The Front Porch Blog

Enjoy Community and Culinary Creativity in Support of Appalachian Voices

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 | Posted by Brian Sewell | No Comments

Click here to purchase tickets for Hill and Holler’s dinner in support of Appalachian Voices.

A connection to community and the celebration of all that makes Appalachia special are fundamental to our work. In the ongoing fight to preserve the region we love, Appalachia’s culture, close-knit communities and treasured landscapes sustain us. Thankfully, our values are shared.

On Sunday, September 22, Hill and Holler, a roving farm dinner that brings farmers, chefs, winemakers and the community together to raise money for local organizations, will host a dinner to support our work at Grace Estates in Crozet, Va. Join Appalachian Voices’ staff, members of our board, family, friends and neighbors, and, of course, local culinary artisans to celebrate our work, share stories, laughs and song. Click here to purchase tickets.
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Duke Energy: Stop the Spin Cycle

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Sara Behnke loves her home, Mountain Island Lake. But about 10 miles northwest of Charlotte, N.C., the lake, which supplies drinking water to more than 800,000 residents of the Charlotte metro area, is threatened by two coal ash ponds at Duke Energy’s recently shuttered Riverbend plant.

We’re happy to share a recent post by Sara from the blog of We Love Mountain Island Lake, a local group working to protect the lake from coal pollution. Live in the Charlotte area? Like We Love Mountain Island Lake’s Facebook page.

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“Never fall for someone who says the right things. Fall for someone who does the right things.” I read that quote this morning on Facebook right after I read this article in The Charlotte Observer: “NC SUES 12 DUKE ENERGY PLANTS.” The line that really hit me in the gut was Erin Culbert, the Duke Energy spokesperson, saying, “State regulators are requesting more data to ensure waters of the state are well protected.” REALLY? Can she really believe her own statement? And do they really think we are dumb enough to buy that?
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Tenn Tuesday: The Good, the Bad, and the Solar

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Posted by JW Randolph | No Comments

Surface Mining Fights Heat Up, National Planting Day inspires us to get dirty, and Appalachia Welcomes you to the Disability Belt!!

I’m gonna get right off and get us started with some good news and some bad news regarding our mountains here in Tennessee, along with two great opportunities to get involved and meet folks across the state working to protect them. One is a public hearing September 24 in Knoxville, and the other is a multi-day get-together in mid-October.

Good News!
A nearly 600-acre surface mine permit has been withdrawn in Claiborne County, Tenn., thanks to the hard work of many citizens across Claiborne County and across the state. This is a fantastic win for the broad coalition of citizens fighting surface mining in Tennessee, and a step in the right direction for what is left of Claiborne County.

There will be a chance to get to know a lot of the men and women responsible for this victory in mid-October. From October 13-15 you can see mountaintop removal first-hand, while getting to know the Big South Fork, Cumberland Plateau, and a few incredible Volunteer staters just a little bit better Register here.

Bad News!
More surface mining could yet be on its way to Claiborne County. On the back of this good news, we receive word that Appolo Fuels is applying for an 800+ acre surface mining permit in the same area. But you can help stop this monstrosity of a permit. How?

A joint public meeting and comment period is being held on Tuesday, September 24 as part of the local interagency working agreement. This is a new process in which all the relevant regulatory agencies are working together to issues mining and water pollution permits.
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USDA Finds Energy Efficiency Has No Significant Environmental Impact

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Rory McIlmoil | No Comments

A quick read of the USDA's finding that energy efficiency has no significant impact (FONSI) might have you thinking the Fonz' approves of energy efficiency programs. We'd like to think he does.

A quick read of the USDA’s finding that energy efficiency has no significant impact (FONSI) might have you thinking the Fonz’ approves of efficiency programs. We’d like to think he does too.

On August 16, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service published a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on the environment by implementing the Rural Utilities Service’s soon-to-be-finalized Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP).

The EECLP is a proposed federal loan program that would offer low-interest loans to rural electric cooperatives to develop and implement a range of energy efficiency and demand-side management programs, including residential energy efficiency financing programs like South Carolina’s successful “Help My House” pilot. The FONSI determination was made based on an analysis of the environmental impact statement prepared for the EECLP.

