Wednesday, January 31, 2018

News Clippings January 31, 2018

State

EPA proposes to make contaminated Grenada site a Superfund
Clarion Ledger

Two years after public outcry and a letter from a Mississippi congressman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the old Grenada Manufacturing site become a Superfund.

South Frontage Road extension project moves closer to reality
Vicksburg Post

A construction contract to relocate city utility lines on South Frontage Road is expected to be awarded soon, South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour said Tuesday.


Regional

Alabama State Health Director, Decatur Utilities push back against water quality concerns north Alabama
WHNT

MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. - The advocacy group known as "Warriors for Clean Water" claims there is a direct connection between the drinking water drawn from the Tennessee River and multiple reports of serious health issues in Morgan and Lawrence County, specifically kidney problems, but utility and health officials reject those claims strongly.


National

EPA's Pruitt says challenge to endangerment finding still on the table
USA Today

WASHINGTON — EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told a Senate panel Tuesday he is still considering whether to challenge the "endangerment" finding that serves as the legal building block for federal rules to combat climate change.

U.S. EPA hopes to decide soon on ethanol waiver: administrator
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Tuesday that his agency hopes to decide soon whether it has the legal authority to issue national waiver on selling of motor fuel containing 15 percent ethanol during summer months.

Volkswagen Supplier to Face Criminal Case in Emissions Fraud
IAV allegedly aided auto maker’s conspiracy to rig diesel-powered vehicles with illegal software
WSJ

A supplier for Volkswagen AG VLKAY -1.92% is in discussions with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve an impending criminal case arising from its alleged participation in the German auto giant’s emissions cheating, according to people familiar with the matter, as federal prosecutors maintain pressure on automotive companies for environmental violations.


Press Releases

EPA to Host Public Meeting for the Proposed Listing of the Rockwell Grenada Site in Grenada, Miss., to the NPL
Public comments sought through Mar. 19, 2018
01/30/2018

ATLANTA (January 30, 2018) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the former Rockwell International Wheel & Trim site in Grenada, Miss., to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a list of sites that require further action to protect human health and the environment. EPA will host a public meeting to explain the NPL process. The public is also invited to comment on the proposal during a 60-day comment period.

EPA Publishes Annual Toxics Release Inventory Report and Analysis
01/30/2018

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 2016 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis. The publicly available database shows that industrial facilities continue to reduce the releases of TRI chemicals through pollution reduction activities.



 

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

News Clippings January 30, 2018

State

Southern Miss joins consortium to study Tuscaloosa Marine Shale
MBJ

The University of Southern Mississippi has joined a Department of Energy funded university consortium led by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette that will address knowledge gaps connected to the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS).


Oil Spill

City, county and park service prepare for ferries to start passenger service in mid May
PNJ

Gulf Islands National Seashore, the city of Pensacola and Escambia County officials say they should be ready to start passenger ferry service in mid May.


Regional

EPA rejects part of Arkansas anti-haze plan it had set
AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Federal regulators said Monday they will let Arkansas enforce a portion of its own haze-reduction program, prompting criticism from environmentalists who say the plan is too weak.

LSU unveils massive Mississippi River model
The Advocate

From their second-story vantage point, the governor and a fleet of scientists, politicians and philanthropists peered down at a basketball court-sized model of southeast Louisiana.

Louisiana caviar? Seafood company wants to raise non-native sturgeon species, but conservationists fear contamination
The Advocate

North Louisiana caviar could be the next boom industry in the Bayou State, according to one seafood company, but conservationists worry non-native fish could escape and disrupt the habitats of homegrown species.


National

Lifting Pollution Curbs Won't Unleash Toxins, U.S. Regulator Says
Bloomberg

A top Environmental Protection Agency official defended the Trump administration’s decision to relax a decades-old air pollution policy, a move that critics said would unleash toxins such as benzene, lead and mercury.

EPA watchdog: Trump budget cuts would be a ‘significant challenge’
The Hill

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) internal watchdog office complained that the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts would create a “significant challenge” to its work.

