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The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded $8,441,000 in grant funding to 47 states and the Navajo Nation to reduce mining accidents, injuries and illnesses by supporting safety and health training courses and other programs.

The Justice Department announced today that an additional 1,461 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $186 million for home foreclosures under the department’s settlements with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers.  Those settlements implement the protections of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).  Together with other foreclosure-related compensation announced by the department in February, a total of 2,413 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $311 million. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized a rule that will reduce the discharge of toxic pollutants into America’s waterways from steam electric power plants by 1.4 billion pounds annually, as well as reduce water withdrawal by 57 billion gallons per year, resulting in an estimated benefit of $463 million per year to Americans across the country. Toxic pollutants include mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium, which can cause neurological damage in children, lead to cancer, and damage the circulatory system, kidneys, and liver.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee with Supervisor Katy Tang introduced legislation at the Board of Supervisors to create an Affordable Housing Bonus Program to provide new incentives for private developers to build more affordable housing units in their market-rate developments. The legislation, part of the Mayor’s Blueprint to 10,000 permanently affordable homes by 2020, will help the City better meet the needs of low and middle income families who need housing, and will, for the first time, institutionalize a program that supports middle income families.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu was joined by representatives of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans to announce steps being taken to prevent future boil water advisory events

As different areas of the country become drier and hotter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico, are developing green infrastructure projects that address water needs. The EPA initiative focuses resources from multiple federal agencies to help meet economic, environmental and community needs identified by tribal leaders. EPA is also providing assistance with drinking water sources and brownfields evaluation

The real estate market is projected to continue expanding at healthy and fairly steady levels for 2015 through 2017, according to a new three-year economic forecast from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. The latest ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast, a semi-annual outlook, is based on a survey of 49 of the industry’s top economists and analysts representing 36 of the country’s leading real estate investment, advisory, and research firms and organizations

Congressman Pete Visclosky announced today that the National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has awarded a $200,000.00 grant to the Lake County Park Board for Deep River Park.

Solar energy pricing is at an all-time low, according to a new report released by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Driven by lower installed costs, improved project performance, and a race to build projects ahead of a reduction in a key federal incentive, utility-scale solar project developers have been negotiating power sales agreements with utilities at prices averaging just 5¢/kWh. These prices reflect receipt of the 30% federal investment tax credit, which is scheduled to decline to 10% after 2016, and would be higher if not for that incentive

A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of theft of government property, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today Michelle L. Michalek, 35, of Pittsburgh, PA 15209, pleaded guilty to one felony count before Chief United States District Judge Joy Flowers Conti.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to use natural processes along with the continued use of a system that EPA had already installed to treat contaminated groundwater at the Corozal Well Superfund Site in Corozal, Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is awarding more than $38 million under HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to over 100 groups across the nation to fight housing discrimination.See chart below for a listing of grant recipientsand read summaries here of the activities these organizations will conduct with the grants.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $2 million in research grants designed to protect children and other vulnerable groups from health hazards in their homes. This funding highlights the link between housing and health, and methods for reducing residential health hazards. HUD’s grants are being awarded to two universities and a non-profit research institution studying new low-cost methods to control asthma triggers in the home, and to control tobacco smoke residue that has settled on home surfaces (referred to as third-hand smoke.

Representatives Denny Heck (WA-10) and Derek Kilmer (WA-06) introduced the Promoting United Government Efforts To Save Our Sound (PUGET SOS) Act in the United States Congress. The PUGET SOS bill, H.R. 3630, would enhance the federal government’s role and investment in the Puget Sound, the largest estuary in the United States by water volume

Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) are calling on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to guard against land speculation and to consider community and economic impact in their sale of the vacant Dillon Courthouse. Schumer and Higgins pointed to previous examples where developers have purchased buildings in Buffalo with no plans for immediate reuse, noting the detrimental impact that can have on the community, and urged GSA to prevent that scenario with the Dillon Courthouse.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has awarded $44,399 to the City of Euclid to acquire approximately 0.42-acre of waterfront property that is critical to development of the city’s Lake Erie Waterfront Trail.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced $250,000 in federal funding for the Village of Quaker City to build a new wastewater treatment plant on U.S. Route 265. “Proper wastewater management and storage is critical to the infrastructure of Ohio communities,” said Brown. “This funding will help improve service for rural customers in Guernsey County.”

The Vermont Clean Water Fund and its board were created by Act 64, also known as the Vermont Clean Water Act, which was passed by the legislature during the 2015 session and signed by Governor Shumlin on June 16, 2015. The purpose of the Clean Water Fund is to provide direct financial support for actions that will reduce pollution washing into Vermont's waterways. The Clean Water Fund Board, which administers the Fund, includes representatives from the agencies of Administration, Agriculture, Farm and Markets, Commerce and Community Development, Natural Resources and Transportation.

Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) are calling on the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to guard against land speculation and to consider community and economic impact in their sale of the vacant Dillon Courthouse. Schumer and Higgins pointed to previous examples where developers have purchased buildings in Buffalo with no plans for immediate reuse, noting the detrimental impact that can have on the community, and urged GSA to prevent that scenario with the Dillon Courthouse

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) questioned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Janet McCabe about the Obama administration’s new ozone rule and final clean power plan. Assistant Administrator McCabe was testifying before today’s Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing on the economic implications of President Obama’s air agenda