rural development

Written by Gayle Cargo, Public Information Coordinator

Texas USDA Rural Development State Director, Paco Valentin, Pearsall Mayor Ray Martinez and other county officials celebrated Earth Day, April 22^nd, with a $4,765,000 Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant funding presentation to the city of Pearsall.

By Ken Stribling, Public Information Coordinator

Last Saturday, a massive tornado nearly a mile wide ripped through central Mississippi, killing ten people and injuring scores of others.  Hardest hit were Choctaw, Holmes and Yazoo Counties.  Hundreds of Mississippi families lost their homes, businesses, and farms.

By Joan Messina, Public Information Coordinator

USDA Rural Development celebrated a magnificent Earth Day in the bright spring sunshine at Vandalia Lake in Fayette County, Illinois, last Thursday.  The clouds rolled away just hours before we joined Fayette Water Company (FWC) to mark the advent of abundant safe water for area residents. With Vandalia Lake as the backdrop, State Director Colleen Callahan announced that Rural Development was providing $1,275,500 in affordable funding to make FWC’s project possible.

Story by Student Reporter Jessi Southworth

Molly Lambert, Vermont State Director for USDA Rural Development, was joined by Jenny Nelson from U.S. Senator Bernie Sander’s Office, State Officials, and Lyndon Town Officials for an Earth Day tree planting celebration and to announce the award of a USDA Rural Development Water and Environmental Program grant to upgrade the local wastewater treatment plant.

Written by E.J. Stapler, Rural Development Public Information Coordinator, Georgia

For more than two years the Yerington Paiute Tribe has been unable to drink the water from its taps due to arsenic and uranium contamination.  Furthermore, the tribe and its lessee, Rite of Passage training academy, were under pressure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for being out of compliance with the Clean Water Act, and substantial fines were looming.

By Harold Alford, Public Information Coordinator, Kansas

Last week as we celebrated the anniversary of Earth Day, we remembered that it is critical that we protect our environment for future generations. In each of the past 40 years, communities and individuals throughout our Nation have taken one day out of the year, Earth Day, to celebrate and initiate actions that preserve our planet.

  Written by Amy Mund,  Public Information Coordinator USDA Rural Development-Colorado

By Katherine Belcher, USDA Rural Development Public Information Coordinator