New Mexico official takes aim at oil, gas bond requirements
SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press
May 20, 2021
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FILE - In this April 24, 2015 file photo, pumpjacks work in a field near Lovington, N.M. New Mexico’s financial assurance requirements for oil and gas wells, pipelines and related infrastructure fall far short of what would be needed to offset closure and cleanup costs, according to the findings of an independent study released Thursday, May 20, 2021.Charlie Riedel/AP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) New Mexico’s financial assurance requirements for oil and gas wells, pipelines and related infrastructure fall far short of what would be needed to offset closure and cleanup costs, according to the findings of an independent study released Thursday.
Pesticide laws fail to protect the most vulnerable people in agriculture: children
iStock/m-gucci
Two new studies highlight the hazardous conditions inherent in farm work, and show the weakness in standards meant to protect kids from developmental disorders and disease.
As a child growing up on his family’s subsistence farm in Puebla, Mexico, Abel Luna loved helping to plant corn and other crops. But in 2001, when he turned 13, his enthusiasm quickly evaporated. That’s when Luna began traveling to New York’s black dirt region to “sell his labor,” working alongside his father in commercial vegetable crop fields. Where once he took pride in “growing [our] own food at [our] own pace,” he now began working 14-hour or longer days from February through November. In addition to a grueling schedule and poor living conditions, Luna remembers “pretty much a lack of every kind of equipment that you need”: gloves, glasses, and masks to protect him from contact with agricult
White House press secretary Jen Psaki left the door open to a proposal from West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito that unused Covid-19 relief funds could be used to pay for the administration’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure proposal.
Most nursing homes had multiple Covid-19 outbreaks that lasted for weeks, analysis found
From CNN’s Deidre McPhillips
US nursing homes experienced an average of three Covid-19 outbreaks, with the longest outbreaks lasting for an average of more than nine weeks, according to a report published Wednesday by the US Government Accountability Office.
The GAO analyzed data submitted to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from May 2020 through January 2021 for more than 13,000 nursing homes and representing about 88% of CMS-certified nursing homes. An outbreak is defined as starting the week a nursing home reports a new case in a resident or staff member and ends when there have been no new cases in two consecutive weeks.
North Carolina school districts need millions to fix HVACs; What it means for COVID transmission WTVD
As the CDC touts ventilation as a key component to reduce COVID-19 transmission, North Carolina public school districts face millions of dollars in deferred HVAC maintenance. I don t believe, as a whole across the state, that we were prepared for those things, said Allison Griffin, a teacher in Franklin County.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) publishes a facility needs report every five years.
The latest report from 2015 revealed the state s needs exceeded $8 billion. HVAC-related updates accounted for $342 million.
Griffin said before COVID-19, air quality and mold in her school were a concern for her. Over the past year, these fears amplified under the threat of COVID-19.