Enviros draw lines in West for energy development

Environmental groups want vast swaths of the rural West off-limits to energy projects. They "fear that a boom in solar and wind energy could endanger wildlife," report Peter Henderson and Bernie Woodall of Reuters. "The western United States is home to sunny deserts and windy plains -- but also many endangered or threatened species."

The "Path to Green Energy" maps (right) were produced by the National Resources Defense Council and the National Audubon Society. They include many areas that would likely be off-limits to development, such as parks, but also include proposed wilderness areas and "areas that are key wildlife habitats -- where environmentalists might put up a fight with developers," Reuters reports.

The maps were developed with funds from Google Inc.'s philanthropic arm, google.org. They are available here via Google Earth, the basic version of which is downloadable for free.

Biden, Vilsack visit N.C. to tout help for rural areas

"Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Eastern North Carolina today to announce $1.76 billion in stimulus funding to help an estimated 15,000 rural families buy homes across the country," reports The News & Observer of Raleigh. "The visit comes as economies of rural communities are plummeting -- and much faster than the rest of the country," according to data reported here.

Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Faison, N.C., to highlight $635,000 in economic stimulus money being used to expand a rural health clinic, one of many such examples around the nation, and Pikeville, where a volunteer fire department got a $50,000 grant and $1 million loan for a larger station that can house ladder trucks. For the story, photos and videos, click here. UPDATE, April 2: The firehouse grant was approved during the Bush administration, Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer reports. (Photo by Corey Lowenstein)

"We're here to try to make rural America stronger, and this is just one of many examples across this great nation," Biden said. "We understand that the health of small towns like yours is essential for our nation's well-being, as well as it is to help big cities like Charlotte and other cities. It's essential -- it's essential -- that small towns, rural towns be healthy, and are growing, and have access to everything that is needed for the well-being of their citizens."

The trip was the latest in which Biden or President Obama have visited states that turned Democratic in last year's election and are key to their re-election prospects in 2012. In fact, as Chuck Todd of NBC News notes, the president and first lasy beat Biden to the Tar Heel State. Biden's remarks included a political aside, according to a White House transcript: "As I was getting out of the car, the President called me from Europe, from the G20 meeting, to discuss another matter. . . . He said, 'Joe, where are you? Where did I get you?' 'Well,' I said, 'I'm in eastern North Carolina.' He said, 'We won there, didn't we?' (Laughter.) No, actually, that's not what he said. He said, 'Tell everybody I said hello.'" For the White House press release, click here.

Number of statehouse reporters down by one-third in six years, American Journalism Review finds

Reflecting what has been reported here for some time, American Journalism Review has "found a staggering loss of reporting firepower at America's state capitols," Managing Editor Jennifer Dorroh writes, reporting on the magazine's fifth count of statehouse reporters and the first since 2003.

"The tally found only 355 full-time newspaper reporters at the nation's state capitols, a 32 percent decrease from just six years ago," Dorroh reports. "It discovered that 44 statehouses have fewer full-time reporters than they did six years ago. The number of full-time reporters remained the same in four states and increased modestly in two."

While the reductions are not surprising, given what has happened to newspapers in the last few years, they come at a time when more watchdog journalism is needed, Dorroh notes: "The gutting of America's capitol press corps comes just as a large portion of the federal stimulus package becomes the responsibility of state governments." Issue coverage is a problem, too:

When reporting on health care reform in Connecticut, "I and a couple reporters had the story to ourselves," says Ted Mann, a statehouse reporter for The Day of New London. "The smaller the room gets, the easier it is for the government to go around the press and avoid answering questions they don't want to answer."

One bright spot, relatively speaking, may be The Associated Press. It "has a robust presence at many capitols, although it, too, has cut back at some," Dorroh reports, quoting AP Managing Editor Michael Oreskes: "We view statehouse coverage as essential and are acutely aware of our increasing responsibility at state houses as others are forced by hard times to reduce their presence. We have about 85 fulltime state house reporters and expand this significantly during legislative sessions. We have added more people this year than in past years for the reasons I described."

However, AP usually cannot function as a watchdog on individual legislators or area delegations, long an area of specialty for statehouse reporters from smaller papers. And even those that still have reporters often find them stretched thin. "Following layoffs in November, [Walter] Jones is the lone statehouse reporter for Morris Communications' four Georgia dailies, whose readership does not overlap," Dorroh writes, quoting him: "There are four legislative delegations to watch. Trying to keep up with all of them is not going to leave a lot of time for statewide watchdog stuff." (Read more)

Merle Hansen dies; was advocate for family farms, conservation, civil rights, world peace

Merle Elwin Hansen of Newman Grove, Neb., died at 89 on March 27. "He was a farmer, an organizer, a civil rights leader, a conservationist, a conservationist and a peace activist," reports the Daily Yonder. "He was participant and an integral part of the great debates and decisions of the last century." (Photo from Norfolk Daily News)

Among Hansen's many accomplishments were serving as a leader in American Agriculture Movement and helping organize the mid-1970s "Tractorcade" to Washington, D.C. "He helped found the National Family Farm Coalition," the Yonder notes. "He was the ag adviser to Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in 1984 and '88. He helped with the first Farm Aid concert in 1985." Hansen was also an accomplished farmer, "raising purebred Charolais, starting a fertilizer business, selling seed." (Read more)

For a 1,543-word obituary by John Hansen, apparently a son, in AgObservatory, click here.

Fla. bill filed to thwart doctor shopping; Ky. paper takes note, since many shoppers come from there

Florida state Rep. Kelly Skidmore has proposed a law to monitor prescriptions distributed in her state and close a pipeline that sees people travel to Florida to obtain pain killers to abuse and sell. "The lack of such a program has made Florida the place that people from 38 states that do have such programs go to get their drugs," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, from whence many of Florida's drug shoppers come.

Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, a physician, wrote Florida House Speaker Larry Cretul on March 20, encouraging him to support Skidmore's bill. "Interstate issues remain because controlled substance abuse problems transcend state borders, thus increasing the likelihood of interstate doctor shopping in the 12 states without prescription monitoring programs," Mongiardo wrote. Skidmore says Florida has the top 25 doctors dispensing oxycodone in the United States and a report published by the Broward County grand jury said the number of South Florida pain clinics had doubled since August of last year.

Doctors in Kentucky say they have patients who travel, sometimes together in vans, to obtain large quantities of pain medications. Roger Browne, a Florida doctor who was convicted of taking part in a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone pillsm had a client list that included 500 people from six counties in Eastern Kentucky. He admitted at a plea hearing in November that he knew there was a high probability the pills would be distributed illegally in Kentucky. (Read more)

New book provides personal accounts of mountaintop-removal mining

A new book due out April 17 by Kentucky writers Silas House and Jason Howard provides testimonies from individuals on the front lines of the fight to stop mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal. Something’s Rising: Appalachians Fighting Mountaintop Removal takes a hard look at the controversial practice and the people and landscapes it affects.

"House and Howard’s book includes interviews of 12 diverse people, ranging from activists known across Appalachia, such as Jean Ritchie and Kathy Mattea, to less well-known individuals who are fighting within their communities, such as Larry Bush and Judy Bonds," reports The Corbin Times-Tribune. "Each account is prefaced with a biographical essay that establishes the interview settings and the subjects’ connections to their region."

