communities | Common News Update

Mar12021 by adminNo Comments

Interior Department promises help for coal communities

Business

March 1 (UPI) -- The Biden administration announced Monday more than $ 260 million available to assist communities struggling with the decreased demand for coal. The Interior Department said more than $ 152.22 million is now available through the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act's Abandoned Mine Land grant program. The department said it will also distribute $ 115 million through the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization grant program. Advertisement "The Abandoned Mine Land grant programs provide an important opportunity to revitalize local economies, support jobs and address environmental impacts to communities from these legacy developments," the Interior Department's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Laura Daniel Davis said in a statement. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., c...

Oct252020 by adminNo Comments

Minority communities question election-year push by EPA

Technology

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Theresa Landrum lives in southwest Detroit, where residents complain frequently about dirty air. Tree-shaded neighborhoods with schools, churches and parks lie on either side of an interstate highway and in the shadow of a sprawling oil refinery that belches soot and fumes.Landrum, a Black retiree from General Motors and a longtime anti-pollution activist, wasn't impressed when Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler recently pledged $ 200,000 to promote “community health initiatives” in her section of the city during his blitz of visits to battleground states in the presidential election campaign.“Is this a joke?” she said. “It would take billions of dollars to fix what is wrong with our environment here. All of a sudden he's going to throw somebody a...

Oct72020 by adminNo Comments

‘Just not fair’: Communities bristle at new NYC shutdowns

Health

NEW YORK -- Anger and resentment flared Wednesday in New York City neighborhoods facing new coronavirus shutdowns, with some residents saying the state is unfairly targeting Orthodox Jewish communities as it tries to stamp out hot spots before they spread.Protests erupted in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood Tuesday night after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new restrictions on schools, businesses and houses of worship in some parts of the city and state. And frustration and grievances kept simmering the next morning.“I understand you need to wear a mask. I understand you social distance. What bothers me is: You pick on the good people,” said Brooklyn resident Meir Nimni.He argued that Orthodox Jewish gatherings were being singled out for a clampdown, noting that huge crowds conve...

May282020 by adminNo Comments

Gold mining with mercury threatens health of communities miles downstream

Science

May 28 (UPI) -- Small-scale gold mining using mercury in the Peruvian Amazon threatens the health of communities 100 miles or more downstream, according to new research. In 2015, scientists collected hair and blood samples of mercury from more than 1,200 Peruvian households in 23 communities, some close to mining operations and others more than 100 miles away. The research team returned a year later to retest the same households. Advertisement The data, published Thursday in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, showed adults and children living in native villages were more likely to have higher mercury exposures than non-native Peruvians. The diets of many native communities in Peru feature large amounts of freshwater fish. Mercury pollution concentrates in larg...

Mar62020 by adminNo Comments

Changes in oxygen, temperature could reshape deep sea fish communities

Science

March 5 (UPI) -- The size and complexity of marine ecosystems make it difficult to predict the effects of climate change, especially on deep sea communities. But thanks to the efforts of a team of marine biologists and oceanographers, scientists are gaining a better understanding of the influence of oxygen and temperature on the density and diversity of deep sea fish populations. The study, led by scientists with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, focused on demersal fish communities in the Gulf of California. Demersal fish are fish that live close to the seafloor. Their data and observations showed fish diversity dramatically declines in regions with very low levels of oxygen, concentrations...