State
One Lake flood control supporters face uphill battle downstream
Clarion Ledger
The One Lake Project is the latest variation of a decades-long aim to prevent another catastrophic flood from inundating Jackson and the surrounding municipalities.
Pile of burning metal caught on camera in Gulfport
WLOX
A 30-foot pile of scrap metal went up in flames in Gulfport on Thursday.
SALTILLO CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY
WTVA
The City of Saltillo is getting closer to improving its water quality for residents.
Aldermen approve plan for Ridgeland Costco fueling station
MBJ
The Ridgeland Board of Aldermen voted 4-3 Tuesday night to move forward with a site plan allowing a Costco Wholesale Store fueling station.
Oil Spill
William Carey opens pharmacy school: 'Maybe we can end the shortage'
Hattiesburg American
BILOXI — Hattiesburg resident Gloria Rawls had always wanted a career in the medical field. The 2015 William Carey grad is finally pursuing her dream. She's one of 58 students in the first class to enter Carey's new School of Pharmacy on the Tradition Campus in Biloxi.
...The School of Pharmacy is financially supported by gifts from the public and private sector, including a $1 million grant for accreditation support that is part of the RESTORE program, established after the BP oil spill and overseen by the Department of Environmental Quality.
New pharmacy students receive orientation
WXXV
Today, the very first incoming class to the new school of pharmacy at William Carey University’s Tradition campus got a taste of what they can expect from the upcoming semester.
William Carey opens Coast's first pharmacy school
WLOX
HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - South Mississippi students looking to get into pharmacology will no longer have to travel miles away to do so.
Pensacola International Airport approved for $56M Triumph grant for expansion, 1,700 jobs
PNJ
The Triumph Gulf Coast board voted in favor of awarding the Pensacola International Airport a $56 million grant to expand its maintenance, repair and overhaul hangars, and potentially bring in more than 1,700 new jobs to Pensacola.
Regional
As trial winds down, EPA cleanup continues at north Birmingham Superfund site
Al.com
The bribery trial for a lawyer and coal executive accused of trying to avoid an environmental cleanup in north Birmingham is nearing an end, but cleanup operations conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue for some time at the 35th Avenue Superfund site.
'We are a forgotten community': North Birmingham residents speak about bribery trial
Al.com
TDEC Releases Proposed Beneficiary Mitigation Plan For Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust
The Cahttanoogan
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation today released for public comment a proposed Beneficiary Mitigation Plan for implementing the State’s initial allocation of $45.7 million from the Volkswagen Diesel Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust.
Soil Contamination Could Bend David Beckham’s Miami Soccer Plan
Bloomberg
David Beckham’s latest proposal to build a pro soccer stadium in Miami might hinge on the cost to clean up soil contamination from the city’s long-shuttered trash incinerators.
Sharks and gators sometimes go tooth-to-tooth along the Florida coast
USA Today
National
Judge Dismisses New York City’s Suit Against Oil Companies
Keenan says global warming and its solutions should be handled at the federal and international levels and by policy makers
WSJ
A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed New York City’s lawsuit against five major oil companies Thursday, ruling that climate change and its effects are global issues that extend beyond the court’s reach.
EPA Report Faults Response to Flint Water Crisis
Weak oversight at local, state and federal levels delayed action to protect the Michigan city’s residents from lead contamination
WSJ
Weak oversight at the local, state and federal levels contributed to and slowed the response to the Flint, Mich., water crisis, according to a report Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general.
Trump Administration Proposes Revamping the Endangered Species Act
Bloomberg
A decades-old law credited with saving from extinction the American bald eagle, the iconic bird of prey whose image graces the presidential seal, would be reworked under a proposal the Trump administration announced Thursday.
House votes to disavow carbon tax
The Hill
The House passed a nonbinding measure Thursday to denounce a carbon tax, calling it “detrimental” to the United States.
Opinion
ALAN TURNER — Adding up the benefits of healthy workplaces
MBJ
There are many reasons why employers should adopt and support workplace wellness programs for their employees, but for our purposes, let’s consider just two of these.
Press Releases
BILOXI, Miss. – The state recreational fishing season for Red Snapper will reopen in Mississippi territorial waters Monday, July 23, at 12:01 a.m. The season will close when the assigned recreational quota is reached.
