Friday, October 26, 2018

News Clippings October 26, 2018

State

Safety improvements coming to Chevron after national settlement
WLOX

PASCAGOULA, MS (WLOX) - Millions of dollars in safety improvements and environmental protection are coming to the Chevron Pascagoula Refinery after a settlement agreement between Chevron, two federal agencies, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

Atlanta bribery scandal tied to Jackson City Hall under Yarber administration
Clarion Ledger

Jackson is now in the crosshairs of a federal investigation that has exposed widespread corruption at Atlanta's City Hall.

ALAN TURNER — The value of urban forestry
MBJ

As Executive Director of the Mississippi Urban Forestry Council, Donna Yowell is a true cheerleader for the virtues and benefits of urban forestry.
...Much of the work the MUFC does is in partnership with state and local government agencies, such as the MDEQ.

MSU holds Green Week
Starkville Daily News

Mississippi State University is participating in Green Week for the second year in a row. Several organizations gathered for the green Week Organization Fair on the Drill Field Thursday morning.

SATURDAY NAT'L PRESCRIPTION DRUG TAKE BACK DAY
MPB

Law enforcement officers are urging Mississippians to help fight drug abuse by turning in their unused prescription pills this weekend. MPB's Desare Frazier reports.

7 on the Road: Sanderson Farms
WDAM

COLLINS, MS (WDAM) - You’ve probably bought their chicken without even knowing it. Sanderson Farms sells chicken products all over the world, but its home is right here in the Pine Belt.

OLE MISS TESTS DORM FOR MOLD, LETS STUDENTS MOVE ELSEWHERE
AP

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — University of Mississippi officials are testing the school's largest residence hall for mold and poor air quality.

Magazine reports Seraphim shutdown; bigger things in works, solar panel maker says
MBJ

Pv magazine reported that earlier this month Seraphim Solar Manufacturing USA shut down its PV module factory in Jackson, “leading some to conclude that the company is going out of business.”


State Government

MDA puts ‘smokestack chasing’ in back seat
MBJ

Mississippi’s economic development agency is taking a more measured strategy for promoting industrial growth in the state.


Oil Spill

Powderhorn Ranch along Texas coast now state wildlife area
WRAL

About 15,000 acres (6070.417 hectares) of a private ranch along the Texas coast has become a state wildlife management area in a $50 million conservation project.


Regional

Louisiana has dollars at stake as Congress wrangles over oil and gas revenue
The Advocate

A pair of Congressional bills are in the works that could dramatically change the way Louisiana receives coastal protection funding from the oil and gas industry.
Under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act — GOMESA — the federal government gives coastal states a cut of the revenue it receives from offshore oil drilling.

Threat to children drives EPA testing; Chattanooga neighborhoods sit on toxic land
WTVC

Chattanooga leaders are proud to show off their environmental turnaround after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency named it the dirtiest city in the U.S. in 1969.
The city has cleaned up its act. A NewsChannel 9 investigation uncovers how its dirty past is still harming families today.

Family discovers rare Gulf sturgeon
NWF Daily News

NICEVILLE — A woman and her son came across an odd sight Tuesday afternoon when they found a large sturgeon washed up on the shore of Rocky Bayou.


National

EPA head says rollbacks will keep environment clean, economy up
WHYY

At an oil and gas conference in Pittsburgh Wednesday, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler touted the Trump administration’s moves to roll back over 70 environmental regulations, telling the crowd the rollbacks will make America’s air and water cleaner while keeping the economy booming.

Environmental groups shift strategies to win climate change support
The Hill

Conservation groups are linking the threat of global warming to health care and other prominent issues as they seek to win more support for candidates backing climate change policies.

GM proposes nationwide zero-emissions vehicle sales mandate
AP

General Motors says it will ask the federal government for one national gas mileage standard, including a requirement that a percentage of auto companies' sales be zero-emissions vehicles.

Unions helped write Washington’s carbon fee initiative. Some also want to sink it.
McClatchy

Washington state’s main labor organization lives by a proud motto: “Working people standing together.” But as voters cast their ballots in the midterm elections, they will have to decide on a carbon fee initiative that has divided the state’s labor movement, causing disunion among scores of unions.

Judge upholds verdict against Monsanto; weed killer ruling 1st step in long legal battle
AP

With its stock dropping and more lawsuits expected, Monsanto vowed to press on with a nationwide legal defense of its best-selling weed killer Roundup after a San Francisco judge upheld a verdict alleging it causes cancer.

Trump switches out energy commission chairman
The Hill

President Trump named Neil Chatterjee to be the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Wednesday, replacing previous chairman Kevin McIntyre, who cited unspecified “health issues” in stepping aside.


Opinion

PINE SLUMP
Northside Sun

The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy story recently about a topic that many Mississippi landowners already know a lot about: difficult conditions for Southern pine tree investors.

EPA's Return To Rigorous Cost-Benefit Analysis Continues With Impending Methane-Rule Revision
Forbes

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to propose changes to the regulation of mercury emissions that can recalibrate the balance between the costs of such controls and the benefits they confer.



Press Releases

Seeking Water from Above: Low-Level Helicopter to Fly Above Mississippi Alluvial Plain
USGS

Beginning in early November and lasting for several months, a low-level helicopter will begin flying over parts of seven states in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, or MAP, to acquire a more robust picture of aquifers in the area.


EPA Enforcement Actions Help Protect Vulnerable Communities from Lead-Based Paint Health Hazards
10/25/2018

WASHINGTON  — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced 141 federal enforcement actions completed over the last year to ensure that entities like renovation contractors, landlords, property managers, realtors and others comply with rules that protect the public from exposure to lead from lead-based paint.