Opinion: U.S. educational mismatch leaves American manufacturers unable to fill 'millions of critical jobs'

A shortage of trained mechanics means auto owners 
will pay more for repairs. (Ford photo)

Moving the manufacturing of any product back to the U.S. is an expensive and iffy gamble that can take years to bring into fruition. For many companies, the idea of reshoring labor-intensive industries isn't even on the table because the nation doesn't have enough skilled trade workers to staff factory floors.

Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley "pointed out on a podcast last week that he can’t find enough skilled mechanics to run his auto plants. Specifically, Ford can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs that pay $120,000 a year," writes The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

“We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough,” Farley told Monica Langley of the "Office Hours" podcast. "We have over a million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen.”

For decades, American youth have been influenced to attend college rather than trade schools through government-sponsored financial support and cultural influences that push college degrees as a prerequisite for success, even when a trade profession might be a better fit. "This has created a skills mismatch in the labor market," the board adds. "Unemployment among young college grads is increasing, while employers struggle to hire skilled manufacturing workers, technicians and contractors."

When graduate numbers are compared, the extreme shortage of skilled workers becomes clear. "Only 114,000 Americans in their 20s completed vocational programs during the first 10 months of last year, compared to 1.24 million who graduated from four-year colleges and 405,000 who received advanced degrees," the board writes.

A lack of skilled workers eventually costs consumers more money. "An American whose F-150 truck breaks down will still have to pay more at the repair shop owing to the mechanic shortage," the board explains. "Steering every high school student toward college is doing tangible harm to the labor market — and the young."

Steelworkers considered this county 'too rural' to live there; local officials launched a plan to get them to put down roots

Mississippi County Courthouse, 
Osceola, Ark. (Wikipedia photo)

When U.S. Steel decided to make Mississippi County, Ark., its home base, local officials thought people would move to the area, bringing their spouses and families with them. They didn't. But the county didn't give up on leveraging its steel boom as way to address ongoing decline. 

"In recent years, this vast county in the Mississippi Delta has transformed itself into one of the largest U.S. hubs for steel production and reliable, well-paying steel work," reports Chao Deng of The Wall Street Journal. "Lately, it has shifted to an even harder task: getting those workers to move there."

Mississippi County was once a bustling farm region, but over several decades, families have left, and towns have fallen into decay. "Many steelworkers still see the county as too remote and rural to live in, so they choose to commute long distances every day, often from neighboring states," Deng explains. 

To get steelworkers and their families to move to Mississippi County, the county is "pushing a host of initiatives to increase its population and shore up its economic base," Deng writes. "The chief program, called 'Work Here. Live Here,' offers home buyers money toward down payments on new or existing property, as long as they live and work in the county for four years. . . . About 160 families have purchased homes with help from it."

Mississippi County location in Ark.
(Wikipedia map)

So far, the county's plan has been successful. Cliff Chitwood, the county’s economic-development officer, said about "250 new homes have gone up in the county in the past 14 months, with more than half of them bought under the 'Work Here. Live Here' initiative," Deng writes. Chitwood told Deng, “It doesn’t sound like many until you realize it’s more than we had in 20 years."

Foreign businesses have replaced textiles in Upstate South Carolina. Residents are 'baffled' and worried by tariffs.

BMW employs 11,000 people at its 8 million square-
foot campus in Spartanburg, S.C. (BMW photo)

Upstate South Carolina was once known as the country's textile hub until the 1990s when "automation and cheaper labor overseas took the industry away from the state," reports Eduardo Medina of The New York Times. President Trump's new tariffs aim to revive the industry, but some people who used to work at the old mills don't know why anyone would want to bring that work back because of the low wages and often unpleasant working conditions. Much of the region has new industrial partners that have improved the overall quality of living for many residents.

Adolphus Jones worked at a mill in the small town of Union, S.C. Medina writes, "Jones, now 71 and retired, scoffed at President Trump’s vision of an American manufacturing revival through tariffs. The mill work had paid little, Jones recalled, and upward mobility was nonexistent." Jones told him, “The textile industry is dead. Why would you want to bring it back here? Truthfully, why would the younger generation want to work there?”

The Trump administration's push to bring back an industry few residents miss represents a mismatch between current economic realities and the limits of what tariffs can accomplish. "Today, companies like BMW and Michelin — from Germany and France — are the economic engines of the region," Medina explains. "Now, leaders say that waging a trade war could undermine future recruitment of international investments and risk losing the jobs that are already in the region."

BMW alone "has invested more than $14.8 billion into its South Carolina operations" and has created "most than 11,000 jobs." BMW's suppliers have created thousands of additional jobs in the region. 

So, local residents were baffled "when the White House’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, attacked BMW’s manufacturing process in an interview . . .," Medina reports. "He told CNBC that 'this business model where BMW and Mercedes come into Spartanburg, S.C., and have us assemble German engines and Austrian transmissions — that doesn’t work for America. It’s bad for our economics.'"

Even in Union, a rural area with 8,000 residents, a recovery from textile's downfall has slowly evolved. Medina writes, "Union County has successfully recruited renewable power companies, bioscience and medical employers, and a Dollar General distribution center that employs nearly a thousand people."

Some Union residents think a more modern mill might further improve Union's economy. Leroy Spencer, a retiree in Union, told Medina, "If Trump can bring that back, it would be amazing, and I think the economy would pick up around here and get better." However, building new mills with automation and modern equipment would mean ordering machinery and supplies from overseas, which will likely face higher tariffs and thereby increase construction costs.

Jones sees the "whole tariff back and forth as baffling," Medina writes. "When he worked in a plant decades ago, he made tassels for graduation caps. Now, he says, more of Union’s next generation should be wearing those caps — not making them."

