A week from today, Democrats in South Carolina, many of them rural and about half of them African American, will vote in a presidential primary that has been marred by controversy stemming from Hillary Clinton's remark that it took Lyndon Johnson to realize Martin Luther King's dream of civil rights. Last night on Bill Moyers' Journal, Moyers effectively and eloquently agreed with Clinton and reminded us of the pivotal role his fellow rural Texan played in passing the public-accommodations law of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the law that ensured change would come, and remain.
Moyers criticized the reaction from the commentariat, in particular The New York Times for saying in an editorial that Clinton made "the distasteful implication that a black man needed the help of a white man to effect change." He aired Clinton's full quote: "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done."
"There was nothing in that quote about race. It was an historical fact, an affirmation of the obvious," Moyers said. He recalled that when he was White House press secretary, he watched as Johnson backed off his plea for King to call off civil-rights demonstrations and "came down on the side of civil disobedience, believing it might quicken America's conscience ... " Ultimately, Johnson adopted the movement's rallying cry in a speech to Congress for the 1965 law.
Moyers concluded, "The movement had come first, watered by the blood of so many, championed bravely now by the preacher turned prophet who would himself soon be martyred. But there is no inevitability to history, someone has to seize and turn it. With these words at the right moment -- "We shall overcome" -- Lyndon Johnson transcended race and color, and history, too -- reminding us that a president matters, and so do we." (Watch the story)
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Ga. schools pass up chance to offer Bible classes
Almost two years after the Georgia legislature allowed public high schools to offer Bible classes, "The idea hasn't caught on," at least in Middle Georgia, which is "smack dab in the Bible Belt," writes Julie Hubbard of The Telegraph in Macon.
"At least 10 Middle Georgia school systems said they do not offer a Bible course in their high schools, nor do they have plans to," Hubbard writes. "The costs for materials, scheduling conflicts and possible legal implications are reasons." The state school board required any such class to be "taught by a teacher who is objective and would not pass on any religious judgment to students. For some school systems, managing the course and finding an unbiased teacher wouldn't be easy."
Hubbard says more reporting is required: "Finding exactly how many school of 180 systems in the state are teaching Bible courses this school year is hard to determine. State officials say they won't know how many systems are offering the courses until June, when student records -- which show what classes students are taking -- are sent to the state." (Read more)
"At least 10 Middle Georgia school systems said they do not offer a Bible course in their high schools, nor do they have plans to," Hubbard writes. "The costs for materials, scheduling conflicts and possible legal implications are reasons." The state school board required any such class to be "taught by a teacher who is objective and would not pass on any religious judgment to students. For some school systems, managing the course and finding an unbiased teacher wouldn't be easy."
Hubbard says more reporting is required: "Finding exactly how many school of 180 systems in the state are teaching Bible courses this school year is hard to determine. State officials say they won't know how many systems are offering the courses until June, when student records -- which show what classes students are taking -- are sent to the state." (Read more)
The other oil shock: Prices for cooking oil driven up by growth of global economy and biofuel industry
Here's a BIG story: "A startling change is unfolding in the world’s food markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel and using it for food," reports The New York Times. "A growing middle class in the developing world is demanding more protein, from pork and hamburgers to chicken and ice cream. And all this is happening even as global climate change may be starting to make it harder to grow food in some of the places best equipped to do so, like Australia."
"This is the other oil shock," Keith Bradsher writes from Malaysia. "From India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food. The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated this winter. . . . For the foreseeable future, that probably means higher prices at the grocery store and fatter paychecks for farmers of major crops like corn, wheat and soybeans."
Much of the story focuses on the important role of cooking oil in poor countries and the jump in prices for palm oil, partly driven by spreading bans on trans fats, use of soybeans to make biodiesel and American farmers switching from soybeans to corn to take advantage of the U.S. ethanol boom. "American soybean acreage plunged 19 percent last year, producing a drop in soybean oil output and inventories," Bradsher notes.
This is an excellent example of a global story with local connections, one that can be told from a local point of view anyplace corn and soybeans are raised. To read it, click here.
"This is the other oil shock," Keith Bradsher writes from Malaysia. "From India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food. The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated this winter. . . . For the foreseeable future, that probably means higher prices at the grocery store and fatter paychecks for farmers of major crops like corn, wheat and soybeans."