The two men, who met at the Hindman Settlement School's Appalachian Writers Workshop, both come from coal families. A fact that House says they both proudly admit. But House, who now teaches at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., adds that he got involved in the campaign against mountaintop removal in 2005 when another Kentucky writer, Wendell Berry, invited all Kentucky writers to tour mountaintop removal sites. It was an experience which House says changed his life. "Once you’ve seen it up close like that, and had people look you right in the eye and tell you their stories about the way it is destroying their lives," he said, "you can’t turn away." (Read more)

Federal judge blocks blanket permitting of mountaintop-removal strip mines

The regulatory noose on mountaintop-removal strip mining tightened again this morning. Eight days after the Environmental Protection Agency objected to some mountaintop-mining permits and suggested it might try to block them, a federal judge in West Virginia ruled today that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can no longer use a blanket process to issue such permits until it fully examines the environmental impact of such a process.

District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote, "The loss of thousands of miles of streams in Appalachia over the past twenty years, and the loss of over 200 miles of streams in West Virginia alone vividly illustrates the impacts associated with mountaintop mining." For a copy of the decision, click here.

When Goodwin issued a preliminary ruling in 2004, coal companies began applying for individual permits "more frequently ... than the streamlined process" under a "nationwide permit," reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. "But the ruling is still another blow to the coal industry, and a victory for citizen groups who are fighting to reduce or eliminate mountaintop removal." (Read more)

Critics say federal food-safety bill would put unfair burdens on small and organic farms

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 aims to prevent food contamination like the salmonella outbreaks that have caused sickness and widespread recalls over the past few years. But many say that the bill would put stress on family and organic farms.

The safety plans that would be required are already present in larger factory farms. "Small farmers and small processors only do one chicken, one pig, one cow at a time," Texas farmer Kay Richardson told Fred Afflerbach of the Temple Daily Telegram. "You’re not going to have that possibility of cross-contamination like you do in the big areas." Richardson and other critics of the bill say it will place undue burden on farms like hers. "There’s just no way they can possibly comply with it. It takes a person working almost full-time to do it," says John Stone, spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Carter.

But the bill's supporters say it is necessary to prevent outbreaks like those resulting from salmonella contamination of peanut butter, spinach, tomatoes, and, most recently, pistachios. "The bottom line is that too many American families are getting sick from the food they eat and that needs to change," Liz Richardson (no relation to Kay Richardson), spokeswoman for Trust for America’s Health, a non-profit organization that supports the bill. “But reform can absolutely be accomplished in a way that strengthens small farms and bolsters America’s food industry as a whole." (Read more)

USDA's Economic Research Service says global swoon to be easier on farmers than others

What does the global economic crisis mean for American farmers and their communities? While farmland values and commodity demand have declined, the effects have been ameliorated by gains made by farmers in 2007 and 2008, which allowed farmers to start the crisis on "solid financial ground," the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service said in a comprehensive report yesterday.

Looking forward, less international demand for exports and declining energy prices will be the two biggest economic factors affecting American agriculture. But "because the U.S. farm sector went into the crisis with record-high exports, prices, and farm income, the declines, although substantial, will bring agriculture back to trend outcomes," the report says.

The largest uncertainty facing agriculture will be the value of the dollar. Despite that unknown, the authors say the industry should be optimistic: "While there is a great deal of uncertainty concerning the full magnitude of the U.S. and global recession, the effects of the crisis are expected to be less severe for U.S. agriculture than for many other sectors of the U.S. economy." (Read the report)

Wisconsin puts stimulus money into rural bridges

Wisconsin's targeting of economic stimulus money for rural bridges is raising some eyebrows in major media. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that most of the 37 bridges that will receive federal funding carry fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day, with average daily traffic of 538. One carries 10 per day. The independent investigative site ProPublica noted the story today. (Journal Sentinel photo by Mark Hoffman shows bridge over the Rock River in Addison)

Officials said rural bridges got priority because they are generally smaller and less complicated to design, and the stimulus favors "shovel ready" projects. "Engineering and design plans had to be in place, and the contracts for the work needed to be ready to go by March 2010," write Tom Held and Ben Poston. "Given the tight deadlines, infrastructure projects with the greatest public safety needs aren't necessarily the ones that received funding."

Traffic was not necessarily a factor. "For a town, this is the only way (a bridge) will ever get improved. Will you tell the farmer who has to haul his milk over the bridge that only gets 100 cars a day that his bridge won't ever be fixed?" asked Michael Erickson, who manages the state's local-bridge improvement program. John Kropp, highway engineer in Manitowoc County, said, "We're looking at bridges that take 15 to 20 cars per day, but they still serve the same purpose as the bridges in Milwaukee, getting people from one side to the other." (Read more)

Appalachian coal producer to shut down one week

In the latest sign of a softening market for coal, Alpha Natural Resources is idling most of its mines in Virginia and Kentucky for a week in April. Jenay Tate of The Coalfield Progress in Norton, Va., reports, "The move is driven by growing stockpiles of coal in the wake of dwindling demand from electric utilities and steel producers, company officials say."

“We have nowhere to put the coal,” Alpha spokesman Ted Pile told the Progress. The move will affect 1,280 employees in Virginia and 354 in Kentucky. It includes seven underground mines, three strip mines and three preparation plants operated by Paramont Coal Co. and D-R Coal Co. in Virginia and Enterprise Mining Co. in Kentucky. (Read more; subscription required)

Fish and Wildlife Service says to stay out of caves in 13 states, to slow spread of fungus killing bats

"From Maine to North Carolina to Kentucky, people are being asked to stay out of caves where bats hibernate, in an effort to slow the spread of a disease that's killed half a million of nature's only flying mammals in just over two years," reports Jim Bruggers of The Courier-Journal in Louisville.

"White-nose syndrome" is a fungus that causes bats to come out of hibernation early, and many die from cold and lack of food. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls it a "wildlife crisis of unprecedented proportions" in which entire species could be lost, causing population explosions among mosquitoes and other pests. The agency is advising people to stay out of caves in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, where the disease has been found, plus Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, where it could easily spread. An agency spokeswoman said cave explorers could be carrying it from cave to cave.

"It's amazing how fast it's moved south," Steve Thomas, an ecologist at Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, told Bruggers. While the advisory doesn't apply to park or commercial caves, it could be extended. (Read more)

Blair Mountain, scene of epic labor battle, is put on National Register, but may be mined anyway

A West Virginia mountain that saw the largest armed conflict in U.S. labor history, in 1921 between miners who wanted to unionize and coal operators who got government help to prevent it, has been named to the National Register of Historic Places. But while labor and environmental groups sought the designation, it may have no effect on plans to strip-mine the area's mountaintops for coal. (Encarta map)

The place "includes a 10-mile stretch of Logan County ridges where thousands of miners fought federal troops as part of a United Mine Workers organizing fight," Ken Ward Jr. writes for The Charleston Gazette. "The designation covers about 1,600 acres, along a fairly narrow strip that runs northwest from near the town of Blair."

Ward reports, "The designation does not block mining, and according to state officials could not have been made unless land-owning companies in the area agreed to it." However, Massey Energy Co,, which wants to mine the area, "and several land companies filed suit to stop the state historic preservation office's support for the national site designation," Ward notes. (Read more)

VA data show exodus of veterans to rural America

For reasons no expert seems able to explain completely, this decade has seen an exodus of military veterans to rural areas. About one-third now live outside metropolitan areas, compared to only one-fourth in 2000, according to Department of Veterans Affairs data reported by Mike Swift of the San Jose Mercury News. Nationally, rural areas have only a fifth of the total population.

