Too few childcare workers and the extreme cost of childcare are hardest on rural families. Utah is an example.

The childcare shortage is more dire in
rural areas. (Photo by Kracken, Unsplash)

Across the U.S., roughly 51% of American families live in a childcare desert, and 70% of rural parents report struggling to find any licensed caregivers with an opening, according to a new survey from the Center for American Progress. And even when parents are lucky enough to find a provider, they often struggle to afford it.

Both issues — the cost of care and the childcare worker shortage — are particularly acute in Utah, where "licensed providers meet only about 36% of the need, with rural communities facing significant shortages," reports Mark Richardson of UPR, which serves Utah and Southern Idaho.

Casey Peeks, the center's senior director of early childhood policy, told UPR, "You can make childcare free for every family living in a rural community tomorrow, but that's not going to solve the access." Peeks said that while addressing cost is important, developing and supporting childcare workers is equally vital.

Like many other states, the lack of childcare workers hurts Utah's treasury. "The childcare shortage costs Utah an estimated $1.3 billion each year in wages and productivity," UPR reports.

Utah lawmakers have been working to address childcare expenses by "expanding tax credits for employers that provide childcare, increasing the Child Tax Credit, and extending paid maternity leave for state employees," Richardson explains. But none of those changes increase the number of childcare workers.

To increase the number of childcare providers, the profession needs to be reassessed both in terms of importance and wages. Hailey Gibbs, associate director of the center's early-childhood policy team, told UPR that workers are often seen as getting "paid to play." Richardson adds, "The annual cost of childcare in Utah is between $7,000 and $10,000. A childcare worker is paid about $15 an hour on average."

Policymakers and voters need a better understanding "about child development and the needs of young children," Gibbs told Richardson, "and also the returns that children see in their education, in their health outcomes, even in their adult earnings when they have these kinds of really enriching early opportunities.”

Richardson adds, "Gibbs said the data shows the need for comprehensive solutions that address both cost and availability, starting with better wages for childcare professionals."

Going against the current, Utah works to change an old western water rights rule to encourage conservation

Utah Department of Agriculture and Food photo

Many western states apply the "use it or lose it" rule to water rights, which penalizes land owners for using less water.  But Utah is working to reward conservation, reports Nina Elkadi of Grist. "Amid climate change, drought, and increased demands for water, Utah is trying to change the system, bucking one of the oldest water rules in the western U.S."

In the West, water rights come down to the 'beneficial use' principle that "declares that water rights holders must use their water for beneficial purposes, such as agriculture, or give up those rights," Elkadi explains. "In Utah, though, the state legislature has passed multiple statutes that are attempting to encourage farmers to use less water without losing rights to it."

Even as the federal government works with western states to reorganize the Colorado River Compact, Utah is doing its own water resource management. Utah wants "to encourage farmers to conserve water without punishing them for it," Elkadi reports. "It's tackling the problem through its Agricultural Water Optimization Program, which awards farmers funding to become more efficient with their water use. . . . [It's] meant to address stress and uncertainty for farmers. And aims to thwart, or at least delay, catastrophic water shortages in the region."

Utah's Agricultural Water Optimization Program provides support to farmers through grants "to improve water practices," Elkadi writes. "Farmers can also file a 'change application' to lease out any 'saved water' through a water marketplace. Utah's State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen told Elkadi, "It kind of gives an incentive to save that consumptive use and potentially be able to lease it or do something else with it."

Despite its benefits, some farmers have avoided participation. Wilhelmsen told Elkadi, “As you can imagine, there’s a fear of the state engineer with some folks." Elkadi adds, "This is why she is trying to frame these programs as opportunities to 'tune up your water rights.'"

While the state's water optimization program is a start, "some believe more needs to be done. Burdette Barker, an irrigation expert at Utah State University, thinks efficiency is not the only issue that needs to be addressed; adaptation needs to be at the forefront, too," Elkadi reports. Barker asked her, “Will [the optimization program] alone meet the objectives that the state and others have? Probably not. Will it allow farmers to adapt better as tighter crunches come? I think so. They will help provide farmers with tools to cope or adjust.”