Much of the story focuses on the important role of cooking oil in poor countries and the jump in prices for palm oil, partly driven by spreading bans on trans fats, use of soybeans to make biodiesel and American farmers switching from soybeans to corn to take advantage of the U.S. ethanol boom. "American soybean acreage plunged 19 percent last year, producing a drop in soybean oil output and inventories," Bradsher notes.
This is an excellent example of a global story with local connections, one that can be told from a local point of view anyplace corn and soybeans are raised. To read it, click here.
Rural gentrification, spurred by Internet, likely to keep increasing as more baby boomers retire
"Broad swaths of rural America" are being gentrified by "affluent retirees and other high-income types" whose "demand for amenities like interior-design stores, spas and organic markets ... is the biggest change since the interstate highway system came barreling through in the 1960s and 1970s," Conor Dougherty reports in The Wall Street Journal.
This "class colonization" is just part of a larger change, "from a resource-extraction economy to an aesthetic-based economy," Peter Nelson, an associate professor of geography at Middlebury College, told Dougherty, who further identifies him as "an expert on rural migration." The change is driven in part by the Internet, which allows work to be done from remote, second homes, but is expected to accelerate as more and more baby boomers retire.
As The Rural Blog has often noted, these changes create both challenges and opportunities for the rural areas being colonized. New jobs are created, but and and housing prices go up; infrastructure is strained, but newcomers can increase civic capital; retailers become more diverse, but social tensions are created "as longtime residents are either driven away because they can no longer afford housing or are forced to adapt to new careers," Dougherty writes from McCall, Idaho, 100 miles from Boise -- a farming and timber town that "is attracting newcomers from as far away as New York and Sydney."
Other examples cited by Dougherty: Bath County, Va., high in the Alleghenies; Eagle County, Colo., home of Vail; and Mono County, Calif., home of Yosemite National Park. (Read more)
How do you measure gentrification? Look for "an increase in residents' total dividend, interest and rent income," which is tracked by the Commerce Department. Here's a Journal graphic with a map based on that metric; it has one error: The marked location of Teton County, Wyo., is actually the location of McCall and Valley County, Idaho. For a larger version, click here.
This "class colonization" is just part of a larger change, "from a resource-extraction economy to an aesthetic-based economy," Peter Nelson, an associate professor of geography at Middlebury College, told Dougherty, who further identifies him as "an expert on rural migration." The change is driven in part by the Internet, which allows work to be done from remote, second homes, but is expected to accelerate as more and more baby boomers retire.
As The Rural Blog has often noted, these changes create both challenges and opportunities for the rural areas being colonized. New jobs are created, but and and housing prices go up; infrastructure is strained, but newcomers can increase civic capital; retailers become more diverse, but social tensions are created "as longtime residents are either driven away because they can no longer afford housing or are forced to adapt to new careers," Dougherty writes from McCall, Idaho, 100 miles from Boise -- a farming and timber town that "is attracting newcomers from as far away as New York and Sydney."
Other examples cited by Dougherty: Bath County, Va., high in the Alleghenies; Eagle County, Colo., home of Vail; and Mono County, Calif., home of Yosemite National Park. (Read more)
How do you measure gentrification? Look for "an increase in residents' total dividend, interest and rent income," which is tracked by the Commerce Department. Here's a Journal graphic with a map based on that metric; it has one error: The marked location of Teton County, Wyo., is actually the location of McCall and Valley County, Idaho. For a larger version, click here.
Two years after awful accident, Kentucky officials still at odds over penalties for coal-mine operator
One of the more outrageous episodes we have read about recently is the case of Gary Wayne Bentley, a Kentucky coal operator and emergency technician who "stood by, rendering no aid" to miner David "Bud" Morris, who "was bleeding to death, his legs nearly severed below the knees" in Harlan County on Dec. 30, 2005, writes R.G. Dunlop in The Courier-Journal. "Medical professionals later said prompt medical assistance would have saved Morris' life."
