Santorum wears small-town success as an honor, sweeps Louisiana demographically, geographically

Santorum in a batting cage at LSU. (Photo
by George Herbert, The Associated Press)

"Republican presidential nominating contests often reveal a rural-urban split in the party, but what sets this year's campaign apart is the emphasis Rick Santorum is placing on that divide and wearing his successes in small-town America as a badge of honor," Jim Kuhnhenn reports for The Associated Press, getting a deeper bite of an apple previously bitten here.

"To hear Santorum tell it, the ability of front-runner Mitt Romney to win in big-city suburbs is a mark of ideological weakness, not political strength," Kuhnhenn writes, quoting Santorum: "That might give you some indication as to who the candidate is who best reflects the values of the Republican Party."

UPDATE, March 25: Santorum won 49.2 percent of the vote in Louisiana, losing only Orleans Parish, "sweeping virtually every demographic category and apparently picking up supporters from the fading candidacy of Newt Gingrich," Jonathan Tilove of The Times-Picayune reports.

Kuhnhenn notes that the former Pennsylvania senator has consistently won rural areas, where he "happily embraces the culture. He worships with Pentecostals in central Louisiana one day and campaigns at a gun range in the north on another, testing his marksmanship by pulling the trigger of a .45-caliber semiautomatic Colt pistol." As Santorum fired a few rounds at the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office Rifle Range, a woman shouted: “Pretend it’s Obama,” The Washington Post reports. "Santorum said later that he didn’t hear the comment," and said, "It’s a very terrible and horrible remark, and I’m glad I didn’t hear it."

Today's edition of The Advocate in Baton Rouge has a story detailing Santorum's reactions to inflammatory statements by the Rev. Dennis Terry, a local Baptist minister whose "sermon Sunday evening went viral" because he said "If you don’t love America, if you don’t like the way we do things, I got one thing to say: Get out!" Special writer Mark Hunter reports, "His comment drew applause from most, but not from Santorum, who smiled but didn’t clap."

Then Terry said, “We don’t worship Buddha — I said we don’t worship Buddha — we don’t worship Muhammad, we don’t worship Allah, we worship God. We worship God’s son Jesus Christ,” and turned to Santorum, “holding open his arms as the candidate smiled, but didn’t applaud like the rest of the audience.” (Read more)

Judge rejects EPA veto of big mountaintop mine

"In a case that could have far-reaching implications, a federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its authority in revoking permits for a strip mine in West Virginia," Erica Peterson reports for WFPL in Louisville, with help from The Associated Press.

The ruling came from District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C. "EPA vetoed the corps' permit for the mine in January 2011, saying it would cause irreparable damage to the environment,"AP reports. "The move enraged both the coal industry and West Virginia politicians, several of whom have since introduced bills to try rein in the EPA."

The Spruce Mine, already under development, would be the largest mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia and probably in the four Central Appalachian states where the practice is used.

Safety panel says big mine disaster could have been prevented if federal agency had done its job

If the Mine Safety and Health Administration had properly enforced the law, "it would have lessened the chances of — and possibly could have prevented" the explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia almost two years ago, a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health panel given to the mine agency yesterday.

"It’s a remarkable conclusion," writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. "The panel’s report puts quite a different face on things than MSHA, the Obama administration, and congressional Democrats (not to mention repeated editorials from The New York Times) have tried to push in their effort to downplay MSHA’s failings and protect their friend, agency chief and former United Mine Workers safety director Joe Main."

Ward contrasted the report with MSHA's internal review of the case and posted a copy of the NIOSH report here.

Training youths in entrepreneurship could make them come back to rural places

The perceived lack of career opportunities is causing many rural youth to believe they have to leave their hometowns and never return, Craig Schroeder reports for the Daily Yonder. But according to a seven-year survey of rural youth, almost half aren't interested in traditional careers, but instead want to own their own businesses. "Rural places that tie their economic development resources to entrepreneurship-education can help these young people pursue their dreams and, in turn, revitalize, grow and diversify their own local economies," Schroeder writes.

The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at the Rural Policy Research Institute, where Schroeder works, found in the survey that 51 percent of rural youth would move back home if there were job opportunities, but only one-third surveyed said an adult had asked for their ideas or encouraged their efforts to make the community a more attractive place. The findings were consistent in communities across the country. The Center has identified four key elements to developing and nurturing young entrepreneurs: interactive entrepreneurship education, supportive community environment, peer networking, pathways from education to opportunity. Schroeder details each element in the article.

