Oil Spill Operations Public Meeting in Ocean Springs

JACKSON, Miss. – A meeting to provide updates on oil spill operations will be held Saturday, Aug. 28, at 9:00 a.m. in the

the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center for the Arts and Education located at 1600 Government St. in Ocean Springs

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), and BP are hosting the public meeting, which will include updates and answer questions concerning subsurface monitoring, seafood safety, and coastal fisheries.

The meeting will be moderated by Jackson County Board

of Supervisors President Mike Mangum and Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran.

More information and links about MDEQ’s and DMR’s roles in oil spill response are available at www.deq.state.ms.us/oilspill and

www.dmr.state.ms.us/DMR/oil-spill.htm.

Nature Next Door

Audubon Promotes Alabama BirdFest

Alabama Coastal BirdFest Issue

October 14-17th 2010

PRAC is glad to make you aware of an upcoming festival in October. The Center has supported this festival since it's inception and will do so again this year. This year PRAC will promote Citizen Science programs including: the newly launched Audubon Coastal Bird Survey. Hope to see everyone at the event! See below for more details.

Registration is open for the 7^th annual John L. Borom Alabama Coastal BirdFest, Oct. 14-17, 2010. Since 2004, the Alabama Coastal BirdFest has welcomed birders from 18 states and Canada who have come to enjoy the fall migration. This year’s BirdFest includes more than 20 expertly guided walking and boat tours to prime spots on the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail, an opening night reception at beautiful Five Rivers Delta Hall, a BBQ and Seafood Dinner with guest speaker, Dr. John Dindo of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and a free, daylong Bird & Conservation Expo in downtown Fairhope. Trips and evening events require advance registration. To see the full schedule of events and register, visit www.AlabamaCoastalBirdFest.com or emailAlabamaCoastalBirdFest@gmail.com and a brochure will be mailed to you.

Oil Spill Documentary Gives Children's View Point

A documentary of the BP presentation at Sue Ellen Gymnasium has been released by Darlene Carter and Mark LaSalle with the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, both facilities located in Moss Point.

Carter, president/chief executive officer of the Moss Point Visionary Circle, talks about what the spill has meant for the children of Moss Point, and the lives of all Gulf Coast residents. She discusses the role of MPVC in the recovery of Moss Point and South Mississippi during the five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast areas of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas and portions of Florida.

LaSalle has developed a blog -- littleredtarballs -- that also provides information and his prospective on the oil spill that began April 20 and ended for the most part on July 15.

Mississippi Waters Open to Finfish, Shrimp Fishing

Map shows areas of Mississippi territorial waters that reopen at 5 p.m.

Aug. 6 to finfish and shrimp fishing activities. Waters north of the barrier islands were reopened July 30 to those activities.

BILOXI, Miss. – All Mississippi territorial waters, including those south of the barrier islands, have been reopened to all commercial and recreational finfish and shrimp fishing activities that were part of the precautionary oil spill closures.

Residents and businesses may take to the waters as of 5:00 p.m. today.

All commercial and recreational crab and oyster fishing will remain closed in the affected areas.

The state Department of Marine Resources and state Department of Environmental Quality, in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered the reopening.

The reopening is being implemented after the completion of extensive sampling and testing conducted by the MDMR, MDEQ, NOAA and the FDA. The FDA has advised that, following extensive sensory testing and chemical analysis, tissue samples tested indicate that seafood from these previously closed areas north of the barrier islands remains safe for consumption.

Due to a more complex testing process for crab and oyster, these fisheries will remain prohibited in the closed areas. Crab and oyster tissue samples are currently being tested, and as soon as data indicates they are safe for consumption, additional areas will be opened for these fisheries.

All waters north of the barrier islands that are normally open to shrimping will be open. However, MDMR reminds shrimp fishermen who use skimmer trawls that a 30-minute tow time is in effect, unless they have a properly installed turtle excluder device.

All other regulations specific to each particular fishery will remain in full force and effect. Anglers are asked to avoid disturbing boom and oil spill-related activities.

More information and links about MDEQ’s and MDMR’s roles in oil spill response are available at www.deq.state.ms.us/oilspill and www.dmr.state.ms.us/DMR/oil-spill.htm.

Water sampling information available at: http://opcgis.deq.state.ms.us/oilspillmap and air monitoring data at: http://gulfcoast.airnowtech.org.

Join MDEQ on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MDEQ/118172664880239?v=wall.

Follow MDEQ on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MDEQ.

Pascagoula Rec Plans Back-to-School Bash

PASCAGOULA -- Recreation officials have said the fourth annual Back to School Bash will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, at the Scranton Nature Center, I.G. Levy Park North.

Children will enjoy at wide variety of events to including balloon tying with Dr. Gee, face painting with Daffodil the Clown, authentic storytelling with “Starr-eater” Knowles, spacewalks, a big equipment show, antique fire truck rides, etc.

