Northeast regulator could be key to shale gas development

As the stakeholders around the country debate the merits of hydraulic fracturing, an obscure northeast U.S. regulator is holding up shale gas production in the region. The Delaware River Basin Commission, "has stopped the gas rush in its tracks in northeastern Pennsylvania's Wayne and Pike counties," and in the four-state river basin where it controls development, Mike Soraghan of Environment & Energy Daily reports. DRBC executive director Carol Collier said, "Pennsylvania and New York regulators do not have strong authority to regulate water issues, and the commission can fill in the gaps to protect the Delaware watershed," Soraghan writes. (DRBC map)

"We are hoping to have a stronger umbrella of protection because of the Delaware's unique qualities," Collier told Soraghan. DRBC is expected to propose new regulations for Marcellus Shale development as early as Wednesday that could be among the most, if not the most, stringent in the country. "They are expected to require companies to put aside much more money than the state requires for reclamation and cleanup," Soraghan writes. Now as DRBC delays development many local landowners are blaming the agency for preventing them from cashing in on the drilling boom.

The basin includes Pennsylvania, where lawmakers hope a severance tax will help them cash in on the drilling boom, and New York, where the state legislature could vote on a temporary drilling moratorium this month. DRBC's decision could have implications across the country, Soraghan writes, noting if the agency says drilling could harm drinking water "it would provide powerful political ammunition to drilling opponents from New York to Ohio, and beyond." (Read more, subscription required)

UPDATE 9/17: The DRBC announced it would scale back some of its proposed regulations, including the amount of money it will require drilling companies to set aside for environmental cleanup and regulation. "Previous drafts, according to a source, had recommended requiring a $5 million financial assurance bond for each well site," Mike Soraghan of Environment & Energy Daily reports. "We started off very high," Carol Collier, executive director of DRBC, said after a commission meeting Wednesday. "We're coming down a bit." The regulations were expected by the end of the month, buy Collier said they may be delayed until Oct. 15. (Read more, subscription required)

Experts unclear about Asian carp's ability to survive in Great Lakes

We have been following the progress of invasive Asian carp up the Mississippi River toward the Great Lakes, but now some scientists question whether the fish could thrive in the lakes. "There is considerable debate in the scientific community about precisely where they are in the waterway system, what conditions are best for spawning, what triggered the fish's population explosion in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and, most importantly, whether Asian carp have the capability to destroy commercial and recreational fishing on the Great Lakes," Joel Hood of The Chicago Tribune reports.

Testimony from noted fish biologists at a three-day hearing in a Chicago federal court last week "cast doubts on the Asian carp's ability to sustain a thriving population in the Great Lakes as so many have feared," Hood writes. U.S. Geological Survey biologist Duane Chapman, who has studied Asian carp in the U.S. and abroad for a decade, testified, "I do believe individual (fish) will survive, but a large population? It's hard to say. We don't know what will happen, but we can make some guesses."

Researchers at University of Illinois' Natural History Survey concluded in a recent study that scarce supplies of plankton in the Great Lakes would make it unlikely the carp would survive. Konrad Dabrowski, a professor of aquatic sciences at Ohio State University, maintains "water temperature, depth, the speed of currents and food shortages will be the Great Lakes' best defense against Asian carp" after 15 years of Asian carp research. "Even if we put unlimited numbers of Asian carp [in the Great Lakes] they may not survive," Chapman said in court. "We simply don't know." (Read more)

Coal appears to be losing its battle with natural gas

We've been following the battle between natural gas and coal for the principle fuel of U.S. electricity, most recently here. Further evidence is pointing to natural gas winning the fight. The switch from coal to natural gas "is occurring globally and is getting a push from regulators who want to limit emissions that contribute to climate change, haze and health problems such as respiratory illness," Rebecca Smith of The Wall Street Journal reports. "Though efforts in Congress to pass legislation attaching a price to carbon emissions appear stalled for now, utilities still anticipate eventual carbon restrictions."

"It's pretty clear that, whether it's caused by future carbon legislation or action by the EPA, the migration away from coal has begun," Constellation Energy Group Chief Executive Mayo Shattuck told Smith. Coal-burning facilities are expected to account for just 10 percent of total new U.S. capacity in 2013, down from 18 percent in 2009. "Gas, meanwhile, is expected to soar to 82% of new capacity in 2013 from 42% last year," Smith writes.

