Rural America

Mine Water Is Spewing into this West Virginia Community While Companies Squabble Over Who Is Responsible

Since the Pinnacle Mining Complex discharged dirty mine water into area creeks, locals report polluted drinking water and widespread illness.

Ellie Heffernan

An EPA Plan to Curb Pollution Could Dump More of It Into Black Neighborhoods

A Biden Administration rule could remove "forever chemicals" from our drinking water—by incinerating them in low-income sacrifice zones.

Adam Mahoney

Oklahoma Tribes Are Fighting Corporate Consolidation of the Cattle Industry—and Building Food Sovereignty

“Food is power, and having control over your food sources is the difference between independence or subjugation.”

Ben Felder

In Texas, SpaceX's Rocket Facility is Blocking Public Beach Access

A proposed land trade would hand over even more of Boca Chica to SpaceX.

Joseph Bullington

“Crisis”: Half of Rural Hospitals Are Operating at a Loss, Hundreds Could Close

A new report paints a grim picture for small-town health care—especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid.

Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

Can Tenants Take Back Bozeman?

Luxury construction is pushing locals out of their homes, but Bozemanites are not going quietly.

Joseph Bullington

How To Privatize a Mountain

As a wave of wealth sweeps Montana, landowners are blocking the public from public lands.

Joseph Bullington

Louisiana’s Prison System—Brought to You by Big Oil

How oil money turned Louisiana into the prison capital of the world.

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs

How Deregulation Is Helping Turn Eastern Oklahoma into a Factory Farm Sacrifice Zone

Fetid air, polluted water, heavy truck traffic: Since the state loosened regulations a decade ago, a rush of industrial chicken farms is transforming life for rural residents.

Ben Felder

Donald Trump Makes a Mockery of Populism

To call Trump a “populist” is to desecrate the memory of the 19th century movement that took on robber barons like him.

Tim Brinkhof

Don't Pave Paradise

A West Virginia community rallied to stave off the destruction of Cacapon Resort State Park by private developers. Will it last?

Ellie Heffernan

In Small Town Appalachia, Locals Battle a Weapons-Grade Uranium Plant

The company Nuclear Fuel Services wants to process weapons-grade uranium for the U.S. government at a facility in Erwin, Tennessee. Some locals aren’t having it.

Taylor Sisk

A Rural New Deal Could Help Progressives Win Rural America

Championing rural and working-class communities is how progressives can build the trust needed to defuse culture war weapons wielded by the Right.

Anthony Flaccavento

Construction Companies Are Exploiting Agricultural Visas to Underpay Workers. The Supreme Court Could Change That.

By bringing in H-2A visa workers to construct hog confinement facilities, companies can dodge overtime pay and undercut local construction workers. One company has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.

Sky Chadde and Ryan Murphy

The Tragedy of Misunderstanding the Commons

Twelfth-century peasants developed commons practices to survive domination. We could use them to reclaim our lives from capitalism.

Steven Stoll

It’s Too Hot to Keep Using Pesticides

Farm workers are being sickened by agrochemicals—and, due to extreme heat, by the PPE they wear to protect themselves.

Harrison Watson

Despite Heat Deaths, Many States Don’t Require Water Breaks

As temperatures break records, lawmakers in state after state have declined to require that companies give their outdoor workers shade and water breaks.

Barbara Barrett

Fighting Industrial Development and Defending Black History in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”

In Wallace, descendants of enslaved people live on one of the last preserved stretches of Louisiana’s Mississippi River. Now, a massive grain export facility threatens the community’s history and future.

Daja E. Henry