Adding insult to outrage, after more than two years, the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing "still has not proposed penalties against the mine that are stringent enough to satisfy the panel that must approve them," the state Mine Safety Review Commission, Dunlop reports. "Late last week, while rejecting the office's fourth attempt to settle the case on terms highly favorable to Bentley, the state in effect told the office how to resolve it charge Bentley as a co-owner of the mine -- which he has acknowledged being -- rather than simply as a mine emergency technician." Dunlop explains, "That would enable the state to impose a substantial fine on Bentley. It also could bar him as an owner or operator in the coal industry if he were found to have placed Morris in imminent danger of serious injury or death by intentionally violating the law. The commission invited the state to submit yet another proposed agreement and scheduled a hearing on Feb. 14." (Read more)
Morris's widow, Stella, told Dunlop, "He was the only guy trained to do anything, and he let my husband die." (Tim Webb photo shows Stella Morris, son Landen and photo of his father)
Little book offers big ideas from everyday heroes
In The Little Red Book of Everyday Heroes, author Sylvia Lovely, right, offers "simple but provocative prescriptions for civic engagement [that] tell how the Main Street heroes she knows transform communities with the ideas she explored in her first book," The Little Blue Book of Big Ideas, reviewer Al Smith writes in The Courier-Journal."With catchy slogans like 4 P's (Persons, Place, Perspective and Prosperity) and 3 T's (Talent, Technology and Tolerance), Lovely singles out successful transformations of community life in Morehead, Ky., and Moscow, Idaho, in which her League's consulting adjunct, the New Cities Institute, has been a partner," Smith writes. "In Morehead, a campaign to tie the town and the university closer started with "listening" sessions in which as many as 500 citizens shared ideas. In Moscow, home of the University of Idaho, the city leaders reached out to another university 12 miles to the west in Pullman, Wash., and created a 'knowledge corridor' to boost the economy of both towns."
Lovely, the executive director of the Kentucky League of Cities, "preaches inclusiveness, pointing to the benefits of cultural consciousness raising in staunchly fundamentalist enclaves like Campbellsville, Ky., where the Baptist university has recruited students from Mongolia and civic leaders host business prospects at a Mexican café," Smith writes for the Louisville newspaper's book page. (Read more) The book is published by Clark Publishing.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Protestant churches are expelling more members
Alexandra Alter of The Wall Street Journal reports "a growing movement among some conservative Protestant pastors to bring back church discipline, an ancient practice in which suspected sinners are privately confronted and then publicly castigated and excommunicated if they refuse to repent. While many Christians find such practices outdated, pastors in large and small churches across the country are expelling members for offenses ranging from adultery and theft to gossiping, skipping service and criticizing church leaders."
Sometimes the offenses seem to be more against the pastor than the church or some higher power. Alter begins her story with the case of a rural Michigan woman who questioned her pastor's authority, and cites a woman in rural Virginia who was voted out "for gossiping about her pastor's plans to buy a bigger house." And sometimes the supposedly private actions become public; the Virginia woman "believes the episode cost her a seat on the school board last year; she lost by 42 votes," Alter writes.
"In the past decade, more than two dozen lawsuits related to church discipline have been filed as congregants sue pastors for defamation, negligent counseling and emotional injury, according to the Religion Case Reporter, a legal-research database," Alter reports. "Courts have often refused to hear such cases on the grounds that churches are protected by the constitutional right to free religious exercise, but some have sided with alleged sinners. ... Scholars estimate that 10 to 15 percent of Protestant evangelical churches practice church discipline -- about 14,000 to 21,000 U.S. congregations in total." (Read more)
Sometimes the offenses seem to be more against the pastor than the church or some higher power. Alter begins her story with the case of a rural Michigan woman who questioned her pastor's authority, and cites a woman in rural Virginia who was voted out "for gossiping about her pastor's plans to buy a bigger house." And sometimes the supposedly private actions become public; the Virginia woman "believes the episode cost her a seat on the school board last year; she lost by 42 votes," Alter writes.