Mormon Church donates reservoir of church-owned water; it hopes many others will follow suit

Farmington Bay, a critical habitat for wildlife, feeds into the
Great Salt Lake. (Photo by James Roh, The Washington Post)

In an unusual move, the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-Day Saints has set a pace for helping save disappearing Great Salt Lake. "Last summer, the church began urging conservation and touted its water-saving efforts in the American West. At its fall general conference, which Mormons everywhere follow for speeches considered direction from God, a senior bishop stressed using Earth's resources with restraint," reports Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post. "This spring, another senior bishop delivered what was praised as a landmark address on Mormons' history with water in the valley and outlined an unprecedented move: permanently donating a small reservoir's worth of church-owned water, the largest such gift ever made for the lake."

It's going to take a lot more water to save the damage done to the lake. "Experts say more aggressive legislation is critical. But the church is hugely influential in a conservative state where some 60 percent of residents, and an even larger portion of lawmakers, are Latter-day Saints," Brulliard explains. "Its decision to wade into a subject infused with politicized tussles over climate change has boosted the sense of urgency and underscored the existential threat of the Great Salt Lake's demise, observers say."

Commenting on the church's focus, Jenica Sedgwick, the church's first sustainability manager, "said the impetus was doctrinal, not political," Brulliard writes. Sedgwick told her: "We need to care for the Earth … and we're accountable to God for that," and the lake crisis "is something that we need everybody paying attention to and thinking about." Brulliard reports, "The church hopes other large landowners with water to spare will follow suit, Sedgwick said. It hopes the same of its work reducing the sprawling emerald lawns at the meetinghouses — neighborhood churches used for weekly services — that seem ubiquitous in the Salt Lake Valley."

The lake is a prime revenue generator for the region and "provides a critical way station for 10 million migratory birds," Brulliard writes. "Its evaporated water turns to snowfall in nearby mountains, buoying a massive regional ski industry. Ecologist Ben Abbott, a Brigham Young University associate professor, told Brulliard, "In both figurative and very literal ways, it supports our way of life. . . . [It's] facing a serious environmental catastrophe." Brulliard reports, "Abbott compares the churches donation to about equal to the amount used yearly on all golf courses in the Great Salt Lake watershed — to a drop of water in a bucket, albeit a large one." Abbott told her: "What we need is 20 to 50 of those donations."

Newspaper series focuses on water crisis looming for 30 million dependent on the Colorado River

The West is fast running out of water. Its lifeblood, the Colorado River, reports Utah's Deseret News, "is being hemorrhaged by cities, by farms and ranches, by power plants and by the more than 30 million people who depend on its water in the United States and another 6 million people in Mexico." (Photo of the Colorado River in Southern Utah by Tom Smart)

In a three-part series aimed at explaining the extent of the crisis, reporter Amy Joi Donoghue writes that this year's flows "are near historic lows with runoff about a third of average, pushing the seven states that share the river toward another year of drought." And, continues Donoghue, "Those stresses are further trumped by the dire predictions provided by the agency managing the Colorado River system, forecasting demand far outstripping supply during the next 50 years, reaching crisis levels within two decades. It reveals a coming tug-of-war over water resources that may pit state against state in the fight for new development, jobs, housing and force an answer to one of the West's most enduring questions: Who is entitled to the water?" (Read more)

More problems facing the region is offered by Jodi Peterson, writing in The Goat Blog on the High Country News website:
1) A U.S. Geological Survey study predicts that within 15 years, the population in the region served by the river will increase to 45 million.
2) By 2050, climate change will warm the basin and dry out its soil to an extent not seen since the 1930s Dust Bowl.
3) By the end of this century, the basin will see a 20 percent decrease in runoff, thanks to warming temperatures and earlier spring runoff.
4) Snowpack across the basin was well below average this year, less than half of normal.
Severe, even record-setting drought is foreseen for Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. (Read more)

