Tuesday, April 14th, 2015 | Posted by Guest Contributor | No Comments
Opposition is mounting to the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline that would carry highly pressurized natural gas for 300 miles through farms and forests from W.Va. to Va. Several counties have taken action to oppose or question the project, and citizens all along the route are making their voices heard. Guest blogger Tina Badger is one. [ Read More ]Friday, April 10th, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | 2 Comments
North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison introduced a bill today to phase out North Carolina’s use of mountaintop removal coal. The bill mirrors one that has been in the legislature before and that received bipartisan backing, with 75 legislators signing a letter of support. Rep. Harrison's bill also aims to help ratepayers during the economic recovery by placing a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in the state.
[ Read More ]Wednesday, April 8th, 2015 | Posted by Eliza Laubach | 1 Comment
Meet two families in the High Country of North Carolina who paid extraordinarily high electric bills and still suffered from drafty homes—until they won energy efficiency home improvemetns in Appalachian Voices' contest. [ Read More ]Monday, April 6th, 2015 | Posted by Thom Kay | 3 Comments
Alex Mooney is newly elected to Congress, from West Virginia's 2nd district. His first bill is a doozie - it would stop a stream protection rule he’s never seen, have drastically different impacts than he thinks, and be written and enforced by an agency whose purpose he doesn’t understand. [ Read More ]Monday, March 23rd, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | No Comments
March 17 marked the first day in history that North Carolina has been fully open to the oil and gas industry for the dangerous, environmentally destructive practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Though the moratorium on fracking has been lifted, communities and environmental organizations across the state are prepared to continue fighting. [ Read More ]Friday, March 20th, 2015 | Posted by Tom Cormons | No Comments
In one of the largest Clean Water Act deals in recent memory, Duke Energy agreed to pay $102 million to settle federal charges for its coal ash pollution in North Carolina. It’s the most recent example of a coal-related company facing fines for violating the law, and although that’s a step in the right direction, it can never compensate for the human cost borne for years by citizens living near coal ash ponds and mountaintop removal mines. [ Read More ]Thursday, March 19th, 2015 | Posted by Jamie Goodman | No Comments
We’re delighted to welcome two new members to the Appalachian Voices family! Adam Wells will be serving as our Economic Diversification Campaign Coordinator in southwest Virginia, where his roots reach back six generations. Amy Kelly, who traces her roots in the Volunteer state back to the 18th century, will work with local residents to grow energy efficiency programs as our Tennessee Energy Savings Outreach Coordinator. [ Read More ]Thursday, March 19th, 2015 | Posted by Hannah Wiegard | No Comments
For Appalachian Voices and our partners, it was a mostly defensive game this year in the Virginia legislature as we fought a slew of bad bills by industry-backed and climate-denying politicians. We succeeded in squelching the worst of them, but a lot of policy that could have moved the commonwealth toward cleaner energy and a stronger economy fell by the wayside. There’s always next year…. [ Read More ]Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | 1 Comment
After we revealed thousands of water pollution violations at Frasure Creek Mining’s mountaintop removal coal mines in eastern Kentucky, state regulators (finally) took administrative action. Appalachian Voices and our partners are seeking to intervene in that process to ensure environmental protections are enforced, and we have filed our own lawsuit in federal court.
[ Read More ]Friday, March 13th, 2015 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | No Comments
On Tuesday, DENR announced a historic $25.1 million fine for coal ash pollution at Duke Energy's Sutton power plant. The agency also recently released updated permit drafts for coal ash ponds at other sites, proposed to “better protect water quality near coal ash ponds until closure plans are approved.” Though permitting the pollution will lead to better monitoring, it does nothing to stop or even stymie the toxic discharges. [ Read More ]Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 | Posted by Jaimie McGirt | No Comments
The Energy Savings for Appalachia team would like to thank our community and business partners for making the High Country Home Energy Contest possible. Without their dedication and service, we would not have been able to offer three households the extensive energy efficiency home improvements that we have in the past month.
[ Read More ]Monday, March 2nd, 2015 | Posted by Cat McCue | 2 Comments
Utilities are cranking more and more electricity onto the grid on extremely cold or hot days -- but too much of that ends up leaking out windows and doors in lower-income housing. As the NAACP points out, energy efficiency and other distributed energy sources are safer, healthier, and more equitable ways of providing electricity, and they have the added bonus of bringing much needed economic opportunity to communities of color. [ Read More ]