"In the past decade, more than two dozen lawsuits related to church discipline have been filed as congregants sue pastors for defamation, negligent counseling and emotional injury, according to the Religion Case Reporter, a legal-research database," Alter reports. "Courts have often refused to hear such cases on the grounds that churches are protected by the constitutional right to free religious exercise, but some have sided with alleged sinners. ... Scholars estimate that 10 to 15 percent of Protestant evangelical churches practice church discipline -- about 14,000 to 21,000 U.S. congregations in total." (Read more)
Montana school cancels Nobel winner's climate talk
The small farming town of Choteau, Mont., is the latest hot spot in the debate over global warming. Steven W. Running, a professor of ecology at the University of Montana and member of the United Nations panel that shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore, was scheduled to speak to the student body of Choteau High School (130 students) about his career and climate change, but some residents complained and forced a cancellation of the talk, reports Jim Robbins of The New York Times. Running (in a photo by Kurt Wilson of The Missoulian) did go ahead with his scheduled talk in the evening for the general public. A local high school basketball game, however, kept the crowd light for that event."Those who complained misunderstood the content of the talk, (school superintendent Kevin) St. John said, but there was no time to explain to all of them that Dr. Running was a leading scientist rather than an agenda-driven ideologue," Robbins writes.
“Disbelief was the primary reaction,” Running told Robbins. “I’ve never been canceled before. But it was almost comical. I had a pretty candid discussion with the superintendent and the school board, and they said there were some conservative citizens who didn’t want me to speak.” (Read more)
Nancy Thorton of the Chonteau Acantha, the 1,900-circulation weekly, reports that 140 people came to the evening talk, where Running spoke about the record-setting summer in Missoula and other climate issues. On a lighter note, Thornton writes that when Running discussed the shrinking of an Arctic ice pack, kindergarten student said to a first grader, "Santa Claus is in trouble." (Read more)
First bank privately owned by American Indians on a reservation opens in North Dakota
The Turtle Mountain State Bank opened this week in Belcourt, N.D., becoming the first bank on a U.S. reservation to be privately owned by American Indians, reports James MacPherson of The Associated Press. (Encarta map)While banks on other reservations usually are owned by tribes or non-Indian companies, the new bank is owned by a group of investors led by tribal member James Laducer. "A bank is the backbone to economic growth in any community," Laducer told MacPherson. "But people wanting to do banking had to go at least 10 to 20 miles off the reservation to get to a bank."
Belcourt is the largest town on the reservation, which has 20 businesses and a community college. (Read more)
W.Va. justice removes himself from case after photos connected him to controversial coal man
Elliott "Spike" Maynard, the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court, has removed himself from a case involving Massey Energy Co. after photos showed him alongside the company's top executive, Don Blankenship, during a Monaco vacation, reports Lawrence Messina of The Associated Press. (One of those photos is at left, with Blankenship in sunglasses.)"Maynard helped form a 3-2 majority in November that overturned a multimillion-dollar judgment against Richmond, Va.-based Massey that another company, Harman Mining, and its president, Hugh Caperton, had won in a contract dispute," Messina writes. "Caperton had asked Maynard to step down from the case before the high court reconsiders that ruling. With interest, the damages are worth $76.3 million." (Read more)
Paul J. Nyden of The Charleston Gazette first reported on the photos after Caperton filed them with the state Supreme Court on Monday. The AP ran a story earlier this week on how the photo flap highlighted the small-town nature of the state, saying, "In a state of about 1.8 million people, those in West Virginia’s universe of officeholders, bureaucrats and business leaders often joke about a single degree of separation between them."
In 2004, Blankenship bankrolled a multi-million dollar campaign that replaced a Democratic justice of the Supreme Court with a Republican, and he has said he plans to do likewise this year. However, his effort to finance a Republican takeover of the state legislature in 2006 failed. For other news on Massey, see item below.
Attire with flying-ear-of-corn brand flies off shelves
Seed company DeKalb has been using a flying ear of corn as its logo for years on its packages of corn, soybean and sorghum seeds. In August, the company stamped the logo on a line of clothing marketed at 15- to 24-year-olds, and that crowd has been buying the T-shirts, jackets and hats at a brisk pace, reports Erin Crawford of the Des Moines Register.The company did not start the WingWear line (at left in a promotional photo) to enter the fashion business but to reach out to young people."We realized we had to do this in a way youth could connect with, through fashion and music and an online experience," DeKalb marketing manager Jason Hoag told Crawford. "Try to make a connection with them they could truly understand."
Unlike the company's past in-house efforts, a local advertising agency designed and marketed the line. Profits from the line will go toward agricultural scholarships. (Read more)
Immigration is a top issue for voters in rural S.C.
Rural farming counties in the South have seen some of the highest Latino immigration rates, and South Carolina is no exception. When the state holds its Republican presidential primary tomorrow, the issue of illegal immigration will be a key one for voters, reports of the Los Angeles Times.
Reporter Richard Fausset offers the perspective of voters in Saluda County (pop. 19,000), about hour west of the state capital of Columbia, which has "the largest ratio of Latinos in the state" and where textile-plant closures cost more than 1,400 jobs, according to the county's former planning and economic development director. Immigrants have brought cheap labor and retail spending, facts that complicate the issue here in Saluda County and elsewhere, Fausset writes. "The undocumented population has become fairly embedded, not just in Saluda, but in an awful lot of communities," Mike Deloache, a downtown real estate broker, told Fausset.
Others in the town want a hard line on the issue, and some have formed an anti-immigration group called Save Our Saluda. Marti Coleman Adams (in a Times photo by Brett Flashnick), a shop owner in Saluda and founder of the group, said illegal immigration is her main concern. “We can stay in Iraq and stay in Afghanistan,” she told Fausset. “But I’d say that if the problem of illegal immigration is not addressed, then we’re not going to have a country anymore.”(Read more)
Reporter Richard Fausset offers the perspective of voters in Saluda County (pop. 19,000), about hour west of the state capital of Columbia, which has "the largest ratio of Latinos in the state" and where textile-plant closures cost more than 1,400 jobs, according to the county's former planning and economic development director. Immigrants have brought cheap labor and retail spending, facts that complicate the issue here in Saluda County and elsewhere, Fausset writes. "The undocumented population has become fairly embedded, not just in Saluda, but in an awful lot of communities," Mike Deloache, a downtown real estate broker, told Fausset.
Others in the town want a hard line on the issue, and some have formed an anti-immigration group called Save Our Saluda. Marti Coleman Adams (in a Times photo by Brett Flashnick), a shop owner in Saluda and founder of the group, said illegal immigration is her main concern. “We can stay in Iraq and stay in Afghanistan,” she told Fausset. “But I’d say that if the problem of illegal immigration is not addressed, then we’re not going to have a country anymore.”(Read more)
Coal and electric firms push coal-burning power plants; opposition leads to delays of more than 50
The boom in coal-fired power plants has been tempered by "concerns about climate change, construction costs and transportation problems," reports the Los Angeles Times, and the coal and electric industries are fighting back with campaigns that pay special attention to states with early presidential primaries and caucuses, reports The Washington Post.
A recent post here mentioned Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a lobby group supported by the coal, electric and allied industries. Steven Mufson of the Post reports that the group spent $17 million last year, has a budget of $35 million this year, and has spent $1.3 million on billboard, newspaper, television and radio ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina — early-voting states where coal-fired power plants are facing opposition.
"One of its television ads shows a power cord being plugged into a lump of coal, which it calls 'an American resource that will help us with vital energy security' and 'the fuel that powers our way of life,'" Mufson writes. "The ads note that half of U.S. electricity comes from coal-fired plants." Another ad says, "Throughout history, new ideas have often been met with skepticism" while showing images of the Wright brothers and other inventors before talking about "clean coal technology."
The group's financial supporters include 28 companies and trade associations such as the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, whose members depend heavily on coal. At this week's Democratic debate in Nevada, the group had about 50 people carrying signs and handing out leaflets. Inside, each of the three candidates spent some time addressing the issue. Former senator John Edwards said, "I believe we need a moratorium on the building of any more coal-fired power plants unless and until we have the ability to capture and sequester the carbon in the ground." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "I have said we should not be siting any more coal-powered plants unless they can have the most modern, clean technology. And I want big demonstration projects to figure out how we would capture and sequester carbon." Sen. Barack Obama did not take a hard line on coal-fired electricity, but he said America must work to be "more efficient" in its energy use. (For a full transcript of the debate from the Las Vegas Sun, go here.)
