State
Opponents of Pearl River dam project voice concerns at Slidell meeting
The Advocate
More than 300 people attended the final One Lake public meeting in Slidell Thursday evening to discuss the Pearl River Basin Demonstration Project — a controversial flood control effort near Jackson, Mississippi, that has drawn stiff opposition from citizens downstream.
...The Pearl is on the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s list of impaired waterways because of the amount of wastewater it receives.
Concern downriver grows as Pearl River dam project continues
WVUE
SLIDELL, LA (WVUE) -A project along the Mississippi River may mean disaster for some in Louisiana.
Specialists speak at Waterways Exhibit
WTOK
MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - The fifth of six events that are a part of the Smithsonian Waterways Exhibit at Soule Steam Works was presented Thursday night.
Specialists with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality spoke with community members about keeping our water beautiful.
$30K GRANT TO HELP COUNTY WHITE GOODS COLLECTIONS
Hub City Spokes
Lamar County received a $30,000 two-year waste tire grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to continue its work collecting white goods on the weekends for disposal and cleaning up illegal dump sites.
Rate Hike Coming For Water And Sewer At Poultry Plant
North Mississippi Herald
WATER VALLEY – A rate hike for water and sewage for the city’s industrial customers will start in October after aldermen voted unanimously for the increase in last week’s city board meeting. The increase is for customers who use three million or more gallons of water per month and will only affect one of the city’s three industrial customers, Water Valley Poultry, LLC. The chicken plant uses approximately 12 to 13 million gallons per month, or as much as the rest of the city combined.
The city’s other two industrial customers, BorgWarner and Valley Tool, Inc. use around a million gallons per month.
In February aldermen also approved a small rate increase for water and sewage fees for residential and commercial customers, but stopped short of implementing an increase for industrial customers after officials with Water Valley Poultry promised to make substantial improvements for the plant’s wastewater treatment to help resolve lingering issues that both the city and plant faced with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality with waste water treatment.
During that February meeting Mayor Donald Gray reported that plant officials were talking about improvements at a cost of a million dollars, adding that if the improvements were not made the city would revisit the proposed rate increase.
“I think it is time to raise their rates, I haven’t seen any improvements,” Water Department Manager David Floyd recommended at the August 7 meeting.
Currently the chicken plant pays approximately $9,000 per month for water and sewage and the increase, 37 cents per thousand gallons of water used over three million gallons, will bump their bill around $3,000 per month, according to Ward 2 Alderman Kagan Coughlin.
“This has annoyed me, I have been talking with every industrial user that I meet anywhere in the state about their water rates,” Coughlin said. “Nobody that is in business pays this small amount for water, which costs us as a city to pump it out of the ground, treat it, and treat it after it has been used. We have been going through grants to refurbish our water tanks, which are expensive. We are lucky we are getting grants, but those aren’t guaranteed.”
“Plus trying to improve our lagoon, which costs a lot of money,” Floyd added. “Everything with the water department is old and run-down, falling apart.”
“We need to take care of our own infrastructure… it is not a large increase, especially for a large business that has over 200 employees,” Coughlln said. He also said neighboring communities charge almost $60,000 per month for similar water usage.
“We need our water department to pay for itself,” Ward 3 Alderperson Cinnamon Foster added.
Aldermen also agreed to revisit the rate structure in 2019 to see if additional increases are needed.
“I would like to adopt this today, and then revisit it. Because we are having to go through all the water department’s vehicles and we are learning how much our water department costs to operate,” Coughlin noted.
“We have been battling with the poultry plant for a good while now,” Floyd added. ““They had four aerators at the lagoon, now they are down to three,” the department head continued.
In addition to the rate hikes for water and sewage, earlier in the summer aldermen also approved a 45 percent increase for garbage customers over the next three years after learning the garbage department was operating in the red.