3 German automakers backed study that exposed monkeys and humans to toxic exhaust fumes
Washington Post

BERLIN - When German car maker Volkswagen acknowledged last year that it was guilty of cheating on diesel emissions tests, the fallout cost the company over $25 billion. But the full extent of the company's willingness to sideline ethics concerns to increase profits is still emerging. Three German car makers appear to have commissioned or supported a study in 2014 which exposed monkeys and humans to exhaust fumes and nitrogen dioxide, according to German media reports on Monday (Jan. 29).

Park Service wants additional review of proposed refinery
AP
DICKINSON, N.D. 

The National Park Service wants further review of a refinery proposed near Theodore Roosevelt National Park to see how emergency flaring could affect air quality.

Americans Are Staying Home More. That’s Saving Energy.
NY Times

Despite what you may have learned as a child, sloth isn’t always a sin. A new study in the journal Joule suggests that the spread of technologies enabling Americans to spend more time working remotely, shopping online — and, yes, watching Netflix and chilling — has a side benefit of reducing energy use, and, by extension, greenhouse gas emissions.

School-bus sized 'Holy grail' dinosaur discovered in Sahara desert
Fox News

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of a school-bus sized dinosaur in Egypt’s Sahara desert, marking an important prehistoric link between Africa and Europe.


Press Releases

EPA Approves Revisions to Arkansas Regional Haze Plan
Revised air quality plan created through cooperative federalism
01/29/2018

WASHINGTON – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt approved revisions to the Arkansas Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (SIP) for nitrogen oxide at electric-generating units within the state.


 

Monday, January 29, 2018

News Clippings January 29, 2018

State

DECREE TALKS
Northside Sun

Atlanta firm hired to renegotiate Jackson consent decree
Jackson is moving forward with plans to renegotiate its sewer consent decree with the federal government.

Presence of oil to keep Riverfront Park closed, delay repairs
Vicksburg Post

Riverfront Park will be closed through early spring as officials with Vicksburg, Warren County and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality determine a plan to clean up oil contamination at the park.

Tronox sues FTC for blocking acquisition
Commercial Dispatch
 
Tronox Corp. has filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the regulatory body is deliberating delaying action in an effort to block the mining/chemical company's efforts to complete a sale which would more than double its sales of titanium dioxide (TiO2). 

Clay may seek grant for Pheba utility
Daily Times Leader

A grant could be the help a rural Clay County water association needs to improve its services.
Clay County supervisors will decide in two months whether to apply for a $600,000 -- the maximum allowed -- CDBG grant for the Sun Creek Water Association in Pheba. The utility is studying a new well and elevated water tank.

Forgotten drainage program could be windfall for county
Daily Times Leader

A long-forgotten federal flood-control project that started 55 years ago and was shut down 25 years ago could provide a small financial windfall for Clay County.

With tariffs, solar farm company making plans
Daily Journal

TUPELO – The company behind the installation of the first solar farm in Lee County said that the Trump administration’s 30 percent tariff on solar imports to the U.S. says it is in a good position to adapt to the change.


Oil Spill

Could Jackson County have a retail boom like D’Iberville? It’s possible if this bill passes
Sun Herald

The Cook Road corridor runs along I-10 north of Ocean Springs from the shopping mecca of Sangani Boulevard, to where North Washington Avenue becomes Tucker Road and intersects with Seaman Road.

Air your views on proposed coastal recreation projects
Houma Courier

Officials are seeking public comment on several area projects that would use fines from BP’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to upgrade recreational areas that were damaged.


Regional

Gov. Rick Scott’s DEP wants to take over issuing federal wetland permits
Tampa Bay Times

For decades, Florida’s builders and developers have complained about how long it takes to get a federal permit to fill wetlands.

93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads among debris removed during citywide catch basin cleaning project
The Advocate

Roughly 7.2 million pounds of debris were removed from clogged city catch basins across the city during a four-month emergency cleaning program, including more than 93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads.


