July 12: Sunoco pays for water | EPA, DOT cuts | Augmented reality in parks

Sunoco will pay for public water for about 30 Chester County homes affected by the Mariner East 2 pipeline drilling, StateImpact PA’s Jon Hurdle reports. The company committed to supply residents who reported loss of water pressure or cloudy water with bottled water, extra filtration systems, or local hotel accomodations. A Sunoco spokesman says the company expects the water impacts to be temporary.

In federal funding news, the House released a spending bill Tuesday that would cut the EPA budget by $528 million next year, significantly less than the Trump’s proposed $2.6 billion cut, the Hill reports.  Meanwhile, the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, housing and urban development approved legislation Tuesday that would cut DOT funding by $646 million.

When augmented reality (AR) collides with public parks: Should municipalities require permits for appmakers that send swarms of visitors to parks? Forbes looks into the “delicate balance between liberty and public interest,” exploring AR apps’ publicly-available location-based information compared to organized protests or festivals and publishers like Yelp that list spots in a guidebook.

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has affirmed New Jersey’s summer flounder fishing size, catch limits, and season, WHYY’s Justin Auciello reports. The state DEP had contested NOAA’s attempt to set new quota limits to prevent overfishing several months ago, questioning the rule methodology and arguing that the quota would “effectively cripple” New Jersey’s fishing industry.

Next up for the 30th Street Station District Plan, Amtrak will seek public input at its 30th Street Station Plaza open house presentation today from 4:30pm to 7:00pm. The passenger-rail operator wants to “make sure that Station Plaza not only functions from a transportation sense, but would become the next great civic space for Philadelphia,” Amtrak’s Natalie Shieh tells the Inquirer’s Jacob Adelman.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal