Denton, Texas residents stage protests to fight fracking; at least seven arrested in demonstrations

Despite a decision by Texas state lawmakers to restrict local fracking regulations, residents of Denton—which voted in November 2014 to ban the practice—are still fighting to keep fracking out of their town. Protests have been going on all week, and at least seven people have been arrested during demonstrations at a Vantage Energy fracking site that resumed operations. (Don't Frack With Denton photo by David Goodman: University of North Texas professor Adam Briggle was arrested this week for criminal trespass after he refused to move from blocking the entrance to a Vantage Energy gas well site in Denton)

Residents also flooded Tuesday's Denton City Council meeting to urge local politicians "to postpone repealing the city’s ban on hydraulic fracturing, saying the action was too drastic," Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe reports for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Pauline Raffestin, one of many volunteers who campaigned for the ban, told the council, “Please don’t rush to overturn a democratic vote in the name of a legal strategy."

One of those arrested this week was University of North Texas environmental philosophy professor Adam Briggle. Briggle and two other protestors sat in front of the Vantage site, blocking entrance, and were charged with criminal trespass, Candice Bernd reports for Truthout. Briggle told Bernd, "Maybe it's not even civil disobedience. But I also realize though, that it's something that has to be taken very seriously . . . Something has to rise to a certain level to warrant an act of defiance, and I feel like there's a lot of ingredients that go into that, but one of them is: Have you exhausted all other pathways by which to change things and accomplish justice?"

Despite previous reports, global warming is not slowing down, NOAA researchers say

Global warming trends have been higher during the 21st Century than previously reported, says a study by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information. The study, published this week in the journal Science, found "that the rate of global warming during the last 15 years has been as fast as or faster than that seen during the latter half of the 20th Century," reports NOAA.

"The study refutes the notion that there has been a slowdown or 'hiatus' in the rate of global warming in recent years," reports NOAA. "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, released in stages between September 2013 and November 2014, concluded that the upward global surface temperature trend from 1998­­-2012 was markedly lower than the trend from 1951-2012."

Improvements in studying sea surface temperature and land surface air temperature datasets, along with the fact that 2014 was the hottest year on record, contradicts the IPCC data, reports NOAA. New analyses "demonstrate that incomplete spatial coverage also led to underestimates of the true global temperature change previously reported in the 2013 IPCC report. The integration of dozens of data sets has improved spatial coverage over many areas, including the Arctic, where temperatures have been rapidly increasing in recent decades." (Read more) (NOAA graphic)

Livability ranks its Top 100 Best Small Towns in America; Lebanon, N.H., is at the top of the list

Lebanon, N.H., (right) is the best small town in America, according to Livability's inaugural list of the Top 100 Best Small Towns for towns with populations between 1,000 to 20,000. Towns were ranked based on eight categories: economy; health care; housing; social and civic capital; education; amenities; demographics and infrastructure.

Towns were judged by access to schools, hospitals, culture, recreation, transportation, arts, overall crime rate, climate and environment. Also considered were affordability, choices that make the town liveable for people of all ages and interests and whether or not residents utilized all the opportunities available.

Rounding out the top 10 are: Los Alamos, N.M.; Durango, Colo.; St. Augustine, Fla.; Bar Harbor, Maine; Louisville, Colo.; Hood River, Ore.; Spearfish, S.D.; Sebastopol, Calif.; and Port Angeles, Wash. To see the entire list, click here.

Meth-related arrests, seizures have increased 50% in rural South Dakota in last 10 years

Meth-related arrests in South Dakota are up 50 percent in the last decade, and the amount of meth seized in rural counties has also doubled in the past 10 years, Mark Walker reports for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls. Last year the state's rural counties had 350 meth-related arrests, with eight counties recording meth arrests for the first time.

Some rural law enforcement departments not used to seeing meth are ill-equipped to fight it, Walker writes. Buffalo County sheriff Wayne Willman, who told Walker that "meth is continuing to be a greater and greater problem" in his county, "said his department doesn't have specific drug officers and the county doesn't have the resources needed for rehabbing users and sellers."