All anglers must register their trips through MDMR’s Tails n’ Scales program, which is available through a smartphone app, a website and a call center. Anglers must register in the system and create a trip before fishing for Red Snapper. They must have a trip authorization number when they are out on the water. Trip authorization numbers expire after 24 hours; anglers should report their catch before the trip expires. The previous trip must be closed before creating a new one.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries Seek Public Input on Proposed Reforms to Improve & Modernize Implementation of the Endangered Species Act
July 19, 2018
Continuing efforts to improve how the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is implemented, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries today proposed revisions to certain regulations to ensure clarity and consistency. The changes incorporate public input, best science and best practices to improve reliability, regulatory efficiency and environmental stewardship. “The Trump Administration is dedicated to being a good neighbor and being a better partner with the communities in which we operate. One thing we heard over and over again was that ESA implementation was not consistent and often times very confusing to navigate. We are proposing these improvements to produce the best conservation results for the species while reducing the regulatory burden on the American people,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Greg Sheehan. “We value public input and have already incorporated initial public comments we received in response to our notices of intent published in 2017. We encourage the public to provide us additional feedback to help us finalize these rules.”
“We work to ensure effective conservation measures to recover our most imperiled species,” said Chris Oliver, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries. “The changes being proposed today are designed to bring additional clarity and consistency to the implementation of the act across our agencies, and we look forward to additional feedback from the public as part of this process.”
Several proposed changes relate to section 4 of the ESA, which deals with procedures for listing species, recovery and designating critical habitat (areas essential to support the conservation of a species). First, the agencies propose to revise the procedures for designating critical habitat by reinstating the requirement that they will first evaluate areas currently occupied by the species before considering unoccupied areas. Second, the agencies propose to clarify when they may determine unoccupied areas are essential to the conservation of the species.
While the agencies recognize the value of critical habitat as a conservation tool, in some cases, designation of critical habitat is not prudent. Accordingly, they are proposing a non-exhaustive list of circumstances where they may find that designation for a particular species would not be prudent. The agencies anticipate that such not-prudent determinations will continue to be rare and expect to designate critical habitat in most cases.
The ESA defines a threatened species as one that is likely to become in danger of extinction within the “foreseeable future.” For the first time, the agencies are proposing an interpretation of “foreseeable future” to make it clear that it extends only as far as they can reasonably determine that both the future threats and the species’ responses to those threats are probable.
The agencies are also clarifying that decisions to delist a species are made using the same standard as decisions to list species. In both cases, that standard is whether a species meets the established ESA definition of an endangered species or threatened species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is separately proposing to rescind its blanket rule under section 4(d) of the ESA, which automatically conveyed the same protections for threatened species as for endangered species unless otherwise specified. This brings its regulatory approach to threatened species protections in line with NOAA Fisheries, which has not employed such a blanket rule. The proposed changes would impact only future listings or downlistings and would not apply to those species already listed as threatened. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will craft species-specific 4(d) rules for each future threatened species determination that are necessary and advisable for the conservation of the species, as has been standard practice for most species listed as threatened in recent years.
“No two species are the same, and so by crafting species-specific 4(d) rules for threatened species, we can tailor appropriate protections using best available science according to each species’ biological needs,” said Sheehan. “By creating a clearer regulatory distinction between threatened and endangered species, we are also encouraging partners to invest in conservation that has the potential to improve a species’ status, helping us work towards our ultimate goal: recovery.”
Under section 7 of the ESA, other federal agencies consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries to ensure their actions are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in “destruction or adverse modification” of critical habitat. The proposed rule simplifies and clarifies the definition of “destruction or adverse modification” by removing redundant and confusing language. The proposed rule is not intended to alter existing consultation practice; rather, it seeks to revise and clarify language that was confusing to other federal agencies and the public.
Additional proposed revisions to the consultation regulations will clarify whether and how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries consider proposed measures to avoid, minimize or offset adverse effects to listed species or their critical habitat when conducting interagency consultations and will improve the consultation process by clarifying how biological opinions and interagency submissions should be formulated.
The proposed rules are available here and will publish in the Federal Register in coming days, including detailed information on how the public can submit written comments and information concerning these provisions. Comments must be received within 60 days of publication. All comments will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means any personal information provided through the process will be posted.
