The Economic Perspective 6/06/2025

The Latest Trending Economic, Environmental and Infrastructure News Curated for You by The Balmoral Group

The Balmoral Group provides practical, professional and precise Economics, Data Analytics, and Engineering Consulting services and is part of a globally integrated team.

Happy Friday!

And good afternoon! This week The Balmoral Group (TBG) President Valerie Seidel, along with team members Laila Racevskis and Dan Dourte attended the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation's Corridor Connect Summit! At the Summit, they facilitated a Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Solutions Lab where they also presented information on the Wildlife Corridor PES Program. During the Summit they also spent time learning about using Traditional Ecological Knowledge: the Miccosukee Tribe had a major announcement about working with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation on innovative funding models and partnerships to support conservation and improved road ecology, and systems thinking to approach large landscape conservation. The Miccosukee Tribe already stewards nearly 2 million acres of land, in areas where their stewardship has been documented for 15,000 years. More information can be found here.

Also, this Sunday is World Oceans Day so make sure to mark your calendar. This event serves as a reminder of how important our oceans are and that we need to protect them and marine life. Additionally, this year's theme is sustainable fishing means more. Read more here.

Additionally, our interns curated articles this week on Artificial Intelligence's integration into model creation, potential New Fuel source, World Oceans Day and More! This week's data visualization is from PACE.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested. If you’d like to view previous editions please click here, or to subscribe please click here!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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AI Model Development for Post Tornado Resiliency Assessments

Researchers at Texas A&M University (TAMU) combined remote sensing, restoration models, and deep learning to develop a new method of assessing post-tornado damage and recovery times. This new model will allow first responders and policy makers to have access to damage assessments and recovery forecasts within hours. TAMU researchers train AI by analyzing images recorded from previous tornadoes and classifies the elements in satellite images into categories based on the level of damage. Read more here

Orion Space Solutions and NOAA Concept Study with AI

NOAA's Satellite and Information Services (NESDIS) and Orion Space Solutions have conducted a study that Machine Learning technology may improve NOAA's weather monitoring and modeling capabilities. The digital twin implementation essentially collects real time data and runs a digital simulation paired with machine learning to create a prediction model in which forecasters and scientists can use.              Read more here. 

MIT Develops a New Fuel Cell

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a device that is fueled by liquid sodium metal, which is a commodity that is inexpensive and widely available. These fuel cells possess three times more energy per unit of weight than what current electric vehicle batteries have. This development can lead to revolutionizing air and land travel, as it drastically improves the amount of energy that can be used by heavy vehicles. Additionally, researchers claim that vehicles that are powered with these fuel cells will not release carbon emissions, and will release a byproduct called sodium hydroxide, which could soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide. Read more here.

FHWA Announces $1.5 Billion for Disaster Repair

USDOT FHWA has announced on 28 May 25 that they are federally funding more than $1.5 billion to repair roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure. $683 million is going towards the states affected by Hurricane Helene. Florida itself is receiving about $43 million to aid with the damage done from Hurricanes Helene, Debby, and Milton. Read more here. 

Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Rise 

Steel and Aluminum tariffs have risen since June 4 to 50%. This is double what they were at before 25%. Steel and Aluminum are both used across many industries from automotive to construction. The increase in the tariffs could result in increased prices of goods and services revolving around steel and aluminum.  Read more here.

Orca Action Month

For the month of June, it is officially Orca Action Month. Led by the Orca Salmon Alliance it is a month to raise awareness and inspire action through events, storytelling, and social campaigns. Through both virtual and live events, the ways Orcas connect with humans will be explored and ways to conserve the future with them will be discussed. Additionally, events will mainly be held in the Washington State area. Read more here.

Fed Reports Economic Declines Following Trade Policy Changes

According to the Fed’s “Beige Book” records, half of the Fed districts reported a decline in economic activity. Only three out of the twelve districts reported economic growth in June, and the other three districts remained unchanged. The Fed is expected to keep its 4.25%-4.50% policy rate for another few months to allow policymakers to assess the impact of recent trade policy on the labor market as well as inflation. Businesses across the Federal districts have already had to implement changes to their products and inventories to adjust to higher prices.  Read more here.

Supreme Court Ruling Increases Fossil Fuel Industry Power 

Following the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County case, the Supreme Court stated that infrastructure projects such as pipeline and highway construction are not responsible for upstream or downstream pollution. This ruling could hinder the efforts of advocates of environmental protection and could benefit developers and firms in the fossil fuel industry. Additionally, this judgement could prevent courts from deciding that a firm’s environmental impact analysis is insufficient. Read more here.  

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Data Visualization of the Week

PACE Chlorophyll Concentration

This week's data visualization comes from last week's NASA annual conservation meeting. Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) discussed how they use satellites and an algorithm in order to separate phytoplankton and determine the chlorophyll content of the ocean to try and determine the ecosystems heath, then place the data on a map. Below is one of the maps they made which takes on average 8 days to produce.  Read more here.