These are some of the stories we’ve been following this week.
The City of Miami has filed multiple lawsuits alleging that various banks violated the Fair Housing Act by targeting minorities for loans with predatory terms, which cost the city money. Wells Fargo has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit against the bank, claiming that the City of Miami does not have legal standing to file such claims.
- New York landowners who were once looking to lease their land to oil companies are now getting offers from companies that want to put solar farms on their property. However, experts advise caution in negotiating these leases.
- The Keystone Pipeline was shut down earlier this week due to an oil spill reported April 2 in South Dakota. TransCanada has estimated that about 16,800 gallons of oil leaked from the pipeline into a field.
- Residents in Miami Township, Ohio, are worried that the lead-contaminated soil found at a nearby park could diminish their property values. The lead is believed to have originated from an old gun range formerly located at the park site.
- Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is known as the birthplace of the atomic bomb, but decades of nuclear research and bomb-making at the lab have contaminated nearby land. Government agencies may need as much as $189 million to $255 million a year to clean the area and prevent groundwater contamination.
- The State of Michigan has filed a motion to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit in the Flint water crisis. The State’s attorneys say that the federal court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. It’s not the only case against Michigan; several other lawsuits have been filed seeking financial damages since it was discovered that Flint’s water was contaminated with lead.
- Last year, the Gold King Mine leaked 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage full of heavy metals into the nearby Animas River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially proposed that the Bonita Peak Mining District, which includes the Gold King Mine, be added to the National Priorities List as a Superfund cleanup site.
- According to Stanford research, “super emitters” represent 20% of natural gas leaks, but they are responsible for 90% of the methane released. Locating and plugging all of the super emitters will be very difficult and expensive, as navigating the complex gas grid is an imprecise process.
- Southern Californians could see blackouts this summer lasting up to last 2 weeks because the Aliso Canyon methane gas leak dramatically lowered the availability of natural gas. SoCalGas isn’t allowed to store natural gas underground until all of its wells pass strict tests, and natural gas pipelines can’t deliver gas fast enough to meet demand without nearby storage.
- The South Dakota Attorney General filed felony charges against the former head of the state’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
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