State lawmakers did pass legislation in 2014 to use the National Precursor Law Exchange, "an electronic version of the record keeping that already was required to aid real-time tracking of pseudoephedrine products," Walker writes. (Meth statistics in all of South Dakota)

White House, conservationists, gardeners launch initiative to plant 1 million pollinator gardens

First Lady Michelle Obama announced on Wednesday that the White House has joined forces with conservationists and gardening organizations to launch the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, Juliet Eilperin reports for The Washington Post. "The initiative, which features more than a million seed kits donated by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., aims to expand the amount of habitat available for species that pollinate fruit and vegetable crops nationwide."

As part of the challenge, dozens of conservationist and gardening organizations announced the formation of the National Pollinator Garden Network, created "to provide resources for individuals, community groups, government agencies and the garden industry to create more pollinator habitat through sustainable gardening practices and conservation efforts," reports Agri-Pulse. The organization is challenging the nation to plant one million pollinator gardens by the end of 2016.

Pot farmer gets life for killing migrant worker who was unhappy with lack of pay, working conditions

A northern California marijuana farmer this week was sentenced to life in prison with an additional 35 years for murdering a Guatemalan migrant worker and attempting to kill another one because the workers threatened to quit over poor working conditions, Will Houston reports for the Eureka Times-Standard. Mikal Wilde was found guilty of premeditated first-degree murder for shooting one worker three times then tracking him down to kill him with a fourth shot. Another worker, who survived, was shot twice. The third worker escaped unharmed. (U.S. Beacon map: The murder was in Kneeland, Calif.)

Federal prosecutors said Wilde, who since 2010 has run an 800-acre, 1,500-plant operation, didn't pay his workers because he held a “belief that [the immigrant workers] were expendable, not in a position to complain," Tim Devaney reports for The Hill. Prosecutors said “The defendant preyed on their status and viewed them as free labor that could not stand up to him.” (Read more)

North Carolina lawmakers override governor's veto of ag-gag bill that punishes undercover workers

North Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday voted to override Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's veto of an ag-gag bill that targets undercover investigations of farms and workplace conditions, Colin Campbell reports for the Charlotte Observer. "The bill will create a recourse in civil court for business owners to sue employees who use their positions to secretly take photographs or shoot video in their workplace. It could also be used to sue workers who steal data, documents or merchandise; it’s aimed at small-time thieves and corporate spies."

The House voted to override the bill by a 79 to 36 count and the Senate by a 32 to 15 count, Campbell writes. Both branches are Republican-controlled. Under the bill, which goes into effect next week, employers could sue for punitive damages of $5,000 a day in addition to compensation for actual damages.

The bill's sponsor Rep. John Szoka (R-Fayetteville) said McCrory’s concerns are unfounded, Campbell writes. Szoka told Campbell. “I don’t want to discourage any good employees of any industry from reporting illegal activities to the proper authorities. I think we can all agree the proper authorities are law enforcement and state and federal regulatory agencies—and not the media and not private special interest organizations.” (Read more)

Fracking poses risk to drinking water; no evidence of widespread damage, but industry shields data

While horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations have the potential to harm drinking water, no evidence exists showing that the practice causes widespread damage to drinking water supplies, says a study by the Environmental Protection Agency. The study "linked fracking to a few cases of water pollution but said the problems appeared so far to be isolated," Joby Warrick reports for The Washington Post. "It cautioned that a number of fracking-related activities carry a future risk of polluting wells and aquifers used for drinking and farming."

EPA reported that the number of documented cases is small compared to the number of fracking operations, but EPA said the oil and gas industry refused to provide researchers with key data that prevented "experts from reaching firm conclusions about whether contaminants in an individual well came from fracking or another source." The report did say that fracking operations “have the potential” to affect drinking water. "Opponents and supporters of fracking instantly seized on portions of the report that supported their view," Warrick writes.

The report "provides information about potential vulnerabilities, some of which are not unique to hydraulic fracturing, to drinking water resources but was not designed to be a list of documented impacts," Daniel Enoch reports for Agri-Pulse. Vulnerabilities are: water withdrawals in areas with low water availability; hydraulic fracturing conducted directly into formations containing drinking water resources; inadequately cased or cemented wells resulting in below ground migration of gases and liquids; inadequately treated wastewater discharged into drinking water resources; and spills of hydraulic fluids and hydraulic fracturing wastewater, including flowback and produced water.