"Even though there are 3.2 million fewer veterans than in 2000, there are 1.3 million more of them living in rural America, a 20-percent surge," Swift writes. "V.A. demographers cannot completely explain the rapid shift," though one reason is probably that "veterans leaving the service tend to settle near a military installation," and several West Coast bases have been closed, leaving a greater concentration of bases in the Southeast, the nation's most rural region. Also, Vietnam veterans are reaching retirement age.

"The rural growth is particularly striking among Vietnam-era veterans where their numbers are up in rural states like Montana, Idaho and even South Dakota," Swift reports. He quotes one: "They like to be someplace where it's quiet and comfortable, without a lot of outside interference. There's a lot of difference between the hustle and bustle of the city and being in the countryside." (Read more)

Swift's story is also about the difficulty veterans' groups have maintaining American Legion and VFW posts in some areas. Sounds like a good place to start your own reporting, along with the VA data. (Hat tip to the Daily Yonder)

Hawaii becomes a model for telemedicine, an increasingly popular strategy for rural health care

Telemedicine proponents gathered recently in Hawaii to discuss the progress within the field. Helen Altonn reports for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that the practice, which connects doctors and health specialists online with patients in other locations, is a growing trend that is particularly advantageous for rural areas and isolated patients.

"In essence it affords the ability to electronically transport the physician to the patient instead of the patient to the physician," Dr. Jay H. Sanders, who has been called the "father of telemedicine," told Altonn. "It's really a life-or-death situation in many areas."

The first of its kind in Hawaii, the event featured speakers from the field, including Sanders, who is president and chief executive officer of the Global Telemedicine Group. Altonn reports that Sanders is credited with developing the first statewide telemedicine system in the United States, the first correctional telemedicine program and the first "tele-homecare" technology, called "The Electronic House Call."

The advantages to telemedicine services include connections between academic centers and rural hospitals where trauma surgeons can be scarce. Additionally, Sanders said specialists are able to effectively examine patients by a CAT scan or MRI and refer that information to the attending doctor on call.

Obstacles faced by the telemedicine practice include old Medicaid coverage rules and issues with licensure. Still, Sanders looks to Hawaii's reimbursement plan as a model and is certain that the cost savings associated with telemedicine make it a priority, especially with the new administration. "Very shortly you will be able to see me on the cell phone. It will be major technology for telemedicine." Read more.

As sesquicentennial approaches, old and new Souths debate promotion of Confederate history

"With the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War coming up in 2011, efforts are underway in statehouses, small towns and counties across the South to push for proclamations or legislation promoting Confederate history," reports Dahleen Glanton of the Los Angeles Times. But an updated, romanticized view of the Confederacy is a tough sell for Southerners concerned about its affiliation with slavery.

Confederate history is recognized throughout the South, with Confederate Memorial Day observances. (Texas and Arkansas mark it the same day as the federal holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.) According to Charles McMichael, commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, "More than a thousand municipalities hold parades and festivals on the holiday and efforts are underway to spread it nationwide, state by state."

In recent years some have tried to make the Confederacy appear more multicultural, noting that blacks, Latinos and Jews fought for it. But many still see it as the embodiment of slavery. "To say that it is not racist but about multiculturalism is an attempt to adopt a modern mind-set," Jonathan Sarris, associate professor of history at North Carolina Wesleyan College, told Glanton. "You can call it a victory for the forces of multiculturalism when even the defendants of the Confederacy feel they have to pay some lip service to the idea of tolerance." (Read more)

Metro reporter uses Census of Agriculture to write about urban sprawl and measures to control it

As suburban areas expand, some rural jurisdictions "are imposing impact fees and other regulations on new residential development to keep suburban sprawl from encroaching on farmland," reports Carrie Whitaker of the Cincinnati Enquirer. She draws on the recent Census of Agriculture to provide data that illustrate sprawl.

While opponents of urban sprawl see it as a threat to local farms, some farming interests see land sales as an opportunity, and oppose measures that discourage them. "The best way to save farms is to develop land where it's appropriate and preserve the rest," Joe Cornely of the Ohio Farm Bureau told Whitaker.

Whitaker focuses on a county near Cincinnati: "2007 Census of Agriculture data show that from 2002 to 2007, Warren County lost farms at one of the highest rates in the state, from 1,036 farms to 896, a 14 percent decline," adds Whitaker. In adjoining Butler and Clermont counties, the declines were 10 and 8 percent, respectively. "During the same time period, the number of U.S. farms increased 4 percent." The farm count is easy to find; it's the top line of each county's page in the census. To search by state, click here.

Before the recession hit the housing industry, as many as 600 new homes a year were being built in the county's Hamilton Township. "To cope with growth costs, the township imposed an impact fee on new development that led to a bitter and unresolved court challenge from home builders," writes Whitaker. "Government officials also have changed a zoning code to limit the density of homes in rural areas." (Read more)

Iowa plant will use corncobs to make fertilizer, reducing use of often expensive natural gas

A plant to be built in Menlo, Iowa, "will be the first of its kind in the U.S. to convert biomass into fertilizer," reports Dan Piller of The Des Moines Register. "The SynGest Menlo plant will use 150,000 tons of locally supplied corncobs per year to manufacture 50,000 tons of bio-ammonia annually, enough to fertilize 500,000 acres of nearby Iowa farmland under corn."

Typically, chemical fertilizers are made by extracting nitrogen from the air using natural gas. The shift to using biomass could be good news for farmers because of the move away from gas. "Farmers have fought soaring fertilizer costs caused by volatile swings in natural gas prices," writes Piller. "In the last half-decade the average price for fertilizer has increased from less than $200 per ton to more than $1,000 per ton." (Read more)

Rural job loss now outpacing urban

As reported here rural job losses in the recession were proportionately less than those in urban areas until November 2008. Since then, rural losses have has accelerated so quickly that they are greater than in urban areas. (Rural Policy Research Institute chart)

"Rural counties lost 3.4 percent of their jobs during the 12 months ending in January 2009," reports the Daily Yonder. "Urban counties lost 2.8 percent of their jobs." The distribution of job loss in rural America has varied. Areas with many manufacturing jobs have been hit particularly hard, while farming areas have been hurt less. Areas with mostly mining jobs have actually seen a slight increase in jobs, roughly half a percent. (Read more)

Ga. agricultural college starts rural studies degree

Students interested in promoting rural communities have a new opportunity at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. The college, in Tifton, Ga., is offering a new bachelor's degree in Rural Studies. The program offers three different areas of concentration: Rural Business and Economic Development, Rural Arts and Culture, and Rural Community and Social Affairs. The college notes that "graduates of the program might find careers with private sector organizations that deal with rural issues, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Other possibilities include historic preservation, rural history, rural sociology, global studies, journalism, or public administration." (Read more)

Forest owners might earn carbon credits through better management that increases CO2 absorption

There may soon be a way to make money from your woodland without cutting timber. A "cap and trade" system to limit carbon-dioxide emissions will create a market in carbon credits, and forests that are professionally managed should be able to earn credits because they take up more of the greenhouse gas than unmanaged woodlands.

In Eastern Kentucky, where the great majority of the Appalachian forest is privately owned, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development is lining up woodland owners through its Forest Opportunities Initiative. "I think it's going to get me and other woodland owners to say 'Hey, maybe there's a reason to manage my woodlands,'" Jack Stickney, who owns a large farm in Estill County, told Andy Mead of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "You know how it is when it comes down to money. That gets people's interest."