National

Week ahead: EPA chief to face grilling on reg rollback
The Hill

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt will head to a Senate committee this week for his first oversight hearing in that chamber since taking the job.

Supreme Court sends WOTUS rule to district courts
High Plains Journal

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Jan. 22 that the proper jurisdiction for challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States or Clean Water Rule is in federal district court, not the circuit court level.

Salt, the solution to winter's dangers, threatens US waters
AP

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - When roads turn into ice rinks, consider trying beet juice, molasses, and even beer or cheese waste to make them safer. So say experts who fear road salt is starting to take a toll on the nation's waterways, putting everything from fish and frogs to microscopic zooplankton at risk.

In Reversal, EPA Suspends Alaska Mining Proposal To Preserve Watershed Protections
NPR

The Environmental Protection Agency said in a surprise announcement Friday that it was suspending its effort to withdraw proposed protections for a southwest Alaska watershed to make room for a new mine.

Trump taps former astronaut to head US Geological Survey
The Hill

President Trump on Friday named James Reilly, a former astronaut and oil exploration geologist, to lead the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).


Opinion

The time is now to put BP money to work on the Coast
Sun Herald
BY GULF COAST BUSINESS COUNCIL

Time is running out for the Mississippi Gulf Coast to get its fair share of the BP money. Right now, the Mississippi Legislature is deciding how it will spend a $750 million economic damage settlement from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With each day that passes, lawmakers get closer to making final decisions about how — and where — those economic damage settlement dollars will be spent.

This big idea would make Mississippi’s ‘Blue Economy’ even better for the Coast and the state
Sun Herald
BY MONTY GRAHAM

Some of the smartest investments happen along coastlines — and what better coast to invest in than the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our Coast has seen its share of natural and man-made disasters, and has used resiliency and determination to come back, stronger than ever.

Officials advertising themselves on your dime? Some want to halt it: Geoff Pender
Clarion Ledger

You know those ads you see or hear with state elected officials telling you about their programs or accomplishments? 
Chances are, you're paying for them.


Press Releases

Mississippi Longleaf Pine Initiative Continues
 
Jackson, Miss. – The United States Department of Agriculture/Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has financial assistance available to
qualified Mississippi landowners wanting to create or restore longleaf pine stands
on their land. This Longleaf Pine Initiative (LLPI) is offered under the Environmental
Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to qualified landowners and forest managers
in Central and Southern Mississippi working to restore longleaf ecosystems.
 
Longleaf pine forests nearly vanished, but a coordinated conservation effort
led by NRCS and other conservation partners is helping this unique ecosystem
of the Southeast recover. Longleaf pines provide valuable forest products,
pine straw production, scenic beauty, good wildlife habitat and harbor many
threatened and endangered species. There are 29 threatened and endangered
species that depend on these forests for survival. Two specific species are
found in Mississippi, the gopher tortoise and the black pine snake.
 
“NRCS is committed to working with land managers to help restore and
expand this critical ecosystem,” stated Kevin Kennedy, acting NRCS state
conservationist for Mississippi. “Longleaf pine forests provide vital habitat
to a variety of species as well as valuable timber. We look forward to seeing
what we can accomplish with our partners.”
 
NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to help landowners and
land managers plant and manage longleaf forests. LLPI is in its eighth year
and has helped restore more than 350,000 acres of longleaf forests.
 
Applications for all NRCS financial assistance programs are accepted on a
continuous sign-up process with specific sign-up deadlines being established
to rank, contract and fund qualified tracts of land. Applications for the
Longleaf Pine Initiative received by March 16, 2018 will be considered for
funding in the first ranking period.
 
For additional information about the Longleaf Pine Initiative,
visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/. To find your local NRCS office,
NRCS financial assistance covers part of the cost to implement conservation practices.
Interested landowners are encouraged to contact their local USDA service center
or go to Environmental Quality Incentives Program link for technical and financial
assistance information. For more information,