"Most big coal-burning utilities have invested billions of dollars to install pollution-control equipment on their largest coal-fired plants," Smith writes. "But they are replacing or idling smaller coal plants for which such expenditures can't be justified." Even some large coal-burning utilities who are looking to find cleaner ways to burn the fuel have suffered setbacks. "American Electric Power Co. failed in its bid, in July, to get Virginia customers to pay $54 million of the cost of creating an experimental carbon-capture-and-storage system at its Mountaineer coal-fired plant in West Virginia," Smith writes, noting Duke Energy has also been hurt by escalating costs at its state-of-the-art coal gasification plant in Indiana. (Read more)

Tennessee hunting advocates want to protect their right to hunt

Tennessee voters will have the chance this fall to make Tennessee the 11th state to designate hunting and fishing as constitutional rights. "Advocates, including the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, say amending the state constitution will prevent radical animal rights activists and an increasingly urban state legislature from one day shutting down the activities," Anne Paine of The Tennessean reports. But some hunters and non-hunters find the proposal perplexing, saying that hunting and fishing don't appear to be at risk in Tennessee.

"We're trying to do something pro-active so we're not in a position like the people in Michigan when they outlawed dove season there," Mike Butler, executive director of TWF, a conservation group, told Paine. Butler noted that getting an amendment on the ballot is a long, complicated process and "if you wait until you need it, the reality of being able to get it done would be pretty difficult." Butler said he knew of no groups trying to band hunting or fishing in the state, but noted the state legislature could pass a law to do so.

"The citizenry has no protection over what the General Assembly might do when it comes to hunting and fishing," Butler told Paine. "Times will change as they always do. These uses of the land and the resources need to be protected." Animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which opposes hunting, does not have a chapter in Tennessee, but an official with the group told Paine proposals like the Tennessee one are "frivolous." Ashley Byrne, a PETA official in New York, added, "All these amendments are a solution in search of a problem. If people have a right to hunt, why not a right to shop or golf." (Read more)

Long-time family farms look to adapt in tough economic times

So-called "Century Farms," those owned by the same family for over 100 years, have been affected by the recession, and the steps owners are taking to protect them may offer an interesting look at the future of agriculture. "Their descendants can be determined to stay, despite a tough farm economy and the incessant push of development," Noah Adams of National Public Radio reports. "In East Tennessee, it's not hard to find those who inherited land. The owners face differing prospects — and are making key decisions for the next century."

Wendy Niebruegge, whose East Tennessee family farm dates back to 1909 and may soon qualify for century farm status, has turned to organic farming. "Those who are tracking Tennessee's farm economy say this is the future: think green and add value," Adams reports. Other century farms have turned to ag-tourism as a means to bring in more income. Ann Birdwell "left her college theater department job and started dressing up her farm for weddings, reunions, and kids at $6 each, who come by the busload," Adams writes. Now the Birdwells have converted the Still Hollow Farm's granary, which dates to 1860, into an antique store and a gift shop. (Read more)

FEMA revokes accreditation for hundreds of levees nationwide

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared hundreds of levees across the U.S. no longer suitable to ensure protection during major floods. The decision forces thousands of property owners to purchase flood insurance, Peter Eisler of USA Today reports. FEMA "revoked its accreditation of the levees as part of an effort to update the government's flood hazard maps, which guide state, local and federal decisions on development in flood-prone areas," Eisler writes. "Properties protected by the levees now are in flood hazard zones, which means owners who have federally backed mortgages are required by banking laws to carry flood insurance."

The maps updated so far by FEMA cover 65 percent of the U.S. population with most of 300 levees failing to gain accreditation in California and Arizona. Maps for the rest of the country are expected to be finished over the next three years, Eisler reports. "There's a lot of real money and real consequences to this," Rob Vining, adviser to Congress' National Committee on Levee Safety and former chief of civil works programs for the Army Corps of Engineers, told Eisler, noting many of the suspect levees protect prime and commercial real estate.