In addition, we will also have a live petting zoo, sponsored by our friends at Chevron, that will have such animals as a llama, goats, pigs, donkey, among others.

“We are very excited about this year’s bash,” said Ann Burgo, community events director. “We want to send the students back to school with a big celebration.”

There will also be a Doggie Costume contest at 6:30 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m. families are invited to watch a big screen presentation of the movie “Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs”.

At 3:00 p.m. Church on the Rock on Chicot Street will join in on the festivities by hosting a premier presentation of the latest Veggie Tale movie “Pistachio, The Little Boy That Woodn’t”. This lesson about listening to your parents is open to all ages.

Lastly, Oasis Church is sponsoring a skateboard competition at IG Levy Park, South. Amateurs and professional ages 8 to 18 are welcome.

To register for the skateboard competition visit www.oasisonline.tv or call 228-762-5639.

Participants will meet at the park on the morning of the event to be classified and then return for the competitions, which begin at 3 p.m. Christian rock bands including “The

Point of No Return,” “Newman’s Crossing,” and “Born Again Livin’ Legends” will be playing from 3 to 9 p.m.

For more information please contact our Parks and Recreation team at 228-938-2356.

Pascagoula Seeking Votes For Pepsi Grants

Pepsi recognizes that the Gulf oil spill is not just an environmental crisis, but an economic and cultural one, affecting communities throughout the Gulf region. Because of that, Pepsi has created an on-line contest to award $1.3 million towards projects that will benefit Gulf region states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida). The City of Pascagoula has two projects on that list; the Round Island Lighthouse ($250,000 contest) and the Public Arts and Education Center ($50,000 project). Whichever projects get the most votes in their particular category gets the funding. Much like Chicago politics we want you to vote early and often. Voting ends on August 31st and you can vote one time a day. Please take the time to help our City get funding for these very worthwhile projects. To vote, click on these links: http://gulf.refresheverything.com/pascagoulaartspot http://gulf.refresheverything.com/roundislandlighthouse

United Way ask you to Vote through Pepsi Refresh

Editorial: BP Finally About to Finish Well Closure

This week, BP is expected to put a permanent cap on the well that has been wasting oil and money, birds and fish and other sea life, and the livelihood of thousands of Gulf Coast residents.

Besides polluting the environment of marine and human life of the Gulf Coast, BP has wasted billions in production of oil that, complain as we do about offshore drilling, sustains our economy and our lives.

Almost everything we do runs on oil in some form or fashion. Not every thing, mind you, but to say a majority is really a giant understatement. The rest is covered by coal, nuclear energy, water, and other green energy such as wind turbines and solar panels.

It probably never occurred to BP that while company officials were racing to get the oil well dug in the first place, they failed to consider that careless work would cost them far more in monetary losses than time and money spent to be do the job right in the first place.

All that sea life, human income, and even big business profit lost for the gain of big-time fast cash by a company known to have one of the worst safety records among petroleum producers.

What a waste of intelligence.

Coast Guard, EPA Send Directive on Oil Management

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Coast Guard, with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreement, issued a directive to BP on how the company should manage recovered oil, contaminated materials and liquid and solid wastes recovered in cleanup operations from the BP oil spill. The U.S. Coast Guard, along with EPA, and in consultation with the states, will hold BP accountable for the implementation of the approved waste management plans and ensure that the directives are followed in the gulf coast states. While the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida are overseeing BP’s waste management activities and conducting inspections, this action today is meant to compliment their activities by providing further oversight and imposing more specific requirements. Under the directive, EPA, in addition to sampling already being done by BP, will begin sampling the waste to help verify that the waste is being properly managed. Waste sampling to date has been done in compliance with EPA and state regulatory requirements.

The directive will do the following:

· Provide guidelines for community engagement activities and set transparency requirements on information regarding the proper management of liquid and solid wastes.

· Require BP to give EPA and state agencies access to facilities or any location where waste is temporarily or permanently stored. Access includes allowing the agencies to perform any activities necessary, such as assessments, sampling or inspections.

· Require BP to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations and to ensure that all facilities where waste is located or placed have obtained all permits and approvals necessary under such laws and regulations.

· Finally, the directive will require BP to submit to EPA and the Coast Guard specific plans, waste reports and tracking systems for liquid and solid waste.

In addition to the directive, the Coast Guard, with the agreement of EPA and in consultation with the states, developed waste management plans outlining how recovered oil and waste generated as a result of the BP oil spill will be managed. EPA has posted to its Web site the latest versions of these waste management plans for Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana that will be implemented under the directive.

More information on the waste management plans: http://epa.gov/bpspill/waste.html

More information on the directive: http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/waste.html#directive