Carver Street sewer woes get attention
Daily Times Leader
Short-term repairs to troublesome leaks and breaks in some of West Point's aging sewer lines may have stopped sewage from backing up in some yards, but more repairs are coming, city leaders say.
Ocean Springs to use Tidelands funds to fix Front Beach erosion
Mississippi Press
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Thanks to $150,000 in state Tidelands funds, the City of Ocean Springs will be able to address what has long been a problem with beach erosion along a stretch of Front Beach.
City of Madison declares state of emergency after tornado
WJTV
MADISON, Miss. (WJTV)-- The Madison mayor says the city has declared a state of emergency after Friday's tornado.
Oil Spill
Bryant calling infrastructure, BP session but lawmakers continue to haggle
Clarion Ledger
Gov. Phil Bryant on Twitter on Friday announced BP oil disaster settlement spending will be added to a special session of the Legislature on road and bridge funding next week.
Governor calls special session that just became more interesting to Coast
Sun Herald
Gov. Phil Bryant added the BP economic damages settlement to a special session he will call for next Thursday and Friday.
Pavilion named in honor of Cheryl Sanders
PC News Herald
CARRABELLE — County Commissioner Cheryl Sanders got a surprise on her birthday last week, and the county gave itself a wonderful gift.
Regional
Millions of pounds of dead fish have washed up on Florida beaches. This is what happens to them next
Fort Myers News-Press
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Beep. Beep. Beep.
Auburn U marine scientist receives grant to study oysters
AP
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - An Auburn University marine scientist has received a USDA grant to study oysters.
Groups say Arkansas' impaired-waters plan falls short
NW Arkansas Democrat Gazette
State regulators' proposals do not go far enough in addressing impaired waters in the state, representatives of environmental groups told the agency during a public hearing Friday.
National
Trump’s Plan for Coal Emissions: Let Coal States Regulate Them
NY Times
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration next week plans to formally propose a vast overhaul of climate change regulations that would allow individual states to decide how, or even whether, to curb carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants, according to a summary of the plan and details provided by three people who have seen the full proposal.
EPA Is Set to Roll Back Restrictions on Coal-Burning Power Plants
President Trump has repeatedly promised to support coal despite plummeting costs of cleaner fuels including natural gas, wind and solar
WSJ
The Trump administration is escalating an effort to revive the flagging U.S. coal industry with a planned move next week to replace restrictive Obama-era climate policies with new rules designed to help coal-burning plants run harder and stay open longer.
Court throws out EPA delay of Obama chemical plant safety rule
The Hill
A federal court Friday threw out the Trump administration’s attempt to delay a chemical plant safety regulation written by the Obama administration.
U.S. senators demand answers from Army after Reuters report on lead poisoning
Reuters
Four U.S. senators on Friday urged the Army to detail the steps it is taking to safeguard children from lead poisoning, citing a Reuters investigation into hazards on military bases.
Flushing your contact lenses down the drain is adding plastic waste to oceans
USA Today
Add millions of used contact lenses to the plastic waste that's finding its way into oceans and lakes.
State plan for Volkswagen settlement will upgrade or replace engines in vehicles
Radio Iowa
The state has completed its plan for spending millions of dollars from the settlement with Volkswagen after the company rigged some vehicles to show they were emitting less pollution into the air.
State board accepts $8 million VW diesel settlement
Rapid City Journal
The state Board of Minerals and Environment accepted a plan Thursday for spending $8,125,000 in South Dakota during the next 10 years for vehicles and equipment with lower or zero emissions.
The Key to Big Profits in Clean Energy: Animal Fats
In the global push for cleaner energy, one Finnish oil company fuels its growth by making diesel from animal fat
WSJ
One of the best-performing stocks in the global oil sector this year is a company that makes most of its money without touching crude.
Press Releases
MDWFP to Host CWD Public Meeting
VICKSBURG – The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, (MDWFP) will host a public meeting to discuss Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) at Warren Central High School Thursday, August 30 at 6 p.m. located in the auditorium.