Local governments or other responsible parties must prove a levee is strong enough to protect against a flood so severe it has only a one percent chance of occurring each year. "Some communities where levees have deteriorated face tens of millions of dollars in rehabilitation to meet that standard," Eisler writes. The map updates are mandated by Congress, but several lawmakers from the affected areas are pushing for more time for the localities to improve flood protections, Eisler reports. (Read more)

Iowa proposal to end direct payments garners mixed reactions

Last week we reported the Iowa Farm Bureau had broken with most mainstream agriculture groups in favoring the end to direct payments to farmers beginning with the 2012 Farm Bill. Now, Iowa's "landmark vote for overhauling farm subsidies is getting attention from farm groups and policymakers around the country," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "Whether it gets their support is another matter." The American Farm Bureau Federation will rule on the Iowa proposal when it reviews its policies in January.

"The smaller and more populist-leaning National Farmers Union likes the idea of ending the fixed payments," Brasher writes. Roger Johnson, president of the union, explained, "We really think that the support that's provided to farmers and ranchers ought to be based on some sort of rationale that involves performance below average, a disaster, low prices, poor production." Congress is interested in the idea as well after "the House Agriculture Committee brought in Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock to lay out a plan for shifting the money that goes to fixed payments into expanding the Average Crop Revenue Election program," Brasher writes.

Many farmers across the South and Plains states favor the fixed payments and will likely resist giving them up, Brasher writes. "The direct payments are more important on some crops than others in terms of the contribution they make to income," John Anderson, an economist with the AFB, told Brasher. U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows "rice growers receive $96 an acre, while cotton farmers collect about $34 per acre," Brasher writes. "Payments to corn growers average $24 an acre." (Read more)

FCC telemedicine investment to help rural areas

Rural health care is among the areas that stand to benefit from the Obama administration's National Broadband Plan because the Federal Communications Commission pledged $400 million a year to connect nearly 12,000 rural health-care providers. FCC has had a rural telemedicine pilot program at the University of California, Davis, which Chairman Julius Genachowski calls a success, Laura Sydell of National Public Radio reports. "If you have rural connectivity for health care, then patients don't have to drive two or three or four hours for their treatments — instead, [they] can stay back where they live, consult with a medical profession[al] remotely," Genachowski told Sydell.

Dr. Tom Nesbitt, who heads the program, told Sydell the UC Davis hospital serves around 3,000 rural patients every year. "The demand would even be greater if the remote locations had equipment, bandwidth and training," Nesbitt said. FCC maintains by shifting Universal Service Fund money to help rural telemedicine the agency can save a lot of money in health care, but some critics of government overspending are still wary. "One of the greatest forms of savings will come from health care spending that we don't have to make because we catch problems earlier. ... We can treat and diagnose remotely," Genachowski told Sydell. (Read more)

Energy secretary: CO2 capture will save coal

Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a University of Charleston crowd Thursday that West Virginians should not fear the Obama administration's energy policies and pointed to carbon-dioxide capture and storage technology as the future of coal. "It will save coal," Chu told reporters after speaking at the forum on the topic, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. Chu said his agency's experts are "convinced carbon capture and storage "can be part of the solution to climate change, despite concerns about its costs, safety and the feasibility of ramping up from pilot projects to widespread deployment," Ward writes.

"I think we can do this, but it will take time," Chu said. Also speaking at the forum was Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who made perhaps his strongest comments yet in support of the science behind global warming. The senator "blasted industry leaders and members of West Virginia media who promote the notion that global warming isn't real," Ward writes. "I'm concerned that powerful voices in West Virginia continue to argue that climate change is a myth," Rockefeller said. "I'm not on the same bandwagon that some of you are."

"Burying one's head in the sand is not a solution, and can only backfire," Rockefeller added. Still, Rockefeller said he was opposed to any broad energy bill that would place a cap on carbon dioxide emissions, and he favors a narrower bill that would pump money into CCS research. Chu echoed previous Obama administration assertions that without a carbon cap there would be no incentive to invest in low-carbon technologies like CCS. "You need a long-term signal to investors," he said. (Read more)

Repeal of estate tax could hurt competition in agriculture, Center for Rural Affairs argues

While family farms and businesses could use more stability in the estate tax, they should be wary of proposals that make big cuts in the tax, writes one rural columnist. "Some are pushing for raising the exemption to $10 million for couples ($5 million per spouse) and dropping the tax rate on the largest estates to 35 percent. Others would repeal the tax entirely on farmland,"writes Chuck Hassebrook of the Center for Rural Affairs. "Each of these proposals is overly generous to wealthy heirs and puts farmers, ranchers and small business people who must earn their way at a competitive disadvantage. The overwhelming majority of family farms and businesses would be hurt, not helped."