The big question is how much money. "In Europe, where the government regulates carbon trading, the price is $10 to $20 a ton, Mead writes. "If the price here were $20 a ton, an Eastern Kentucky landowner could make more than $66 an acre each year." However, the market for credits could disappear if Congress goes with a carbon tax instead. (Read more)

Kentucky, West Virginia each have a favorite candidate to lead federal strip-mine office

With the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers apparently at odds over regulating mountaintop removal, attention has turned to the leadership of agency that is supposed to be at the forefront of regulating strip mining for coal: the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, in the Department of the Interior.

The two states with the most at stake, West Virginia and Kentucky, seem to have their favorite candidates: West Virginia University law professor Patrick McGinley and Lexington lawyer Joe Childers. Childers was endorsed for the job yesterday by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, "in an interesting move," reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette in his Coal Tattoo blog.

Ward says groups opposing mountaintiop removal have focused on using the Clean Water Act, administered by EPA, rather than the Interior agency. "OSM has never lived up to its broad mandate to protect coalfield communities and the environment," he explains. "Just read this report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or this blueprint for fixing OSM written by longtime Kentucky environmental lawyer Tom FitzGerald," of the Kentucky Resources Council. "A strong OSM could go a long way to helping with the myriad of problems facing citizens in coalfield communities." (Read more)

UPDATE, April 2: The war of the Big Sandy continues, as Gazette editorial page endorses McGinley.

'A Bub in the woods,' with Secret Service in tow

Having predicted immediately after his election that Barack Obama would plant a garden at the White House, rural land consultant Curtis Seltzer pens another Country Real Estate column in which "Bub" again visits Highland County, Virginia, this time as president, and learns about the Appalachian forest. Excerpts:

“You’re looking at a mixed-age forest, heavy to maples lower down and oaks higher up.”

“So this isn’t close to wilderness, what I’m walking through?”

“No, it’s just some west-facing woods at about 3,000 feet that have been used for timber since the late 1700s. Genuine wilderness is almost impossible to find in the East.” . . .

“Why are those trees dead?”

“They’re hemlock. A little bugger called the woolly adelgid killed them a couple of years ago. Some survived, but with a lot less green.” . . .

“Maybe the kids and I will plant a tree or two at the White House.”

“While you’re at it, plant a couple in a national forest where they will be part of the country’s sustainable energy future.”

“You know what? I might like to be remembered as the first green President more than the first black President.”

Seltzer offers a few laughs, mostly about the Secret Service. To read his full column, click here.

Virginia coal counties may get wind power stations

Debra McCown of the Bristol Herald Courier writes from the town of Appalachia, Va.: "Coal is central to this region’s past and part of its future, but a new future is taking shape on the strip-mined ridges." While a coal-fired power plant "rises skyward on one end of Wise County, a field of wind turbines proposed for land on the Virginia-Kentucky line is signaling this region’s potential for a shift toward green energy."

Dominion Power, which is building the coal plant neat St. Paul, is expected to join with BP Wind for permits to build up three wind-energy generating stations atop the county's Black Mountain and on East River Mountain in Tazewell County, which borders West Virginia. Other sites are being considered. (Read more)

The partnership "believes it has found wind energy sites that sidestep two of the main objections to such projects — ruination of scenic views and inappropriate land use," reports Jeff Lester of Coalfield.com, the site for Wise and Dickenson County papers. "Because of the region’s very steep ridges, the sites under study are all but unseen from developed or heavily-traveled areas, they say. And while many mountain communities object to disturbance of pristine ridgetops or potential land grabs against reluctant residents ... virtually all the land under study is reclaimed ridgetop strip mines or actively mined sites owned by Penn Virginia Resources, with almost no homes nearby." (Read more; subscription required)

Northwest loggers adadpting to greener economy

Harold Jones, right, has always made his money cutting trees, usually big ones, in the Pacific Northwest. Now, he illustrates changed circumstances, new attitudes and common ground among loggers and environmental interests in the region, reports William Yardley of The New York Times. (Times photo by Leah Nash)

"With the housing market and the economy in crisis, some rural areas have never been more raw. Mills keep closing. People keep leaving. Unemployment in some counties is near 20 percent," Yardley reports from Lowell, Ore. "Yet in parts of the region, the decline is being met by an unlikely optimism. Some people who have long fought to clear-cut the region’s verdant slopes are trying to reposition themselves for a more environmentally friendly economy, motivated by changing political interests, the federal stimulus package and sheer desperation."

Mills are making energy from bark and brush, jobless loggers are looking for stimulus-funded jobs thinning national forests to make them less fire-prone, and small-scale timber owners like Jones are "going green" by getting certification that their tracts are professionally managed. "The certification process, supervised by the American Tree Farm System, requires Mr. Jones to manage and replant his land under the supervision of a professional forester," Yardley explains. "It is intended in part to give small tree farmers some credibility within the sustainable forestry movement." (Read more)

Credit crisis costs tiny rural county its only bank

The national credit crisis has had less impact on rural banks, because they generally have more conservative lending and investment policies. (For one example, the Bank of Eastern Oregon, see this story by George Murdock of the East Oregonian.) But in some cases where rural banks were bought to serve as tools for cashing in on the real-estate boom, the chickens have come home to roost. They did last week in Gibson, Ga., population 700, where the only bank in Glascock County, population 3,000, closed its doors. (Encarta map)

"To Glascock County residents, it now seems as if the crisis has extended a tentacle from Atlanta to their quiet community of farms and sawmills 120 miles to the east, where “sprawl” is something one does in the den after work," Shaila Dewan writes for The New York Times. Her story is more than a rural news feature; First City Bank was so weak that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. couldn't find another bank to take it over, only the second such case in 48 bank failures since 2007.

"Most of the bank’s money came from “brokered deposits,” investments obtained from third parties that shop around for the highest rates, rather than more reliable “core deposits,” which come from local customers," Dewan explains. (Read more)

Ky. publishing technology pioneer Gibson dies

Funeral services will be held tomorrow in Monticello, Ky., for Jerry Gibson, who was known to publishers and editors across Kentucky because he probably helped half the state's newspapers install computers and other technology. "He maintained he had installed the first computer pagination and layout equipment in this part of the country," reports The Times Journal of Russell Springs, where he lived.

Gibson and Times Journal co-owner David Davenport founded the lakecumberland.com Web site, and Gibson "was the man behind the keyboard at wildcatsradio.com, which is known to many as the definitive University of Kentucky basketball Web site, and a moving force for years at the Star Theater," the weekly reports. His body was discovered after he did not update the site with UK's loss in the National Invitation Tournament. He was 57. (Read more)

Gibson co-founded weeklies in Monticello and Somerset. Stuart Simpson, who competed with him in their hometown and collaborated with him in Somerset, had this to say on the Kentucky Press Association blog: "He was a reporter, editor, photographer, graphic designer, historian, computer expert, magazine editor, salesman, author, Internet web designer, musician … the list could go on. A lot of the things he did, especially in communication technology, he recognized the importance of before most people, and he could do better than most people. Mostly self-taught, Jerry was a very, very smart guy. I learned a lot from him, as did anyone who had the opportunity to be around him. But Jerry just couldn’t sit still doing one thing for very long. There was always something more exciting, more challenging that he wanted to get involved with." Other commenters included this poster, whose professional newspaper career Jerry helped start. May his energy and wit be long remembered and emulated. (Read more)

Economic stress reduces the number of candidates for rural offices around Peoria

"Several ... Peoria-area municipalities, school boards, library and park boards are faced with the quandary of more openings than candidates to fill them" in the election on April 7, reports Karen McDonald of the Peoria Journal Star.

