Tuesday, July 6, 2021

News Clippings July 6, 2021

State
 
Under presssure, company cancels Tennessee pipeline
AP

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Environmentalists and activists claimed victory Saturday after a company canceled plans to build an oil pipeline through southwest Tennessee and north Mississippi, and over an aquifer that provides drinking water to 1 million people.

Volunteers cleanup fireworks debris along Coast beaches
WXXV

After a night that lit up the sky in celebration of our country’s freedom, trash and firework debris covered Gulf Coast beaches.

Engineers recommend 10-year improvement program for Vicksburg’s water system
Vicksburg Post

An engineering firm hired to study the city’s water system has recommended a 10-year, estimated $18.6 million capital program to improve it.

Waste Management offers tips for safely disposing of flammable material
WDAM

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - As Pine Belt residents celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with fireworks and festivities, Waste Management is reminding folks that disposing of flammable waste properly protects the community.


Regional

New law urges Louisiana industry to report pollution, keeps records secret
NOLA.com

Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a bill that encourages Louisiana industrial plants to report some pollution mishaps to the state government but keeps records of those accidents hidden from the public for as long as two years.

Bill aims to help Mississippi River states and communities battle environmental problems
Houma Courier

Advocates hope a new bill introduced in Congress will help Louisiana solve some of its most pressing environmental problems, including coastal erosion, river flooding, hurricane protection and the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

New North Carolina biogas permitting for hog farms now law
AP

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A streamlined permitting process for hog farmers who also want to convert methane from waste ponds into energy will begin after Gov. Roy Cooper signed the legislature’s annual agriculture bill into law Friday.

State issues algae advisory for Poteau River near Waldron
NW Arkansas Democrat Gazette

State officials issued the first harmful algal bloom advisory of the year on June 25 after test results from samples of the green, smelly growth spotted on the Poteau River exceeded safe recreational levels.

Judge to decide lawsuit over Alabama TVA nuclear plant sale
AP

SCOTTSBORO, AL (AP) — The future of an unfinished nuclear plant in northeast Alabama is now in the hands of a federal judge.

Oil Companies Are Ordered to Help Cover $7.2 Billion Cleanup Bill in Gulf of Mexico
WSJ

Some of the world’s largest oil companies have been ordered to pay part of a $7.2 billion tab to retire hundreds of aging wells in the Gulf of Mexico that they used to own, capping a case that legal experts say is a harbinger of future battles over cleanup costs.

Mexico: Lightning storm ignited gas leak in Gulf
AP

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Monday that a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak, set off a strange subaquatic fireball seen last week in the Gulf of Mexico.


National

Focus shifts to EPA on methane regulation after Biden action
The Hill

President Biden’s restoration of Obama-era rules on methane emissions is shifting all attention to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as regulators indicate they plan to clamp down further on the potent greenhouse gas.

Court strikes Trump EPA rule for full-year 15% ethanol sales
AP

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency rule change that allowed for the sale of a 15% ethanol gasoline blend in the summer months.

EPA withdraws rule allowing use of radioactive material in road construction
The Hill

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has withdrawn a 2020 rule that would allow a radioactive substance in some road construction.

Diners’ discarded shells help establish new oyster colonies
AP

PORT REPUBLIC, N.J. (AP) — Call it the seafood circle of life: Shells discarded by diners are being collected, cleaned and dumped into waterways around the country and the world, where they form the basis of new oyster colonies.

Report: It May Take Thousands Of Years To Reach Some Nutrient Reduction Goals In Iowa
Iowa Public Radio

Agricultural pollution in Iowa’s lakes and streams is so widespread that if conservation efforts continue at current rates, it could take thousands of years to meet some of the goals in Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, according to a new analysis by the Iowa Environmental Council.


Opinion

Celebrating memories at the Crosby Arboretum
Picayune Item

Much has been on my mind the past few weeks as the end of June came and went, the last day before the retirement of our building and grounds manager Terry Johnson.
...One of the oldest and most successful environmental education programs, PLT offers interdisciplinary, fun, hands-on lesson plans based on sound science and correlated to state standards. Thanks to support from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the workshop includes a free 50-lesson-plan, “Explore Your Environment” and “Green Jobs” guide.