With its $12.98 T-shirt, this company shows how retail apparel production can thrive in the U.S.

American Giant photo via The Wall Street Journal

It isn't fancy -- it's practical. It's sold at Walmart, but it's no import. It's a "Made in America" T-shirt woven with U.S. cotton sold by an American company making a tidy profit off its $12.98 tee, reports Suzanne Kapner of The Wall Street Journal. The T-shirt maker, American Giant, used the "heft" of Walmart's guaranteed sales contracts to garner enough investor support to make affordable "Made in the USA" apparel items possible.

American Giant's success wasn't spurred by tariffs on Chinese imports. Instead, it was Walmart's 2013 pledge to spend more on items that were made, grown or assembled in the U.S. that helped the company grow. Kapner explains, "In 2021, Walmart increased its goal and promised to spend billions more each year through 2030."

Bayard Winthrop, the chief executive of American Giant, said that "without Walmart acting as a backstop by committing to buy a predetermined number of shirts over time, American Giant’s suppliers wouldn’t have had the confidence to make the investments in automation and other upgrades that drove down production costs," Kapner writes. "The T-shirt project brought together what Winthrop has called 'strange bedfellows.'"

The T-shirt is made out of "yarn that is grown, spun, dyed and sewn in the U.S., contracting with suppliers mainly in the Southeast," Kapner reports. "It also owns a cutting and sewing facility in Middlesex, N.C., and is part owner in another sewing facility in Los Angeles, which opened specifically to make the Walmart T-shirts."

Even with its $12.98 price tag, American Giant's Walmart T-shirt competes against similar 100% cotton tees at half the price. American Giant differentiates itself with American emblems, which other apparel makers cannot use. Kapner explains, "Walmart bars suppliers from using the term 'American Made' or the American flag on products that aren’t made in the U.S."

So far, the $12.98 T-shirt boasts solid sales and "American Giant is making 100% cotton sweatshirts for Walmart that will sell for $38.98," Kapner reports. Despite the company's success, "it is unclear how much Americans care about buying products made in the U.S. . . . With the uptick of inflation in recent years, budget-minded shoppers have become even more price conscious."

The UN pledged to reduce global production of plastic; companies prefer better recycling efforts

Adobe Stock photo

Is it possible to create a planet where plastic production and waste aren't a constant problem? Maybe. In March 2022, the United Nations "pledged to negotiate a treaty to 'end plastic pollution,' with the goal of delivering a final draft by 2025," reports Joseph Winters of Grist. One proposed solution was to negotiate with plastic makers to produce less, which hasn't happened. But, what Grist found out by motoring through petrochemical trade and industry group public statements and policies were various levels of the "industry’s desired pathway to a 'world without waste.'"

Among the various players that Grist contacted, "only two agreed to answer questions about the policies they support," Winters writes. "What we found is that, although they fall far short. . . . the industry groups’ proposals to bolster recycling and waste collection could cause a significant reduction in mismanaged plastic waste — even in the absence of a cap on plastic production."

When their proposals were entered into a policy analysis tool developed at the University of California, "the elements of the treaty that industry groups support, cobbled together, could cut global plastic pollution by 43 million metric tons annually by 2050 — a 36% reduction below business-as-usual estimates," Winters adds. "Meanwhile, a realistic production cap could cut annual pollution by 48 million metric tons all by itself."

When it comes to global garbage, the plastics industry is economically influential. Unsurprisingly, the industry does not think that the solution to plastic waste reduction is making less plastic. Instead, industry groups support a concept called "plastics circularity," which "seeks to keep the material in use for as long as possible before it’s thrown away. Generally, this means more recycling," Winters reports. 

But that can be challenging. "The world only recycles about 9 percent of all plastic it produces; the rest gets sent to landfills or incinerators, or winds up as litter," Winters explains. Given the problem, the industry is promoting more and better recycling by supporting policies that build recycling infrastructure and placing some of the onus for recycling costs on companies that use it.

Even as the plastic waste reduction agreement takes shape, "it’s clear that self-preservation is at the heart of the petrochemical industry’s agenda for the treaty," Winters reports. "The policies it supports could have a positive impact on plastic pollution."

Reporting tips: PFAS drinking water rule offers a wealth of opportunities for local stories and angles

PFAS are found throughout the
environment. (Adobe Stock photo)

The Environmental Protection Agency's new rule limiting polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as "forever chemicals," in U.S. drinking water supplies opens the door to local reporting opportunities, writes Joseph A. Davis of The Society of Environmental Journalists. "The new PFAS drinking water rule is a big deal — and also a great local story for environmental journalists."

Why is limiting PFAS important? These chemicals can cause devastating health issues for humans, partially because they build up in the body over time. Despite their toxicity, they have been used in countless household goods, from electronics to frying pans. Using common-sense labels, they could also be called "everywhere chemicals." Davis writes, "There are many routes of human exposure — from french fry wrappers to high-end rain jackets. Even playing with the baby on the carpet. What matters is human exposure: how much over what length of time."

To get a local story going, find out your area's PFAS backstory. "People started getting worried about PFAS back in 2016, when PFAS chemicals were found in private wells around Bennington, Vermont, caused by waste from a nearby plant. The concern spread. Other communities across the country found PFAS in their water, too," Davis reports. While Vermont went on to set its own PFAS limits, the EPA took a long time to unravel the PFAS problem. The agency's new rule was announced in April 2024.

For forever chemical stories in your neck of the woods, Davis has several suggestions, a few of which are lightly edited below.

