What We Learned This Week - "What? Me Worry?"

NOAA predicts a moderate risk of flooding this spring for parts of the central and eastern United States. Both supporters  and opponents of a large New Madrid floodway levee project voiced their opinions at a Mississippi River Commission, New Madrid meeting.  A former Army Corps of Engineers official said that the proposed EPA-Corps clean water rule could be vulnerable to a judicial overturn.  Key Senate Democrats seemed to be open to delaying the controversial rule, including Minnesota's Senator Amy Klobuchar, who says the proposal has "major problems." A scientific advisory panel gave Louisiana the go-ahead to plan for major lower Mississippi River sediment diversions.  U.S. adults are less worried about most environmental problems than they were just a year ago, or in the late 1990s-early 2000s. BP said that the Gulf of Mexico is rebounding from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill; others say that BP "cherry-picked" its results.  The Gulf Stream system may be weakening sooner than anticipated.  The active ingredient in the popular Roundup herbicide was declared a "probable carcinogen" by the World Health Organization.  Monsanto - who makes Roundup - objected.  The earth has just experienced its warmest winter ever recorded.  Louisiana proposed an environmental policy change it says would focus resources on the most-polluted water bodies. After a quarter century, Ohio state officials reported that people can now eat all of the fish taken from the Mahoning River, within limits. And last but not least, the redeveloped Memphis Pyramid along the Mississippi River will one day be a "Disneyworld for outdoorsmen" (there was no mention of the other half of the outdoor-loving population, however).