In North Carolina, the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network has started running its own newspaper ads and staging protests against Duke Energy and its coal-fired plants, reports John Murawski of The News Observer in Raleigh. (Read more)
Judy Pasternak of the Times has a story today on how the debate over coal has forced companies to cancel or delay construction of new plants. "America's headlong rush to tap its enormous coal reserves for electricity has slowed abruptly, with more than 50 proposed coal-fired power plants in 20 states canceled or delayed in 2007," she writes. Pasternak has another article on the "politics of coal," tracing the debate over carbon-dioxide emissions. (Times graphic, based on data from the Union of Concerned Scientists)
A recent post here mentioned Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a lobby group supported by the coal, electric and allied industries. Steven Mufson of the Post reports that the group spent $17 million last year, has a budget of $35 million this year, and has spent $1.3 million on billboard, newspaper, television and radio ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina — early-voting states where coal-fired power plants are facing opposition.
"One of its television ads shows a power cord being plugged into a lump of coal, which it calls 'an American resource that will help us with vital energy security' and 'the fuel that powers our way of life,'" Mufson writes. "The ads note that half of U.S. electricity comes from coal-fired plants." Another ad says, "Throughout history, new ideas have often been met with skepticism" while showing images of the Wright brothers and other inventors before talking about "clean coal technology."
The group's financial supporters include 28 companies and trade associations such as the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, whose members depend heavily on coal. At this week's Democratic debate in Nevada, the group had about 50 people carrying signs and handing out leaflets. Inside, each of the three candidates spent some time addressing the issue. Former senator John Edwards said, "I believe we need a moratorium on the building of any more coal-fired power plants unless and until we have the ability to capture and sequester the carbon in the ground." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "I have said we should not be siting any more coal-powered plants unless they can have the most modern, clean technology. And I want big demonstration projects to figure out how we would capture and sequester carbon." Sen. Barack Obama did not take a hard line on coal-fired electricity, but he said America must work to be "more efficient" in its energy use. (For a full transcript of the debate from the Las Vegas Sun, go here.)
In North Carolina, the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network has started running its own newspaper ads and staging protests against Duke Energy and its coal-fired plants, reports John Murawski of The News Observer in Raleigh. (Read more)
Judy Pasternak of the Times has a story today on how the debate over coal has forced companies to cancel or delay construction of new plants. "America's headlong rush to tap its enormous coal reserves for electricity has slowed abruptly, with more than 50 proposed coal-fired power plants in 20 states canceled or delayed in 2007," she writes. Pasternak has another article on the "politics of coal," tracing the debate over carbon-dioxide emissions. (Times graphic, based on data from the Union of Concerned Scientists)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Massey Energy paying record penalty for water pollution, stemming from huge coal-slurry spill
Massey Energy Co. will pay a record $20 million "for polluting streams around its coal mines in Kentucky and West Virginia," and "spend another $10 million to prevent future problems," reports Andy Mead of the Lexington Herald-Leader.The civil penalty is the largest ever for violating wastewater discharge permits, and "stems from the massive, 300-million-gallon slurry spill in Martin County, Ky., in October 2000, often described as the southeastern United States' worst environmental disaster, as well as 4,500 violations of Clean Water Act permits at mines in the two states," writes James Bruggers of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. The spill was "by far the worst offense," the Herald-Leader reports. (Photo of slurry pond by H-L's Charles Bertram)
The lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency last May charged that Massey "discharged excess amounts of metals, sediment and acid mine drainage into hundreds of rivers and streams in the two states," Mead writes. Many of the violations exceeded limits by 40 percent, "with some pollutants discharged at levels more than 10 times their limit, the government said," Bruggers notes.
Massey, headed by Don Blankenship, left, is based in Richmond, Va., and is the largest producer of coal in Appalachia and fourth largest in the nation. It has about 33 underground mines and 11 strip mines in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, EPA said. To read the consent decree between the firm and the Department of Justice, click here.