Arizona governor vetoes bill to take over federal land, calls it unconstitutional and costly

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Monday that would have allowed the try to state to take public land from the federal government, a fight that several Western states talked about but that only Utah, so far, has decided to wage. Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Brewer, well-known as a feisty conservative, informed legislators that the bill appeared to be "not reconcilable" with the U.S. Constitution and Arizona’s Enabling Act and that it would create uncertainty for holders of leases on federal lands.

Gehrke writes that the governor also pointed out, "If Congress were to transfer control of the land to the state, Arizona would be on the hook for up to $23 million in costs to manage the land, and that it is premature to put fixed dates for action into statute until the state has met its other funding needs. "As a staunch advocate for state sovereignty, we still must be mindful and respectful of our federal system," Brewer wrote. "I understand and share Arizona’s frustration in trying to manage our natural resources with our various partners; however, this legislation is not the answer."

In short, Gehrke notes, "Brewer relied on the same arguments that opponents of similar legislation in Utah raised when the bill demanding Congress turn over nearly 30 million acres of federal land passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Gary Herbert." (Read more.)

Utah legislature reaches out to rural counties

The Utah Legislature is observing its first "Rural Legislative Day." Amy Joi O'Donoghue, of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, reports the goal of the day is "to highlight success stories and provide a platform for feedback." The day is sponsored by Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development and will include discussions of rural issues at the state senate building.

Seventeen of Utah's 29 counties are designated rural, but some fear "their contribution to the economic livelihood of the state may be overlooked because of the dominance of the Wasatch Front, where most Utahns live and work," writes O'Donoghue. "The reason we've decided to do this is to engage the rural communities by becoming more proactive," said Bev Evans, director of the state's Rural Development Office. "Without having something organized in a formal way, people don't often feel as comfortable coming up to the Legislature," added Evans, a lawmaker for 20 years. (Read more)

Interior Dept. withdraws Bush-era oil-shale leases

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has withdrawn oil shale leases in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, saying his department "would first study the water, power and land-use issues that complicate one of the nation's most abundant but controversial untapped sources of energy," report Jim Tankersley and Nicholas Riccardi of the Los Angeles Times.

Salazar, a former Colorado senator, is seeking comments for 90 days, beginning tomorrow, when a notice in the Federal Register will ask "industry, local communities, states and stakeholders for their advice on the terms and conditions that should be included in the second round of leases," reports the Denver Business Journal. Salazar maintains that the previous leases drawn up during the final days of the Bush administration were riddled with flaws, including "locking in low royalty rates that would shortchange taxpayers," the Business Journal reports.

"Those who have fantasized that oil shale is a panacea for America's energy needs have been living in a fantasy land," Salazar said. The Times noted, "The move marked the third time in a month that the Obama administration has frozen late-term Bush decisions that sought to spur domestic energy development over objections from environmentalists." (Read more)

2008 saw record low number of miners killed

"The number of miners killed on the job in the United States fell to 51 in 2008, the fewest number of deaths since officials began keeping records nearly a century ago, according to preliminary data released by federal regulators Thursday," writes Roger Alford of The Associated Press. The historic low follows two years in which the number of mining fatalities rose, largely because of coal-mine disasters. Coal mines accounted for 29 of last year's deaths, compared to 34 in 2007. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration reported that 22 deaths occured in other types of mines, down from 33 in 2007.

