A pipeline project to transport carbon dioxide captured from ethanol and fertilizer production to a permanent storage site in Illinois is raising concerns about safety and potential damage to surrounding land. Last month, members of the Illinois Farm Bureau adopted policies supporting a temporary moratorium on the project until the Hazardous Materials Safety Administration can update its safety regulations. They include automatic notifications for pipeline leaks and training for emergency first responders. .
By Tony Leys for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Service Collaboration Myrna Peterson predicts self-driving vehicles will be a ticket out of isolation and loneliness for people like her, who live outside big cities and have disabilities that prevent them from driving. Peterson, who has quadriplegia, is an enthusiastic participant in an unusual test of autonomous vehicles in this corner of northern Minnesota. She helped attract government funding to bring five self-driving vans to Grand Rapids, a city of 11,000 people in a region of pine and birch forests along the Mississippi River. .
A pipeline project to transport carbon dioxide captured from ethanol and fertilizer production to a permanent storage site in Illinois is raising concerns about safety and potential damage to surrounding land. Last month, members of the Illinois Farm Bureau adopted policies supporting a temporary moratorium on the project until the Hazardous Materials Safety Administration can update its safety regulations. They include automatic notifications for pipeline leaks and training for emergency first responders. .
A program has launched in New Mexico to help farmers and ranchers experiencing mental-health issues that could lead to suicide. Workload, debt, production costs those are just some of the reasons farmers and ranchers experience mental-health challenges. The "Here to Help New Mexico" program aims to boost health and wellness resources available in agricultural communities. .
An Omaha Maya organization has received one of five $15,000 grants from the nonprofit Green Latinos. Some 85 five organizations applied for the grant from the Justicia y Equidad Fund for "under-resourced Latino environmental justice organizations." Communidad Maya Pixim Ixim (CMPI) is an Omaha-based nonprofit supporting Maya and other Indigenous communities in Nebraska. Lola Marina Juan Tomas, CMPI interim executive director, said there are approximately 10,000 Maya in Nebraska, about half of them in the Omaha area. .