"To be truly successful, youth entrepreneurship must become a priority within a community's economic development strategy," he writes. Youth entrepreneurship requires sustained effort and is vital to rural communities' survival, because as Schroeder writes: "It doesn’t so much matter what we do tomorrow or next week if in 20 years most of the current residents have passed on and the next generation has left town never to return." (Read more)

Federal judge orders FDA to resume hearings on use of antibiotics in animal feed

A federal judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to resume hearings about the use of antibiotics in animal feed, citing concern that overuse is endangering human health by creating antibiotic-resistant "superbugs," reports Jessica Dye of Reuters. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz of New York City ordered the proceedings to start unless manufacturers can prove antibiotics are safe. The agency started proceedings in 1977 in response to widespread concern about use of antibiotics in livestock feed. The proceedings were never completed, so approval for antibiotic use in feed remained in place.

The agency only formally stopped proceedings in December of last year, claiming they were outdated and that it was going to "pursue other regulatory strategies for coping with potential food-safety problems," Dye reports. A coalition of environmental and public health groups filed a lawsuit in May arguing common use of antibiotics in livestock feed has contributed to superbug growth, and claiming antibiotic-resistant infections cost Americans more than $20 billion every year, according to a 2009 study. (Read more)

Ranking Democrat on House Ag Committee says GOP plan cuts to '50-50' odds of Farm Bill in 2012

U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, told Mike Adams of AgriTalk that House Republicans' budget outline "is going to cause big problems" for passage of a new Farm Bill this year. They are asking for a reconciliation process to avoid defense cuts, and they want them before writing of the bill begins, he said. He said Republicans are apparently going to ask for $8.2 billion in cuts, and as a result he thinks there's only a "50-50" chance of getting the bill passed this year.

"This is a reconciliation that’s not going to be done in the Senate," Peterson told Adams. "This is being done strictly to get enough Republican votes to pass a budget, so it has no effect on anything at the end of the day, other than to cause a lot of trouble for the Ag Committee in the meantime.” He said there are rumors that Republicans won't extend the current Farm Bill without insisting on further cuts, and he thinks approving the reconciliation without the Senate's approval "is just going to almost guarantee that you’re not going to get a bill done.” (Read more)

Beekeepers petition EPA to stop some pesticides

Beekeepers are petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to stop the use of pesticides they believe are killing honey bees, Perry Beeman of the Des Moines Register reports. The petition follows the release of a report linking an insecticide used for coating seed corn to the mass die-off of bees, or colony collapse disorder. The beekeepers are asking EPA to suspend use of certain pesticides they believe are most harmful to bees and make sure similar chemicals aren't used in the future. Beeman reports more than a million people submitted comments as part of the petition effort. (Altoona Herald-Index photo)

"EPA has an obligation to protect pollinators from the threat of pesticides," petitioner Jeff Anderson of California Minnesota Honey Farms said in a statement. "The agency has failed to adequately regulate pesticides harmful to pollinators despite scientific and on-the-ground evidence presented by academics and beekeepers." The petition claims EPA knew for nine years that pesticide use was harming bees, but did nothing to regulate it. Beeman reports scientists think pesticide use is only one factor contributing to colony collapse disorder. Others are fungi, habitat loss and parasites. (Read more)

Oil and gas companies are exempt from waste injection law

Oil and gas companies are exempt from federal environmental law designed to prevent industrial waste injection sites from causing earthquakes because they are exempt from "key provisions" of federal hazardous waste laws, Mike Soraghan of Energy and Environment News reports. There are more earthquakes caused by injection of oil and gas waste than documented cases of water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing, he reports. Companies will likely be drilling more injection wells to dispose of fracking waste water because of the natural gas boom. Several recent earthquakes in Arkansas and Ohio have been linked to fracking waste injection.

Seismologist Steve Horton told Soraghan "no one's actually providing any guidelines for how to avoid these problems," and environmentalists say the exemption is an example of why creating loopholes in environmental laws for oil and gas companies is wrong. An Independent Petroleum Association of America representative said "the small number of earthquakes linked to the thousands of oil and gas disposal wells do not show a systemic problem requiring an overhaul of federal rules." He added that closing the loophole in the law would increase costs for the industry.

States can adopt stronger injection laws. Ohio has done this in response to the injection-well earthquakes there, and other states are following suit. The Environmental Protection Agency started a team to develop recommendations for state regulators about man-made earthquakes, and the National Academy of Sciences is studying how several forms of energy production can trigger quakes. (Read more)

USDA secretary says agency is removing barriers for Hispanic farmers

The Center for Rural Affairs is trying to find out why the number of Hispanic farmers in Nebraska and Missouri is declining. It recently published two reports about Hispanic farmer demographics in the states and the barriers in agriculture Latino farmers face. Clay Masters of Harvest Public Media interviewed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the National Farmer's Union convention in Omaha earlier this month about what the Department of Agriculture is doing to help remove barriers for Latino farmers.