"It's more of the economy than anything," said Norwood Mayor Jim Yocum, who isn't running again. No one else is, either, or for two town trustee seats. "Both spouses these days have to work to make a living, and they just don't have time" to serve in public office, Yocum told McDonald. (Read more)

Rural district in New York votes Tue. for Congress

UPDATE, April 1: The race is too close to call, reports the Albany Times-Union.

There's a strong rural angle to Tuesday's special election in New York's 20th Congressional District, to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Kristen Gillibrand when Gov. David Paterson appointed her to the Senate. "The contest has undergone shifts in public opinion usually reserved for much longer campaigns, drawn national attention as an early test of Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program, involved prominent national political figures, and tested the conventional wisdom about the political makeup of the sprawling, ten-county congressional district," writes Don Moore of ccScoop, a news site for Columbia County. (NationalAtlas.gov map)

Republican Jim Tedisco, the state House minority leader, has been considered the favorite but "can’t quite seem to close the deal," Sean Reagan writes for The Back Forty, the blog of RuralVotes, a Democratic group. "Democrats have Tedisco on the defensive for not taking a stance on the stimulus bill in a district where President Obama and Gillibrand are very popular," writes Stu Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. The Democrat is Scott Murphy of Glens Falls, manager of a small business investment firm. Libertarian is Eric Sundwall, chairman of his state party.

"The conventional wisdom about the 20th CD is that it is a majority Republican district," because Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 3 to 2, Moore writes. But the actual voter registration figures are "Republicans 41 percent, Democrats 26 percent, Independents 5 percent, Conservatives 2 percent, other minor parties and unaffiliated voters 26 percent." And Obama carried the district 53-47 in November. (Read more)

UPDATE, March 29: "The national Republican and Democratic parties have made it nothing less than a referendum on Obama's first two months in office, his economic agenda and his appeal," reports Keith Richburg of The Washington Post. "An opinion poll by Siena College's independent Siena Research Institute and the parties' internal polls show the contest a virtual toss-up. ... With turnout typically low for a special election, the outcome is likely to be determined by who can best get their supporters to the polls." (Read more)

Milk prices plummet, dairy farmers in deep crisis

After lifetime highs in 2007, raw milk prices have fallen by nearly half and farmers are struggling, Keith Good reports for Farm Policy.com. “Pennsylvania producers received about $11.50 per hundred pounds of milk in February, while production costs ranged from $15.50 to $18.50,” says the state’s Center for Dairy Excellence. Dan Piller writes for The Des Moines Register that “The American Milk Producers Federation says the average cost to produce milk in January exceeded the price of milk by 25 percent.”

“The number of dairy cows being sent to slaughter has risen by about 20 percent from last year, as desperate farmers cull their herds and sell at fire-sale prices,” Sue Kirchoff writes for USA Today. “Adding to the problem, banks are less willing or able to extend farmers’ loan payments amid the financial turmoil.” John Murawski reports for the News & Observer in Raleigh, "Several dozen dairy farms in North Carolina are expected to go under this year." (Read more)

A letter to President Obama from the National Milk Producers Federation warned that without more aggressive strategies, thousands of farms and jobs could be lost. “There are several reasons for the implosion: oversupply, falling export demand and continued high prices for supplies such as feed,” Kirchoff explained. “The dairy sector in the past has been less prone to huge price swings than other areas of agriculture, but that’s changing as the industry relies more on the markets and less on government programs.”

On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to the crisis. “The U.S. government will shift 200 million lbs. of nonfat dry milk surpluses to domestic feeding programs, helping low-income families and dairy farmers hit by high feed costs and low prices,” , Christopher Doering reported for Reuters. Read more.

USDA's action may have helped. "Daily Dairy Report notes that contracts for the second half of 2009 now average $16.00, up $2.31 from a month ago," notes Bob Meyer of Brownfield.

Marketer ‘will work for food,’ barters with farms

As Valerie Gates started seeing business decline at her marketing and design firm in Wellesley, Mass., she started reading books on eating locally and sustainably, and got an idea: Why not offer her marketing services to local farms in exchange for food?

The idea worked, and Gates has taken her "Will Work for Food" campaign national, offering services along a three-tiered pricing system that cover taxes which apply to bartering partnerships. At the same time, she's bridging the gap between rural and urban, partnering with inner-city teenagers to help promote the campaign with apparel bearing the name of the project.

Gates hopes to apply for grants and continue the project, writes Daphne Bishop for The Back Forty, the blog of RuralVotes, but she's still adjusting to the whirlwind new business she's created for herself. It's an odd journey for someone who says that until recently had "never eaten or cooked a turnip," but in it, she's found a new passion: "I also want to help make farming hip, to brand farming as a hip thing." (Read more)

Self-employment rises in depopulating rural areas

A Nebraska sociologist says self-employment is on the rise in rural areas, reflecting a new way of making a living that relies more on private contracting than traditional employer-employee relationships. Randy Cantrell of the University of Nebraska estimates that self-employment accounts for 18 percent to 30 percent of workers in the state's rural counties.

The annual poll of rural Nebraskans hasn't backed up Cantrell's numbers, writes Joan Ortiz of The Associated Press. "but he has a theory: The rural poll is asking the wrong question. In the past, people have been asked if they have a business. Cantrell realizes that may be leaving out those who still get a paycheck from their employers, but technically are private contractors. He used the example of inbound telemarketers, who he thinks can rightfully assert they have a business."

Cantrell says decreasing rural populations means that there are not enough people to support a multiple-person business, but the same services are still needed. This leads many to sub-contract work out to individuals, a trend which he says will only grow. He hopes to test his theory in this year's version of an annual poll he send to rural dwellers on work, well-being and policies. (Read more)

Farm Bureau asks Obama to restore program for Mexican trucks in U.S.

"In an effort to end trade sanctions against U.S. farm products by Mexico, the American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter today to President Barack Obama seeking quick development and implementation of a cross-border trucking program that would comply with U.S. obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement," AFBF says on its Web site.

The program was suspended as part of a recent spending bill. "This action by Congress has come at a cost to U.S. agriculture and our exports to one of our top markets,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said. "We urge you to find a resolution that will honor our obligations under NAFTA, eliminating any cause for Mexico to halt U.S. trade."

"Under the terms of NAFTA, the U.S. and Mexico each agreed to allow trucks from the other nation access into their countries," adds the AFBF. "Unfortunately, the U.S. maintained its restriction on Mexican trucks crossing the border even after NAFTA implementation began." (Read more)

Now that the pilot program has been eliminated, the U.S. finds itself out of compliance with its obligations under NAFTA. Under the treaty, "Mexico has the right to retaliate against U.S. products entering Mexico, and it has done so,” Stallman said. “This retaliation will affect hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fruit, vegetable, nut, juice, wine, processed foods and oilcake exports to Mexico.”

Report on militia groups as potential terrorists triggers national backlash

The Missouri Information Analysis Center, "which opened in 2005, is a 'fusion center' that combines resources from the federal Department of Homeland Security and other agencies," writes T.J. Greaney of the Columbia Daily Tribune. "It was set up to collect local intelligence to better combat terrorism and other criminal activity." But a report issued to law enforcement officers about militia groups has created a national backlash.

"The report gained national attention in recent weeks after it was leaked to the public," reports Greaney. "Portions of the report say that members of third-party political groups or supporters of third-party presidential candidates might be terrorists." Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder "expressed outrage at the report, saying there was no mention of radical environmental groups or radical religious groups other than Christians." It appears that the report took a narrow view of who should be considered a terrorist and who should not. (Read more)

Environmentalist funds cause by racing stock cars

Leilani Munter maybe the epitome of an enigma. "In a sport of barbecue-loving good 'ol boys, she's a self-described 'vegetarian hippie-chick race car driver'," writes Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer. Her sister is even married to a member of The Greatful Dead. But Munter believes she is in a unique position to further the environmental cause with race fans, a group that is not considered the biggest fans of green energy.

