Latest Mississippi River Delta News: June 26, 2013

Corps commits funding for study of hurricane protection project
By Advocate Washington Bureau. June 26, 2013.
“WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday committed the funding needed to finish studying the viability of the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection Project.” (Read more).

BP ad campaign aggressively challenges billions in settlement payouts from 2010 Gulf oil spill 
By The Associated Press. June 25, 2013.
“NEW ORLEANS — BP is placing a full-page advertisement in three of the nation’s largest newspapers on Wednesday as the company mounts an aggressive campaign to challenge what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses…” (Read more)

Massive tar mat dug up off Louisiana, 3 years after Gulf spill
By Matt Smith, CNN. June 25, 2013.
“Three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, workers have dug up a massive chunk of weathered crude from the shallows off a Louisiana beach. The tar mat — a slab of oil residue mixed with wet sand — was about 165 feet long by 65 feet wide…” (Read more).

National chamber highlights Cut Off coastal restoration entrepreneur
By Mark Waller, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). June 25, 2013.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spotlighting one of the stars of this year’s Entrepreneur Week business festival in New Orleans with a visit by a pair of roving writers to Webster Pierce of Cut Off, inventor of a structure…” (Read more).

Obama offers sweeping climate change plan; Louisiana lawmakers denounce it
By Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). June 25, 2013.
“WASHINGTON — Saying he refuses to condemn American young people and future generations to a “planet that is beyond saving,” President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced sweeping new measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions…” (Read more).

DMR scandal an example of what can go wrong with RESTORE funds
By Glen Davis, The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.). June 25, 2013.
“I blundered into the Dept. of Marine Resources scandal while doing research on coastal restoration efforts. My God, what a mess.  First it was Bernie Ebbers and Worldcom and then the rise and fall…” (Read more).