State
Turkey Creek restoration project based in science despite concerns over worsening floods
WLOX
GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Residents say Turkey Creek in North Gulfport hasn’t flooded as badly as it did last week in several years.
Oktibbeha County engineer will recuse himself from dam repairs
WCBI
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The answers to fixing the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam will not come from the county’s engineer.
Harrison County Utility working on main sewer break in Long Beach
WXXV
A main line sewer pipe broke in Long Beach yesterday along Beatline Road between Johnson and Pineville Road.
Prescribed fire scheduled for Mississippi’s Deer Island
AP
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources will intentionally set a fire on part of an undeveloped barrier island south of Biloxi.
Lauderdale County considers new site for waste transfer station
Meridian Star
The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors is considering a new location for a proposed waste transfer station after the original location drew controversy.
Multiple garbage dumps discovered in De Soto National Forest
WDAM
JACKSON, Miss. (WDAM) - Forest officials are reminding the public that it is illegal to dump waste in national forests after the recent discovery of multiple garages dumps in the De Soto National Forest.
Ship Island repairs from Hurricane Zeta will delay the start of beach season
Sun Herald
By this time most years, residents and tourists are riding out to Ship Island off the coast of Gulfport to spend the day playing in the sand, exploring the fort and splashing in the clear Gulf waters.
Coast’s Wicker Center gets $7 million infrastructure allocation
WDAM
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) _ The University of Southern Mississippi was recently awarded $7 million in state funding to support infrastructure associated with the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise.
Entergy plans outage at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station
Vicksburg Post
PORT GIBSON — Entergy Nuclear has scheduled a planned outage for its Grand Gulf Nuclear Station to prepare the plant for reliable operations throughout the normally high-demand summer period.
Focused on Mississippi: Red Bluff
WJTV
MARION COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Red Bluff in Mississippi is about the best-known example of exposed layers of the past anywhere in the state.
State Government
Nearly $2.6 million Old Capitol repair project expected to wrap up this summer
WLBT
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Old Capitol Museum will likely remain closed at least through early this summer, as crews continue work on a $2.6 million renovation project.
Oil Spill
A ground-breaking achievement: The Salvation Army Community Center of Hope
WXXV
After a long stretch of dreary, stormy weather, the sun broke out in full force across most of Southern Mississippi today, signaling brighter days ahead in more ways than one today.
Regional
There’s a Booming Business in America’s Forests. Some Aren’t Happy About It.
NY Times
GARYSBURG, N.C. — In 2013, Kathy Claiborne got a noisy new neighbor. That’s when a huge factory that dries and presses wood into roughly cigarette-filter-sized pellets roared to life near her tidy home in one of the state’s poorest counties.
...In November, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality fined Drax, the power company, $2.5 million for air-quality violations at mills it operates there.
New Carbon Market Pays Southern Pine-Growers Not to Cut
WSJ
Here is a new way for Southern pine growers to get paid for their timber: Leave it standing.
Companies eager to offset their emissions are paying Southern timberland owners not to cut more than a million acres of mill-bound pine trees until next year.
U.S. Needs to Better Monitor Oil, Gas Pipelines in Gulf of Mexico, Report Says
WSJ
WASHINGTON—Federal officials aren’t adequately monitoring the integrity of 8,600 miles of active oil-and-gas pipelines on the Gulf of Mexico’s seafloor, and for decades have allowed the industry to abandon old pipelines with little oversight, a new report to Congress shows.
National
Biden will hold a big climate summit this week to reestablish U.S. leadership. Not everyone may follow
Washington Post
President Biden will convene dozens of world leaders this week for a virtual climate change summit, marking not only an effort to restart the global push to address the rising threat but also the new president’s first grand gesture as a world leader.
Covid-19 Slashed Carbon Emissions. Now They’re Climbing Again.
WSJ
Michigan commits to $97 million investment into recycling
AP
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A group of environmental, political and business leaders in Michigan announced an initiative Monday to invest in recycling infrastructure and eventually triple the state’s recycling rate.
'The tipping point:' First T. rex mass death site in southern US, found in Utah, strengthens evidence of pack behavior
USA Today
Press releases
EPA Selects Six Organizations to Receive $11 Million in Funding to Deliver Training and Technical Assistance to Brownfield-Impacted Communities Nationwide
04/19/2021
WASHINGTON (April 19, 2021) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the selection of six organizations to receive a total of $11 million in grants to provide training and technical assistance to communities across the country under the Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Program.
EPA Announces Winners of 9th Annual Campus RainWorks Challenge
04/19/2021
WASHINGTON (April 19, 2021) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of its ninth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, a national competition that engages college students in the design of on-campus green infrastructure solutions to address stormwater pollution.
MDMR to conduct prescribed burn April 21 on Deer Island
April 19, 2021
BILOXI, Miss. – Officials with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are planning to conduct a prescribed burn on a 134-acre section in the central portion of Deer Island on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