"If I were another biology graduate from California, a composting, recycling, tree-hugging, very hippie chick trying to change their light bulb, they wouldn’t give me the time of day," Munter says. "The only way I have their attention is because I have a racing suit on and race car underneath me."

"For every race, she buys an acre of rain forest through the National Wildlife Federation to offset her carbon emissions," Morrill reports. There are signs that NASCAR maybe following suit. It has hired its first director for its new "Green Initiative." Other attempts to make racing more environmentally friendly include the decision by IndyCar to switch all racers to ethanol-based fuel, and some sponsors are offsetting drivers carbon emissions with investments in solar energy and wind farms. (Read more)

Wild bees may hold the key to future pollination

"Honeybees across the country are dying by the millions due to colony collapse disorder and other environmental factors, causing many growers of fruits, nuts and vegetables to wonder how their future crops will be pollinated," reports the Environmental News Service. "A study released today shows that wild bees, which are not affected by the deadly disorder, may become a pollination alternative."

The study was conducted by Julianna Tuell and and Rufus Isaacs of Michigan State University and John Ascher of the American Museum of Natural History on blueberry farms in Michigan. "Using traps and direct observation, the researchers identified 166 bee species, 112 of which were active during the blueberry blooming period," writes ENS.

Other potential fruits that are visited by many of the bees in the study are cherries, apples, and cranberries. By supporting habitats for wild bees farmers may be able to avoid the disastrous effects of dwindling honeybee populations. (Read more)

Big drop in donations threatens mobile dental clinics in rural Northwest

Throughout Oregon and parts of Washington, poor rural residents get free dental care in four vans provided by Medical Teams International's larger mission to provide free care in areas that need it across the globe. But the Christian organization's donations are down -- December saw a 30 percent drop -- and their mobile clinics are in danger of being pulled off the road, reports Sheila Hagar in an article for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

MTI is no longer able to subsidize the full cost of the vans, "Rural areas have fewer organizations to approach for financial help, and many of the sites that host the dental van have not been accustomed to paying a supportive 'site fee,' as a way of partnering the effort," Hagar writes. MTI's Steve Vickers told her, “If we gave everyone a bill (for services), it comes to $5.8 million a year. But it costs us $1.2 million to deliver that care. If they give us a dollar, we turn it into $5 of dental care.” (Read more)

Corps OKs Ky. mountaintop-removal mine permit, asserting itself in Appalachian fight with EPA

"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials on Wednesday escalated a fight with the Environmental Protection Agency over the regulation of mountaintop removal coal mining," by reinstating "a permit that had previously been suspended after environmental groups sued in federal court to stop it," reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. The Corps acted on the Kentucky permit without consulting EPA, reports Jim Bruggers of The Courier-Journal in Louisville.

This week, EPA objected to two applications before the Corps for mountaintop mines in Kentucky and West Virginia, and signaled that it would give about 200 other such applications a more critical review than it did under the Bush administration. The Courier-Journal op-ed page today has an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying "President Obama has signaled his intention to save this region."

But Tim Huber of The Associated Press reports that EPA "has struck a note of economic fear in Appalachia." Some of that could have come from initial news reports of a "crackdown" and irresponsible, online headlines such as "Obama administration halts mountaintop removal." Ward writes in his Coal Tattoo blog, "Around the country, through the magic of the blogosphere — at The Huffington Post to be more specific — there’s a completely different discussion going on." He praises a post by Matt Wasson, interim director of the environmental group Appalachian Voices, which notes the importance of "fairly high paying jobs" at Appalachian mines.

The story should be a local one for every news outlet in the mountaintop-removal region of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The Post in Big Stone Gap, Va., has a report in which Jeff Lester says the news "elated environmental activists and panicked coal companies who fear it will stall hundreds of pending mine permits. But speculation about EPA’s actions is wildly overblown, the agency said." (Read more; subscription required)

The EPA move affects not only mountaintop-removal mining, but any mining that uses valley fills. Don Hopey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that EPA has asked for more information on "a Consol Coal Co. proposal to bury almost five miles of streams and six acres of wetlands in Greene County under more than 90 million cubic yards of coal waste rock." (Read more)

Rural legislator takes conservatism, 'unpolished style' into race for governor of suburbanizing Va.

Bath County, Virginia, on the Eastern Continental Divide and the West Virginia border, is so small and isolated it doesn't even have its own newspaper. Can it produce a governor in a state where suburban voters have become dominant? The campaign of Democratic state Sen. R. Creigh (pronounced "Kree") Deeds will answer that question. All the other candidates are from heavily suburbanized Northern Virginia.

"The bedrock values and unquestioned traditions of rural Virginia can also clash with those in more urban and cosmopolitan regions," writes Fredrick Kunkle of The Washington Post. "Although Deeds has championed abortion rights and environmental causes, he also opposed the ban on buying more than one handgun a month. And he voted at least five times for a state constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and civil unions, which he later said he regretted." Kunkle also notes Deeds' "unpolished style" contrasts with those of Democratic primary opponents Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran.

For an independent take on Deeds, Kunkle consulted our friend Anne Adams, publisher of The Recorder in Highland County, which is the local weekly for Bath County. "When you grow up in a small town, you can't afford to make enemies. You volunteer. You go everywhere with a covered dish," she told Kunkel, who wrote: "She said those habits come through in Deeds's earnest style, but so does the sense that Deeds sometimes seems ill at ease on the campaign trail talking about himself and his accomplishments." Adams said, "Here, if you were that kind of cocky, they'd say, 'You're spreading yourself'." (Read more)

USDA urges farmers to generate 'green power'

A recent workshop by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program in Salt Lake City encouraged small business owners and farmers to generate their own “green power,” Jasen Lee reports for the Deseret News.

Perry Mathews, the business and cooperative program director for USDA Rural Development, told Lee that REAP can combine grants and loans to help farmers and rural businesses buyand install renewable energy systems. Environmentally conscious designs such as wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal, micro-hydro or biomass systems all add up to a better bottom line for owners.

"The administration feels that it's very important, from President Barack Obama to [Agriculture] Secretary [Tom] Vilsack,” Jeff Jobe, national cooperative field advisor for Rural Development, told the Deseret News. Lee reports that money is available on a competitive basis for communities with populations of less than 50,000.

An important angle is the ability to make the most of current resources. William Chatwin, energy efficiency coordinator for the Utah State Energy Program, said people can "multiply the benefits" of producing clean, renewable energy as they improve efficiency, with measures such as taking advantage of water running downhill as an additional source of electricity. Read more here.

