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Michigan landowners’ long-shot lawsuit has high stakes for wind industry
Midwest Energy News | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Energy NewsAn unlikely legal win by neighbors of a Michigan wind farm would have the potential to chill wind energy development in the state, legal experts say. A group of landowners filed suit in state court in August alleging a wind project near Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula is causing adverse health effects.
Low gas prices set to drive decline in coal generation
Utility Dive | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Energy NewsU.S. natural gas production is expected to reach the highest year-over-year increase in 2018, according to the Energy Information Administration’s new Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO).
New England congressional delegations submit bill to ban offshore drilling
Maine Press Herald | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Federal NewsA bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives from New England has introduced a bill to prohibit oil and gas drilling off the New England coast. The New England Coastline Protection Act would prohibit oil and gas extraction activities off New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.It’s a response to the Trump administration’s planto open nearly all U.S. coastlines to offshore oil and gas drilling.
New Approach to Curb Chronic Wasting Disease
Public News Service | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Agriculture, Rural NewsMontana is wrestling with the best way to manage Chronic Wasting Disease among deer, elk and moose. One wildlife specialist maintains preserving predators is the answer. Under its current plan, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has set up survey hunts of deer to determine where hotbeds of CWD are located. The state's second survey hunt in north central Montana began last weekend, and lasts through Feb. 15.
Sustainability on Michigan farms
Michigan State University | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsIn this six part series, we are discovering what sustainability on Michigan farms means, looking at examples of how farms are demonstrating that sustainability and how exploring how MSU Extension is working with producers to become even more sustainable. This sixth article’s sustainability topic addresses the “enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole” portion. If there is anything that is as hard to get an agreement upon as the definition of sustainability, it would be the definition of quality of life.
Prairie dog endangered-species plan eases rules under Trump
The Salt Lake Tribune | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Federal, Rural NewsWildlife managers under the Trump administration are moving to loosen endangered-species protections for Utah prairie dogs, flipping the script in a long-running conflict over federal policies in a town where residents say they’re overrun by the creatures.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan would allow prairie dogs to be killed or removed from private property more often, relaxing regulations designed to protect the species.
US Supreme Court Won't Hear Prairie Dog Protections Lawsuit
US News and World Report | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Federal, Rural NewsThe U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from Utah property owners challenging endangered-species protections for prairie dogs, but the plaintiffs say the case has nevertheless made a mark as the Trump administration moves to loosen the rules.The lawsuit was a key driver of the new federal plan that would make it easier to remove or kill prairie dogs when they interfere with development of homes and business, lawyers for the residents of the southwestern city of Cedar City said Monday.
Nearly all members of National Park Service advisory panel resign in frustration
The Washington Post | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Federal, Rural NewsMore than three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service have quit out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. The resignation of 10 out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration.
New Hampshire House gives initial OK to marijuana bill
US News and World Report | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsNew Hampshire state lawmakers took a step toward legalizing the recreational use of marijuana on Tuesday even though a commission studying the issue is months away from finishing its work.The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce (28 grams) of marijuana and to cultivate it in limited quantities. Provisions that would have created a regulatory system for selling and taxing the drug were dropped from the bill, which advanced to the House Ways and Means Committee on a vote of 207-139.
America's Rural Hospitals Are Dangerously Fragile
The Atlantic | Posted onJanuary 17, 2018 in Rural NewsThis is the story of a small-town, publicly-owned hospital that, after thriving for decades, is struggling and now in all likelihood about to be appended to a large regional health-care system. The tale of Berger Municipal Hospital is, like that of many sectors of the American economy, one defined by industrial consolidation and the costs that come with it. Last November, however, Circleville’s voters chose another direction, one that, in other places, has resulted in an economic hit to the community—mostly in the form of job losses and stagnant wages—as well as a lowered quality of care.