Illinois farmers blocking completion of oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast
In the race to transport oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, some rural Illinois farmers have become major players. Partnering with Exxon Mobil, the Canadian firm Enbridge is working to finish a pipeline from Alberta to Texas before anyone else does, but those farmers are blocking the 175-mile missing piece, reports Kari Lydersen of The Washington Post (which produced the graphic). The U.S. gets most of its foreign oil from Canada, which shipped in 1,919,000 barrels of oil per day in November, compared to 1,530,000 barrels per day from Saudia Arabia. (For data from the Energy Information Administration, go here.)"Farmers said they are concerned about a fire along an Enbridge pipeline in Minnesota that killed two welders in November and incidents on Enbridge pipelines in Wisconsin, including a 126,000-gallon spill in February that contaminated the water table," Lydersen writes. "They also worry that the pipeline would interfere with the underground tile drainage system needed to keep their once-swampy land farmable." Some also note that the pipeline is designed for exporting oil to other countries.
Enbridge has offered farmers fair market value — plus fees for crop loss and soil damage —to use a 120-foot wide strip of their land to make way for the 36-inch diameter pipeline. David Sykuta, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Council, told Lydersen the $350 million project was "absolutely vital" to the nation's oil economy. (Read more)
Decline of oysters means much of Chesapeake Bay could be off-limits for harvesters
The Chesapeake Bay is synonymous with seafood, but its waters are not as plentiful as in the past. In parts of Maryland, the oyster population is falling sharply, so a state advisory commission is recommending strict limits be placed on harvesting there, reports David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post.
The remaining areas could be leased to private owners for oyster farms. The report from the Oyster Advisory Commission says more restrictive harvest measures are not enough to restore oysters and that other actions must be taken to minimize disease and address water quality issues. The Maryland Watermen's Association said the plan would hurt its members, who spend the winter harvesting oysters and the summer crabbing. (Read more)
Automakers put ethanol-ready cars on display at West Virginia auto show
Ethanol is still not available at many gas pumps, but there are cars ready to run on it. At the West Virginia International, automakers are showcasing their "Flexible Fuel Vehicles," which operate on ethanol and gasoline, reports The Charleston Gazette. The cars' exteriors do not look any different, but inside there are unique engine components and a computer to analyze the ethanol content of fuel.
"The cars don’t run on pure ethanol but rather E85, a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol," according to the Gazette's staff report. "Among E85’s advantages over gas is that it burns far more cleanly and derives from U.S.-grown crops like corn. When gasoline prices skyrocket, E85 is typically cheaper, but under normal circumstances the prices for each are about the same."
Currently, there are only two E85 pumps in West Virginia: one in Morgantown and another in Bridgeport. The price of E85 at one of those was $2.999 per gallon compared to $3.28 for regular 87-octane gasoline. (Read more)
A list of flexible fuel vehicles:
"The cars don’t run on pure ethanol but rather E85, a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol," according to the Gazette's staff report. "Among E85’s advantages over gas is that it burns far more cleanly and derives from U.S.-grown crops like corn. When gasoline prices skyrocket, E85 is typically cheaper, but under normal circumstances the prices for each are about the same."
Currently, there are only two E85 pumps in West Virginia: one in Morgantown and another in Bridgeport. The price of E85 at one of those was $2.999 per gallon compared to $3.28 for regular 87-octane gasoline. (Read more)
A list of flexible fuel vehicles:
- Chevrolet: Avalanche, Express, Impala, Silverado (1/2-ton pickup 2WD and 4WD), Suburban, Tahoe, Uplander
- Chrysler: Aspen, Sebring (convertible and sedan), Town & Country
- Dodge: Avenger, Dakota, Durango, Grand Caravan, Ram 1500
- Ford: Crown Victoria, F-150
- GMC: Savana, Sierra (1/2-ton pickup 2WD and 4WD), Yukon, Yukon XL
- Jeep: Commander, Grand Cherokee Mercedes: C300 Luxury & Sport
- Mercury: Grand Marquis Nissan: Armada, Titan
- Pontiac: Montana
Geographic article on North Dakota stirs uproar
The January issue of National Geographic magazine included a Charles Bowden feature on North Dakota called "The Emptied Prairie." North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven did not like it one bit, and he was not the only North Dakotan taking issue with the story. Hoeven wrote a letter to the magazine's editor-in-chief, Chris Johns, calling the feature "way off the mark," reports The Bismarck Tribune.The feature paints a bleak picture of life on the plains (along with photos such as the one above by Eugene Richards). "That’s the rub in rural North Dakota, a sense of things ebbing, of churches being abandoned, schools shutting down, towns becoming ruins," Bowden writes. "And all this decline exists amid a seeming statistical prosperity: Oil is booming, wheat prices are at record highs, and, as the average farm size grows, the land is studded with paper millionaires living in the lonely sweep of the plains, with surrounding community gone to the wind."
