State
Sewer leaks surface on three different streets in Jackson
WJTV
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – We visited three different neighborhoods around Jackson, all within three miles of one another where sewer leaks are getting homeowners furious.
MDEQ ISSUES TWO BEACH WATER CONTACT ADVISORIES IN HARRISON COUNTY
WXXV
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), through its Beach Monitoring Program, issued beach water contact advisories Wednesday for Station 11 and Station 11A.
MDEQ issues two beach water contact advisories in Harrison County
WJTV
HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), through its Beach Monitoring Program, issued beach water contact advisories Wednesday for Station 11 and Station 11A in Harrison County.
MDEQ LIFTS YAZOO RIVER WATER ADVISORY
Yazoo Herald
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) Friday lifted a water contact advisory issued February 28 for a segment of the Yazoo River near Yazoo City.
USM’s Marine Education Center nationally recognized for architectural design
WLOX
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - The University of South Mississippi’s (USM) Marine Education Center at the Gulf Coast Research Lab has the new title “best in the country” for its architectural design. It was recently recognized with a 2020 Committee on the Environment Top Ten Award from the American Institute of Architects.
FREE LITTER PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN
Scott County Times
Jackson State engineers improvise slopes made of Yazoo Clay that’s blamed for costly erosions on highways
MBJ
Two Jackson State University civil engineers, along with graduate students, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have been working on Mississippi highway slopes with notorious Yazoo clay.
State Government
Here’s how Mississippi plans to reopen its DMV offices
Sun Herald
Offices for Mississippi’s Department of Motor Vehicles will begin to reopen on Monday to handle a backlog of requests for new drivers licenses, Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday.
Reeves announced measures that will be put in place to make sure the facilities do not become overcrowded and overwhelmed.
BOND BILL WOULD PROVIDE $190 MILLION FOR PROJECTS FOR STATE AGENCIES, UNIVERSITIES AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Northside Sun
The Mississippi House of Representatives passed a bond bill Monday that has $86 million in funding for capital projects at state universities, $79 million in funding for capital projects involving state agencies and $25 million for projects at the state’s community colleges.
...$3 million in improvements to dams and spillways at state parks for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
...It would also create a “Mississippi Dam Safety Fund” with $3 million to fund improvements to dams statewide.
Everyone wanted to give Mississippi teachers a raise. Now, it's doubtful.
Clarion Ledger
A pay raise for all public school teachers — it was the one thing that seemingly every politician in Mississippi could agree on last fall.
Neshoba County Fair officially cancelled
WTOK
NESHOBA COUNTY, Miss. (WTOK) - Due to impacts of COVID-19, the annual Neshoba County Fair has officially been cancelled.
Regional
Gulf of Mexico ‘Dead Zone’ Will Be Large This Summer, Scientists Predict
NYT
The “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico will be larger than usual this summer, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted on Wednesday.
State purchases additional Lake Wimico acreage
Port St. Joe Star
The preservation of Lake Wimico and surrounding lands expanded last week.
The Florida Cabinet approved spending $520,000 in Florida Forever funds to purchase nearly 600 acres within the St. Joe Timberland Florida Forever project.
Georgia environmental agency gives notice of violation to conservancy group behind Henson Preserve project
Chattanooga Times Free Press
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has given a Signal Mountain conservation group a notice of violation for causing damage to a private landowner's property in Dade County, Georgia, by letting sediment and fill material go into a nearby creek.
National
Judge: Oil spill responses should consider harm caused by chemical dispersants used during BP spill
NOLA.com
A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to update its oil spill response plans and potentially limit the use of the chemical dispersants that were heavily used during the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Epidemic of wipes and masks plague sewers, storm drains
AP
Mayor Jim Kenney kicked off a recent briefing on Philadelphia's coronavirus response with an unusual request for residents: Be careful what you flush.
Bayer Faces More Weedkiller Trouble as U.S. Court Bans Dicamba
Bloomberg
Bayer AG is blocked from selling its controversial dicamba-based herbicide in the U.S. after an appeals court rejected a federal regulator’s permit for the product, compounding the German company’s weed-killer woes.
States Overuse ‘Emergency’ Pesticide Exemptions, Watchdogs Say
Bloomberg
Three states that ask the EPA every year for permission to use a pesticide proven to harm bees are using emergency exemptions as a backdoor way to evade pesticide rules, an environmental group argues.
Hearings set on shale gas drilling air pollution regulations
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The state Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled three public hearings this month on proposed regulations to reduce air pollution from existing shale gas drilling, processing and pipelines.
Press Releases
Larger-than-average ‘dead zone’ expected for Gulf of Mexico
High spring rainfall, river discharge, nutrient loads into Gulf are major contributors to size
NOAA
June 3, 2020
NOAA scientists are forecasting this summer’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxic area or “dead zone” – an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life – to be approximately 6,700 square miles, larger than the long-term average measured size of 5,387 square miles but substantially less than the record of 8,776 square miles set in 2017. The annual prediction is based on U.S. Geological Survey river-flow and nutrient data.