EPA starts aggressive review of permit applications for mountaintop-removal strip mining of coal

As reported here the Obama Administration has promised to take a stance on the practice of mountaintop removal. Monday, the president told Jim Carroll of The Courier-Journal, "The environmental consequences of the runoff from some of these mountains can just be horrendous." Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency released letters it had sent Monday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, voicing major concerns about permit applications for three mines, two in West Virginia, the other in Eastern Kentucky. EPA's actions were a clear indication of a policy change, Tom FitzGerald, executive director of the Kentucky Resources Council, told Andy Mead of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, told the paper that the new bar the EPA appears to be setting could affect all surface mining, not just mountaintop-removal operations. Adding, "If that happens, he said, it could put 6,000 Eastern Kentucky miners out of work, creating a ripple effect that could mean the loss of 23,000 more jobs in an economy that already is suffering." Mead says the announcement doesn't mean an end to mountaintop removal or other surface mining, but could mean that the practice will have to be conducted in the most environmentally sound manner possible: "What is needed now, FitzGerald added, is a new director of the federal Office of Surface Mining who "gets up every day and says 'How can we do what Congress intended to do? How can we fully protect the rights of people downstream and downhill?' " (Read more)

The move spurred West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin to go to Washington to meet with EPA officials. As reported by Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette, Manchin said he was expediting a meeting between the coal companies and EPA. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said he is seeking clarification from EPA about the process. "Those permits should be reviewed in a timely manner, regardless of the outcome of any one application for mining," he said. "Our goal in Kentucky is to continue the responsible mining of coal in a way that protects safety and the environment, while also preserving and creating jobs in a region desperately in need of them." Both governors are Democrats. The United Mine Workers of America, which also supported Obama for president, said it was also seeking clarification from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

EPA does not issue strip-mine or Clean Water Act permits, but is supposed to review applications for the latter to determine whether the act is being obeyed. In the West Virginia case, EPA recommends denial of the permit and calls for "A detailed Environmental Impact Statement — a position environmentalists have been advocating for years, but which U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers rejected," Ward notes. "But in the other case, EPA officials offer more watered-down criticism, and suggest much easier ways for mining to move forward." For EPA's letters on the West Virginia mines, in the Coal River and Guayndotte River watersheds, click here and here. For the letter on the Kentucky mine, which would extract 7.3 million tons of coal and permanently affect more than three and a half miles of streams in the Big Sandy River watershed in Pike County, click here. For background from EPA on mountaintop mining, click here.

UPDATE: EPA stopped the Corps from issuing the Kentucky permit April 28.

Feds look at use of antibiotics at ethanol plants

An already struggling ethanol industry could be dealt another blow over its use of antibiotics to prevent bacteria from ruining batches of the product. The grain used in distillation is sold to farmers as cheap feed for their cattle, and as fears over antibiotic-resistant bacteria rise there is concern about that "super-bugs" could spread and that the antibiotics could enter the human food chain.

"Ethanol producers use penicillin and a popular antibiotic called virginiamycin to kill bacteria," reports Mark Steil of Minnesota Public Radio. And some of the concerns over the use of those antibiotics appear to be valid. Mark von Keitz, with the University of Minnesota's Biotechnology Institute, discovered antibiotic-resistant bacteria at four midwest ethanol plants several years ago. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken a mostly a hands-off approach to the use of antibiotics in the ethanol industry," adds Steil. "But amid increasing concerns over food safety in recent years, the agency is taking a closer look." If the federal government decides to limit or stop the sale of distilled grain, it would hurt both the ethanol and livestock industries. (Read more)

Archie Green, who died last week, documented the culture of work, especially rural

Archie Green, who passed away March 22, studied and promoted the lives of working people in America. "For five decades he studied hillbilly music and pile-drivers’ tales," writes Julie Ardery of the Daily Yonder, who worked with Green. "He made inventories of 'tin men' – the showpieces of sheet metal workers -- and analyzed sailors’ slang. He recorded songs by millworkers and miners’ wives." (Photo by Jerry Telfer, San Francisco Chronicle)

Green worked until near the end of his life, writing articles and publishing books, which included Only a Miner, a study of coal-mining music. His lobbying of Congress lead to the creation of the National Folklife Center and inspired others to "join him in documenting the culture of working people," adds Ardery. “Many of us owe him a huge debt,” wrote filmmaker Mimi Pickering, of Appalshop in Whitesburg, Ky. “We will not see the likes of him again.” (Read more)

Ky. to use tobacco-settlement funds to help farmers be more efficient in use of energy

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board has announced a new investment area, aimed at helping farmers go green. The On-Farm Energy Efficiency & Production program will support energy-efficient farming, with the goal that lower energy use will result in greater profits for farmers.

“Over the last several years, energy, reducing usage, and developing alternative sources have become critical issues for Kentucky agriculture,” Roger Thomas, director of the Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy, which staffs the board, said in a release. “The on-farm energy investment area will provide Kentucky’s farmers with the opportunity to make changes to their operations that will improve their profit and reduce agriculture’s impact on energy consumption.” (Read more)

The board makes grants and loans to improve the agricultural economy, with money from the state's share of the national tobacco settlement. The state legislature allocated 50 percent of the state's settlement money to improvement of the agricultural economy.

State, electric co-op and local money fund plan for beef processing plant in southeastern Kentucky

A rural Kentucky county on the Tennessee border may be home to a new $110 million beef processing plant, with the state, a local group and a rural electric cooperative putting $260,000 into the planning process. The industrial development board in McCreary County, population 17,000, says the money from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board is an important first step toward building the plant, which would produce beef jerky, pork rinds, and other meat-based snacks, and would create around 750 jobs for the area.

Kentucky is the No. 1 cattle-producing state east of the Mississippi, but has no specialized beef processing plant. Tennessee also is a relatively large cattle state. "We have this large cattle population, but truck them out west" for finishing and slaughter, Bennie Garland, community development specialist for the South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., told the McCreary County Voice. "So it makes sense to look at development of this type of facility in our area. In my opinion, this is one of the best investments the Kentucky Agricultural Board could have made using tobacco funds to strengthen the diversity of our agricultural economy." The board spends the 50 percent of national tobacco-settlement funds that the legislature has allocated for building the state's agricultural economy.

The electric co-op amd the McCreary County Industrial Development Authority each put $65,000 into the plan to match the state money, Andrew Powell reports for the Voice. The county has already conducted a feasibility study on the project, which provided guidance for the type of processing plant that was most likely to be successful. (Read more)

As states close prisons, small towns feel effects, but experts dispute the economic ramifications

Several states are closing prisons to fight budget deficits, a gtrend that has many small communities worried about the impact if their prisons are shuttered. Many small towns have come to rely on jobs created by prisons, but as Keith Richburg of The Washington Post points out, "With most governors and legislatures grappling with crushing budget deficits, what's good for rural economies is often proving bad for states."

Richburg focuses on Norwich, N.Y., where Camp Pharsalia is one of the four prisons Gov. David Paterson has recommended shutting in a proposal that would save an estimated $26 million a year. Mayor Joseph P. Maiurano says the cost would be high for the already-struggling community: not only could it lose almost 60 families who would have to move to work in other prison, but about 40 local businesses would lose procurement funds. Inmate work also helps approximately 50 local organizations. And that's not even counting the indirect effect the prison has on the community. Some worry that without the large mail volume provided by the prison, the post office would close tool. "I thought we were trying to save jobs," said Paul Lashway, a Camp Pharsalia prison guard and steward for the local prison officers' union. "Here, they're trying to take 'em."

Others say that towns overestimate the economic boost offered by prisons. Gregory Hooks, a sociologist who has studied the economics of prisons, says inmate labor reduces the number of low-paying manual jobs, makes the community less attractive for tourism and other industries, and creates a limited number of long-term jobs, making the community dependent on the prison. "If you look at the poorest counties, the impact is negative," he said. "If you put a prison in a struggling county, they get worse, not better." (Read more)

For first time, they say, feds shut down production at a coal mine because it hasn't paid civil penalties

We reported here last week that Double A Mining was one of 15 mines that were under threat of being shut by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration because of repeated safety violations and unpaid fines resulting from those violations. Apparently the threat was a real one. MSHA "announced Monday that it had issued a withdrawal order to Double A Mining Inc," reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "That means the operator can't mine coal until it pays its delinquent fines."

