Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 | Posted by Kara Dodson | No Comments
This month residents and clean water advocates across North Carolina have stood together to demand that Duke Energy clean up its coal ash pollution. On May 1, Appalachian Voices joined hundreds to rally outside Duke's annual shareholder meeting and a little more than a week later we helped host a community paddle and picnic day on Belews Lake, where the the largest and dirtiest coal plant in North Carolina is located. [ Read More ]Monday, May 12th, 2014 | Posted by Brian Sewell | 1 Comment
An order from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection will put a section of a mountaintop removal permit near historic Blair Mountain off limits to mining until at least 2018, when the permit comes up for renewal. During a site visit in March, Friends of Blair Mountain documented “significant areas of the battlefield” that were destroyed through logging and construction methods. [ Read More ]Sunday, May 11th, 2014 | Posted by Rory McIlmoil | No Comments
The small businesses, churches and schools you're likely to find in a typical Appalachian town are pillars of their communities. But they're not sources of significant employment. For most of rural Appalachia, poverty, high unemployment and the lack of economic diversity are persistent problems that have yet to be addressed in any comprehensive, effective manner. [ Read More ]Thursday, May 8th, 2014 | Posted by Hannah Wiegard | 1 Comment
Activists in Ohio and shareholders from throughout Dominion Virginia Power’s service area including Virginia converged on Cleveland on Wednesday, to greet the company’s CEO, Thomas Farrell, board and shareholders as they gathered for Dominion Resources’ annual meeting. [ Read More ]Thursday, May 8th, 2014 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | No Comments
A North Carolina Superior Court judge ruled that conservation groups representing the interests of communities living near coal ash ponds can participate in a lawsuit between Duke and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources for documented, illegal coal ash pollution across the state. [ Read More ]Tuesday, May 6th, 2014 | Posted by Brian Sewell | 1 Comment
Not only is climate change real, it has “firmly moved into the present” and its impacts "are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond." That’s according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment, a report five years in the making that was released today. [ Read More ]Tuesday, May 6th, 2014 | Posted by Cat McCue | No Comments
Last week, the folks at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) put out another of their scintillating reports, this one showing how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can apply energy efficiency as a key way to reduce global warming pollution — with no net cost to the U.S. economy. [ Read More ]Monday, May 5th, 2014 | Posted by Ann League | 1 Comment
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is conducting a public hearing tomorrow on a proposed surface mine in Claiborne County, Tenn. If the permit for the Clear Fork mine is approved, Kopper Glo Fuel, Inc., would discharge its pollution into surrounding creeks that feed the Cumberland River, many of which are already impaired by surface mining. Here's what you can do. [ Read More ]Wednesday, April 30th, 2014 | Posted by Brian Sewell | 1 Comment
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a significant win to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when it revived a federal rule aimed at reducing air pollution that travels across state lines and harms the health of those downwind, and the ability of certain states to meet Clean Air Act requirements.
[ Read More ]Tuesday, April 29th, 2014 | Posted by Brian Sewell | No Comments
Near the beginning of our new video, Stokes County, N.C., resident Annie Brown says, “I love to turn the switch on and have my lights just like anyone else, but at what cost?” It’s a question we should all ask of ourselves. But we also must direct our elected officials and electric providers to consider the question: at what cost do our outdated energy policies and practices come? [ Read More ]Friday, April 25th, 2014 | Posted by Hannah Wiegard | No Comments
Solar energy is no longer a thing of the future — it makes sense right here, right now. That’s the spirit of Virginia’s newest residential renewable energy initiative, SolarizeRVA, which was launched on Tuesday in celebration of Earth Day. [ Read More ]Friday, April 25th, 2014 | Posted by Brian Sewell | No Comments
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — but also public health advocates and anyone who likes to eat fish or breath clean air — gained a significant win this month when a federal appeals court upheld the agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). [ Read More ]
