Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.

Q: Paragraph: The deal would resolve alleged violations of civil environmental statutes, including the Clean Water Act, related to the pollution from a company factory in Waynesboro. It would amount to the largest environmental damage settlement in Virginia history and the eighth largest in the nation, officials said. The money would go to projects including wildlife habitat restoration, water quality enhancement and improvements to recreational areas. "In bringing this settlement to a close, we are finally righting a wrong that has impacted the South River and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River for so many decades," Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at a news conference announcing the settlement. Wilmington, Delaware-based Dupont Co. used mercury in its process of making synthetic fiber at the plant between 1929 and 1950, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Strict storage and disposal regulations weren't in place at the time, and some of the mercury seeped into the South River and flowed downstream to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. DuPont discovered the mercury which accumulates in fish and is especially dangerous to pregnant or breastfeeding women and young children in the facility's soil in 1976, officials say. The pollution impacted over 100 miles of river and thousands of acres of floodplain and riparian habitat, affecting fish, mussels, migratory birds and amphibians, the Department of Justice said in a statement. The pollution also has limited some recreational fishing in Waynesboro, a city of about 20,000 in the Shenandoah Valley. The terms of the settlement are outlined in a proposed consent decree that was filed in federal court in Harrisonburg on Thursday. It is subject to a 45-day public comment period and must be approved by the court. The amount of money proposed is "quite impressive," but mercury is very persistent in the environment and very difficult to remove, said Dr. Thomas Benzing, a professor of integrated science and technology at James Madison University who works with a team of researchers who have been monitoring the mercury levels since 2001. If the settlement goes forward, DuPont would pay slightly more than $42 million toward projects including streamside plantings and erosion control to improve water quality and fish habitat; mussel propagation and restoration; migratory songbird habitat restoration and protection; and recreational fishing access creation or improvement. The company also will pay for renovations at the Front Royal Fish Hatchery to improve production of warm-water fish such as smallmouth bass, at an estimated cost of up to $10 million. "Every dollar is going to be used to clean up the land, the source issues and the water, to where it would have been" if not for the pollution, said Assistant Attorney General John Cruden of the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division. No one from DuPont which is awaiting final regulatory approval for its merger with Dow Chemical in a deal to create DowDuPont, a $130 billion conglomerate spoke at the announcement. But Mike Liberati, South River project director for the DuPont Corporate Remediation Group, said in a statement that DuPont "is committed to a long-term presence in the Waynesboro area and to maintaining transparency with its citizens." The first phase of remediation, involving part of the riverbank in Waynesboro's Constitution Park could be complete in February. Soil there containing the highest concentrations of mercury is being excavated and hauled away and replaced by clean topsoil, Liberati said. "It's going to be a long-term project. It's not something that's going to happen overnight," Benzing said. Claim: DuPont to pay $50M over mercury-contaminated Virginia rivers.

A: Chemical giant DuPont will pay more than $50 million but admit no fault under a proposed environmental settlement after releasing toxic mercury for decades that made its way into Shenandoah Valley waterways, state and federal officials announced Thursday.
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Q: Paragraph: Rather than outline specific recommendations, the 300-page document is meant to be a resource for state regulators as they begin the process in 2020 of drafting formal rules aimed at reducing methane emissions. Despite industry claims that companies have been able to reduce emissions while still setting production records, environmentalists have been pushing hard for more regulations at the state level to target methane leaks and the practice of venting and flaring. The report is the result of numerous meetings over the last four months by the Methane Advisory Panel, a group of more than two dozen experts knowledgeable about various parts of the oil and gas business. The panel included industry representatives, environmental lawyers and experts from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Colorado State University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The discussions centered on topics like compressor engines, storage tanks and pneumatic valves. New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney said the effort put into the report is unparalleled in its thoroughness. "This is exactly the baseline information we need to effectively tackle methane emissions in our state," he said. The state will be accepting public comment on the report through Feb. 20. XTO Energy President Staale Gjervik said the company's experience shows methane emissions can be mitigated in a cost-effective way but that full industry participation is important. XTO was among those represented on the panel. The report highlights various strategies to reduce emissions, such as switching to low- or no-bleed pneumatic controllers and increasing leak detection and monitoring equipment. The need for more infrastructure also was identified as a possible way to reduce venting and flaring although the report stated flaring, or the burning off of excess natural gas during extraction, was a necessary part of the process. The state will host public meetings in the coming months to discuss the findings with community members across the state. Stronger regulations for methane emissions will be critical as the oil boom in New Mexico continues, said Hillary Hull of the Environmental Defense Fund, another member of the advisory panel. She said the state's process in developing the analysis was been inclusive, representing countless hours of research and input from a diverse cross-section of stakeholders. "Next year will be the critical time for moving forward on enforceable, nationally-leading methane rules that protect our air, address the climate crisis and improve education funding for New Mexico families and future generations," she said. Earlier this month, trade groups representing the oil and gas industries in New Mexico and Texas release an analysis that showed a decline in methane emissions in both states as production tripled. The research also showed that the amount of methane burned off or emitted per barrel of oil equivalent was reduced by 64 percent in the Permian Basin during the past seven years. Meanwhile, the report cited a 210% increase in oil production in the Permian since 2011. Ryan Flynn, executive director at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said Permian producers are leading the industry when it comes to environmental practices and emissions reductions. "As energy markets across the globe look to America for their energy needs, we are creating the solutions of the future to deliver cleaner, more reliable energy to people and communities in every corner of the planet," he said in a statement. Claim: New Mexico releases methane emissions report.