Vilsack said the agency is using a combination of several things to help remove barriers. It is taking advantage of it's "strike force" program which focuses on minority communities in which there has been historically high lack of access to USDA programs. He also said USDA is making information available in both Spanish and English, and is trying to increase diversity among employees. He added the agency is making a concerted effort to remove the barriers: "It might not be reflected in a study depending on the time frame of the study, but we are making progress. "We know we're making progress because our equal opportunity claims and our civil rights claims have gone down." (Read more)

Postal Service adopting idea of contract post offices to fill gaps in areas hit by closings

We reported in Janurary that the U.S. Postal Service was starting to contract with rural stores to restore some mail services in areas where stand-alone post offices are being forced to close as part of the agency's plan to pay down billions in debt. Ron Nixon of The New York Times reports the trend is accelerating. (NYT photo by Stephen McGee: Village post office at Nixon's Grocery, Brant, Mich.)

There are now 10 stores contracted to serve as "village post offices." Two more will open this week, and 26 others are under contract and waiting for equipment. The USPS says it's gotten requests from 600 other interested communities about setting up such offices. It has long allowed retailers to sell stamps, but at contract post offices customers can also mail letters and send packages.

The agency hasn't said how much it expects to save by using grocery stores, but has said that closing stand-alone branches will save $200 million annually. It also hopes to offer services in drugstores, retail chains and office supply stores. USPS officials say this will be a "win-win" for the agency and rural communities. (Read more)

In other postal closing news, Steve Hutkins of Save the Post Office reports that the USPS revealed total expected revenue losses from consolidating more than 200 mail processing centers during a Postal Regulatory Commission hearing this week. Market research commissioned by the USPS last summer shows the closures would cost the service $5.2 billion in revenue due to a 10.3 percent drop in first-class mail volume and a 7.7 percent drop in total volume. Hutkins says the agency initially said revenue loss would be far less: $1.3 billion. He speculates that when top USPS officials saw the $5 billion number, they commissioned a new study "apparently designed to elicit better, less damaging results."

Most child injuries and deaths on farms involve visiting children, not working ones

There's been much discussion lately about changing child farm labor laws to prevent injury and accidental death in children working on farms, and some of it has included political misinformation.

But as National Public Radio's Nancy Shute reports from a new study, 86 percent of deaths and 71 percent of injuries in children on farms were not work-related, and many of them were not "unique to farms." They include falls, ATV or other vehicle accidents, assault and suicide attempts, according to the study, published last week in the journal Pediatrics. (NPR photo)

About 84 children die each year in accidents on farms, and more than 26,000 are injured. The injuries are usually severe and the study found they cost about $1.4 billion a year. About one million children live on farms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lists accidents with tractors, motor vehicles and drowning as the top sources of child farm deaths. Shute writes the injury numbers are consistent with other estimates of risks to children, but the dollar figure attached to them is new.

Purdue University professor William Field says most accidents involving children happen when a child visits a farm. Children who grow up on farms learn the hazards early, he said. "A lot of these cases involve a grandfather taking a grandchild for a ride in the field," he told Shute. "Those are some of the most depressing, sad circumstances." (Read more) A good source for information on farm safety is the National Farm Medicine Center. 

More foreign-born doctors practice in rural areas, come from poor nations, study finds

More than 15 percent of physicians in the U.S. received training in lower-income countries, including India, Pakistan and the Philippines, a peer-reviewed study found, reports Lori Kersey of The Charleston Gazette. The study was a joint effort by the National Research Council and the Stanley Medical Research Institute, and was published online on PLoS ONE. Most doctors from low-income countries practice in low-income areas of the U.S., where most U.S.-trained doctors don't usually want to go. West Virginia has the most doctors trained in low-income countries, at 29 percent of all physicians in the state.

The authors of the study said low-income countries where most doctors immigrate to the U.S. lose more money training them than they receive in U.S. foreign aid. In 2010, the Philippines spent $1.7 billion training more than 20,000 doctors who then came to the U.S., but was only given $33 million in U.S. foreign aid. The authors suggest the U.S. should pay those countries back in some way. (Read more)

Book about Appalachian health reveals region and culture-specific issues for residents, researchers

Editors of a new book hope it will shed light on the health problems facing Appalachia while debunking myths about the culture. Robert Ludke and Phillip Obermiller, both of the University of Cincinnati, compiled work for Appalachian Health and Well-Being from researchers "who present data addressing health disparities affecting urban and rural Appalachians and offers possible solutions," the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Obermiller said most of the book's 40 contributors are from the region. The book will be officially debuted at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference this weekend in Indiana, Pa.