• Find the utility provider for your area's drinking water and get its latest 'consumer confidence report.' It will tell you if PFAS has been tested for/detected in your water. Look under 'detected unregulated contaminants.'
• Check other local media, testing services and state/county health departments to see if any private wells have had PFAS detected in their water.
• Explore any known sources of PFAS pollution in your area, especially manufacturing plants.
• Are there any airports or aircraft firefighting operations in your area that may have used PFAS-containing foam? What happens to their runoff? Check with well owners in the vicinity about any pollution.
• If your utility's water contains PFAS, ask what it will do to correct the problem. Ask what it would cost to remove PFAS and whether it would have to raise water rates. Sometimes, changing water sources is a cheaper solution.

Read the full article here for more on PFAS history and ideas for reporting angles.

More than 100 years of trying hasn't produced a reliable paper bottle. Why is it so challenging?

Inventing a reliable paper bottle has proved 'curiously
complicated.' (Adobe Stock photo)

The search for a non-leaking, carbonation-protecting paper bottle continues. "For more than a century, businesses have struggled to solve a curiously complicated challenge: How to make a paper bottle that doesn't get soggy and keeps drinks fresh. . . . Now they say they are the closest they have ever been," reports Saabira Chaudhuri of The Wall Street Journal. Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Procter & Gamble are "testing paper-bottle designs. . . (to) help their brands stand out on shelves, woo consumers concerned about plastic and cut carbon emissions associated with glass."

Creating a paper bottle has presented companies with a series of obstacles. For instance, they've had to use plastic liners to keep bottles from leaking. Also, paper-only bottles can fail to keep flavors "intact and stop fizzy drinks from going flat," Chaudhuri explains. Even though the public may prefer paper over plastic, "There isn't an all-paper bottle on the market. . . . Consumer-products companies are plowing ahead. . . . [seeking] a paper bottle that is easy to recycle, avoids fossil fuel-based plastic, and ultimately boosts sales."

Companies want to use paper bottles for everything from skin cream to drinks to fabric softeners, but the elusive all-paper container has yet to be invented. Currently, versions of almost-all-paper containers are being made for testing. Chaudhuri reports: "Test batches allow companies to determine the answers to the many unknowns. Will consumers mind if paper shampoo bottles are water-stained? How will paper impact supply chains when the bottles don't keep products fresh for as long as glass and plastic? Will drinkers miss the click of glass bottles when they cheer with them?"

For now, testing batches of almost-all-paper bottles contain a plastic liner, with some companies focusing on reducing the size of the liner. Chaudhuri writes, "Spirits maker Diageo sees paper bottles as a way to use less glass without diminishing the luxury aspect of its brands." Dave Lütkenhaus, Diageo's breakthrough innovation director, told Chaudhuri: "It has proved much more challenging than we anticipated to keep a complex liquid like whisky in paper. It's not just cracking one problem; we are trying to crack all these problems as they come along."

Bottle tops aren't made of paper, but companies are working on the challenge, too. "Paboco promised to use paper caps by 2023 but missed its deadline," Chaudhuri explains. "The obstacle: Paper fibers swell in moist conditions, meaning the caps weren't a reliable fit."

The U.S. is looking at producing its own rubber; the industry could offer a hardy crop, jobs and less foreign reliance

The U.S. uses 1.5 million metric tons of rubber each year.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Ambrook Research)

Made-in-America rubber may become a new crop for farmers and a new manufacturing industry for the United States. "Scientists, farmers and major corporations are working together to lay the groundwork for domestic rubber production," reports Kate Morgan of Ambrook Research. Even though rubber is in "roughly 50,000 different products across U.S. manufacturing sectors, almost all of the 1.5 million metric tons or more, worth $2 billion — is imported, mostly from Southeast Asian rubber plantations." However, considering how much rubber the nation uses, reliance on a single foreign regional supplier may leave U.S. manufacturing vulnerable.

American rubber production begins with growing rubber plants, such as guayule (pronounced "why-you-lee"), which "grows wild in parts of Texas and Mexico, but it's also easy to cultivate and grow on farms throughout the region. Drought-tolerant and disinclined to disease, there's not much that bothers it," Morgan explains. When Guayuule stems are ground up and put "through a process of distillation and filtration, the result is a high-quality natural latex" for producing "everything from surgical gloves to car parts. . . . Many believe this shrub is the best candidate for developing a domestic rubber market."

Guayule is fairly impervious to conditions.
(Wikipedia photo)

The U.S. has put off rubber plant production partly because of the extreme labor used in hand-tapping Hevea, the most commonly used rubber plant. Research shows that other types of plants work better with less work. "Rubber-producing plants could be grown in the U.S. — not to mention planted and harvested mechanically, rather than with the arduous manpower required for Hevea — on a massive scale," Morgan reports. "Guayule offers many opportunities for farmers, especially in parts of the U.S. that are growing more difficult to irrigate and cultivate."

The next hurdle for American rubber production is finding a manufacturer. Katrina Cornish, professor of horticulture and biological engineering at Ohio State University, told Morgan, "It's all there, there's just no processing infrastructure. We've got farmers who are willing to grow these crops and lots of companies wanting to buy the latex. We need a full-scale processing plant, and we're looking at somewhere around a $70 million price tag." Morgan reports, "Once it's refined, Cornish added, rubber made from guayule or any other plant could be used — it could upend our entire rubber supply chain."