A: An advisory panel has released a technical report that covers how emissions are produced by oil and natural gas development and how New Mexico might be able to curb pollution from the industry.
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Q: Paragraph: Here, almost everyone knows someone who became addicted. And the Appalachian town is fighting back by suing some of the biggest U.S. drug distributors, hoping to make them pay for the damage done by addiction. Lawyers say growing pushback by communities, many in West Virginia, could ultimately rival the scope of litigation against tobacco companies over smoking. As coal workers lost jobs and faced few employment options, opioid addiction rose. In 2015, federal figures show, West Virginia had the nation's highest rate of overdose deaths from opioids, a class of narcotics that includes heroin but also pain relievers such as oxycodone legally available by prescription. In 2015 and 2016, the state had 1,500 drug overdoses at least 32 of them in McDowell County, whose seat is Welch. "We just feel now is maybe the time to attack these drug companies to make them responsible for what they're sending out," said Welch Mayor Reba Honacker, who had retired from her career as a florist before her election. In February, she sued five of the nation's largest prescription drug distributors on behalf of her city, arguing their opioids saturated the community at a heavy price in added emergency, rehabilitation, police, court and jail services. "Opioids, once a niche drug, are now the most prescribed class of drugs more than blood pressure, cholesterol or anxiety drugs," the lawsuit says, noting drug companies' billions in annual revenue. Honacker's attorney Harry Bell said a Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation (http://bit.ly/2hfEa9l) last year shows that opioid shipments to West Virginia clearly have exceeded need more than 400 pills for each of the 1.8 million people in the state over a six-year period. "I suspect there are numerous communities which have drug problems in this country with opioids," Bell said. "But how many of those communities are ... victims of a true massive dumping of prescription opioids in numbers that have no relation to reality?" Since that report, 11 West Virginia municipalities including the city of Huntington and Kanawha County, where the capital, Charleston, is located have filed or announced lawsuits. McDowell County Sheriff Martin West said the attorney general's office advised criminal charges weren't possible. The county sued in federal court instead. In a similar case, Everett, Washington, sued Purdue Pharma in January, saying the maker of OxyContin knew some of the pain medication was being funneled by the black market into the city but did nothing to stop that. Purdue argued for dismissal, saying there was no basis in law for a municipality to sue a drug manufacturer. Fulton County, Georgia, filed a similar suit against three distributors in state court in 2015, but dropped it after being briefed on measures to prevent illicit diversion, said Ellen Barry, a spokeswoman for drug distributor Cardinal Health. Bell said he was unaware of other states with similar suits. Welch's lawsuit in state court seeks unspecified damages from drug distributors McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, Miami-Luken, and H.D. Smith, and from a prescribing physician. All five companies have denied wrongdoing but paid money to settle similar lawsuits by the state attorney general or the Drug Enforcement Administration. So far, the state attorney general has won $47 million in state settlements from 12 opioid distributors. In January, San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. agreed to pay $150 million to settle federal allegations it failed to detect and report suspiciously large pharmacy orders of addictive painkillers, including shipments to West Virginia. In 2006, a pharmacy in nearby Kermit received 3.2 million hydrocodone pills, according to court records. The town had 400 people. The pharmacy owner was sentenced to six months in prison for illegally dispensing painkillers. The owner of a now-closed pain clinic and two doctors there went to prison in 2010 for illegal prescriptions. Kermit recently sued the five distributors. McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Miami-Luken didn't reply to Associated Press queries. H.D. Smith spokeswoman Sarah Kinkade said the company has the "stringent protection" of the health care supply chain. Cardinal responded: "We believe that these copycat lawsuits do not advance any of the hard work needed to solve the opioid abuse crisis an epidemic driven by addiction, demand and the diversion of medications for illegitimate use." McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal all have asked a federal judge to dismiss McDowell County's suit, arguing it lacks legal standing to bring such claims and that they ship drugs only to federally and state-licensed pharmacies. "Many patients in the United States have a legitimate medical need for opioids, and, for that reason, federal health officials over the past two decades recommended increased treatment of acute and chronic pain and year after year substantially increased the quota for hydrocodone and oxycodone that could be manufactured, distributed, and prescribed," Cardinal's attorney wrote. The Drug Enforcement Administration assigns quotas to manufacturers. Ethan Nadelmann, of the nonprofit watchdog Drug Policy Alliance, said that unlike tobacco sold directly to consumers, doctors and pharmacists are supposed to safeguard drug distribution. "Presumably the distributors are sending drugs there because they're ordered by pharmacies," said Nadelmann. "Maybe it's just the distributors are seen as deep pockets." At a recent town hall meeting in Welch, a few dozen of the 250 people present raised hands when asked if they'd lost a loved one to drugs. "A friend of mine just lost his daughter to that," said Rob Ofsa, a retired teacher. "The drug companies have ruined us." If the suit is successful, Honacker would like to use the money to establish a local rehabilitation center to help addicts. "Our people, if they want help, and we have many that do want help, they tend to travel miles and miles," she said. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation documented opioid shipments over a six-year period, not five years. Claim: Drug epidemic: 1 small-town mayor takes on pill distributors.

A:
In this once prosperous West Virginia coal town of 1,900 people, residents say it's not just the decades-long demise of mining that hurt the community it's the scourge of drug use that came with it.
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