Hoeven's letter accentuates the positive in his state, and he points to the success of ethanol and biodiesel facilities as well as rural businesses. "To give the magazine's readers a more accurate picture of our state, I've asked our Commerce Commissioner and Tourism Director to contact your editors and invite you back to cover what you left out -- the fact that North Dakota is a growing 21st century state with a bright future," he writes. (Read more)
Johns defended the article in an interview with The Associated Press this week. "Why did we focus on North Dakota? Because there are some trends there that spoke to us and I love North Dakota," Johns told the AP. Johns said the story was inspired by some of his drives through North Dakota while he was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. (Read more)
The Tribune has spent plenty of ink on the story, including a column by Editor John Irby, a column by Clay Jenkinson and plenty of letters to the editor agreeing and disagreeing with the magazine article. The (Fargo) Forum weighed in with a editorial called, "Geographic look at N.D. is old news." "Beautiful photographs and excellent descriptive writing make for a compelling, if woefully incomplete, image of rural North Dakota in 2008," the editorial board writes. (Read more)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Bo Derek fights slaughter of horses in Canada
Over the past few days, major newspapers have spotlighted the consequences of the end of horse slaughter for meat in the United States. At The Rural Blog, we've dubbed it the horse crisis, and now the animal-welfare side of the argument is getting a celebrity spokeswoman in actress Bo Derek. The star of the movie "10" has helped launch a campaign against horse slaughter in Canada, reports Agence France-Presse. (France is a leading consumer of horsemeat from North America.)
"Derek, who has been active in the U.S. campaign against horsemeat for six years, warned that the lack of US legislation against shipping horses for meat could lead to the slaughter of 100,000 the animals in Canada this year," AFP reports. (AFP photo)
Derek, who owns five horses, announced the campaign by the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition at a lunch in Vancouver. "It's very brutal," she said. "We've been breeding our livestock to be docile and manageable, and it's quite the opposite with horses. They're meant to be fast, and beautiful. They're simply not set up for the process of slaughter." (Read more)
Mitt Romney ran strongest in urban Michigan, but he still carried rural areas -- and evangelicals
Call it "Return of the Native," with apologies to Thomas Hardy. It appears that former Massachusetts Mitt Romney's roots in Michigan sprouted votes from him all over the state, crossing rural-urban and religious lines, as he won the state's Republican presidential primary yesterday.
Romney's margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain was larger in the state's metropolitan areas than outside them, but he still carried rural Michigan -- and even the evangelical voters who were the main target of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee but may have been less skeptical than those elsewhere of Romney's Mormon religion because he was raised in the state and his father was its governor.
"McCain made up some ground outside Detroit but failed to put together a majority in any part of the state except the Upper Peninsula," reports the Daily Yonder, which produced the pie chart. "In this region, the state’s most rural, McCain won 14 of 15 counties and beat Romney by 9 percentage points. McCain also performed well in the rural counties of Western Michigan, but Romney made up the difference in metropolitan Grand Rapids, Holland, and Grand Haven."
Huckabee got 18 percent of the rural vote, compared to 16 percent statewide. For the Yonder story, by Tim Marema, Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery, click here.
Romney's margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain was larger in the state's metropolitan areas than outside them, but he still carried rural Michigan -- and even the evangelical voters who were the main target of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee but may have been less skeptical than those elsewhere of Romney's Mormon religion because he was raised in the state and his father was its governor.
"McCain made up some ground outside Detroit but failed to put together a majority in any part of the state except the Upper Peninsula," reports the Daily Yonder, which produced the pie chart. "In this region, the state’s most rural, McCain won 14 of 15 counties and beat Romney by 9 percentage points. McCain also performed well in the rural counties of Western Michigan, but Romney made up the difference in metropolitan Grand Rapids, Holland, and Grand Haven."Huckabee got 18 percent of the rural vote, compared to 16 percent statewide. For the Yonder story, by Tim Marema, Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery, click here.
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