State
Southern Miss participates in Recycle Mania
WDAM
Students at the University of Southern Mississippi will be participating in Recycle Mania again this year.
H'BURG RECYCLING PROGRAM STEPS UP
Hattiesburg Post
Now that Hattiesburg’s recycling program has gotten statewide attention, Mayor Toby Barker and other city officials are working to lift the program to higher level.
Oxford Elementary teacher awarded grant to grow recycling program
Oxford Eagle
Watching Oxford Elementary teacher Sylvia Tropp pushing a wheeled container that looks like a big trash can, some of the students think she may have two jobs at the school.
City officials open landfill to commercial dumping
Itawamba County Times
Commercial businesses will be allowed access to the city dump, following a recent decision by the Fulton Board of Aldermen.
RESIDENTS FRUSTRATED WITH ROADSIDE LITTERBUGS
Scott County Times
The roadsides of Scott County, in much of the public view, have become a rubbish heap.
While litterbugs are discarding their trash out the windows of their vehicles, residents are spending their time trying to keep their property lines clean, which for some is along the edge of the same highway.
CMU sued for $2.2M over billing
Madison County Journal
The Madison County Wastewater Authority voted on Tuesday to proceed with a $2.2 million lawsuit against Canton Municipal Utilities over depreciation costs paid since 2004.
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR
WXXV
Hundreds of students from first grade to high school took part in the Region Six Science and Engineering Fair today in Biloxi.
State Government
Legislation that could impact Hood lawsuit against Entergy passes House
Daily Journal
JACKSON – Legislation that Attorney General Jim Hood maintains could negatively impact his potentially $1 billion lawsuit against Entergy passed the House Wednesday by an 89-27 margin.
Regional
Interior panel weighs lower offshore oil and gas royalty payments
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - An Interior Department advisory panel is considering whether the federal government should sharply cut the royalty rate that oil and gas firms pay for deepwater drilling while expediting energy development on federal land in Alaska and elsewhere.
In South Carolina, some in GOP say oil, beaches don't mix
Washington Post
COLUMBIA, S.C. - After waiting in the morning chill for other lawmakers to speak, state Rep. Nancy Mace finally took the microphone. She was the General Assembly's newest member, only four weeks on the job, "a baby among these folks," she told the crowd.
National
Energy firms push for leeway in rewrite of Obama climate rule
The Hill
Energy companies and their allies want the Trump administration to give them a wide amount of leeway when writing a replacement to the Obama administration’s climate change rule for power plants.
Dem AGs pledge to keep suing Trump admin over environmental policies
The Hill
A group of Democratic state attorneys general has taken 80 legal actions against the Trump administration over environmental policies, and is promising even more.
Opinion
Good Climate News Isn’t Told
Reporting scientific progress would require admitting uncertainties.
WSJ
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.
The biggest lie in American climate journalism is that reporters cover climate science as a science.
Press Releases
On February 21, 2018, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) voted to approve its 2017 Annual Report to Congress. This vote was conducted during a Council teleconference. The Annual Report to Congress summarizes the Council’s 2017 calendar year activities, including but not limited to accomplishments related to the funding approvals to date for both the Council-Selected Restoration Component (commonly referred to as “Bucket 2”) and the Spill Impact Component (commonly referred to as “Bucket 3”).
The 2017 Annual Report to Congress includes reports from the Centers of Excellence. The RESTORE Act dedicates 2.5 percent of the Trust Fund to the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program, administered by the Department of Treasury. These funds may be used to establish Centers of Excellence for science, technology, and monitoring. To date four Centers of Excellence have been established:
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) is entering an interagency agreement under the RESTORE Council Selected Restoration Component with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (Alabama office) for a total amount of $1,500,00 for the Gulf Coast Conservation Reserve Program (GCCRP) (Planning and Implementation). USDA will complete site specific conservation planning, engineering design, environmental evaluations, and conservation practice (best management practices) implementation on agricultural and forested lands in two coastal Alabama Counties. This program will reduce the discharge of sediments and pollutants from agricultural operations and associated critically eroding areas that drain to the Mobile Bay, Mississippi Sound, Bon Secour Bay and Perdido Bay. USDA and partners will work with landowners to implement conservation practices to restore habitat, stabilize eroding areas, improve infiltration and reduce pollutants (primarily sediment) in runoff.
Learn more about:
Hardwood Forests: The Foundation of Wild Turkey Habitat
From MDWFP
All turkey hunters can close their eyes and picture it. It is the mental image they dream about, the thought that makes them toss and turn late at night during the weeks leading up to opening day. It is the sight of a mature gobbler in full strut, carefully inching his way toward the hunter’s hidden position, with the illuminating rays of the early morning sun making his outstretched tail fan resemble some sort of noble halo. The king of the spring woods indeed. For most, the backdrops to this majestic scene are huge trunks of gray-barked old hardwoods, a mixture of oaks, gums, sugarberry, or poplar, stretching up toward the heavens and creating a cathedral in which this ritual of spring is played out for the hunter. It is a scene which can only be described by the word perfection.
Interior Releases Report on Fight Against Invasive Mussels
2/28/2018