Disability benefits restored, pending new hearings, for 900 who used lawyer implicated in fraud

Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin lifted payment suspensions for 900 disability benefit recipients in Eastern Kentucky and adjoining areas until they get a hearing before an administrative law judge, Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, the region's congressman and chair of the House Appropriations Commitee, announced today.

"We are all determined to bring fraud to a rapid conclusion, and if it exists, it needs to be handled appropriately," Rogers said in a press release. "But this is the American way; you are innocent until you are proven guilty. Now our people will be able to pay bills and purchase the everyday items they need while they await the hearing they deserve."

The suspensions resulted from a federal fraud investigation of a Floyd County attorney, some area physicians and a Social Security administrative law judge who retired under fire a few years ago. The agency notified 900 people that their disability benefits had been suspended, and 600 other people were told their Supplemental Security Income would continue only until their eligibility could be examined again. Now the 10-day window to provide medical records has been extended to 30 days, Colvin said.

"Suspending benefits could have left hundreds of people in Eastern Kentucky with little or no income for a year or more," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "That had caused fears about people not being able to afford food or medicine or losing their homes. The loss of benefits might even have played a role in at three suicides." Rogers told Estep that in his meeting with Colvin, "I was rather blunt that this is a matter of life and death."

The area may be the nation's most dependent on disability payments, as indicated by this map. Click on it for a larger version.

Despite opposition to EPA's CO2 limits, most states are making plans to comply with rules

Despite strong opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules to cut carbon-dioxide emissions from existing power plants 30 percent by 2030, EPA says most states are making plans to comply with the rules and expects 49 states to submit plans once the rules are finalized, Naveena Sadasivam reports for InsideClimate News as part of the series Coal's Long Goodbye.

Twelve states have sued EPA, "claiming the rule is unlawful and amounts to a federal power grab," Sadasivam writes. "And at least half a dozen other states have set up legislative hurdles for the environmental agencies in charge of putting together a compliance plan. Yet, the vast majority of state agencies charged with drafting a compliance plan have sidestepped these political fights and begun work on plans that might meet the EPA’s carbon reduction targets."

Ken Colburn, a senior associate at The Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit providing technical assistance on energy and the environment, told Sadasivam, "Even the reddest states have recognized that while the political leadership may want to go ahead with challenging the rule, if those challenges don't prevail, the governors will come back and say, 'We lost, now what are we going to do?' It would be irresponsible for the agencies to not have a Plan B developed." (InsideClimate News graphic)

The Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group, "found that 31 states are well on their way to meet the EPA's interim targets," Sadasivam writes. One of the hurdles for coal states is that they have little experience cutting emissions, but getting educated is not hard, Sadasivam writes. "A host of national organizations, consulting firms and regional utility and environmental associations have been holding talks and workshops to evaluate models, discuss options and engage with groups affected by the energy transition."

"Last month the National Association of Clean Air Agencies released an encyclopedia of options that states could pursue to meet their targets," Sadasivam writes. "The report explores 25 approaches to reduce carbon emissions and discusses their regulatory impact, reduction in carbon levels and costs . . . The National Governors Association has also launched an initiative to help states study ways to comply with the carbon regulations." (Read more)

Unlikely partnerships forming in Ohio and Michigan to combat harmful algae in Great Lakes

The fight to rid the Great Lakes of phosphorus runoff blamed for harmful algae growth has created a partnership between "Ohio and Michigan farmers—the parties who’ve shouldered the blame for the algae blooms—to control the source of the contamination and prevent another water crisis from happening this summer," reports Agri-Pulse. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photo: Harmful algae on the shore of Catawaba Island, Ohio)

Last August toxic algae took the blame for Toledo losing its drinking water for two days. In response, Ohio officials passed a measure requiring farmers to get fertilizer licenses, but some fear the law has a loophole that benefits large manure users. The Great Lakes Commission said in September 2014 that it wants to reduce phosphorus flowing into Lake Erie by 40 percent.

Jay Martin, a faculty member at Ohio State Univeristy, "told a 'Toledo Water Crisis' forum audience last week that farmers, universities and city officials were working together to minimize the nutrient load responsible for feeding the toxic algae from reaching Lake Erie," Agri-Pulse reports.

"These public private collaborations might seem unusual because of the tendency among some stakeholders to assign blame for the conditions," Agri-Pulse says. "But Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau, says farmers have long accepted part of the responsibility. He said it's no longer time to point fingers but to "figure out what needs to be done and work together."

