sunday comics, old posters, maps, discarded sheet music, and wallpaper scraps for wrapping paper.
· Use and re-use gift bags instead of wrapping paper.
· Avoid using metallic gift wrapping paper because this paper is generally not recyclable.
· Give gifts in canvas re-usable shopping tote bags rather than gift bags.
· Choose products that use less packaging material.
· Look for products with the U.S. EPA's Energy Star logo. These items have been evaluated and rated for their energy efficiency.
Gift Ideas
· Give gifts that will be consumed or used such as home-baked cookies, bread, or jams or a plant or tree that can be planted in the recipient’s yard.
· Consider gifts that keep on giving such as a compost bin, rain barrel, battery charger, rechargeable batteries, LED light bulbs, a perpetual calendar, or an erasable message board.
· Give two gifts in one by using baskets, scarves, or pillowcases to wrap gifts.
· Give gifts that don't create wastes such as passes to the zoo or an amusement park, music lessons, tennis, golf, or other sports lessons, memberships to an organization, tickets to a concert or movie, dinner at a restaurant, a subscription to an online magazine or newspaper, or an IOU to help rake leaves or repair a leaky faucet.
· Give gifts that get "used up" such as candles, soap, or seeds for the garden.
· Give durable toys for gifts that are made from wood or metal so that they can be passed down, even becoming collectible items.
· If purchasing electronic items such as a computer, television, cell phone or gaming station, find a retailer that will take back and recycle the outdated or obsolete item being replaced.
· Recycle obsolete electronic devices through local community recycling programs or donate computers or televisions that have useful life to community groups, local schools, or nonprofit organizations.
After The Holidays
· Clean out the closets and donate used toys, clothing and household items to charitable organizations.
· Save wrapping paper, bows, and ribbons to re-use the next holiday season. Recycle as much of the leftover wrapping paper, gift boxes, bags, and gift packaging materials as possible.
· Make a New Year’s resolution to start a recycling program at home or at work. Contact local officials about recycling opportunities.
· Contact catalogs and other similar mail order circulars about removal from their mailing lists. Most of these catalogs and retail items can be found and ordered from the retailers’ websites.
For more information on waste reduction, re-use and recycling programs or green holiday ideas, contact local solid waste departments, a Keep Mississippi Beautiful affiliate, County Extension Service agent, or MDEQ. Simple, common sense steps can provide an inexpensive and enduring gift to the nation’s natural resources as well as personal savings.
# # #
EPA Approves Louisiana Regional Haze Plan
DALLAS – (Dec. 15, 2017) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the state of Louisiana’s clean-air plan for regional haze. The plan will reduce regional haze in Louisiana and meets federal Clean Air Act requirements.
EPA determined Louisiana’s plan establishes goals to make reasonable progress toward reducing haze, a long-term strategy and technical requirements for electric-generating and non-electric-generating units to meet requirements of the federal Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule. This rule requires states to make progress toward achieving natural visibility conditions in some of the nation’s most treasured wilderness areas. In Louisiana, this includes the Breton National Wildlife Refuge off the state’s eastern coast.
States must submit plans for achieving these progress goals by reducing harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. Louisiana’s plan includes reduction of sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter using best-available retrofit technology (BART) at six electric-generating units and three other facilities. The plan also calls for emissions limits at NRG Big Cajun II, which is not subject to BART requirements.
Haze forms when sunlight hits tiny particles of air pollution (both naturally occurring and man-made). The particles absorb some light while other light is scattered before it becomes visible. The greater number of pollutant particles, the more light is absorbed and scattered. The haze reduces clarity and color of what we can see. In addition, pollution that leads to haze can harm people’s health and the environment. Exposure to these small particles in the air has been linked to increased respiratory illness, decreased lung function, and even premature death.
