By Meg Holden
A journalist and editor with a keen eye for detail, Meg served as AV’s Communications Intern for summer 2011.

Memory loss. Muscle weakness. Mood swings. Kidney failure. Death.

It sounds like a doctor’s report on an aging patient, and it could well be. But these are also symptoms of mercury exposure, which affects everyone—especially children.

We all know that coal is the single biggest contributor to air pollution in the United States. We’ve read the pamphlets, watched the videos, and heard the statistics. We’ve been shocked, appalled, and disgusted—but we don’t have to be resigned to watching coal-fired power plants poison our air, water, and families. We can take action.

The EPA has recently proposed stronger regulations for mercury, arsenic, and lead—all poisonous to humans—as well as acid gases and other air pollutants. The new national standards would keep 91 percent of the mercury in coal from polluting our air and water.

A coal-fired power plant in Virginia

In a world where one coal plant can produce 170 pounds of mercury in a year, this is not only desirable, but crucial to our national health. The amount of mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer—1/70th of a teaspoon—can contaminate a 25-acre lake. Limiting the amount of mercury and other pollutants that coal-fired power plants can release into our air is a vital step toward ending coal’s black grip on our lives.

The EPA’s proposed regulations will prevent huge amounts of toxic gases and particulates from entering our air and waterways. According to the EPA, the regulations will prevent

“as many as 17,000 premature deaths and 11,000 heart attacks a year. The new proposed standards would also provide particular health benefits for children, preventing 120,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms and about 11,000 fewer cases of acute bronchitis among children each year. The proposed standards would also avert more than 12,000 emergency room visits and hospital admissions and 850,000 fewer days of work missed due to illness.”

The health costs associated with the life cycle of coal, from mining to processing to burning to disposal- are huge; the total is over 345 million dollars, according to a study by Harvard University.

But coal companies don’t want to emissions regulated, and they’re doing everything they can to weaken the final rule. Some groups with special interest in coal are saying that the pollution from coal power plants aren’t harmful to humans. American Electric Power claims that the new regulations will result in the closure of five power plants and a loss of 600 jobs.

“…We will have to prematurely shut down nearly 25 percent of our current coal-fueled generating capacity, cut hundreds of good power-plant jobs, and invest billions of dollars in capital to retire, retrofit, and replace coal-fueled power plants,” AEP chairman and CEO Mike Morris said. “The sudden increase in electricity rates and impacts on state economies will be significant at a time when people and states are still struggling.”

That’s right, Mike, people and states are still struggling. Struggling to breathe the heavy metal- and particulate-laden air that coal-fired power plants emit daily. Struggling to pay the medical bills for their parents, siblings, and children who have been exposed to mercury and other poisons. Struggling to find a safer, cleaner way to provide for their families.

And if you are concerned about jobs and the economy, you would support EPA’s regulations, as they tend to create jobs. A study by CERES and Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts shows that this regulation plus the Clean Air Transport Rule (CATR), a program aimed at smog- and soot-forming pollution, will create over 290,000 jobs.

Help stop the economic and public health struggle. Show your support for the EPA’s regulations on air pollutants.

By Meg Holden
A journalist and editor with a keen eye for detail, Meg served as AV’s Communications Intern for summer 2011.

Adelind Horan performs Cry of the Mountain

Not to be overly dramatic, but one person portraying 13 characters in one performance sounds like a theatrical disaster waiting to happen. I’ve known actors to have mini-meltdowns over filling one role , so filling 13 just seems crazy.

But maybe Adelind Horan is crazy — crazy committed.

Cry of the Mountain, Horan’s masterful play about mountaintop removal coal mining, will run at Live Arts in Charlottesville, Va. from June 23 to 26. Join Appalachian Voices at the June 26 performance, followed by a discussion about coal mining, and a portion of your ticket sale will support Appalachian Voices’ efforts to stop mountaintop removal.

During the performance, Horan portrays 13 real people, speaking in their own words — taken verbatim from personal interviews — about how they have been affected by mountaintop removal coal mining. The video preview does not do Horan’s performance justice. Her versatility and attention to detail — every accent, pause, or stutter is perfectly reenacted in the play — gives Cry of the Mountain the strength and power that only a true story can have.

Called “must-see theater” and “enlightening, seamless, and wonderfully unique,” Horan’s crazy commitment to showing the true impacts of coal means that she portrays miners, scientists, mining executives, and everyone in between. As playwright David Mamet said, “That which comes from the heart goes to the heart,” and Cry of the Mountain certainly does.

Watch the video preview.

Buy tickets here.

By Meg Holden
A journalist and editor with a keen eye for detail, Meg served as AV’s Communications Intern for summer 2011.

You might be saying “huh?” But the kids and families who came to RiverFest on Saturday, June 4, are all saying “yes, please!”

Families from all around the High Country — and a few from out of town — joined Appalachian Voices at Valle Crucis Park in Valle Crucis, N.C. to spend a sunny day learning about our Appalachian Rivers and the creatures that make them so special.

Hellbenders (also called snot otters), giant salamanders that can grow up to two feet long, are important indicators of water quality and have been slowly disappearing from our mountains in the last 25 years. Rocky, a hellbender from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, made a special appearance at RiverFest, joined by Snotty the Snot Otter — a new mascot from the N.C. Zoo. Both were a huge hit with everyone!

In between cake walks, face painting, and storytelling by Orville Hicks, kids had the opportunity to try out gyotaku, a Japanese fish printing method, while learning about fish adaptations. Parents and other visitors checked out the Pickin’ Parlor and live music from Appalachian musicians, practiced fly-tying, and learned primitive skills. Everyone enjoyed the no-hands watermelon eating contest and river parade.

RiverFest also served as the Appalachian Voices annual membership gathering, and a host of new members were represented.

Lots of folks ended the day with a splash in the river. A good time was definitely had by all.

Appalachian Voices wants to thank all our many sponsors as well as the wonderful people who came out and enjoyed RiverFest. See you next year!