Terry McClure, vice chair of the Ohio Soybean Council board, said farmers in Ohio "have 'started with the basics,' employing conservation practices like buffer strips and nutrient management plans, and are doing their part to understand exactly how much nutrient is escaping their fields by participating in university-led field edge studies."

McClure also told Agri-Pulse, “We have 32 sites across the state of Ohio that are doing true field edge testing, surface and sub-surface water concurrently, to understand 24/7/365 exactly what’s leaving that farm. From an ag perspective, it’s an all-hands-on-deck issue. So once you recognize you’re a part of the problem—and we can argue if we’re 30, 40, 50 percent [of the problem]—[but even] if you’re 30 percent of the problem, you need to be a part of the solution."

A second unlikely couple in southeast Michigan—"an agribusiness group and The Nature Conservancy—have teamed up to prevent farm-sourced nutrient and sediment pollution from ending up in Lake Huron, another of the Great Lakes," Agri-Pulse reports. They "enlsted the help of Michigan State University, which runs the Institute for Water Research that developed the Great Lakes Watershed Management System."

Conservation ambassadors will use the system to identify the fields that are particularly vulnerable to sediment and nutrient runoff based on the individual parcel’s soil composition, slope, crop rotation and other management practices," Agri-Pulse reports. "The tool also allows the user to model how the ecological benefit of different types of conservation practices—for instance cover crops, no-till or reduced till and buffer strips—will have on a specific plot of land, across a farm or even on a landscape-scale." Agri-Pulse is subscription-only but offers a four-week free trial.

Health passes manufacturing as biggest employer in largest share of counties; local data on map

Manufacturing, long a staple of many rural areas, is no longer the nation's major private employer by category, Tim Henderson reports for Stateline. Manufacturing employed the most people in about 30 percent of counties in 2008, but employed the most in only 25 percent in 2013.

At the same time, health care becoame the biggest employer in almost 33 percent of counties. One argument for expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in states with income taxes is that the expansion can pay for itself by expanding health-care employment. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear cites a study showing that is happening in his state.

"In every state but Hawaii, the health-care category, which includes 'social assistance' jobs such as day care and food bank workers, became the No. 1 source of employment in at least one county," Henderson writes. Stateline's story has an interactive map: here's a screen grab with data for a large Kentucky county. For your own version, click here)

Mineworkers union president urges members to lobby against natural gas plants, emission rules

Cecil Roberts

United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts told several hundred members on Wednesday in Morgantown, W.Va., "to lobby against new natural-gas power plants and rally around other political battles as the union reels from the loss of coal-mining jobs in Appalachia and threats to benefits plans for thousands of retirees," Kris Maher reports for The Wall Street Journal.

Roberts told the miners, “Our members are being laid off in numbers we haven’t seen in decades . . . If these gas-powered plants get built in West Virginia, don’t expect to have a coal-mining job in West Virginia. We’re cutting each other’s throats.”

Roberts "urged members to get more politically active to back federal legislation from coal-state lawmakers to delay the implementation of emission rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and to shore up a union plan that pays out about $600 million a year in health benefits to 97,000 retirees and dependents," Maher writes.

"The union says more than 15,000 coal miners have lost their jobs in Appalachia since 2011, including what Roberts said was up to 2,000 UMWA members in the past several years alone," Maher writes. "Thousands of other jobs at companies that supply mines with fuel and supplies have also been laid off."

Roberts also said that if the bankruptcy judge handling the Patriot Coal case allows the labor contract with UMWA to be terminated, the union would strike, Maher writes. Roberts told miners, “If the judge says our contracts are terminated, we’re going to shut that company down."

Working mothers make less than working fathers in every state, women lawyers' study says

While working women make 78 cents for every dollar men earn, mothers who work full-time make only 70 cents per dollar earned by fathers who work full-time, says a study by the National Women's Law Center. The gap is even bigger in some states with large rural popuations, led by Louisiana, where working mothers make 58.2 cents for every dollar working men make.

Other such states where the gap is bigger than 30 cents per every dollar are Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Idaho, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The smallest gap is in California, where working mothers make 76.4 cents for every dollar working fathers make. Arkansas is second at 74.6, followed by Oregon and Florida, at 74.5.