According to an MSHA release it is the first time the agency has stopped production at a mine for unpaid safety and health violations. Double A Mining has racked up $313,820 in fines for 360 safety violations at its No. 4 mine. According to MSHA the owner had not made a penalty payment since August 2004. (Read more)

Rural places face challenges getting stimulus aid

Small towns in rural America may have a tough task in securing money from the $787 billion economic stimulus package despite their needs. Larger cities are better equipped to research access to stimulus money, to have shovel-ready projects, and to be able to match a percentage of federal funds, reports Heather Clark of The Associated Press.

Small towns in New Mexico, for example, "will have to compete against Albuquerque, where Mayor Martin Chavez announced the formation of 10 city government teams, organized by subject, to research how the city can access economic stimulus money," Clark writes. That is just one example of larger cities using bigger staffs and more funding to try to increase their share of stimulus money, a luxury many rural communities do not have.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pledged to help rural communities access stimulus money but has not outlined a specific way to do so. "New Mexico's congressional delegation released a 46-page guide to help local governments and constituents understand which federal departments are funding stimulus projects and how," adds Clark. (Read more)

The town of Panton, Vt., is having a different problem. City leaders submitted applications for two infrastructure projects but learned that that would have to supply 20 percent matching funds. "The town says the 20 percent match was never mentioned and expected the stimulus money would fully fund the projects," writes Darren Perron of WCAX News. "Some smaller towns, like Panton, also say they're also at a disadvantage because it's easier for bigger cities, like Burlington, to raise the matching funds." The total cost of the two projects in Panton was $2 million. Since 20 percent of that would require the town put up $400,000, it has been forced to drop one of the projects. (Read more)

Iconic moonshiner developed a public following

The suicide of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton on March 16 may have signaled the end of an era. The famous moonshiner of western North Carolina was an iconic figure. He not only published books and DVDs on making liquor, to the surprise of many he continued the practice despite all the public attention.

In 2007 Sutton was arrested with 850 gallons of liquor and three 1,000-gallon stills. Despite his obvious violation, the aged moonshiner received tremendous public support. "There are, as of this writing, 14 pages on Facebook dedicated to Popcorn," writes Max Watman for Gourmet magazine. "Every blog post or news article on the Web is followed by a long thread of comments, mostly expressing that the government ought to find something else to do and stop bothering a poor old hillbilly who was just making a living the only way he knew how. ... In late January, the 62-year-old moonshiner was sentenced to 18 months in a federal penitentiary, and, according to his wife and daughter, chose to take his own life rather than face the time." (Gourmet photo)

Writing on Sutton's dichotomy, Watman adds, "To the end, his act was as clear as corn liquor and muddled as the hangover it gives you. Where shtick ended and reality began is impossible to tell, but one thing is for sure: Lots of people on the Tennessee border are going to go thirsty." (Read more)

Appalachian states have little data on safety of injecting coal slurry into abandoned mines

Vicki Smith of The Associated Press reports that none of the five Appalachian states that allow coal slurry to be dumped into abandoned undergound mines can substantiate their claim that the practice is safe. Alabama reports 11 such sites, Kentucky has 14, and West Virginia allows 15 firms to practice this method of disposal, which is cheaper than filtration and drying systems or building dams. Pennsylvania and Ohio each have two such sites. (Read more)

Ken Ward of The Charleston Gazette notes in his blog Coal Tattoo that Smith refers to a West Virginia case in which Boone County residents are asking a judge to stop the process, "citing high levels of toxic materials they believe are leaching from the slurry into drinking water supplies." Their lawyers argue, "The coal industry has plausible options in which to process coal. The residents of Prenter and Seth do not have an alternative as it pertains to their health." (Read more)

The process of putting slurry into underground mines may bring up memories of the slurry spill in Martin County, Kentucky, in 2000, but that was a case where the slurry was in an impoundment, broke through into old mine workings and flowed downstream.

Obama wants a look at rural air service subsidies

President Barack Obama's budget recommends a re-examination of the subsidy for flights to rural airports. Essential Air Service pays airlines to fly to communities where the low number of passengers are not enough to cover the cost, but Obama's budget "says the program is 'inefficiently designed' and could be sustained while 'improving cost-effectiveness'," writes Ledyard King for the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D.

King does a good job localizing the story, noting its effects on South Dakota communities. He also notes its effect on business and other aspects of rural life: "Planes also carry mail, agricultural suplies and medical samples for testing at hospitals in larger cities. The program is also touted as an important marketing tool." How does the Essential Air Service affect your community? (Read more)

Chain closes a weekly, so volunteers start one

When Swift Communications stopped printing the weekly Valley Journal in Carbondale, Colo., three months ago, residents of the town of 6,000 quickly concluded that they would not be well served by the company's daily papers in the Garfield County seat of Glenwood Springs, 13 miles to the north, or in Aspen, 30 miles to the southeast. (Encarta map)

Rebecca Young, who founded the paper in 1975 and sold it five years later, told DeeDee Correll the Los Angeles Times that the loss of the paper and such essentials as obituaries hit home when a friend died and she didn't find out until two weeks later. So she found six other town residents to start the Sopris Sun, a free-circulation weekly named for a local mountain and run mostly by volunteers. "It just beat the dickens out of sitting around whining that our paper was dead," she told Correll, of the Times bureau in Denver.

Carbondale has a volunteer ethic. Its one-screen movie theater is supported by volunteers who sell concessions. "It wouldn't surprise me if [the newspaper] was sustainable because there are an awful lot of people who do labors of love here," Mayor Michael Hassig said. Staffers are looking for revenue in any way possible, even applying for grants to keep the paper running, and editor Trina Ortega, the first paid employee, received resumes and phone calls from people willing to donate their time, as well as a phone call from someone in another state who volunteered to work on the paper's Web site.

For the first issue, published Feb. 12, the Sun printed 3,000 copies. The Valley Journal had a circulation of about 5,000 when it announced its closing on Christmas Day. It said in a farewell note, "The need for Carbondale to have a newspaper is still very real, and we of course prefer to look at this as a temporary situation, with the goal being the return of a stand-alone newspaper ... whenever the economy allows." The paper said the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, circulation 5,000, and The Aspen Times, 11,000, would have more "Carbondale news, happenings and human interest stories." The Valley Journal site reported Jan. 17 that volunteers were "in the throes of birthing a new community newspaper," but as far as we can tell it has not reported that they delivered. It did report that a Spanish-language paper had started to fill the niche vacated by La Tribuna, another shuttered publication of the Swift subsidary Colorado Mountain News Media.

Young told Aspen Times reporter John Colson for the January story that the Sun would not try to cover government meetings, "which she said can be amply covered by the dailies." She told him, “I kind of think the old model of weeklies is dead,” and that the Sun would focus on “what comes after the meetings, what are the biggest subjects, the impacts” of decisions made at them. "Plus, she said, the paper will publish 'the human features,' stories she said are intended 'to introduce people to one another,' from one generation to the next or from one social sphere to another." (Read more) And, despite Young's inspiration, there are no obituaries.

Correll's story ends with a quintessential quote from rancher Emma Danciger, "who has driven into town every Thursday for years to pick up the latest issue." She told Correll, "We've got to have our paper." (Read more) That calls to mind a maxim often cited by Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, who is quoted in the story: "You know it's a community newspaper if the readers say 'our paper,' not 'the paper'."

UPDATE, April 6: Doug Burns reports in the Daily Yonder that the Sun is especially valuable when it comes to covering land-use issues.