Nine years ago Congress and President Bush launched a gradual reduction in the estate tax, which culminated in its scheduled full repeal this year. "But there was a catch," Hassebrook writes. "Congress could not pay for permanent repeal. So next year the estate tax returns to its 2002 levels – with the first $2 million of an estate exempt for married couples ($1 million per person) and a 55 percent tax on the largest estates." Farmers who would inherit a tax-free $10 million estate would have big advantage over those who receive no inheritance or a modest one.

"The estate tax helps level the playing field between those whose success is based on being born into the right family and those who must earn success through hard work, brains and determination," Hassebrook writes. The estate tax is all the more important when one considers wealth is concentrating in the U.S. with 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 going to the top 1 percent, the center writes. "A big reduction in the tax on large estates would add fuel to the fire, undermining the idea of a level playing field at the core of America and hurting family-size farms, ranches and businesses," Hassebrook concludes. (Read more)

EPA asks drillers to disclose fracking fluids

The Environmental Protection Agency Thursday asked nine drilling companies for information about chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing. The request was part of the agency's preparation for a long-term study of the effects of "fracking." In a letter the agency asked them to respond to the request "within seven days and to voluntarily provide the information within 30 days," Tom Zeller Jr. of The New York Times reports. EPA warned if the information was not handed over voluntarily, the agency "will be exploring legal alternatives to compel submission of the needed information."

"Natural gas is an important part of our nation’s energy future, and it’s critical that the extraction of this valuable natural resource does not come at the expense of safe water and healthy communities," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, said in a statement. EPA concluded in a 2004 study that fracking was essentially safe, but "critics quickly condemned that analysis as sloppy and politically motivated," Zeller writes. "Congress used that study as partial justification the following year to exempt hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act."

The letter went to Halliburton, BJ Services, Complete Production Services, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI Energy, RPC Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services and Weatherford International. Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy G. Mann told Zeller the company had not yet received the request, but planned to fully cooperate with EPA. But a leading industry group took issue with the threat of  legal action for noncompliance. "I’m not sure how they would do that, or if they even have the authority to do that," Stephanie Meadows, upstream senior policy adviser for the American Petroleum Institute, told Zeller. (Read more)

Local newspapers report on Muslim communities

Muslims across rural America are navigating the waters of a tide of issues: where to build a mosque, how to observe Muslim holidays, reaction to burning the Qur'an. These are topics new to some rural places, and local media have an important role to play in helping readers understand Islam and its adherents. A variety of approaches are being taken to cover Muslims in local communities:

The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., pop. 28,327, explains the holy month of Ramadan to its readers by visiting the mosque in Salisbury and speaking with Dawood Ahmad, president of the Islamic Society of Delmarva (the peninsula with parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia). The period from Aug. 11 to today is observed by prayer and daytime fasting. Ahmad, the local imam, explained the prayers to the Daily Times: "You remember God. You bless God. You say, 'God is good.' You ask for forgiveness. You praise God."

In Evansville, Ind., the Courier & Press interviewed soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan about the minister in Florida who planned to burn the Qur'an. "This spawns more terrorists because it creates more fodder to feed recruits," Ernie Griffin, who served two tours of duty in Iraq as a member of the Indiana National Guard, told the newspaper. "It creates a backlash you can't really measure. I personally agree with Gen. (David) Petraeus that it puts Americans at risk overseas."

The evening meals of Ramadan were a topic for the Columbia, Mo., Daily Tribune. The international mix of people at the Islamic Center of Central Missouri reflects the diverse community surrounding the University of Missouri. Roxana Rahman Nizam told the newspaper. The story also includes recipes and a description of the celebration with food after the fasting time ends.

In Garden City, Kan., the local meatpacking plant has attracted an immigrant community, including many Muslims. The Garden City Telegram reports area cemeteries have a shortage of space that can accommodate Muslim burial practices. "This is very important to us. As long as we work here and we live here, we need a place to bury our people," Abdulkadir Mohamed, who has been a Garden City resident for nearly six years, told the Telegram.

