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

Proposed California high-speed train

Artist’s rendering of a proposed California high-speed train, courtesy of California High-Speed Rail Authority.

  • An industrial property in Massachusetts has lost $6 million in value, or about a third of its previous sale price, over the past 10 years.
  • In considering potential new legislation, Colorado legislators will have to balance the rights of homeowners and their potential loss of property value versus the revenue that could be lost if fracking is banned in individual counties by local governments.
  • Environmentalists are calling on lawmakers to deny proposed legislation that would prohibit local fracking bans. They claim that allowing fracking in the Florida Everglades could lead to an ecological disaster.
  • Residents in Philadelphia who oppose fracking can get their natural gas from a renewable source, thanks to a local power company. Customers will be able to pay extra to use gas recovered from a landfill.