An economist calls it the "great wind power bait and switch." Writing in the Boston Globe, David Tuerck finds that the price of power coming from the Cape Wind project (the one that caused so much turmoil in Nantucket Sound) will cost more than twice as much as power coming from conventional sources.

• Nebraska Public Radio's Fred Knapp has an interesting story on why some counties in his state are gaining shares of young people.

• In other wind news, the Des Moines Register's Philip Brasher reports that the construction of wind farms has fallen 71 percent across the nation this year "and has disappeared from Iowa." Some 700 megawatts of capacity was completed in the first half of this year and another 5,000 MW is under construction. "But industry officials say the industry will continue its slowdown unless Congress enacts a national renewable-electricity mandate to reassure investors that there will be a market for additional wind power," Brasher writes. The most capacity in the first half of the year was added in Texas. 

• Coal company executives "hope to use newly loosened campaign-finance laws to pool their money and defeat Democratic congressional candidates they consider "anti-coal," including U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway and U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler in Kentucky," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. 

• The nation's oldest running family farm (above) is on the market. The Boston Globe reports that Wil Tuttle is selling a New Hampshire farm that has been in his family since 1632. The 134-acre farm is on the market for $3.35 million.

This is a different business now,’’ Goss said. “Farming at any level is a labor of love, but now the future is so uncertain. Looking forward, I don’t see much opportunity for small farms to thrive. It’s a tough grind.’’ 

• Gallup reports that the top three states in terms of people's economic confidence are Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed regulations in June that the agency thought would restore competition and fairness to the livestock markets. This week House members from both political parties lambasted the proposal.

The deadliest catch, it turns out, is shrimp. The Seattle Times reports that over the past decade, 55 fishermen have died in the Gulf chasing shrimp over the last decade, surpassing the 12 who died fishing for crab on the Bering Sea. (Remember, the fantastic television series, The Deadliest Catch, is about the crews plying the Bering Sea.) 

"I am shocked," said Buddy Guindon, a veteran Texas shrimper, when informed of the study results. "It certainly doesn't get near as rough down here as it does up there."

After shrimp, the next deadliest catch is for Atlantic scallop, with 44 deaths; then the Alaska salmon harvest, with 39 deaths; then the Alaska cod and Northeast groundfish harvests, 26 deaths each. Researchers surmise that Gulf shrimpers are too often entangled in nets and pulled overboard.

• Farm subsidy payments are becoming a big deal in the race for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Western Kentucky is big farm territory (corn, soybean and wheat). Republican candidate Rand Paul says he is generally against farm subsidies, suggesting later that cuts to the richest farmers should be made first. 

Paul has been moderating his views over the past few months. Most recently, reports Bill Estepp with the Lexington Herald-Leader, Paul is vague about what level of subsidy he favors. Paul said, "I'm not sure, exactly. I mean, I think we'll have to look at it and see."

• The New York Times visits southern Louisiana to ask if the way of life along the Gulf Coast is dead and whether Cajuns will have to move again. Cajuns moved here in the 1700s from Acadia, in what is now eastern Canada, after refusing to pledge their allegiance to the British Crown. 

"What they got in return for their tolerance of living in what early cartographers called No Man’s Land was a world-class bounty of seafood and freedom in an environment of striking natural beauty," reports Susan Saulny. "Now that is in jeopardy."

Cajuns like their independence and several told the reporter, "Nobody's moving." Good for them.

Lots of good stories this morning. We can begin with NPR's continuing coverage of the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. Howard Berkes reports that it was common practice at the Massey Energy mine to disable monitors that would detect dangerous levels of explosive methane gas. A methane gas explosion at the mine killed 29 miners. Methane monitors shut off mining machinery (above) if they detect dangerous levels of the gas. The monitors are disabled so that coal production can continue or that machinery can be moved. 

Speaking of National Public Radio, the network had a good story yesterday about the emotional problems experienced by those in the middle of a natural disaster, such as the Gulf oil spill. We found it interesting that litigation stemming from these disasters can cause as much personal and community turmoil as the initial event. 

Last week we noted a Wall Street Journal article saying that financial reform legislation (passed yesterday) "casts (a) long shadow" on rural America.  The Nebraska Farmers Union begs to differ. Yesterday the NFU's president, John Hansen, wrote that "rural America got hammered by gyrating  input costs that nearly doubled within a two-year period thanks to unregulated speculative trading of derivatives." That will be corrected by the new bill, Hansen wrote: "Congress has taken a stand with rural America to rein in the abuses of Wall Street banks and investment firms.  It is about time."

 Finally, the EPA trumpeted what it called a "national dialogue" on rules to regulate the handling and disposal of toxic coal ash. The Charleston Gazette's Ken Ward Jr. noticed, however, that none of this dialoguing was set to take place anywhere near actual collections of coal ash. Instead of having hearings in Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio or Tennessee (where a collapse coal ash waste impoundment collapsed), the EPA was going to Dallas, Denver and all the way to Arlington, Virginia. Once Ward raised the issue, the EPA announced that it was revising its plans.