The largest overall wage gap was in New Jersey, where working fathers make $25,000 more annually than mothers, Danielle Paquette reports for The Washington Post. In six other states fathers made more than $20,000 a year more than women: Alaska ($21,000), Utah ($21,000), Wyoming ($22,000), Massachusetts ($23,000), Louisiana ($23,000), Connecticut ($25,000). (National Women's Law Center map: For an interactive version click here)

Researchers wrote: “Stereotypes about mothers and fathers contribute to this disparity. Mothers are recommended for significantly lower starting salaries, perceived as less competent and are less likely to be recommended for hire than non-mothers.”

"The psychological impact of receiving less pay for equal work can be devastating," Paquette writes.  "Expectant mothers, anticipating judgement amid an otherwise joyful time, sometimes hide their bellies for as long as possible—or plunge into overdrive at work to combat the stereotype, often at the expense of their health."

Four African Americans in rural Miss. charged with disturbing the peace for celebrating at graduation

Four African Americans in rural northwest Mississippi were asked to leave a high school graduation and have been charged with disturbing the peace for celebrating a family member's graduation from Senatobia Junior/Senior High School, Michael Quander reports for WREG-TV in Memphis. (City-Data map: Senatobia, Miss.)

Senatobia Municipal School District Supt. Jay Foster told audience members before the graduation to hold applause and cheers until the end of the ceremony or they would be asked to leave, Quander reports. When Lanarcia Walker received her diploma, her mother Linda said she yelled, "You did it, baby," and her aunt said she called out her name. They were two of four family members immediately asked to leave.

But it didn't end there. Foster filed the disturbing-the-peace charges and officers issued arrest warrants with a possible $500 bond. Henry Walker, one of the four people charged, told Quander, “It’s crazy. The fact that I might have to bond out of jail, pay court costs, or a $500 fine for expressing my love—it’s ridiculous, man. It’s ridiculous.” Foster called the charges far from ridiculous, saying he's determined to have order at graduation ceremonies. (Read more)

Most Americans could be fed by food grown and raised within 50 miles, study says

Most areas of the U.S. could feed between 80 to 100 percent of the local population with food grown or raised within 50 miles, says a study by the University of California, Merced, Ana Ibarra reports for the Merced Sun-Star. The study was published Monday in the science journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Researchers, who looked at farms near every major population center in the U.S. from 1850 to 2000, compared the potential calorie production to the city’s population to determine the percentage of regional population that could be fed, Ibarra writes. Researchers, who said they expect data from 2000 to 2015 to yield similar results, said that large agricultural areas such as Merced, Fresno and Sacramento have the farmland to feed 100 percent of their population, while a metro area like New York City could feed 5 percent of the population within 50 miles and 30 percent within 100 miles. (UC Merced graphic)

Researchers said the study’s findings "allow for longtime development of land preservation so that food production stays intact," Ibarra writes. "Policies and careful planning are needed to protect farmland suburbanization and to encourage local farming."

Diet can make a difference in the results, researchers said, Ibarra writes. "For example, local food around San Diego can support 35 percent of the people based on the U.S. diet. This jumps to 51 percent of the population if people switched to plant-based diets, the study showed." (Read more)

Europe's fight against climate change damaging U.S. forests, endangering local wildlife

A growing European demand for fuel made from American trees has created jobs aplenty in the Southeast but could also "lead to more carbon pollution for decades to come, while also putting some of the East Coast’s most productive wildlife habitats at risk," Joby Warrick reports for The Washington Post. (Warrick photo: The remains of a site in northeastern North Carolina where trees were chopped down to be used for fuel)

Soaring demand for fuel made from oak and poplar trees "has led to the construction of more than two dozen pellet factories in the Southeast in the past decade, along with special port facilities in Virginia and Georgia where mountains of pellets are loaded onto Europe-bound freighters," Warrick writes. "European officials promote the trade as part of the fight against climate change. Burning 'biomass' from trees instead of coal, they say, means fewer greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

"But that claim is increasingly coming under challenge," Warrick writes. "A number of independent experts and scientific studies—including a new analysis released Tuesday—are casting doubt on a key argument used to justify the cutting of Southern forests to make fuel." A study last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that the practice “can increase carbon emissions relative to fossil fuels for many decades—anywhere from 35 to 100 years.”

