State
LOCAL VOLUNTEERS GET SERIOUS SPRING CLEANING DONE
WCBI
ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – With the Pilgrimage just a week away, the city of Aberdeen prepares to roll out the red carpet with a citywide cleanup day.
Ocean Springs teacher chosen for NOAA's 'Teachers at Sea' program
WLOX
An Ocean Springs science teacher will be representing our state on a two-week adventure with NOAA. Dana Kosztur is about to embark on the experience of a lifetime.
Mississippi farmers say they'll plant fewer acres in 2018
AP
Mississippi farmers plan to plant less, even though cotton and soybean prices are higher than they were a year ago.
This Theme Park's Replica Mini-Dams Are Attracting Northwest Scientists To Mississippi
KUOW
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is gearing up for its biggest-ever planned spill of water over dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
It’s a controversial move that was ordered by a federal court to help endangered fish avoid extinction. To make sure it’s done right, dam managers tested their options first, using miniature models of Northwest dams way down in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Oil Spill
Grant money could help passenger trains return to Gulf Coast
AP
Grant money recently approved by Congress could help passenger trains see a comeback along the U.S. Gulf Coast between Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Regional
All Bonnet Carre Spillway bays will close Friday, Mississippi River still 'elevated'
Times-Picayune
The final 20 bays of the Bonnet Carre Spillway will be closed Friday (March 30) as the Mississippi River continues to drop and its downriver flow decreases, the Army Corps of Engineers announced.
Next Gulf of Mexico oil lease sale to be Aug. 15
AP
The federal government will offer 77.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration and development on Aug. 15.
EPA licenses aquatic weed control company to use new herbicide
Guntersville, Ala.-based business is conducting separate study on its products, techniques
Chattanooga Times Free Press
As spring shifts into top gear, boat dock-choking aquatic plants such as hydrilla and watermilfoil start becoming abundant in Tennessee River reservoirs.
National
EPA to Loosen Rules for Automobile Gas Mileage, Pollution
AP
DETROIT (AP) — The Trump administration is expected to announce that it will roll back automobile gas mileage and pollution standards.
Illinois EPA plan for $109M haul from Volkswagen emissions scandal draws fire
Chicago Sun Times
Rauner administration plans to divvy up a nearly $109 million anti-pollution windfall from a legal settlement with Volkswagen are taking fire from an array of critics who fear the process has been commandeered by business interests.
Standardizing Assessment of Natural Resource Damages: Massachusetts Is Taking the First Step
National Law Review
MassDEP is developing a standard methodology for assessing natural resource damages for small to medium oil spills to surface water that will be incorporated into forthcoming regulations, which will require persons responsible for these spills to pay the assessed natural resource damages, above and beyond cleaning up the spill.
Texas chemical plant target of lawsuits
Texas Tribune
CROSBY — Most of the houses along Crosby Eastgate Road and its neighboring streets are one-story outfits on sprawling green lots. In their driveways are spare trucks, old armchairs or small motorboats; grazing their grass are horses and cows. Some houses are raised on stilts; others look abandoned.
Trump Faces Test on Coal With FirstEnergy Appeal
Utility’s plea for government help forces the president’s team to choose between competing factions of energy industry
WSJ
The Trump administration’s commitment to coal is under its stiffest test yet after an Ohio energy company made a plea to favor that power source over its many rivals, including oil and natural gas, in a clash that could end with higher costs for consumers.
In the Battle for the American West, the Cowboys Are Losing
Federal lands west of the Rockies are now also home to more hikers and campers, and the competition is fierce
WSJ
MONITOR VALLEY, Nev.— Wayne Hage saddled up to check on his cattle one morning last summer, but he didn’t have to ride far. All his cows were confined to a private field near his ranch house, instead of roaming the Toquima and Monitor mountains, as herds have done for more than a century.
Opinion
Mississippi needs an intervention. The governor should help solve BP money stalemate.
Editorial – Sun Herald
The Mississippi Legislature has had three chances to pass a law that would secure BP economic damages money for the Coast.