Ludke said the book is intended to be a resource to Appalachians or people studying public health. He said politicians and the general public need the information to better address Appalachians' health issues. The editors said they also wanted to draw attention to "urban Appalachians," or people of Appalachian heritage living in metropolitan areas. Ludke said the Appalachian population living in Cincinnati has assimilated less than in other metro areas. (Read more)

Appalachian coal taking it in neck from natural gas

The natural gas boom is threatening coal production in Appalachia as utilities are favoring the cheaper energy source, Sonja Elmquist of Bloomberg News reports. The amount of coal mined for electricity production will fall 5 percent this year to less than 900 million tons, the lowest in 16 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Appalachian coal companies have cut 21 million tons of production, and the industry will need to cut about 90 million more to "stem losses." Production from Appalachian companies Alpha Natural Resources and James River Coal have fallen 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Cris Ritchie of the Hazard Herald in Hazard, Ky., reported that Alpha recently cut hundreds of workers and closed four mines in the region.

Coal-mining costs in the region rose 9.2 percent to $60.28 a ton last year, while gas futures dropped 51 percent during the same period. Utilities are switching to gas and are only building new gas burning plants, Elmquist reports. Recent focus on coal-mine safety has perhaps added to the decline in production. Coal companies also face lower export prices, as domestic fuel inventories rise toward a 10-year high. (Read more)

Study finds health risks are greater for those living near natural-gas wells

Air pollution from hydraulic fracturing has been linked to health problems in those living near drilling sites, the Environmental News Network reports. The three-year Colorado School of Public Health study shows fracking raises levels of toxic gases, which include traces of cancer-causing elements. "Our data show that it is important to include air pollution in the national dialogue on natural-gas development that has focused largely on water exposures to hydraulic fracturing," said lead author Lisa McKenzie. The study will be published in the next issue of Science of the Total Environment.

Research was conducted with residents living about a half-mile from wells in Garfield County, Colorado (Wikipedia map), where there's been a rapid expansion of gas production. The county asked the School of Public Health to conduct the study for wells in the Battlement Mesa community. Researchers conclude in the report that health risks are greater for those living closest to wells, and suggests emissions be reduced.

The report found potentially toxic petroleum hydrocarbons and carcinogens in the air near wells, including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene. "Our results show that the non-cancer health impacts from air emissions due to natural gas development is greater for residents living closer to wells," the report said. "The greatest health impact corresponds to the relatively short-term, but high emission, well completion period." Exposure to trimethylbenzenes, aliaphatic hydrocarbons, and xylenes increases during that time, reports Click Green. Those elements can cause neurological and/or respiratory problems, including eye irritation, headaches, sore throat and difficulty breathing. (Read more)

High court says couple can seek court relief from EPA 'compliance order' to restore alleged wetland

The Sacketts posted signs about their case.
(Photo by Keith Kinnaird, The Associated Press)

"The Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled for an Idaho couple who have been in a four-year battle with the Environmental Protection Agency over the government’s claim that the land on which they plan to build a home contains sensitive wetlands," Robert Barnes reports for The Washington Post. "The decision allows Mike and Chantell Sackett to go to court to challenge the agency’s order."

When the couple filled in a site for a home, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered them to stop. "Months later, the agency sent the Sacketts a 'compliance order' that said the land must be restored as a wetlands before the couple could apply for a building permit," subject to fines of up to $75,000 a day, Barnes writes. "The question for the justices was whether the couple had the right at that point to appear before a judge and contest the agency’s contention that their land contained wetlands subject to the Clean Water Act." The court's answer was yes. (Read more)

UPDATE, March 30: The Sacketts, left, said they didn't know that they had a wetland, but records unearthed by the Natural Resources Defense Council too late to make the case record indicate that they "knew early on that their property probably was a wetland. An expert they hired said so in May 2007, just after EPA first visited the property but months before the agency issued the compliance order," Lawrence Hurley reports for Energy & Environment News. "Furthermore, on May 23, 2007, the Army Corps gave the Sacketts a permit application and asked them to complete it. Chantell Sackett's own notes also suggest she recognized the land was a wetland, even if she contested EPA's authority to regulate it." (Read more) (Photo by Hurley)

Support for alternative energy as a priority drops as support for increased fossil production goes up

Over the past year, fewer people think alternative energy sources should be developed, while support for oil and gas exploration has increased, a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll has found. In March 2011, 63 percent of U.S adults polled said the more important energy priority was developing alternatives, including wind, solar and hydrogen. This March, only 52 percent held that belief. Now, 39 percent of people polled said the more important priority is increased oil, coal and gas production. The Pew Center says the public's priorities have changed because of rising gas prices.

