There have been recent discussions about a cheese factory in Centre County.Some say that such a factory could be a positive factor to help dairy farms in the area, but farmers in Centre County say it may be too little, too late. Harry Wasson, who has been a dairy farmer for 50 years, said 2018 may be his toughest year yet in terms of profitability. “There’s not much left after the milk check so we have to dip into savings to pay expenses,” said Wasson. Doug Wasson said they are probably being paid less than a dollar for each gallon of milk they produce. [node:read-more:link]

Dairy farmers are caught in a vortex that includes low milk prices, uncertainty about export markets and President Donald Trump’s tariffs, among other factors, that have created “pretty near crisis time,” says U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.The Wisconsin Democrat made that assessment during a press conference Monday after she toured Organic Valley’s Cashton distribution center and spoke with officials, members and employees of the cooperative. [node:read-more:link]

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Maryland has launched a pilot program that will allow anyone to power their home with solar panels — even if they are renters, condo-dwellers or live in the shade of trees. Solar developers are looking for hundreds of residents to subscribe to six power projects planned across the state, including recently announced sites in Owings Mills and Westminster. [node:read-more:link]

Wind and solar farms are glutting networks more frequently, prompting a market signal for coal plants to shut off.  With wind and solar farms sprouting up in more areas -- and their power getting priority to feed into the grid in many places -- the amount of electricity being generated is outstripping demand during certain hours of the day.The result: power prices are slipping to zero or even below more often in more jurisdictions. That’s adding to headaches for generators from NRG Energy Inc. in California to RWE AG in Germany and Origin Energy Ltd. in Australia. [node:read-more:link]

The Oregon Supreme Court approved the use of a privilege tax to fund the state's Clean Vehicle Rebate Program on Sunday, after AAA Oregon/Idaho and Trucking Associations Inc. challenged the tax in November 2017, saying it violated Oregon's Constitution. The program is integral to Democratic Gov. Katie Brown's 2017 initiative to address greenhouse gases and climate change. [node:read-more:link]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday rejected requests to review its decision allowing construction of the 99-mile Northern Access Pipeline, overruling a New York decision to deny water quality permits to the project. New York waived its authority to award permits to the pipeline by not issuing a decision within one year, FERC ruled, denying an appeal from the state and environmental groups. Commissioner Richard Glick dissented on the 4-1 decision. [node:read-more:link]

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out construction certificates for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, likely halting work on the $6 billion project planned by major Southeastern utilities. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the project last year, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that certification was based on a faulty right-of-way permit awarded by the National Park Service for where the pipeline would cross the Blue Ridge Parkway, a road in Virginia that is part of the National Park system. [node:read-more:link]

Germany’s grape harvest is officially under way on its earliest date yet after a scorching summer that has many other farmers groaning but — so far — is promising to be good for vintners. At a vineyard in Loerzweiler, south of Mainz in southwestern Germany near the Rhine River, workers started plucking white grapes off rows of vines Monday.The first grapes go to make Federweisser, a young wine that gives the first clues about the potential quality of a vintage. The main harvest is expected to start in late August or early September. [node:read-more:link]

A new animal rights group is urging lawmakers to pass a series of bills targeting the use of laboratory animals in biomedical research. Just last week, a group of lawmakers, at the urging of animal rights group White Coast Waste, sent a letter calling for the release of information on retired research animals.The letter was mailed to the Department of Interior, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. [node:read-more:link]