As beefed-up mine safety regulations helped bring down the number of mining deaths in 2008, it was also the first year that mine safety inspectors were able to complete all mandated mine reviews. MSHA added 360 inspectors and paid $10 million in overtime to complete the task. "Inspectors issued nearly 167,000 citations for safety violations in 2008, up from 130,000 the year before," writes Alford. "The federal agency fined mine operators $194 million in 2008 for safety violations. That was the largest amount of fines in the agency's history, up from $130 million in 2007."(Read more)

GAO says mines lack communication gear and air supplies required by 2006 law, blames agency

In June 2006, Congress passed a law to force mines to install more safety equipment. The legislation was prompted by the deaths of 12 miners at West Virginia's Sago Mine, but two years later, a Government Accountability Office report says many mines have failed to add the equipment, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette.

"Mine operators across the country have not all provided sufficient emergency air supplies or fail-safe wireless communications gear, according to the GAO report," Ward writes. "The U.S. Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration has delayed in providing the coal industry with guidance to implement reforms . . . passed in June 2006, the GAO concluded."

As of January, about 75 percent of underground mines had not provided the emergency air supplies required. The report was released by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., two days before a Senate hearing on Utah's 2007 Crandall Canyon mine disaster and other mine-safety issues. MSHA responded by issuing a statement that said it would offer mines help in implementing the demands of the 2006 law and establish a nationwide review for compliance with the act's requirements.

West Virginia Mine Safety Director Ronald Wooten told Ward most of the state's mines should have the required wireless communication devices installed by the end of the year. All 150 underground mines are expected to have installed underground refuge chambers as well. (Read more)

Art lovers and conservationists come together to protest oil drilling near Great Salt Lake artwork

On the northern shore of the Great Salt Lake is a piece of art not many people have seen, but those who have are fighting to preserve it, reports Kirk Johnson of The New York Times. Called “Spiral Jetty,” it's a "1,500-foot curved construction of rock and earth by the artist Robert Smithson that juts into the lake," and it has become a rallying point for art lovers and conservations who oppose plans to drill for oil nearby, Johnson writes. (Times photo by Tom Smart.)

"A fierce debate, with equal parts art, environmentalism and economics, has erupted over a plan by the state to allow oil drilling about five miles across the lake," he continues. "The owner of 'Spiral Jetty,' the Dia Art Foundation in New York, in an alliance with a conservation group called Friends of Great Salt Lake, says the oil rigs would harm the work’s aesthetic experience."

Those two groups have sparked a flood of e-mails — more than 3,000 — sent to the state during the public comment period. The state is expected to make a decision on the drilling plans in April. Drilling for oil is nothing new for the area. Pioneers harvested from a natural seep of oil sludge not far from "Spiral Jetty," and drilling was taking place in 1970 when Smithson sculpted the formation. (Read more)

Senate panel report blames company, mine-safety agency for Crandall Canyon mine disaster

A congressional committee investigating last year's cave-ins at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine issued its report yesterday, and blame the nine deaths federal officials and Murray Energy, owned by Robert Murray, left.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee report said the coal operator "ignored substantial warning signs, may have been conducting unauthorized mining and had an illegal agreement with federal regulators on reporting standards," reports Thomas Burr of The Salt Lake Tribune. The panel's report also blamed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration "for missing 'significant flaws' in engineering analysis of the mine and ignoring several red flags, including an earlier cave-in that the report says should have been more thoroughly probed."

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said the report should lead to a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. MSHA said such speculation should wait until after the agency's Accident Investigation Team has delivered its report. Michael O. McKown, general counsel of UtahAmerican Energy, Inc., the subsidiary of Murray Energy that operated the mine, fired back at Kennedy's report in his statement. "This report is politically motivated, irresponsible and unjustified," McKown said. The report is available here.

Smithfield Foods' effort to turn manure into biofuel at Utah plant fails after three years

After three years, Smithfield Foods has sold its biofuel plant, because the main ingredient — pig manure — did not have enough nutrients to make process profitable, reports Janie Gabbett for Meatinplace.com.

"The goal of Smithfield BioEnergy was to capture methane from manure provided by Smithfield's Circle Four Farms swine production operation near Milford, Utah, convert the methane into bio-methanol, and then convert that — along with animal and vegetable fats — into bio-diesel fuel," Gabbett writes.

