The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will order wastewater disposal wells shut near the epicenter of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck on Saturday around Pawnee, Oklahoma.  The quake was one of the strongest ever to hit the state and prompted its oil and gas regulator, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, to order 37 disposal wells shut in a 725-square-mile (1,878-sq-km) area around Pawnee.  It also asked the EPA to help shut disposal wells in a 211 square-mile (546.49-sq-km) area of Osage County because the OCC lacked jurisdiction there. [node:read-more:link]

If the biggest complaints you have about your job or workplace are the ancient computers, uncomfortable room temperature, or annoying coworkers, you've got it pretty good. In the US, thousands of people are injured or killed at work each year because of the dangerous nature of their jobs. According to a new report from jobs site CareerCast, "Some of the most vital careers to upholding and maintaining the very fabric of American society are also among the most dangerous." [node:read-more:link]

The private sector does not have a stellar record of timely technology deployment in rural America. Those of us who get our electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority or a rural electric cooperative know that public, quasi-public, and private partnerships are essential. That path made telephone service much more accessible. Neither technology is universally available, but it is clear that without the government lending a hand, much of rural America would be off all the grids. [node:read-more:link]

Rural America continued to add jobs in July, according to figures just released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are 124,000 more jobs in rural counties this July compared to July 2015, according to the BLS.  The pace of job growth in rural America, however, was a fraction of that in metropolitan areas. While the number of jobs in rural counties increased by 4.8 percent in the past year, job growth in metropolitan counties was 13.3 percent – more than twice the rural rate. Metropolitan counties added 2.5 million jobs in the last year.  This is a continuing story. [node:read-more:link]

If the U.S. government routinely predicted new car prices for the coming year, Detroit would scream bloody murder, saying the feds were interfering in the market. But when the U.S. Department of Agriculture does the same for crop prices, everyone thinks it’s normal. So ask yourself, if you were a farmer, what would you do about selling your crops, when government reports can predetermine the price you’ll get? [node:read-more:link]

 The state has filed suit in federal court against nearly three dozen oil companies for contaminating groundwater with the gasoline additive MTBE that was used to boost engine performance until it was banned in Rhode Island in 2007.  The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by Attorney General Peter F. [node:read-more:link]

Hard times are turning more worrisome for cities and small towns in the heart of New Mexico oil and natural gas territory as state officials contemplate reclaiming dollars pledged to local construction projects to help fill a budget gap.  New Mexico is confronting a $458 million budget shortfall this fiscal year because of weak prices in the oil and natural gas sectors and slow growth in other areas of the economy.  State finance and legislative officials have begun compiling a list of incomplete public works projects that might be deauthorized. [node:read-more:link]

The solar industry alone has created one out of every 80 jobs in the United States since the Great Recession. When including wind, LED lighting, and other clean energy categories, that number could be close to one in 33. [node:read-more:link]

An American Indian tribe succeeded in getting a federal judge to temporarily stop construction on some, but not all, of a portion of a $3.8 billion four-state oil pipeline, but their broader request still hangs in the balance. U .S. District Judge James Boasberg said today that work will temporarily stop between North Dakota’s State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, but will continue west of the highway because he believes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lacks jurisdiction on private land. It wasn’t immediately clear how long of a stretch on which work will stop. [node:read-more:link]

Thirteen states could lose fewer coal-fired power plants and reduce costs if they work together to comply with a major federal clean-power rule, according to a new report. PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator that handles electric flow in Ohio, Pennsylvania and parts of 11 other states, analyzed the impact of the Clean Power Plan in a lengthy report released last week. [node:read-more:link]