State
Keep Jackson Beautiful Month kicks off in April
WJTV
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Organizers announced Keep Jackson Beautiful Month will kick off on April 1, 2021.
City takes action to address slide issues, including fixing Riverfront Park
Vicksburg Post
The city of Vicksburg is borrowing up to $4 million to repair slide areas caused by heavy rains in January and April 2020.
State Government
Closing days of session, pay raises for state, college and university employees added to budget
MPB
Mississippi lawmakers are finalizing the state’s $6 billion dollar budget. And part of the plan includes raises for state employees.
Regional
Louisiana coastal restoration curbed by too little sediment; these states have too much
NOLA.com
Tucked between South Dakota and Nebraska is a whole lot of what could be Louisiana.
A growing mountain’s worth of Missouri River silt and sand that would have flowed to the Mississippi River and down to Louisiana has instead been trapped behind a border dam 85 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.
Biodegradable plastic maker plans $700M Georgia factory
AP
A southwest Georgia company announced Monday that it will spend $700 million to build a factory to produce biodegradable packaging for the world’s largest candy makers and others.
National
White House names members of environmental justice panel
The Hill
The White House on Monday named members of its new Environmental Justice Advisory Council, which will work with other panels in the administration on efforts to reduce environmental inequalities.
U.S. Companies Resist Activist Investor’s Climate Campaign
WSJ
A billionaire British hedge-fund manager’s campaign to make large public companies set near-term targets for carbon-emission cuts is encountering challenges from U.S. corporations and money managers.
Biden to Push Offshore Wind Projects
WSJ
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration plans to give wind-power developers access to more of the Atlantic Coast and start a slate of new environmental reviews in an attempt to jump-start the country’s offshore wind business.
Officials work to curb spread of invasive carp in Mississippi River
Telegraph Herald
State and federal wildlife officials are working to prevent the spread of invasive Asian carp in the Mississippi River.
Indiana leads US in toxic releases per square mile, EPA report states
Chicago Tribune
Indiana leads the nation in toxic pollution emitted per square mile, according to an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report.
New Mexico sues US over proposed nuclear waste storage plans
AP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico sued the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday over concerns that the federal agency hasn’t done enough to vet plans for a multibillion-dollar facility to store spent nuclear fuel in the state, arguing that the project would endanger residents, the environment and the economy.
Press Releases
USDA Announces Expansion of DamWatch® to Serve Forest Service Dams
WASHINGTON, March 29, 2021 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has entered into an interagency agreement with the Forest Service to add up to 600 of its dams to NRCS’s Nationwide DamWatch® system.
Jackson County Bait Operator Pleads Guilty to Illegal Seafood Trafficking
DOJ
Gulfport, Miss. – Joshua Jerome Moak, 36, of Moss Point, Mississippi, who operated a business known as “Moak’s Minnows” in Jackson County, pled guilty today to violating the federal Lacey Act, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca; Manny Antonaras, Assistant Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Law Enforcement; and Chief Kyle Wilkerson of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Office of Marine Patrol.
