Ken Ward Jr. at the Charleston Gazette asks, "What will Obama do now about mountaintop removal?" Good question. The destructive form of strip mining — remove the top of the mountain, take coal, dump waste in the valley below — has been the subject of litigation and rulemaking. Obama hoped to beef up regulation of mountaintop mining, but now a federal judge has said the government is moving too quickly. It was trying to reverse a Bush administration mining rule without going through the proper procedures.

Ward notes that the situation "put the National Mining Association in the position of being the ones arguing for good government (this after eight years of having a seat at the table, in the room, guiding Bush administration policies on mountaintop removal and most other energy issues)." The coal boys were the ones saying government was working behind closed doors. And the judge agreed.

But now what? "Somewhere in the middle, what appears absolutely certain is that neither side is really clear at all on what the Obama administration’s position is, what exactly its goals are, or what exactly the rules on when permits will or won’t be issue are," Ward writes. "The transparency promised by President Obama across government generally,  and by White House officials and regulatory agencies on mountaintop removal specifically, just isn’t there."

The Oklahoma Attorney General has sued Arkansas poultry companies for damages to the Illinois River. But a federal judge says he can't proceed without the Cherokee Nation as a plaintiff.

Suit alleges 6,000-mile corridor would threaten wildlife and some of the West's most scenic lands, all while ignoring the push for renewable energy in the region.

Your Yonder editors visited the church picnic in Dubina, Texas, Sunday. Dubina is in Fayette County, the heartland of Czech Texas and so there was lots of polka music and kolaches up for auction at the church fundraiser. 

We know the ground is too wet in parts of the Midwest, but here ranchers are suffering through a brutal drought. Central Texas has run out of categories for bad when it comes to a lack of rain. We went into Dubina's beautiful Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church (interior photo above) and found copies of a "Prayer For Rain" in every pew. It goes, in part, like this:

"We come now with You in our hearts, to pray for rain. We are firmly convinced that You, according to the measure of Your wisdom, goodness and love, have the omnipotent power to send us the rain we need. We ask this in humility, knowing Your great goodness. We also ask of You to guide us in the right path, to restrain us from evil, and to preserve us from misfortune of soul and body. We ask that we may be made worthy of Your great kindness in granting our request. We beg Your assistance, remembering Your words,'Ask and you shall receive.' Amen."