The Trump administration’s plan to roll back federal car standards promises to be a major fight with California and other liberal states. But it’s also opposed by at least one state that voted for President Trump. Arizona wants to maintain the aggressive standards established under former President Obama to avoid future regulations on air pollution, said Timothy Franquist, air quality director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). [node:read-more:link]

The number of coal jobs edged down in Kentucky between April and the end of June, illustrating the continued struggles of the industry despite President Donal Trump’s campaign promise to “put our miners back to work.” Statewide, the number of coal jobs averaged 6,238, according to a report published this week by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. That was down 0.9 percent from the first three months of the year, but it was 4.8 percent less than the same period in 2017, the report said. [node:read-more:link]

National independent rancher group Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) today moved to expand their legal campaign to end the unconstitutional administration of the Beef Checkoff program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The current injunction against collection of checkoff funds, upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in April, only applies to collection of checkoff funds in Montana. [node:read-more:link]

No one enjoys being called a murderer or likes being shown images of goats being beaten to produce milk, but PETA has never had a problem with those approaches in delineating their message, and has a reputation for such shocking campaign tactics. [node:read-more:link]

Is the death of 188 lab rats justifiable if it spares the lives of millions of cows?That’s the question animating a heated war of words between two organizations that share a core value: saving the lives of animals.On one side is Impossible Foods, the Silicon Valley company behind the Impossible Burger and other meatless products that actually taste like meat. [node:read-more:link]

In order to kick off a national effort to raise prices and prevent another four-year downturn, the Northeast dairy cooperative Agri-Mark invited stakeholders from across the country to a summit at the Gov. Nelson A. [node:read-more:link]

“In Vermont alone we’ve lost 66 this year. So we’re talking 8-10 percent of Vermont farmers have gone out of business this year,” he said. “Something has to change. We can’t continue to keep the current system in place if we’re going to retain farmers.” If crisis creates opportunity, then the meeting Monday might be the best chance in years to gain support for some sort of a system to manage the milk supply, Tebbetts said.The market now is awash in too much milk. And for economic reasons, farmers often add more cows so they can sell more milk just to keep afloat as prices fall. [node:read-more:link]

A new Senate Bill is trying to make water and milk the default options for children's meals.
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One area that needs greater clarity – and which has been the subject of much discussion of late – is the wide variety of plant-based foods that are being positioned in the marketplace as substitutes for standardized dairy products. Many of these plant-based foods use traditional dairy terms (e.g., milk, yogurt, cheese) in the name of the product. [node:read-more:link]

In a move hailed by environmentalists and nearby landowners, New Mexico’s top water-rights official has dismissed as speculative a company’s application to tap billions of gallons of groundwater from a closed basin deep beneath the Plains of San Agustin in western New Mexico.The denial is the latest twist in the 11-year quest by Augustin Plains Ranch LLC to siphon off 54,000 acre-feet, or 17.6 billion gallons, of water annually and pipe it to as-yet-undetermined communities in Central and Northern New Mexico.Douglas Meiklejohn, executive director of the Santa Fe-based New Mexico Environment [node:read-more:link]