The Silver City Sun-News in New Mexico advanced a local church's interdenominational service held to counter the planned Qur'an burning. "It's like that saying, 'It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness,'" Rev. Dr. Wallace Ryan Kuroiwa, interim pastor of Valley Community Church, told the paper. "In the big picture, this service might not make that big of a difference. But if enough people in enough places light enough candles, it won't be as dark."

The Bowling Green Daily News in Kentucky reported on how area teens are observing Ramadan. “Muslim kids start to observe the Muslim tradition of Ramadan around 11 or 12, and I have been observing since,” high school soccer player Emina Husic told the paper. She plays soccer during Ramadan and gets very thirsty during practice: "Sometimes I want to quit, but when I think of the reason I am not eating or drinking, I don’t want to quit anymore."

Several media outlets took the same approach as the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, by getting local reaction to a variety of issues from area Muslims. Mohamed Salih, who lives in Cheyenne, told the paper that buring the Qur'an was highly offensive to Muslims everywhere, but that freedom of religion was one of America's "most beautiful" values.  In Wilmington, N.C., Muslims told the Morning Star that they are celebrating the end of Ramadan, not the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "We’re American citizens," Musa Agil, who is chairman of the board of the Islamic Center of Wilmington, said. "We’re very patriotic. Nineteen deranged people are not typical of the vast majority of Muslims."

Guthrie's Oklahoma birthplace has mixed feelings

WOODY GUTHRIE
(Library of Congress photo)

Tim Murphy, writing for Mother Jones, visits the birthplace of that "rabble-rousing, labor-loving, leftist,"  Woody Guthrie. His hometown is Okemah, Okla., pop. 2,823, "equidistant from Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and the surface of the sun," Murphy writes. Guthrie, composer of "This Land is Your Land," described his hometown thusly: "Okemah was one of the singiest, square-dancingest, drinkingest, yellingest, preachingest, walkingest, talkingest, laughingest, cryingest, shootingest, fist-fightingest, bleedingest, gamblingest, gun, club and razor-carryingest of our ranch towns and farm towns, because it blossomed out into one of our first Oil Boom Towns."

Guthrie's house has been torn down and replaced with local folk art. Teresa Labbe at the Okemah Public Library told Murphy the town is conflicted about Guthrie. "All the old-timers here all thought he was a communist," says Labbe. "Even now, some of the old-timers in town don't like him." A festival intended to honor him was halted by the local American Legion post. The library has a few items belonging to and about Guthrie.

Even though the town has mixed feelings, Murphy says, "I like to think the old balladeer would be pretty satisfied with what his reluctant hometown's done in his name. The monument's full of hometown pride, artistically sound, and, to the end, dutifully subversive." (Read more)

Oil and gas producing rural counties have low unemployment; housing market hurts others

July marked the third consecutive month the rural unemployment rate was lower than the national average, but it still varied widely across the country. "Only 405 out of 2,038 rural counties — fewer than one in five — are within one percentage point of the national average unemployment rate," Bill Bishop and Roberto Gallardo report for the Daily Yonder. "States that had a large portion of their workers employed in construction and manufacturing — such as Michigan, Nevada, California and Florida — have been hit worst. Farm states and counties with significant oil and gas production have low unemployment rates."

The poor housing market, which has prevented some from moving to find work after failing to sell their homes has influenced the variance, the Yonder writes. "Four years ago, you might have been working in construction in Nevada and overpaid for your house," Annie Lowrey writes in the Washington Independent. "Today, you’re likely out of a job and, worse, can’t move to a state like North Dakota because you can’t sell the property." The news may not be good for rural America in the future: Ernest Goss’s Mainstreet Economy Index, which regularly polls bankers across rural communities in 10 Plains and Midwest states, reported Aug. 19 that four in 10 bankers expect the nation to slip back into recession in 2011. (Read more) (Yonder map below)

Biomass emission rules could have big impact on timber industry

In June we reported an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate biomass emissions like those of fossil fuels and complaints from the biomass industry that the rules would place an unfair burden on them. In Montana, the growing biomass industry is watching the proposal closely as industry executives say it could have big implications for the state's forestry industry, Phil Drake of MontanaWatchdog reports. "If the rule goes through, I think it would be an enormous (impact)," Ellen Simpson, executive vice president of the Montana Wood Products Association, told Drake. "It’s a fledgling industry and a lot of things in motion … It could be a very big economic deal for the timber industry."

