State
MDEQ investigating work at Pinnacle Point site
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Site work being done on a potential $50 million project in Tupelo has drawn the attention of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Costco coming despite ruling
Madison County Journal
RIDGELAND — Costco is still coming to town, Mayor Gene F. McGee declared on Wednesday, although re-zoning which would have allowed a detached vehicle fuel center at the proposed site off the Highland Colony Parkway was struck down by the state Supreme Court last week.
Mississippi delta city's 2-year-old sewer line fails
AP
GREENWOOD, MISS.
A Mississippi delta city is being asked to declare a state of emergency after a sewer line has separated.
City of Hattiesburg hires three new Public Works Deputy Directors
WJTV
HATTIESBURG, Miss (WJTV) - Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker introduced the City's newest Deputy Public Works Directors at City Hall Wednesday.
City of Jackson works to resolve water bill issues, reporting $20 million in missing funds
WLBT
The City of Jackson is working to get a handle on its water billing issues, reporting up to $20 million in missing revenue after finding a third of city's residents do not get water bills.
R’land hosting May hazardous waste day
Madison County Journal
The City of Ridgeland and Keep Ridgeland Beautiful have scheduled a Household Hazardous Waste Day event for Saturday, May 12 from 8 a.m. to 12 noon.
...This event is made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Natchez Democrat files ethics complaints regarding city trash proposals
Natchez Democrat
NATCHEZ — The Natchez Democrat has filed two ethics complaints against the City of Natchez regarding city aldermen holding closed-door reviews of proposals for the city’s new waste and recycling collection contract.
Firefighters battle vehicle junkyard fire
Daily Corinthian
Black billows of smoke reaching high into a blue sky above Corinth could be seen for miles during the noon Wednesday lunch rush hour.
Deer Island burns, but that's a good thing
WLOX
Tonight, the fire is mostly out. But earlier Wednesday, Deer Island was taken over by a raging inferno, though this fire was set on purpose by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR). The prescribed burn was conducted to bring the island back to good environmental health.
Ex-KKK member with ties to Coast changed when he saw black lives through their own eyes
Sun Herald
The story started with a tip called into the newsroom, as so many do.
The tip found its way from an editor to me: The man running Mississippi's cleanup from the BP oil spill had been an active member of the Ku Klux Klan, the caller said. Check it out, my editor said.
...His love of the outdoors and his determination to transform himself led to a career with the Mississippi Department of Environment Quality and, eventually, USES.
Oil Spill
Sunlight weakens chemical dispersants used to cleanup oil spills, research shows
Times-Picayune
The more sunny the day, the less effective the controversial chemicals used to cleanup large oil spills. That's according to new research showing that sunlight greatly diminishes the potency of oil dispersants, including the ones sprayed across vast areas of the Gulf of Mexico during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
BP Names Oil Industry Veteran Helge Lund as Chairman
Norwegian previously ran Statoil and BG Group
WSJ
BP PLC has appointed energy industry veteran Helge Lund as its next chairman as the oil giant seeks to move past the Deepwater Horizon disaster and get to grips with a fast-changing industry.
Regional
Alabama passed state coal ash rules: What's in them?
Al.com
Coal ash in Alabama will likely soon be regulated in the state just like many other pollutants.
Alabama became the third state to approve a state-level program to manage coal ash last week, after Oklahoma and Georgia.
Volkswagen settlement money to help buy cleaner emission Louisiana school buses
The Advocate
Volkswagen will be picking up as much as half the tab when Louisiana school districts purchase new buses following the company's agreement to spend billions of dollars in settlements for trying to dupe environmental regulators.
Poisonous Cuban treefrog invades Audubon Park, Zoo
Times-Picayune
The invasive Cuban treefrog, whose secretions can burn skin and eyes, and which can outcompete native Louisiana treefrogs, has established a breeding colony in Audubon Zoo and The Fly that is not likely to be eradicated and could spread to the state's coastal wetlands with potentially devastating impact, according to researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and the zoo.
National
EPA chief Scott Pruitt faces congressional hearings Thursday for alleged ethical missteps
AP
WASHINGTON -- Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt faces potentially make-or-break hearings Thursday on Capitol Hill, where he is expected to be peppered with questions about spending and ethics scandals that have triggered bipartisan calls for his ouster.
EPA Plan to Limit Science Use May Undercut Air, Climate Programs
Bloomberg
New EPA plans to limit “secret science” in policy making could unravel the agency’s decades-old approach to crafting environmental protections, both supporters and critics of the proposal said.
New Volkswagen CEO Gets Off to a Strong Start
German auto giant reports rising sales as Herbert Diess reports first set of earnings as CEO
WSJ
New Volkswagen AG VLKAY -1.38% Chief Executive Herbert Diess’s tenure got off to a strong start as the auto giant reported a rise in sales and said its broad revamp was on track.
Press releases
Secretary Zinke Announces Grants to Boost to Wetland, Waterfowl Conservation, Access to Public Lands
WASHINGTON – The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, chaired by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, today approved $24.6 million in grants for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and its partners to conserve or restore more than 176,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds in 18 states throughout the United States.
Invasive Cuban Treefrogs Leap Out of Florida, Establish First Known Population in Louisiana
Release Date: APRIL 25, 2018A population of exotic invasive Cuban treefrogs has been discovered in New Orleans, more than 430 miles (700 kilometers) from the nearest known population in Florida, making this the first known breeding population in the mainland United States outside that state, reports a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