William H. Schlesinger, the former dean of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and one of nearly 100 scientists to sign a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency last year asking for stricter guidelines on using biomass to generate electric power, told Warrick, “From the point of view of what’s coming out of the smokestack, wood is worse than coal. You release a lot of carbon in a short period of time, and it takes decades to pull that carbon back out of the atmosphere.”

The pellet makers and their supporters "dismiss the criticisms, saying their industry will help lower greenhouse gas emissions over time, in part by giving landowners an incentive to plant still more trees," Warrick writes. Gretchen Schaefer, spokeswoman for the National Alliance of Forest Owners, a trade group, told him, “Healthy markets have contributed to a 50 percent increase in volume of trees since the 1950s, which help offset 15 percent of U.S. carbon emissions annually."

Exports of wood pellets doubled between 2012 and 2014, from 2 million tons to 4.4 million, "and climate policies are expected to drive even higher increases over the next decade, Warrick writes. "After surpassing Canada in 2012, the U.S. 'continues to be the largest wood pellet exporter in the world,' an April report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration stated." (Read more)

Hemp History Week continues through Sunday

It's Hemp History Week. The 6th annual weekly celebration of hemp began on Monday and runs through Sunday. The website, Hemp History Week, says the event was created to celebrate the nation's history of hemp, advocate for federal policy change and show consumers the nutritional and environmental benefits of hemp.

In 2014 the nation's first legal hemp crops since 1970 were planted at the University and Kentucky and Western Kentucky University.

"Last year saw a great deal of progress for the industry after pro-hemp provisions were included in the 2014 farm bill, Eric Steenstra, president of the advocacy group Vote Hemp, said at a briefing on Capitol Hill last week," reports Agri-Pulse. "Steenstra said sales for food and beauty products, which have the most reliable sales information, jumped about 21 percent in 2014 to nearly $200." The Hemp Industries Association "estimates all hemp-related products saw sales of over $600 million."

"Since hemp contains trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the hallucinogen found in marijuana—it is still classified as an illegal drug under the Controlled Substances Act," Agri-Pulse writes. "That classification makes it difficult to get seeds for the crop even in the 20 states with some form of industrial hemp legalization."

"Gregg Baumbaugh, CEO of FlexForm, an Indiana-based company that uses hemp and other lightweight fibers to make car interiors, said at the briefing that further legalization efforts stateside would make it easier for his company to keep supplied with hemp fibers, which would speed up production and allow his company and many others that use hemp domestically to expand. Baumbaugh said, "The number is mind-boggling to think how much the growth potential could be." Agri-Pulse is subscription-only, but offers a four-week free trial.

Three $20,000 grants available for projects that address childhood agricultural disease and injury

The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety is accepting proposals for $20,000 grants to support small-scale projects and pilot studies that address prevention of childhood agricultural disease and injury," says a news release. Three grants will be awarded to individuals affiliated with community-based organizations, public or private institutions, units of local or state government or tribal government.

Priority will be given to grants that: "Address issues pertaining to barriers, motivators and interventions for keeping young children out of the farm worksite; address vulnerable populations; and test safety strategies with new partners. The application deadline is Aug. 17. (Read more)

American Electric Power closes 10 coal-fired power plants in five states; cites EPA rules for closings

American Electric Power on Monday announced it has closed 10 coal-fired power plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia, citing proposed rules to cut CO2 emissions for the closings. Before the end of 2016, AEP also plans to turn off two more plants, in Oklahoma and Texas, Casey Junkins reports for The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register. The company said it would spend as much as $3.3 billion through 2020 to comply with the new rules. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph photo: The plant in Glen Lyn, Va. was closed)

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has ordered Appalachian Power to turn over more information regarding the closure of the state's three coal-fired power plants, including the potential costs of converting the plants to natural gas or other alternative fuels," Jared Hunt reports for the Charleston Daily Mail. "The commission has also ordered the company to avoid doing anything that would prevent the plants from reopening in the future during its inquiry."

Appalachian Power spokesperson Jeri Matheney said that of the 690 employees that worked at the West Virginia plants in 2011, 305 now have jobs at other American Electric Power locations, Hunt writes. "She said 135 workers left the company between 2011 and 2015 while 250 have or are in the process of taking severance packages from the company."