For Educators Archives

Today, investigators within the Criminal Investigation Division of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality arrested a New Jersey man for felony illegal disposal of harmful substances.

In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Claiborne Elementary school in Baton Rouge won the annual Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. Claiborne Elementary School competed with teams from more than 3,000 buildings across the country that spent the past year competing to obtain the greatest reduction in energy use. Claiborne won by cutting its energy use nearly in half.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared May as Air Quality Awareness Month in Louisiana. May is traditionally the start of ozone season and the proclamation was made to encourage citizens to become familiar with the Air Quality Index, to understand what causes ozone formation and to take voluntary steps to help prevent ozone formation and improve air quality.

The 2014 Louisiana Envirothon was held at the Botanic Gardens of the LSU AgCenter. Eight teams from around the state participated in the environmental problem-solving competition for students in grades 6 -12. Teams trained and competed by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management. The competition focuses on five natural resource areas: soils and land use, aquatic resources, forestry, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. The 2014 current environmental issue was Sustainable Local Agriculture/Locally Grown. Teams also presented a solution to an environmental problem related to the current issue through an oral presentation.

Today, the Louisiana Environmental Crimes Task Force completed the arrests of seven individuals for knowingly filing or maintaining false public records with DEQ in connection with the vehicle emissions program. Investigators within the Criminal Investigation Division of DEQ, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Public Safety conducted the multi-agency investigation.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has compiled a list of commonly used environmental acronyms and it is now available on the DEQ website. Understanding the technical terms and abbreviations connected with environmental regulation and protection can be difficult. The Acronym Directory is an alphabetical list of acronyms commonly used by DEQ and other state agencies as it relates to matters concerning environmental protection and DEQ-related operations. This directory should make it easier to decipher documents and technical writing

Several organizations that work for cleaner air held a press conference at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality today to recognize Air Quality Awareness Month and to promote the Advance Program.May is Air Quality Awareness month, both nationally and in Louisiana. While the air quality in Louisiana is better than it has been since the implementation of the Clean Air Act, May is also traditionally the start of ozone season. DEQ is encouraging citizens to become familiar with the Air Quality Index, to understand what causes ozone formation and to take voluntary steps to help prevent the formation, further improve air quality and meet or continue to meet the current national air quality standards.

Seven teams participated in the 2013 Louisiana Envirothon Environmental Competition was held March 9 at the LSU AgCenter Burden Center in Baton Rouge. The teams participated in an environmental educational contest that consisted of testing at area stations in aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, the current issue, sustainable ranchland management and an oral presentation.