Weekly News Roundup for July 31, 2015

Statue in central park serves as monument of the massive brownfield redevelopment in the Atlantic Station area of Atlanta, Georgia.

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

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced three grants worth a total of $600,000 to two Philadelphia development authorities for the assessment and redevelopment of brownfield sites. Nationally, 147 communities received 243 grants totaling $54.3 million in 2015 for the assessment and redevelopment of brownfield sites.

• A proposal to use gelled liquid propane gas instead of water mixed with sand and chemicals in the fracking process could be exempt from New York State’s fracking ban. The gelled propane is useful in areas where there may not be enough water for traditional high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but it proposes a different set of risks.

• When considering doing a deep energy retrofit on a commercial building, it’s important to calculate the return on investment. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) have collaborated to create a series of online courses to help property managers do that.

• Iowa landowners are suing the Iowa Utilities Board to protect themselves against eminent domain as talk continues about the proposed Dakota Access crude oil pipeline, which plaintiffs claim would not provide a utility to Iowans.

• Parents from the Mars Area School District, about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh, have filed a lawsuit to keep fracking operations away from schools. The results of the lawsuit could have implications across the state of Pennsylvania.

• Property values around Lake Champlain have taken a hit because toxic algal blooms in the lake have forced officials to close several public beaches. In Georgia, Vermont, the town assessor reduced the value of 34 lakefront homes by a total of $1.7 million.

• The California Council on Science & Technology recently published a multi-volume report on fracking risks in California, and supporters and opponents of fracking both see good news in the results of the research.

• When revisions of the Military Lending Act take effect on October 1, service members will have new protections against predatory lenders, who commonly target those in the armed forces.

• Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) made history with a $2.45 billion acquisition of office towers; the record-setting deal is believed to be the largest direct real estate transaction in Australia.

• According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) “advance” estimate, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.3% in the second quarter, with consumer spending leading the way.