Operators of free conference-call lines join opposition to Google Voice
We last reported on Google Voice's controversial practice of blocking calls to rural exchanges earlier this week, but now some of the companies that practice "traffic pumping" are joining AT&T in its opposition to Google's practice. The latest opposition comes from opertaos of free conference-call lines that divert heavy traffic to little-used rural exchanges that charge more money to phone providers to complete calls, Kim Hart of The Hill reports."Google shouldn’t be able to tell consumers where they can call and where they can’

Two-thirds of W.Va. coal-ash dams need repairs
Nearly two-thirds of West Virginia coal-ash dams might need repairs, according to a report from the state Department of Environmental Protection. A quarter of the dams are ranked as being in poor or unsatisfactory condition, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. The DEP also found problems, prompting at least five enforcement activities at landfills where dry waste from coal-fired power plants were dumped."DEP inspectors fou

More farmers ignoring EPA's engineered-corn rules
As many as a fourth of farmers growing genetically engineered corn may no longer be complying with federal rules designed to protect the crops from insects. A new report, written by Gregoy Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says the number of farmers ignoring the rules is up from just 10 percent a few years ago, Andrew Pollack of The New York Times reports.Jaffe termed the data as "a wake-up call to EPA that the regulatory system is not working" in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Ad

Kansas Supreme Court upholds county ordinance that effectively blocks wind farms
With a state Supreme Court ruling, Kansas has become the first state to formally acknowledge that wind energy may conflict with the desire for unobstructed views of the countryside. The court ruled Friday that a Wabaunsee County zoning ordinance that prohibits commercial wind farms was valid, Scott Rothschild of the Lawrence Journal-News reports. Kansas is considered one of the top states for wind energy potential, but development in the scenic Flint Hills, site of the conflict, has long been controversial. The region in eastern Kansas has most of the remaining tallgrass prarie that once covered most of the Great Plains.

Coal forum panelists, fresh from negotiations, say mountaintop-mine policing will get tougher
A forum yesterday on the role of coal in Kentucky was highlighted early by a prediction of major changes in the way strip mining is regulated, and near the end by an explanation of the changes and a debate on the future of how coal is used.“The way coal has been mined over the last 30 years is not going to happen anymore,” Joe Blackburn, director of the Lexington field office of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, told the crowd during the afternoon session at the University of Kentucky.