In an e-mailed statement, the EPA said the agency "is committed to working with stakeholders to examine whether treating biomass-derived carbon emissions as carbon neutral is appropriate, and to assess the associated effects on the development of policies and programs that recognize the potential for biomass to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and enhance U.S. energy security." The comment period on the proposal ends Sept. 13. "It’s a very serious issue for our folks," Simpson said. "It changes the playing field completely for anyone who wants to burn wood. The tailoring rule adds another layer. It’s a roadblock in getting something positive to happen." (Read more)

Nonpartisan group provides lesson plans for Constitution Day

Friday Sept. 17 is Constitution Day, and free teaching materials are available for educators across the country looking to plan lessons around the event. National nonpartisan group 1 for All, a coalition of educators, journalists, librarians, artists and many others, has developed creative lesson plans for grades K-12, accessible here. The campaign features ads that celebrate freedom in America and the ways "we exercise those freedoms in our daily lives. ... The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, but it also provides freedom to tweet. It protects political speeches, but it also guarantees our right to sing, dance and perform."

Additional educational material from the Newseum can be accessed here. "Lessons may be used in history and government, civics, language arts and journalism, art and debate classes. They may be used in sections or in their entirety," 1 for All writes. "Many of these lesson plans indicate an overall goal, offer suggestions on how to teach the lesson and list additional resources and enrichment activities." (Read more)

Black farmers still waiting for settlement money after Senate delays

In February we reported the Obama administration had approved additional money for black farmers as part of the settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over decades of discrimination. After five months of stalling in the Senate, the farmers have yet to receive the payments. "John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, says that bills to fund the settlement have failed seven times in the Senate, and a black-farmer attachment was taken out of the recent farm-aid disaster bill," Frank McCoy of National Public Radio reports. "In August alone, Senate Republicans blocked the settlement twice."

The settlement came from the so-called Pigford II case, which "occurred after the USDA admitted that thousands of other black farmers' claims from the 1990s went uninvestigated," McCoy writes. Senators are believed to be concerned about giving anyone over $1 billion in advance of November elections, even if the money was promised long ago. "Don't these legislators in states suffering economically know the money will boost the income in their state?" Gary R. Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, asked McCoy.

Black farmers were further angered by the Obama administration's summer promise to Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.  Mostly white farmers in her state would receive $1.5 billion for disaster-relief aid. Still, "major newspaper editorials have castigated the deal, saying that the plan will bypass congressional approval and benefit wealthy farmers," McCoy writes. An editorial from The Washington Post declared, "If you think this looks like a back-door plan to almost double almost everyone's subsidy, we agree with you." Lincoln is currently trailing her Republican challenger, Rep. John Boozman, in the polls. (read more)

A review: Get Low, an homage to the rural South

Sony Pictures photo by Sam Emerson

Rural East Tennessee, in 1938, is the setting for Get Low, a gentle new movie starring Robert Duvall (left) and Bill Murray. Everything about the movie feels so authentic. It is as sepia-toned as waking up in your grandmother’s rural Tennessee home while the morning sun shines through the yellowed window shades. The daffodils that occasionally appear in the hands of Sissy Spacek’s character stand out like an explosion. You could almost smell pine trees, too. The movie was filmed in Georgia, but the mountains look lush and green as the Smokies (and the Cumberlands around Oliver Springs, site of the true story on which the movie is based).

Robert Duvall is ever the masterful actor, saying more with less, playing the scary man in the town. He is Felix Bush, the bearded, crazy-haired hermit feard by the town's children. One morning, Felix hitches up a mule and rides into town to ask the preacher to hold a funeral for him while he is still alive. Preacher portrayals are so often dreadful in the movies. Usually, it’s more Elmer Gantry than kindly minister. What a relief that Gerald McRaney is a preacher willing to sit down, ask Felix what’s on his mind, then respond to him thoughtfully, if not necessarily in the way Felix would wish. The only other character who knows Felix and his secret is also a kindly minister, played by Bill Cobb.

