Weekly News Roundup for May 20, 2016

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

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  The Exxon Mobil building located in Houston, Texas.

  China’s investments in the U.S. real estate market have added 200,000 jobs to the U.S. economy. China is the top participant in the EB-5 Immigration Investor Program, which provides visas to overseas investors and their families in exchange for business investments in the United States. Investors from China have been awarded 20,000 program visas.

• Commercial real estate investors are flocking to Raleigh-Durham, NC; Raleigh is the top-ranked city in the US for industrial property value.

• Home prices in Great Britain could make buying a home very difficult for first-time buyers if prices continue to increase at their current rate.

• Scientists are travelling to an oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico in order to study its effects on local wildlife.

• Portions of the Keystone Pipeline are scheduled to be replaced. The improvements will allow the pipeline to pump oil at a higher pressure while conforming to federal standards.

• EB-5 investors are interested in raising money to build a soccer stadium in Florida. The stadium’s use of EB-5 funds differs from that of similar projects that use taxpayer money.

• The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Exxon Mobil Corp. of the $236 million judgment brought against them as a result of groundwater contamination. The original 2013 judgment was handed down by a New Hampshire jury.

• A Virginia utility is closing its ash ponds and releasing 200 million gallons of treated coal ash water back into a nearby creek. The utility has treated the water, but residents living near the creek are worried that their well water has been contaminated.

• Officials knew of potential of parasites in resident’s drinking water, according to a lawsuit filed against officials in Westchester County, New York. The lawsuit alleges that officials were aware of the possibility of parasites since 2012, but they did not do enough to alert residents about the possible problem.

• Duke University researchers are testing a process that they believe will be able to link coal ash to contaminated water. The group has been taking samples from two counties near energy facilities in order to test their method. They plan to publish their results upon peer review.