An aluminum smelter hasn't been built in the U.S. in 45 years; proposed sites are in Kentucky and Ohio

Smelting furnaces in an aluminum plant
(Adobe Stock photo)

Aluminum is versatile, abundant and light, and it is in hundreds of commercial items, including appliances, zippers, golf clubs and indoor furniture. Despite its excellent manufacturing properties, the raw material has production drawbacks — its smelters use loads of electricity and the fossil fuels used to create that electricity harm the environment, reports Maddie Stone of Grist. However, in the United States, the way aluminum is made may soon change. Century Aluminum Company, a global aluminum producer, is negotiating with the Department of Energy for up to $500 million in grant money to build a new aluminum smelter.

Promoted as the "green aluminum smelter," the facility would be "the nation's first new aluminum smelter in 45 years, which could double the amount of virgin, or primary, aluminum the country produces while emitting 75% less CO2 than older smelters, thanks to increased efficiency and the use of renewable electricity," Stone writes. "The grant, which is awaiting finalization, is a 'huge vote of confidence and a shot in the arm' for the industry, said Annie Sartor, the aluminum campaign director at Industrious Labs, a nonprofit focused on industrial decarbonization."

Protecting the environment while supplying the U.S. with tons more aluminum means the production process matters for aluminum, which requires extreme amounts of electricity. Rebecca Dell, an industrial decarbonization expert with the nonprofit ClimateWorks, told Stone, "We're talking about truly eye-watering amounts of electricity. . . . The first, most important thing to do is to use clean electricity."

Creating a climate-friendly smelter means Century Aluminum must find a site to support its clean energy demands. "According to the DOE, Century Aluminum's preferred site is in Kentucky, a state with lackluster clean energy credentials," Stone writes. "Sartor says she expects a plant of this size to require 'somewhere in the neighborhood of a gigawatt' of power.'" Sartor added, "The only way that will happen is if gargantuan amounts of clean energy get built in Kentucky. . . . There's no other way around this."

While Kentucky is the favored location, Century Aluminum hasn't decided. "Locations within the Ohio and Mississippi River basins are also reportedly under consideration," Stone reports. "Dell believes that brings an interesting political dimension to the project because Century Aluminum expects the smelter to create more than 1,000 full-time union jobs and another 5,500 construction jobs."

EPA issues drinking water standards for toxic 'forever chemicals;' for cities and towns, an unknown price awaits

Removing PFAS from drinking water is
costly. (Photo by Samara Doole, Unsplash)

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued its first drinking water standards for "forever chemicals," which are long-lasting and human-made chemicals found in many commercial and industrial products, including nonstick pans, food packaging and common pesticides.  The slowly degrading chemicals have ended up in U.S. drinking water supplies, reports Elizabeth Daigneau of Route Fifty. "The EPA says the new rule will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses."

The harmfulness of forever chemicals was well documented even as companies continued to use them. Amanda Hoover of Wired reports, "High levels of exposure can cause fertility issues, developmental delays in children, and reduced immune responses, according to the EPA. They can also elevate the risk of several cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancer."

A striking example of how deadly exposure to these chemicals can be was 20-year-old Amara Strande, who died of cancer about a year ago. Strande "became an activist in her short life after being diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer five years earlier," Daigneau reports. "The cancer, which eventually spread to her throat and lungs, was attributed to her exposure to a group of toxic chemicals known as PFAS."

While many communities know their water is tainted by forever chemicals, addressing the problem was strangulated by cost. "City and county water districts agree that something must be done, [but] they are worried the new rule will cost them billions of dollars," Daigneau writes. "To allay these concerns, the Biden administration announced nearly $1 billion in newly available funding through the infrastructure law to help states implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems." Some industry estimates indicate that $1 billion in funding won't be near enough.

Read Daigneau's full article to learn more about water clean-up and cost concerns. Click here for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies fact sheet on PFAS myths and clean-up price estimates.

Some rural Americans hope the Farm Bill can help in getting broadband services to their homes and businesses

Broadband is reaching some rural residents while others
feel 'cut off.' (Photo by Emily Haxby via Modern Farmer)

Farming families need broadband for education, connection, and to compete in global food markets. Too often, farmers feel cut off from the rest of the world with few viable options, reports Emily Baron Cadloff of Modern Farmer. "Millions of Americans live without reliable internet services. For farmers and food providers, this leaves them lagging behind competition and stuck with outdated equipment. Now, they're looking to the Farm Bill for answers."

It's widely known that getting broadband to "the last mile" is a challenge, but there are other dead spaces. The Stroup family farm raises beef cattle and grows soybeans and wheat near Bessemer City, NC., pop. 5,400. "The family has been consistently stymied when it comes to internet access on their farm," Cadloff writes. "The farm is a classic example of those impacted by the middle mile effect. In an urban area, if an internet service provider lays a mile of cable for broadband internet, it will be able to connect hundreds, if not thousands, of customers because the area is densely populated. In a rural area, that same mile of cable might connect a single family, so ISPs aren't financially incentivized to run cable in those regions. What ends up happening is a lot of high-volume areas, surrounded by dead zones."

Dead zones disproportionately limit rural connections from online schooling to a farmer's ability to update his tractor's technology software, but the solution has been hard to come by. Sascha Meinrath, the Palmer Chair in telecommunications at Penn State University, told Cadloff: "The Farm Bill could include a mandate that says anytime a provider reports to a federal agency that they provide service at an address, they must provide that service within 30 days or get fined $10,000 a day until they do." Cadloff adds, "In other words, force the ISPs to show verification that they are doing what they claim."

Reinstating "common carriage" is another solution. "Up until 2005, we had common carriage in the US, just like the universal service with telephones," Cadloff reports. Meinrath told her, "If you had a telecommunications infrastructure, you had to carry the traffic of your competitors." But Cadloff reports, "the government got rid of common carriage in 2005, so ISPs started focusing on only the most profitable areas."

