State
Who will pay for the estimated $340 million One Lake project?
Clarion Ledger
Property owners who benefit from the One Lake Project would likely face a special assessment tax if the estimated $340 million project becomes reality.
Waste Pro partners with DeSoto County on curbside recycling program
Commercial Appeal
A curbside recycling service is helping DeSoto County residents save both the environment and county dollars.
City hears mixed news on interceptor project
Enterprise-Journal
There are gray clouds and silver linings financially for McComb on its Northwest Interceptor sewer improvement project. David Bowman of Neel-Schaffer engineering firm told selectmen at Tuesday’s work session that the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is disallowing reimbursement of $274,000 spent out of water and sewer fund reserves for land acquisition and rights of way.
Green Tee sewer work nears start
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Efforts to replace inadequate sewer infrastructure in the Green Tee neighborhood should ramp up later this summer.
State acquires nearly 18,000 acres in south Delta
Clarion Ledger
Hunters have watched for months as the sale of approximately 17,816 acres progressed, and this week it was announced the transaction is complete.
Vacancy at Okhissa Lake — Group hopes Fed will sell public land
Daily Leader
He put in around noon on Friday.
Summit’s Donald Broussard backed his 16-foot SunCatcher pontoon off the trailer and into the black water of Okhissa Lake, swinging it around carefully to glide into the floating dock.
Electric car chargers in downtown Meridian
WTOK
The city of Meridian teamed up with Mississippi Power to install two new electric car charging stations.
Ingalls engineers promote STEM-related fields in workshop with local teachers
Mississippi Press
PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) fields are the future of this nation and for the seventh year, Ingalls Shipbuilding is doing its part in educating teachers from around the Gulf Coast about STEM and how they can integrate experiments in their classrooms.
Reward offered after pregnant dolphin found shot to death
AP
More than $6,000 is up for grabs after a pregnant dolphin was found shot to death in South Mississippi.
Hatchery collects rare species of catfish
Daily Journal
TUPELO – Three days of tromping through murky waters in remote locations in north Mississippi proved successful for the Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery.
State Government
Analysis: Gambling not a clear-cut state budget booster
AP
Will Mississippi take a chance on a lottery? It's a big question lawmakers could answer if Republican Gov. Phil Bryant calls them into special session in the next few weeks.
Oil Spill
William Carey opens Mississippi’s second pharmacy school
AP
Mississippi's second pharmacy school is opening on the state's Gulf Coast, with William Carey University beginning classes on Monday at its School of Pharmacy in Biloxi.
Regional
Balch & Bingham lawyer, Drummond executive convicted in federal bribery case
Al.com
A Balch & Bingham attorney and the Drummond Company Vice President of Government Affairs have been found guilty on all federal charges involving bribery of an Alabama legislator.
Call it a dirt barbecue: Workers heat the ground to remove contamination at CTS site
Asheville Citizen Times
SKYLAND – If the temperature here reaches 100 degrees sometime this summer, the air would still only be a little more than half as hot as the dirt below the surface on a patch of land off Mills Gap Road.
EPA changes won't water down North Carolina coal ash law
News & Record
GREENSBORO — Experts say recent changes that soften federal regulations governing coal ash disposal will not have any effect on the scope or pace of efforts to eliminate storage basins for the waste product in North Carolina.
Group studying low-oxygen levels in bodies of water meets at Nicholls
Houma Courier
A forum focused on the issue and ramifications of low oxygen levels in bodies of water was held today at Nicholls State University.
National
Volkswagen settlement cash to buy electric buses for transit authorities in Pioneer Valley, Martha's Vineyard
MassLive
Transit authorities in the Pioneer Valley and on Martha's Vineyard could see $11 million for new electric buses with money from the $10 billion, nationwide Volkswagen emissions fraud settlement.
Press Releases
MDWFP Announces Steele Bayou WMA
MDWFP
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP), in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, recently acquired approximately 17,816 acres in Issaquena and Warren counties from Anderson-Tully Company. The land will be managed by MDWFP and tentatively titled "Steele Bayou Wildlife Management Area". The property is a matrix of bayous, cypress sloughs, and well-managed bottomland hardwoods. The forested ecosystem represents a significant conservation investment for all Mississippians.
MDWFP and TNC will be working on a long-term management strategy with plans to open the WMA for the 2019–2020 hunting season.
USDA Extends Its Landmark Water Quality Initiatives Through 2023
Jackson, July 19, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced plans to extend two of its landmark water quality initiatives for five years. The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) and the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) have played a pivotal role in accelerating conservation in water quality by providing targeted funding and technical resources to agricultural producers in the areas that need it most.
In Mississippi, MRBI and NWQI have focused conservation in seven (7) watersheds in 2018. The MRBI watersheds are Christmas Lake-Stillwater Bayou, Long Lake, Brook-Tommie Bayou, Burrell Bayou, and Beaver-Mound Bayou. The NWQI watersheds are Tippah Creek-Tippah River and Sunflower River-Porter Bayou.
“NRCS targeted water quality efforts have steadily demonstrated tremendous benefits in Mississippi and across America’s landscape and water bodies,” said Kurt Readus, state conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “By focusing resources where we can have the best impacts, we’re improving the quality of rivers and streams across the country while also giving producers the tools they need to make good investments on their working lands.”
NRCS works with producers in targeted watersheds to implement conservation practices that prevent runoff of sediment and nutrients, which can degrade water quality.
These initiatives currently help producers improve water quality in more than 350 watersheds across the country. To date, at least ten (10) water bodies have been removed or scheduled for removal from the nation’s list of impaired streams.
NRCS will continue to update and expand their approach to both initiatives based on recommendations from conservation partners and staff. Some notable updates include:
• Providing greater technical assistance for watershed assessment in MRBI to help ensure critical source areas are identified;
• Establishing watershed goals and interim metrics; and
• Ensuring that an outreach strategy is in place.
NRCS will also provide greater certainty for NWQI financial assistance by using multi-year budgets, not to exceed five years, for priority watersheds. The initiative will also expand the focus from only water bodies impaired under the Clean Water Act to a broader group of water bodies, particularly those that provide drinking water.
Targeted Watersheds
Improved water quality is due, in large part, to the agency’s targeted small watershed approach, which focuses resources on the most critical areas to maximize conservation impact and allow producers to be natural resource stewards.
Through USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project, cropland models demonstrate that conservation on cropland throughout the entire Mississippi River basin has reduced nitrogen and sediment loading to the Gulf of Mexico by 28 percent and 45 percent, respectively, over what would be lost without conservation systems in place.
Assistance Available for Farmers
Agricultural producers interested in learning more are encouraged to contact their local USDA service center or visit the NRCS national website at www.nrcs.usda.gov.