Initial estimates based on government data assumed the manure's nutrient content would be strong enough, but in actuality, the "animal manure produced on Smithfield's farms proved to be more than 50 percent below published data estimates," Gabbett writes. The company attributed the levels to animal genetic improvement, improved feed conversion, reduced water volume used in production systems and precisely formulated animal diets.

Beacon Energy Corp. bought the plant. Smithfield has similar methane-capturing projects in Tar Heel, N.C., Plainwell, Mich., and Green Bay, Wis. (Read more)

Labor Department says its coal-mine safety unit failed to fully inspect one-seventh of mines

The U.S. Mine Safety Administration failed to conduct required inspections at more than one in seven coal mines last year, according to a Labor Department report released Friday night. The problem was worst in southern West Virginia, and the agency had "significant inspection and supervisory deficiencies" at the Utah mine where six miners and three rescuers died in August, said the report from the department's inspector general.

"The report depicted an agency that failed to devote enough resources to inspections at a time of increasing mining activity," writes Steven Greenhouse in The New York Times. The report said MSHA “did not place adequate emphasis on ensuring the inspections were completed.”

In southern West Virginia, 85 of 165 mines did not have one or more required inspections, and "The report noted 51 occasions in southern West Virginia on which inspections were started and then canceled, but nonetheless counted as complete," Greenhouse writes. "The report cited an additional 22 incidents in which inspectors visited inactive mines and counted their visits as completed inspections."

MSHA disputed some of the inspector general's numerical analyses and said it was unable to complete all the required inspections because it had to assign many employees to investigate disasters at the Sago Mine in West Virginia and the Darby Mine in Kentucky, and other accidents. (Read more)

Rural Utah eyed for new nuclear power plants

Last week, The Rural Blog reported an increase in the number of proposals for new nuclear power plants. Now it seems that list might be growing.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a Utah state representative and others are looking to build two new reactors in the state, possibly near the town of Green River, population 949. The choice is all about the Green River, from which the plants could draw the nearly 10 billion gallons of water each would need every year, report Patty Henetz and Robert Gehrke. They write that Rep. Aaron Tilton, a Springville Republican and CEO of Transition Power Development LLC, signed a contract last month with the adjacent Kane County Water Conservancy District to secure water rights.

"Transition Power was set up with the goal of finding a good site, acquiring the land and water rights and doing the geotechnical and environmental studies needed to get an Early Site Permit from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission," the Tribune explains. "Transition Power would then sell its permit or partner with a power company or consortium of utilities that would build the plant."

Securing the water won't be easy because recent congressional efforts to protect parts of the Green River, as well as concerns about current drought conditions, might complicate the process. (Read more)

Judge decides to keep Crandall Canyon mine investigations closed to news media

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration can continue to bar the media from its special meetings related to the Crandall Canyon mine collapse in Utah, a federal judge ruled this week.

A number of news outlets — including The Associated Press, CNN, the Salt Lake Tribune and The Deseret News — filed suit Oct. 1 against Labor Secretary Elaine Chao for access to MSHA's fact-finding meetings, Nate Carlisle of the Tribune reports. The news outlets cited the precedent of access in criminal investigations, but U.S. District Judge Dee Benson disagreed, saying, "The court cannot make the leap that plaintiffs suggest by concluding that because the public has a First Amendment right of access to hear witnesses in a criminal trial, they also have a right of access to private government investigatory interviews." Tribune editor Nancy Conway said the news outlets had not decided if they would appeal.

Since Sept. 17, the MSHA panel — made up of MSHA employees and Utah Labor Commissioner Sherrue Hayashi — has worked to issue a public report about the Aug. 6 and Aug. 16 collapses at Crandall Canyon mine that killed nine people. The panel is interviewing people knowledgeable about the mine and the collapses, and it reviews related documents. The meetings occur at various locations around the state, and many interviewees are under oath. (Read more)