To find out why there is still so much work left to do to connect rural America with broadband, click here.

Electric vehicles on the farm? Electric tractors would be much more expensive and heavier than current models

Graphic by Joelle Orem, Successful Farming

Taking a ride out West, in my EVS, might be a nice little rhyme, but it's a hard sell. "There is one place in America where electric vehicles are glaringly absent — the back 40. Today, electric tractors and other farming equipment are hard to find on showroom floors, let alone in the field," reports Steve Cubbage of Farm Journal. Even though seven states have "banned the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. . . . The hurdles EVs must clear to be viable on the farm are incredibly high from an engineering and an economic standpoint." 

Building an electric tractor means adding weight, and that's a problem. "John Deere's website shows its 8R tractor has a starting base weight of 25,200 lbs. Current engineering assessments say an all-electric version would weigh more than twice as much," Cubbage writes. "Soil compaction already weighs heavily on how modern farm equipment is designed. Increasing the weight and mass of such machines may end up creating more, not fewer, emissions. . . .Compacted soil releases greenhouse gasses such as methane and nitrous oxide, which are much more potent than a tractor's exhaust."

Electric tractors are limited by battery life, and many areas with significant farmland lack charging stations. "The all-electric tractors slated to come to market can only work four to eight hours per charge," Cubbage reports. "Heavy-duty agricultural vehicles will require multiple heavy-duty superchargers — an expensive and potentially unrealistic endeavor."

If an electric Quadtrac tractor existed, it would cost
around $650,000. (Quadtrac photo)

Should all those hurdles be overcome, the overall price for an EV tractor may prove untenable to farmers. "Low-horsepower tractors are approximately 30% more expensive than their diesel-powered equivalents. That may work on an all-electric garden tractor but not a half-million dollar Quadtrac," Cubbage explains. "But unlike with cars, there's no federal program to ease the burden of an electric tractor. If bureaucrats and consumers really want to turn Old MacDonald's farm all-electric, then they better put their money where their mouth is."

Angry Maine residents will vote on plan to take over electric utilities in hopes of making them more accountable

Having had enough of high rates and poor customer service, some Maine voters are setting out to change who delivers their power. "Maine residents will vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would dissolve its investor-owned utilities and replace them with a nonprofit," reports Evan Halper of The Washington Post. Fed-up Mainers are "joining a burgeoning national movement of consumers frustrated with power companies that they feel are unaccountable to ratepayers, and that have taken center stage in disasters such as this summer's devastating wildfires in Maui."

Mainers promote Pine Tree Power during morning
 traffic. (Photo by Andrew Dickinson, WP)

The ballot measure Maine voters will decide on Tuesday "calls for a hostile takeover of sorts, creating a nonprofit company called Pine Tree Power that would seize control of the state's electricity grid from Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the subsidiaries of multinational corporations that now own it," Halper explains. "The shoestring campaign is an existential threat to the industry, moving the Maine utilities to spend more than $35 million blitzing ratepayers with ads warning that the measure threatens to create massive public debt, unending legal fights and soaring bills for customers."

The massive ad campaign only drew more ire "giving customers one more grievance with firms they say should be investing the money in bringing them better service," Halper notes. "Pine Tree Power supporters are working with a meager $1 million budget but some high profile support, including the Sierra Club, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and environmentalist icon Bill McKibben."

No matter which way the Maine vote goes, more consumers seem to be scrutinizing their electrical companies' delivery, customer service and spending habits at a time when those companies are already stressed by extreme weather and increased demand, Halper writes. Electrical companies are trying to respond to issues with "nimble action while operating under a dated financial and regulatory model."

"A flash point in the debate is the way corporate utilities make their profits, collecting hefty interest payments from ratepayers on the big power grid projects the companies bankroll," Harper explains. "Pine Tree Power proponents say a public utility can save ratepayers billions on such investments, as its goal would be financing projects as cheaply as possible rather than generating profits for shareholders.'

Business owner Steven DiMillo is not in favor of the
takeover. (Photo by Andrew Dickinson, WP)

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, "is urging voters to reject the Maine proposal, warning that enmeshing the state in a decades-long battle over control of utility poles and transmission lines would be a costly mistake," Halper reports. "'The last thing we should be doing is trying to force an acquisition by eminent domain to buy something that, once we buy, we don’t know how to run,' said Fred Forsely, the chief executive of Shipyard Brewing Co. and a public face of the opposition campaign. The sentiment is shared by the owner of another well-known business in Portland, DiMillo’s on the Water, which for decades has served tourists lobsters in a former 206-foot-long car ferry converted to a restaurant. 'I never look at government to fix something for us, said Steven DiMillo, who manages the business.'"

A rural Indiana county gets creative: Their skilled worker training begins at the courthouse

A student welds during one of Lawrence County’s courses.
(Courtesy photo, Joe Timbrook via The Daily Yonder)

Need skilled workers? It might be time to train them. "Indiana's Lawrence County — an area known for its limestone quarries and being the birthplace of three astronauts — has had to get creative to close the education gaps and labor shortages afflicting much of rural America," reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. "About seven years ago, a local mayor aired out his frustrations to Joe Timbrook, director of career development for the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council. His message, Timbrook recalled recently, was simple: All the area's employers were complaining that they couldn't find any skilled workers."

That 2018 exchange got Timbrook thinking -- where could he find these elusive workers? He started discussing the problem with other Lawrence County leaders "who together realized that the county had about 2,500 adults aged 18 to 65 that didn't have even their high school diploma, much less postsecondary training. Handwritten signs on telephone poles were the only way most people were learning how to get their high school certification," Fouriezos writes. "With the help of an Indiana state grant, the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council came together in 2018 to start addressing its workforce gaps. Perhaps the county's most innovative re-education effort began in its courthouse."

