Weekly News Roundup for October 7, 2016

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

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  By Hydrogen Iodide at English Wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  Duke Energy will be removing millions of tons of coal ash from one of its power plants in North Carolina.

• Environmental agencies in New York are investigating an oil spill that occurred at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

• Philadelphia received an $820,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to remediate and clean up brownfield properties in the city.

• Atlanta residents near the Flint River are suing a textile mill for allegedly sending arsenic and other contaminants into the river during the mill’s operation. Environmental activists are also suing the mill.

• The odor from a landfill in Kansas has been a point of contention between the landfill’s owners and nearby residents. The owners said they are working on cutting the odor, but residents filed a lawsuit seeking damages.

• Condominiums in the Millennium Tower in San Francisco have seen their sale prices drop significantly. The owners are asking the city to lower their property taxes because of the lower market value of the condominiums.

• Scientists researching methane levels discovered that oil and gas operations are releasing more methane than previously believed.

• A county in Iowa voted to raise the minimum wage gradually to $10.75 by 2019. The vote came after months of discussion between a wide range of residents, workers, and business owners.

• Hydraulic fracturing will resume in Lancashire, England. A year earlier officials prohibited fracking operations in the county.

• A proposed ballot initiative in Spokane, Washington would prevent oil and coal to be transported through the city by rail.