Even though more people think alternatives are still the higher priority, the gap between the two has decreased "considerably," the report states. Diane Cardwell of The New York Times notes that the partisan divide in the survey was "starker" than the divide over energy sources: 89 percent of Republicans favored more offshore drilling, but only 50 percent of Democrats support it. She writes the survey also found that people polled have a limited understanding of hydraulic fracturing, which has led to a boom in natural-gas production and environmental concerns. (Read more)

EPA says water in Dimock, Pa., is safe to drink, but fracking contamination worse than reported

The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that tests showed water believed to be contaminated by hydraulic fracturing in Dimock, Pa., is safe to drink, perhaps "vindicating the energy industry’s insistence that drilling had not caused pollution in the area," reports Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica. EPA did not reveal, though, that water samples from the area "contained dangerous quantities of methane gas," and other contaminants, a finding that confirms the agency's initial concerns and complaints from Dimock residents about contamination, Lustgarten reports.

The EPA finding suggests the substances detected don't violate specific drinking-water guidelines, but standards for some of the contaminants don't exist, and experts say the agency should have said it found them. "Any suggestion that water from these wells is safe for domestic use would be preliminary or inappropriate,” said Ron Bishop, a chemist at the State University of New York-Oneonta. Lustgarten reports Dimock residents are trying to "reconcile" EPA findings with private water testing results. Meanwhile, EPA press secretary Betsaida Alcantara said the agency was trying to be "forthcoming" by giving residents the results. (Read more)

Critic gives most states poor grades for ethics, says 'small town' approach in some thwarts integrity

"State officials make lofty promises when it comes to ethics in government. They tout the transparency of legislative processes, accessibility of records, and the openness of public meetings. But these efforts often fall short of providing any real transparency or legitimate hope of rooting out corruption," reports Caitlin Ginley of State Integrity Investigation. The organization conducted a "first-of-its-kind" data-driven investigation into transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states and found that not a single state received an "A" grade. Only five got a "B" grade, and eight got failing grades: Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Maine, Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota and Georgia.

Ginley found that across the board, state laws on ethics, open records and official disclosure lack teeth. Ginley cites "Open records laws with hundreds of exemptions. Crucial budgeting decisions made behind closed doors by a handful of power brokers. 'Citizen' lawmakers voting on bills that would benefit them directly. Scores of legislators turning into lobbyists seemingly overnight. Disclosure laws without much disclosure. Ethics panels that haven’t met in years."

Many of the states at the bottom of the list are "sparsely populated Western or Plains states" where Ginley writes that "a small-town, neighborly approach to government and the honest belief that 'everybody knows everybody' has overridden any perceived need for strong protections in law." (Read more) To see how your state measures up, click here for an interactive map which shows each state's integrity report card.

EPA quietly plans to manage injection-well quakes

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing recommendations for managing small earthquakes triggered by oil and natural-gas waste-injection wells, Mike Soraghan reports for EnergyWire. The agency hasn't publicized its efforts, but has discussed them with state officials, researchers and interest groups. Scientists have known for decades that injection wells can cause minor earthquakes, but a series of quakes last year in Arkansas and Ohio raised public concern. The natural gas boom has also increased the need for new injection wells. (EPA map: Region 6 injection-site earthquakes over time periods; click on image for larger version)

An EPA team, formally the Underground Injection Control National Technical Workgroup, is preparing the report, and an Ohio agency said it was "in press" last week. EPA officials at the Region 6 office in Dallas, which is handling the issue, declined to comment beyond saying, "EPA is working with states to develop recommendations and best practices to assess impacts to underground storage caused by seismic activity to assist state and EPA UIC programs."

EPA records show there are about 150,000 "Class II" injection wells across the country, Soraghan reports. There are about 500,000 other types of injection wells where nonhazardous waste is stored. "The Safe Drinking Water Act empowers EPA to regulate underground injection. But EPA often hands day-to-day regulation of it to states, including Arkansas and Ohio," Soraghan reports. The earthquake study began quietly in June, and Soraghan reports "The plan was to partner with state regulators and scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, and solicit peer review at the end, according to the presentation slides. The presentation also noted that EPA's national study of hydraulic fracturing excludes examination of earthquakes." (Read more)