GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for Mississippi Power Co. and the Sierra Club spent nearly four hours in a Harrison County courtroom on Friday arguing about whether the economics of the power company’s Kemper County lignite plant make sense right now. The Sierra Club is asking Chancery Court Judge Jim Persons to revoke the certificate […]
News
State board pushes companies to get local approval for ITEP changes if they fall short on jobs
By Kristen Mosbrucker (Originally published in The Advocate 4/28/21) Businesses that fall short on requirements for property tax breaks under a state program will have to get letters from local taxing bodies favoring any amendments to existing agreements, a state board voted Wednesday. With economic repercussions from the global COVID-19 pandemic forecast linger for years, […]
Community members say New Orleans company owes millions on years-old improvements
NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) – A watchdog group and members of the community are asking why a major New Orleans employer is asking for a tax exemption on years-old additions made to their facilities. The watchdog group Together New Orleans says Folgers Coffee Company, with two locations in New Orleans East, should owe the city […]
Appellate ruling forcing Thermaldyne to disclose discharges into water upheld
A company that reclaims oil refinery waste may be required to identify the pollutants it wants to dump into the Intracoastal Waterway in West Baton Rouge Parish after the Supreme Court declined this week to hear an appeal from a lower court. The Intracoastal supplies drinking water to 10,000 people in nearby Iberville Parish and […]
Trump ends some protections for wetlands and waterways
The Trump administration on Thursday ended federal protection for many of the nation’s millions of miles of streams, arroyos and wetlands, a sweeping environmental rollback that could leave the waterways more vulnerable to pollution from development, industry and farms. The policy change, signed by the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps […]
Court rules DEQ must force Thermaldyne to identify pollutants headed for Intracoastal Waterway
State environmental regulators must require an oil refinery waste reclamation company in Port Allen to identify the pollutants it wants to dump into the Intracoastal Waterway in West Baton Rouge Parish, a state appeals court ruled. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court ruling that regulators must […]
Federal lawsuit filed against Army Corps of Engineers
2019 was a historic year for the Bonnet Carre Spillway as it remained open for a record 118 days. The extended opening proved to have adverse effects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Now, some officials on the Coast are taking action. IMMS President Dr. Moby Solangi said, “It is a catastrophic event that has happened. […]
‘Colossal bait-and-switch’: Port Allen plant’s air permit modification attacked in court
Calling a Port Allen industrial recycling plant’s modified air permit a “colossal bait-and-switch,” a lawyer for environmentalists asked a Baton Rouge judge Wednesday to vacate the permit and send it back to a state regulatory agency for more study. Louisiana Environmental Action Network attorney Clay Garside argued to state District Judge Trudy White that Thermaldyne’s […]
The Mississippi River is Under Control – For Now
By May 9, 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been in a flood fight in Louisiana for nearly 200 days. Officials gathered every morning in a conference room in New Orleans that was—perhaps thankfully—windowless, keeping their opponent out of view: just below the office snarled the overladen Mississippi River, more than 8 million […]
Algae Blooms and Midge Swarm Update in Louisiana
Liz Reinhardt Delsa was driving home from the airport on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on June 16 when she heard what she thought was heavy rain hitting her windshield. But instead of sliding off as water droplets normally do, the rain seemed to stick. That’s when she realized: “It was bugs,” she said. A swarm […]