While starting re-education in a courthouse is unusual, the innovative approach paid off. "The council persuaded local judges and prosecutors to include in all plea agreements a 3-week training course for in-demand fields such as machining, welding, and construction. From there, the students can continue pursuing 8-week and 10-week certification courses paid for by the state, Fouriezos reports. "Once the growth council saw the success of the program, it started opening the program to other adults as well." Timbrook told him: "I have judges texting me on the weekends about how the class is doing. . . . We're just trying to figure out what this community needs and fill the gaps."

The lack of skilled workers is a nationwide problem. "Key industries lost scores of workers in recent years and have struggled to get them back. Manufacturing lost 1.4 million jobs at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, and hasn't replaced them, with nearly 700,000 open jobs as of March 2023," Fouriezos explains. "Even if every unemployed person with experience were employed, manufacturers would fill only around 75% of their vacant jobs, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which notes similar deficits in education, health services, and wholesale and retail trade."

Fouriezo reports, "Using local data to assess what already works and expand it is especially critical in areas with few educational institutions, says Dakota Pawlicki, director of "Talent Hubs" at Civic Lab, an education nonprofit that partnered with Lawrence County to systemize their outreach strategy. 'With a lot of national organizations, there is this perception that rural areas are at a deficit,' Pawlicki says, but that perspective can lead to many hidden strengths of rural areas being overlooked. 'In Lawrence County, their unique asset just happened to be something that was happening inside of jail.'"

October is National Cooperative Month. It's a good time to myth-bust on what a co-op is and is not.

Cooperatives have a rich history rooted in democracy.
(University of Wisconsin photo via USDA)

Cooperatives are corporations; however, they are different than investor-owned firms in that the members that use the cooperative are the owners and benefit from their operations. Cooperatives allow individuals to operate together as a business and tackle economic issues they cannot solve individually. Here are some common myths about cooperatives from the Department of Agriculture.

Myth: Cooperatives are only in agriculture. False. Cooperatives exist in many industries. For example, home health, housing, grocery, rural electric distribution, finance, restaurant supply, outdoor gear, floral delivery, and news reporting.

Myth: Cooperative groceries are hippy throwbacks, only members can shop there. While many may have started in the '60s and '70s with a focus on organic and natural foods, today, cooperative groceries look much like any other grocery. The main difference is they operate for the benefit of the member-owners instead of outside investors. Thus keeping investment in the community and developing local wealth. . . . Many cooperatives are open to non-member business. Non-members can use the services however will not share in the surplus at the end of the year.

Myth: Co-ops are charities. False. Cooperatives, like any business, can choose a variety of legal structures depending on where the members choose to incorporate. The difference between non-profit (charitable) and the co-op is how revenue is generated and what is done with the surplus (profit).

The Ocean Spray co-op includes over 700 grower families
across North and South America. (Ocean Spray photo)

Myth: It's impossible for a co-op to be innovative. Cooperatives have been formed specifically to develop an innovative approach to market failures. One such example would be Ocean Spray. Read their history here.

Myth: Co-ops can't scale. There is a wide range of sizes for cooperatives. While many start out small, if the need is being met and the business is managed well the co-op will grow. Successful cooperatives are active members of their communities throughout the U.S. and the world. Some recognizable names are: Ace Hardware Corp., Blue Diamond Growers, Sunkist Growers, Independent Pharmacy Coop., and HealthPartners Inc.

For additional information on cooperatives visit:
CIR 7 How to Start a Cooperative; CIR 7 Cómo Empezar Una Cooperativa
SR 58 Feasibility Study Guide

Iowa farmer still owns two of the first John Deere plows ever made; the plows 'forever changed agriculture and America'

The plows are almost 200 years old.
(Photo by Sam Shaff via The Daily Scoop)

 

A tale of two plows begins in Germany, travels to Wisconsin territory, and ends in Sam Shaff's "unassuming garage" in rural Iowa," reports Chris Bennett for The Daily Scoop. "Twin grails that changed U.S. history — a pair of steel, moldboard plows crafted in the flesh by the hands of John Deere and bought directly from the American titan’s Illinois shop in 1839 and 1840 . . . . Purchased by Shaff’s great-great grandfather, Heman Shaff, the 1839 specimen was the first Deere plow on Iowa farmland, and possibly the first to break dirt on the far side of the Mississippi River during America’s westward expansion."

Shaff told Bennett, “My family bought the plows directly from John Deere, and the accounts I was told all said that Deere was an extremely busy, but very nice gentleman. The first plow cost $24, and all the neighbors wanted a turn to use it.”

Bennett writes, "On 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans in eastern Iowa’s Clinton County, a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River outside Camanche, the oldest continuous farm in Iowa is overseen by seventh-generation producer Sam Shaff. Shaff told him, “Like with a lot of people, my family history gets richer the older I get.” 

The "intrepid" Sam Shaff and his wife, Mary
(Shaff Family Farm photo via Daily Scoop)

"In 1732, the year of George Washington’s birth, the Shaff family departed Germany for colonial shores. . . beckoned by westward opportunity, 19-year-old Heman Shaff loaded his widowed mother, two sisters, and a younger brother into two covered wagons — generally bound for the vast, five-state expanse of Wisconsin Territory, but specifically zeroed on what would become the state of Iowa," Bennett writes. "In 1838, Heman moved the Shaff family across the Mississippi River and broke virgin soil on 240 acres of Camanche dirt. . . . Heman heard accounts of a plow wonder made by an innovative blacksmith — Mr. John Deere."

