Weekly News Roundup for May 29, 2015

Here are some of the stories we’ve been following this week.

Buffalo Central Terminal, a brownfield site being redeveloped.

• Acclaimed mathematician and economist John Nash died. Nash was particularly well known for his contributions to game theory.

• The Brownfield Cleanup Program has been critical in promoting the growth and revitalization of Buffalo, New York, and the new state budget agreement includes a bill extending tax credits in Upstate New York for an additional 10 years.

• Fracking will soon resume in Denton since the Texas legislature has prohibited local fracking bans.

• Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed an amicus brief supporting Seattle’s $15-an-hour minimum wage ordinance in International Franchise Association v. City of Seattle.

• SunWater, the operator of central Queensland’s Callide Dam, may have violated its own flood operation manual when it unleashed millions of tons of water due to Tropical Cyclone Marcia in February. Now a class action has been filed over SunWater’s negligence in contributing to the flooding of hundreds of homes and businesses.

• U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is promoting the Crude-By-Rail Safety Act (S. 859) that she co-sponsored, claiming it will make it safer to transport oil by train through cities and towns.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard have ordered Plains All American Pipeline to clean up the recent Santa Barbara oil spill in Southern California.

• Duke Energy’s coal-fired plant in Asheville, North Carolina, will be replaced with a natural gas plant and a solar farm.

• The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court ruling that a pipeline company could not exercise the power of eminent domain unless the company is regulated by the Public Service Commission and will serve Kentucky consumers.

• During the first quarter of 2015, India’s economy grew 7.5%, a faster rate than the Chinese economy, but analysts remain uncertain about the Indian government’s new method of calculating GDP growth.