State
State port cleared to build military yard; residents fear arsenic, lead contamination
Sun Herald
The Mississippi State Port Authority has secured the right to develop 16 acres of dormant property in North Gulfport for military storage and shipments, despite appeals from residents who fear arsenic and lead contamination.
MDEQ awards $354,000 to 15 school districts for new school buses
Picayune Item
(Jackson, Miss.) — The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has awarded $354,700 to 15 school districts to apply to the purchase of new school buses for the upcoming school year.
Supervisors refinance hospital bond
Picayune Item
…A grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality totaling $25,125 was accepted by the Board during Wednesday’s meeting.
Mississippi landowners hope Byhalia pipeline can be stopped. Aquifer or potential leaks at center of concerns
WATN
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The battle over the Byhalia Pipeline continues to pick up steam.
The nearly 50-mile-long crude oil pipeline would run from the Valero plant in downtown Memphis, thru predominately black neighborhoods in South Memphis, and into Mississippi.
Hancock County Utility Authority awarded GOMESA grants
Sea Coast Echo
The Hancock County Utility Authority was recently awarded several million dollars in GOMESA grant funding.
Volunteer beach clean-up on the Coast
WXXV
The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies partnered with the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup program to clean up beaches along the Coast of Harrison County in celebration of last week’s Earth Day.
Senator continues push for Okhissa project
Enterprise-Journal
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says she is pushing for the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance’s acquisition of 150-acres in the Homochitto National Forest at Okhissa Lake for an economic development project.
Regional
Dredge company charged with crime for 2016 oil spill at Louisiana island restoration site
NOLA.com
Lake Charles industry to pay $5.5 million over contaminating Calcasieu River estuary
NOLA.com
Nine Lake Charles area chemical companies and oil refineries have agreed to pay the federal government $5.5 million for their contamination of much of the northern Calcasieu River estuary, the result of improper disposal practices over the past century.
Where will these 90-100 million gallons of treated acid water end up? Probably the Mississippi River
NOLA.com
GEISMAR — Since the 1960s, fertilizer manufacturer PCS Nitrogen and its predecessors have piled up a 180-foot-tall mound of a chalky white chemical waste byproduct known as phosphogypsum on a remote highway corner in Ascension and Iberville parishes.
National
Supreme Court considers whether US should pay for Guam hazardous waste cleanup
The Hill
The Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments about whether the U.S. should pay Guam for hazardous waste cleanup over dumping of waste from the Navy at the territory’s Ordot Dump.
Landfills third largest source of human-related methane emissions
Muskogee Phoenix
Out of sight, out of mind — the idiom might account for the fact that every American throws away more than 1,700 pounds of garbage a year.
Press Releases
Shrimp season to close west of Gulfport Ship Channel; Additional waters south of Intracoastal Waterway remain open
April 23, 2021
BILOXI, Miss. – Officials with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) announced today that beginning Saturday, May 1, 2021, all waters south of the Intracoastal Waterway and west of the Gulfport Ship Channel in Mississippi territorial waters are closed to shrimping.
EPA Administrator Regan Announces New Initiatives to Support Environmental Justice and Climate Action
04/23/2021
WASHINGTON (April 23, 2021) — Today, in conjunction with President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan announced three significant initiatives to support community-driven solutions in North America and in many countries around the world.
USDA Awards New Partnership Project in Mississippi to Help Mitigate Climate Change and Protect Natural Resources while Supporting America’s Producers
JACKSON, MISS., April 26, 2021 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it is investing $330 million in 85 locally driven, public-private partnerships to address climate change, improve the nation’s water quality, combat drought, enhance soil health, support wildlife habitat and protect agricultural viability, including one project in Mississippi.
