State
Gold Coast’s permit pulled for dumping
Pelahatchie News
The Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board voted unanimously at its meeting last week to revoke the wastewater permit for a Brandon-based chemical plant that allowed it to dump its wastewater in Pelahatchie.
Vicksburg Fire Department Adding a Boat to its Arsenal
Vicksburg Post
The Vicksburg Fire Department is getting a pontoon boat from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Harrison County Christmas recycling program aims to help the environment
WLOX
BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - With soaring highs, come plummeting lows as South Mississippi families break away from the excitement of Christmas to clean up what’s left over. And this year, there’s a lot left over.
City of Hattiesburg hosting ‘Stuff a Truck’ recycling event Monday
WDAM
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - The City of Hattiesburg is getting ready for residents to recycle materials left over from the Christmas holiday.
Recycle Christmas trees, wrapping paper: City of Hattiesburg offers options, free mulch
Hattiesburg American
The City of Hattiesburg is asking residents to recycle their unflocked Christmas trees, cardboard, wrapping paper and other holiday recyclables this season.
Diamondhead offers Zeta debris removal update
Sea Coast Echo
As of Monday, Dec.21, 126,189 cubic yards of debris has been removed from the streets of Diamondhead in the last 22 days.
Mississippi set to clean up and recycle unused crab traps
AP
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources says volunteers will remove unused crab traps from state waters early next year.
Catalytic converter thefts on the rise, especially from large vehicles
Picayune Item
Parts of vehicles associated with the exhaust system may not seem to carry much value, but catalytic converters are being stolen in this and surrounding areas due to the amount a person can get selling them for scrap.
Oil Spill
Development of Destin harborfront park is on tap
Northwest Florida Daily News
DESTIN — Construction of the long-awaited, harbor-front Capt. Royal Melvin Heritage Park is set to begin in January.
National
EPA Leaves National Standard for Ozone Air Pollution Unchanged
WSJ
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration retained a national limit of 70 parts per billion for the pollutant ozone, the same standard set by the Obama administration, after business groups fought tougher standards.
EPA finalizes new lead and copper rules for drinking water
ABC
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules Tuesday that would require water utilities to notify the public about possible lead contamination more quickly after detection and to replace lead service lines in what it says will be a more aggressive fashion -- the first regulatory update in nearly 30 years.
Biden transition team holds talks with biofuel groups -sources
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has held calls with biofuel groups on topics including compliance with U.S. biofuel blending laws and Biden’s low-carbon climate vision, according to two sources familiar with the conversations.
Companies Seek to Green the Grid With Trash Gas
WSJ
Missouri hardly produces any natural gas, unless you count the hogs. The methane wafting from the manure ponds at swine farms across the state is increasingly funneled into pipelines and delivered to power plants and homes, where it is burned alongside shale gas for heat, hot showers and cooking.
Our trash is filling up DFW landfills. Here’s how some of it can be turned into fuel
Star-Telegram
In addition to sluggish traffic, there’s at least one more certainty associated with population growth in North Texas: residents and businesses are generating more trash, and landfills are running out of space to store it.
Agriculture Industry Bets on Carbon as a New Cash Crop
WSJ
U.S. farmers make their living raising crops from the soil each year. Now, some are getting paid for putting something back into their fields: carbon.
Court orders EPA to step up asbestos data collection
The Hill
In a court ruling hailed by health advocates, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will now have to collect data on asbestos imports into the U.S., a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
Cutting ozone pollution — in Utah and U.S. — saves over 1 billion birds, study finds
KSL
SALT LAKE CITY — Cutting pollution that is harmful to human health is not only helping people but is helping migratory bird populations in a staggering way.
Minnesota works to fit climate change into environmental reviews
StarTribune
How much carbon dioxide would a new hockey arena emit? Or a new housing subdivision, industrial plant or highway?
Press releases
EPA Finalizes Ozone NAAQS, Retaining Current Standards
Trump Administration meets 5-year statutory deadline, congressional intent for second time in Clean Air Act history
12/23/2020
WASHINGTON (December 23, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing its decision to retain, without changes, the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set by the Obama-Biden Administration.
MDMR announces crab trap closure January 21-31
December 23, 2020
BILOXI, Miss. – In an effort to remove derelict crab traps from state waters, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) will conduct a crab trap closure for commercial and recreational crab fishermen in Mississippi territorial waters within one-half mile of the mainland shoreline and Deer Island from the Alabama/Mississippi border to the Mississippi/Louisiana border.
