State
Sewage leak springs up on Belhaven street
WAPT
JACKSON, Miss. — A sewage leak has sprung up in a Belhaven neighborhood.
City pays $1.45M to clean up after tornado, awaits repayment
AP
A southwest Mississippi city has paid $1.45 million to clean up from an April 23 tornado and now awaits reimbursement from federal and state disaster agency.
State Government
Reeves extends mask mandate in MS, ups football crowd limits to 25% capacity
Sun Herald
Gov. Tate Reeves said at Saturday’s opening of the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport that he would take the weekend to consider whether to extend his executive order requiring masks in public.
LEGISLATURE REACHES TEMPORARY COMPROMISE ON GOMESA FUNDS, BUT FURTHER DISPUTES COULD COME NEXT SESSION
Northside Sun
The Department of Marine Resources finally has a budget almost two months after the start of the fiscal year, but the issues that led to the impasse will likely appear in next year’s session.
COVID-19 shutdown has led to better days for state parks
WLBT
MORTON, Miss. (WLBT) - For die-hard outdoorspeople, the closing of the state parks was another hard blow in the coronavirus shutdowns. But officials say there’s been a little bit of a boom following the reopening.
Regional
Chemical fire near Lake Charles finally out after 3 days; investigation into cause begins
NOLA.com
Chlorine, other chemicals detected near Hurricane Laura-damaged chemical plant, EPA says
NOLA.com
Air monitoring contractors for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found chlorine above detection limits at nine locations in neighborhoods surrounding the BioLab Inc. chemical plant in Westlake, while an EPA monitoring plane found minimal amounts of three other chemicals as it flew a few hundred feet above the area a few hours after Hurricane Laura moved through, according to an EPA document.
US, South Carolina reach deal on plutonium disposal
The Hill
The Energy Department on Monday announced that it will give the state of South Carolina $600 million up front to help it remove plutonium as part of a settlement agreement.
National
EPA Eases Coal-Ash and Wastewater Disposal Rules
WSJ
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday completed a set of new guidelines for disposing of coal ash and wastewater from coal-fired power plants, changes that critics say could allow more pollutants into the nation’s waterways.
IPL to pay millions in fines, upgrades over alleged Clean Air Act violations at Petersburg
Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis Power & Light agreed to reduce emissions at its coal-fired power plant in Petersburg after federal officials filed a lawsuit claiming the utility had repeatedly violated the Clean Air Act over the last decade.
Landmark cleanup agreement announced for Ann Arbor’s Gelman dioxane plume
MLive
ANN ARBOR, MI — After several years of fighting in court for a better cleanup of the Gelman dioxane plume, local officials announced a landmark agreement Monday, Aug. 31.
Press Releases
EPA Finalizes Power Plant Effluent Limitation Guidelines that Save Money and Reduce Pollution
08/31/2020
WASHINGTON (August 31, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final revisions to specific effluent guidelines and standards for “steam electric” power plants.
Grand Bay NERR creates video series for National Estuaries Week
MDMR
August 31, 2020
BILOXI, Miss. – In years past, the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) would celebrate National Estuaries Day with an event called “Seaside with a Scientist.” The event would feature a boat ride bringing participants into the field giving them an up-close understanding of the estuary, as well as meeting Grand Bay NERR scientists and learning about the work done at the reserve.
