The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) is encouraging everyone to keep their emergency game plan in place for what is normally our most active stretch of hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its updated hurricane forecast earlier this month. According to NOAA, conditions still favor an active season. As we’ve seen in recent years, it only takes one or two tropical events to cause massive loss across the state.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality encourages residents and business owners in the affected area of the Morganza Spillway to safely secure or remove household chemicals and materials in advance of the Spillway opening June 2.

The American Lung Association's State of the Air report was released today and demonstrates the improvement in air quality throughout Louisiana. Several cities were listed as cleanest in the nation for particle pollution, known as PM 2.5, with Monroe-Bastrop listed as one of the top seven cleanest cities in the nation for PM 2.5 and ozone combined.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's Water Permits Division has authored a pesticides pamphlet that is currently available. The pamphlet will be distributed for the first time at the Environmental Regulatory Compliance Conference (ERCC), which will be held at the Riverfront Center in Alexandria on January 25 and 26, 2012. The pamphlet contains a brief summary of the LPDES Pesticides General Permit including frequently asked questions regarding the discharges covered by the permit.