In 1836, financially strapped Deere moved from Vermont to Illinois and set up a blacksmith business in northwest Illinois’ Grand Detour. Bennett reports, "In 1837, inside a 26’-by-31’ shop on the Rock River, Deere solved the plow riddle. His solution? Sleek, polished steel. . . . Deere built a self-scouring steel plow — an answer to the drag of cast iron and sticky prairie soils of the Midwest. . . .In 1837, he produced a single steel plow. In 1838, he made two plows. . . . In 1839, he quintupled production to 10 plows. And that same year — 1839 — Heman Shaff crossed the Mississippi River, rode 60 miles, and knocked on Deere’s door, anxious to buy one of 10 magical moldboards."

Sam Shaff is a seventh-generation producer.
(Shaff Family Farm photo via Daily Scoop)

“Heman went all the way to Grand Detour and bought the plow personally from Deere," Shaff told Bennett. "Loaded onto his wagon, Heman returned to Camanche with the first Deere steel moldboard used on Iowa farmland—and possibly the first Deere steel plow used west of the Mississippi River. . . . The neighbors couldn’t get over how well it worked, and they borrowed it at night, literally plowing by lantern light. It worked so well that Heman went back to Deere’s shop in Grand Detour in 1840 and bought another. . . I have the oldest farm in Iowa. . . . I’m protecting two of Deere’s plows—personally made by him and personally sold by him almost 200 years ago.” Bennett adds, "Simply, Shaff owns steel that forever changed agriculture and America."

Should I stay or should I go? One author's deep struggle to decide if she should move back to rural Appalachia

"The reason for my indecision is not clear to me."
(Photo by Ricardo Alfaro, Unsplash)

When home and holler beckon, author Kathleen M. Jacobs struggles to decide if she will move back to rural Appalachia. In her commentary for The Daily Yonder. Jacobs presents her emotional yearning for home alongside the practical worries of leaving the city.

"Thinking of returning to live once again in a rural area of West Virginia where I grew up tugs at my heart repeatedly, as if to remind me of a possibility that never leaves — has not left me since I considered it a number of years ago. The reason for my indecision is not clear to me. Perhaps that’s part of the problem.

"Certainly, the people I know in the area — have known for many years — play a vital role in my consideration to return, but in the end, it is not so much about them as it is about how I might find a way to bring something of value to the table. Because unless I can identify that crucial element, I would only be in the way, and if you know anything about rural Americans, you know there’s little appetite for that. They would wish me well and then get on with the important work to be done, and there is plenty: health care, education, jobs, housing, infrastructure, addiction treatment, the list goes on.

"Part of the calculus I am doing revolves around the housing piece, in particular. Affordable, yes, until you factor in the costs of renovations: plumbing, electrical, and structural. The beauty of the area remains untarnished, but the ever-growing number of folks leaving for more equitable employment landscapes, better health care and a stronger educational system are often not in a financial position to make these necessary repairs to their property. If they could, they might not be leaving in the first place. It’s a catch-22 for certain and a heart-wrenching one as well.

"The lack of certain access to high-speed internet service also gives me pause. It’s not an impossible situation to live with, but its challenges are pervasive and prevent so many who want to return to their rural roots from actually returning. It’s this ever-present struggle between the heart and the head. 

". . . . I retrieve from my bookcase a work that reminds me time and again why I need to take a deep breath and jump into the far end of the pool, knowing that passion for a place that struggles against all odds for a rebirth just might be enough for me to take the leap. And as I turn to read each page from Cynthia Rylant’s Appalachia: The Voice of Sleeping Birds, knowing the clock is always ticking, I am reminded of why those hills keep beckoning: a reverence for the natural world, a certain endurance in the face of adversity, a dedication to family and an unquenchable belief in a Being greater than ourselves, a reveling in the ups and downs of seasonal challenges, a people continuing to live with 'no sourness about them.' That’s when one question rises to the top: 'What are you waiting for?'”

States have money to fund plugging abandoned oil wells, but numerous obstacles remain to invigorate a new industry

Skilled labor and unique equipment make orphaned well
operations expensive. (Photo by Will Peischel, Grist)

Labor shortages, complex operations and bottlenecks for funding are just a few obstacles facing states and contractors trying to plug hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil wells, reports Will Peischel for Grist. "The exact number of orphan wells nationwide is unknown. In late 2021, The Interstate Oil and Gas Commission, a multi-state organization, had more than 130,000 orphan wells on record but estimated that anywhere between 310,000 and 800,000 remained unidentified."

Abandoned wells leak methane, release air toxins and can contaminate groundwater, but despite their environmental harm, laws and funding to manage old wells have been lacking. Luke Plants, who heads Plants & Goodwin, which specializes in plugging orphan wells, told Peischel, "Until the 1970s, there were no strong plugging standards in place. People just shoving tree stumps down a well to plug it, or a cast iron ball or something like that."

In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included $4.7 billion to "help states handle their orphan well inventories," Peischel explains. "The first batch of that money has trickled down to states. . .to contractors like Plants & Goodwin. It's the most funding spent to address the problem, but both states and pluggers are now facing hurdles as they begin to identify and plug wells."

While many states can now fund plugging projects, their oil and gas regulation offices need more staffing to award contracts. Plugging companies have their own hurdles. Peischel reports: "Since oil operators tend to avoid the costly work of well capping, the service has remained a niche industry. . . . Companies have also struggled to find trained workers, not to mention the specialized equipment required to plug wells."