Eventually, Felix hooks up with Frank Quinn, the shady funeral home operator who says if your funeral home fails, you have no one to blame but yourself. Bill Murray is Quinn, an actor most interesting when he also says more with less. Is he honest? Is he a snake? Who knows. Murray’s assistant at his funeral home is played by Lucas Black. Blessedly, he is really from Alabama so – thank goodness! – he has a real Southern accent. So many movies are ruined by actors trying to sound Southern. Black, as Buddy, represents a kind of sweetness and purity that Felix can recognize, even though he’s been a hermit for 40 years.

Another real-life Southerner, Sissy Spacek, is also the real deal actor. She has that authentic accent (she’s from Texas) and that steel spine she made famous as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter. She, too, is wonderful in this movie, hinting at lost love. Was it for Felix?

Felix wants this funeral party to find his own redemption and perhaps, forgiveness, of a grevious sin he felt he committed. Fortunately, Felix didn't make moonshine, he didn't spit tobacco. He crafted beautiful furniture, built a church. This movie offers so much more than frightful portrayals of rural hicks (ack, Deliverance!). Rather, it offers the kindness, sense of place, hope and sadness as rich as the rural heartland really is. This lovely movie is an homage to that place.

Other reviews: Los Angeles Times("one of his [Duvall's] finest performances"), Time magazine, The New York Times (two trailers and several clips)

Small tobacco farmers making an exit from rural Kentucky county

Dean and Steve Prewitt, the last contract tobacco farmers in Whitley Co., Ky., are putting up what is likely their last tobacco crop. "I'm surprised by what has happened," Dean Prewitt said to Trent Knuckles at  News-Journal.net. "Used to be, you could leave Williamsburg and drive to Corbin on this road and we could count 20 to 25 tobacco crops that you could see just along the edge of the road. Now they are all gone. It's kind of sad when you think about it. ... The younger generation just ain't going to do it. It's hard work."

The News-Journal.net reports that 15 years ago, Whitley County farmers produced about 800,000 lbs. of burley tobacco, much of it high quality. Today, it will produce about 10,000 lbs., all from the Prewitts' farm. Whitley County has never been a big agricultural county but with the Cumberland River and some places on the Cumberland Plateau it was a good place to raise tobacco – until the federal program of quotas and price supports was removed, bringing economies of scale to the business of growing tobacco and moving it west, where larger tracts were available. "It's a case of the bigger producers here in Kentucky are getting bigger and the smaller producers are just getting out of it completely," University of Kentucky Agricultural Extension Agent Phil Meeks said to the News-Journal. "There are other things people are turning to, other things to diversify, but none of them really, alone, replace tobacco. ... There have been a lot of families that, once they quit tobacco, just got out of farming altogether."

Whitley County's largest tobacco producer has switched his farm to another crop: corn for his feeder calf operation. Jim Clawson grew roughly 100,000 lbs. of tobacco a year for about 37 years on a 45-acre farm. He didn't plant any  this year because he could not come to an agreement with either Phillip Morris or rival R.J. Reynolds on a contract. "I'm very happy with not growing it. I would probably never go back again to raising tobacco under any circumstances," Clawson said. "This tobacco thing is just not good anymore."

Ethics policy to stop revolving door for industry and regulators of offshore drilling

The first ethics policy for the agency that oversees offshore oil and gas drilling will require employees to report potential conflicts of interest. The policy implemented by the Obama Administration will also require Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement employees "to recuse themselves from inspecting companies that employ family members or close friends," Katie Howell of Environment & Energy Daily. "Newly hired inspectors are also barred from performing inspections or working with their former employers for two years after leaving the industry."

The new policy comes in the wake of the increased scrutiny placed on the agency following the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout. Mary Kendall, the Interior Department's acting inspector general, told Howell she was most concerned with the revolving door between industry and agency officials. "Inspectors and oil company employees have lived in the same communities all their lives and attended the same engineering schools, Kendall said, adding that their relationships took precedence over their jobs," Howell writes.Liz Birnbaum, the former Minerals Management Service head, told the presidential commission investigating the spill, "The inspectors who accepted gifts had extensive social and community relations; they all live in the same towns. Offshore inspectors have to live along the Texas and Louisiana coasts, which are dominated by two industries: oil and gas and shrimping." (Read more, subscription required)