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry continues to spawn far more orphaned wells than there are pluggers. "Between 2015 and 2022, more than 600 oil and gas companies filed for bankruptcy, leaving thousands of wells unplugged," Peischel writes. "For example, Pennsylvania's list of 20,000 orphan wells grows by about 400 each year; the state has plugged just 73 wells with the federal money that began to arrive last year."

Plugging is complex work: "One capping can take anywhere from three days to three months, sometimes costing more than $100,000," Peischel reports. However, plugging operation owners believe the industry can fill gaps left by extractive industries. "Experts watching the federal orphan well program contend that a well-plugging wave could revive regions whose economic fates are tied to dwindling resource extraction sectors." Ted Boettner, a senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, a think tank focused on economic and environmental sustainability in Appalachia, told Peischel: "The most positive thing that could happen is that we begin to get more companies plugging wells, especially in rural, distressed areas to help their local economies."

New dairy industry lawsuit has state farmers worried about tainted water; a lot of the problem is from ag activities

CAFOs produce tremendous waste.
(Photo by Amber Kipp, Unsplash)

Where there are cows, there's plenty of manure. And in Wisconsin, residents, including many farmers, don't want animal waste in their water systems. "Farmers are worried for statewide water quality and public health after the dairy industry filed a lawsuit to eliminate the only protection that Wisconsin has against contamination" from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs),  reports Ahna Renee Fleming of The Daily Yonder. "Some CAFOs can produce as much waste as a small city, but without comparable waste management infrastructure, rural communities face health, economic, and environmental hazards."

Wisconsin CAFOs must get a permit before disposing of manure and waste. "The lawsuit argues that the Department of Natural Resources exceeds their statutory authority by regulating CAFOs and their potential waste discharges rather than the actual amount of waste discharged," Fleming writes. "The Wisconsin Farmers Union released a statement in opposition, saying that this lawsuit could eliminate the 'primary source of environmental oversight of CAFOs in Wisconsin.'"

CAFOs are massive operations that produce tremendous waste. Adam Voskuil, lead agricultural attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates, told Fleming, "I don't know that people always understand or appreciate the size of some of these things." Zach Raff, an economist at the Department of Agriculture, told Fleming: "A dairy operation that has 1,200 cows produces the same amount of waste as a city with about 46-47,000 people. . . .The difference is that cities have wastewater treatment plants, where there are filtration systems and health measures put in place to make sure that contaminants aren't reaching water bodies. That doesn't happen at CAFOs."

"According to a report by the National Association of Local Boards of Health, CAFO manure contains plant nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, but it also contains pathogens like E. coli, growth hormones, antibiotics, chemicals added to the manure or used to clean equipment, animal blood, silage leachate from corn feed, and copper sulfate used in footbaths for cows," Fleming reports. "The contaminants – nitrates and bacteria in particular – seep down to the groundwater. And when it rains, the contaminants run off directly into the surface water."

When ground and surface water get contaminated, the negative consequences for rural communities are profound, and Wisconsinites are particularly vulnerable. Voskuil told Fleming: "Wisconsin residents and communities rely on groundwater to a much higher level than most other states. . . . MEA receives calls regularly from folks around the state who are dealing with really dire circumstances as a result of these extractive industries. . . . The Wisconsin DNR has a Groundwater Coordinating Council that puts out a report. . . . [The report] has noted that nitrate contamination in groundwater is increasing in severity and frequency across the state. About 90%, maybe a bit more of it, is caused by agriculture in the state."

Hardrock mining companies pay 'a pittance' for minerals mined from public lands. Some say taxpayers need more.

A copper mine shaft 1,100 feet below the surface near
Superior, Ariz. (Photo by Tamir Kalifa, The New York Times)

Since 1872, mining companies have taken stores of gold and other metals from public lands without paying royalty fees to the federal government. The Biden administration says lawmakers need to "fix the Gold Rush-era General Mining Law so it can better manage the mineral resources buried under millions of acres of public land," reports Lisa Friedman of The New York Times. "A top priority: require companies to pay something in exchange for what they take. Unlike companies that extract oil, gas and coal from federal lands, hardrock miners pay no royalties to the federal government."

Initial plans suggest a 4 to 8 percent fee of the net value of mined materials, which "could translate into as much as $97 million annually and drew sharp opposition from mining operators," Friedman writes. Tommy Beaudreau, the deputy secretary of the Interior Department, told Friedman: "The biggest takeaway from our report is that our 150-year-old-law, the 1872 mining law, needs to be reformed and brought into the 21st century."

Beaudreau heads up a "working group of officials across federal agencies who reviewed policies and regulations for hardrock mining," Friedman explains. "The group found the law did not do enough to steer mineral exploration away from sensitive resources or to promote 'early and meaningful' engagement with tribes or other affected communities. . . . And the law should require mining companies that take resources from public lands to pay something for that privilege. . . .The report stated, [the law] 'fails to provide the American taxpayer with any direct financial compensation for the value of hardrock minerals extracted from most publicly owned lands.'"

While mining operations pay state royalties and taxes, operators on federal land "only pay the U.S. government one-time claim processing fees totaling $60. Many companies also pay an annual $165 maintenance fee per site, according to the report," Friedman writes. Mining companies oppose the change. Rich Nolan, chief executive of the National Mining Association, told Friedman that the changes would "throw additional obstacles in the way of responsible domestic projects and would-be investment, forcing the U.S. to double-down on our already outsized import reliance from countries with questionable labor, safety and environmental practices."

Environmental groups praised the proposed change. Chris Wood, the president of Trout Unlimited, a conservation group, told Friedman, “It’s the only commodity produced off of our public lands where there is no tax or royalty." Friedman reports, "Wood added that money raised from federal royalties could help to clean up an estimated half a million abandoned mines scattered across the American West."