The major takeaway here — albeit a no-brainer — is that unlike the extraction of fossil fuels, the construction of miles of new transmission lines, and the development of large-scale, centralized renewable energy power plants, energy efficiency does not significantly impact the environment in any way.
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Energy Efficiency’s Role in Growing Rural Economies

Thursday, August 29th, 2013 | Posted by Brian Sewell | 1 Comment

Only a sliver of the USDA Energy Investment Pie goes to energy efficiency projects. Rural communities nationwide could benefit from even a slightly more balanced approach.

Only a sliver of the USDA Energy Investment Pie goes to energy efficiency project. Rural communities nationwide could benefit from even a slightly more balanced approach.

Over the summer we watched closely and shared our take on the importance of energy programs in the 2013 Farm Bill. You may remember that the Senate ultimately passed a version that included budget cuts but was in line with previous bills and budget constraints.

Not one to be outdone, the House went on to narrowly pass a version that completely eliminated the section on funding for food stamps — the first time it had been left out of the bill since 1973.

Fortunately, there is a bright spot. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy believes that energy efficiency programs in the farm bill are something that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Despite major and perhaps irreconcilable differences, several key energy programs have remained intact and have bipartisan support.
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The Public’s Reaction to NC’s Proposed Settlement with Duke Energy: NNNNNO!

Wednesday, August 28th, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

You can read The Charlotte Observer article, but the upshot is that the public strongly denounced the state’s proposed “do-nothing” settlement. Almost 5,000 people submitted comments, almost all saying that the settlement doesn’t go far enough to ensuring our water is safe from coal ash waste.

So basically, the public reaction’s was….

And I can only imagine that Duke Energy’s is…

Watch this space for more to come. After all, the state has now filed an injunction for all coal-fired power plants in the state.

Of Loincloths and Lean-Tos: The Fight To Protect NC’s Water

Tuesday, August 27th, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

According to N.C. DENR Secretary John Skvarla, if you love clean air and water, here's the dress code.

According to N.C. DENR Secretary John Skvarla, if you love clean air and water, this is your dress code.

Out of the many things that were targeted in the North Carolina legislature, water quality took a huge hit. Not only did the state budget call for the consolidation of the Division of Water Quality and Division of Water Resources, it slashed the two agencies combined budget by more than 12 percent.

And there is the curious case of John Skvarla, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources who has derided his own agency as an “eco-enforcer” before he came onboard.

At a luncheon for the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, he claimed to not have a position on climate change since he’s not a scientist, and stated that if environmentalists had their way, “we would live in lean-tos and wear loincloths.”
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Reform in the Wrong Direction – McCrory Signs HB 74 Into Law

Monday, August 26th, 2013 | Posted by Brian Sewell | 1 Comment

Protecting water resources from coal ash pollution is not “common sense” enough for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed HB 74, a massive bill rolling back environmental rules, over the weekend.

Want to make a lot of people unhappy quickly? Just ask North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory how. Over the weekend, he signed the controversial Regulatory Reform Act (HB 74) into law.

The 60-page bill, which McCrory calls “common sense legislation” like most of the other bad bills he has signed, contains dozens of provisions ranging from how close landfills can be built to state game lands, to how handlers transport venomous snakes, to how much polluters can contaminate groundwater before being forced to clean up their mess. Appalachian Voices and clean water advocates statewide are especially concerned with the way the new law relates to coal ash pollution.

Residents of western North Carolina and local governments should be particularly perturbed with the governor. The bill abolishes the Mountain Resource Commission, a volunteer advisory board that works to safeguard western North Carolina’s natural resources. And it blocks cities and counties from improving environmental and public health protections beyond state regulation until October 2014.

For a short time, this massive mistake seemed destined to a have the word “veto” stamped across it.
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Bringing A Renewed Sense of Community to our Citizens

Friday, August 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Tom Cormons | 3 Comments

In the latest issue of The Advocate, we feature our intrepid Red, White & Water team, which was on the road in North Carolina over the last couple months meeting with people living near toxic coal ash ponds. The response was tremendous.

Led by our North Carolina campaign coordinator, Sandra Diaz, our team of interns and volunteers made hundreds of phone calls and knocked on dozens of doors. We teamed up with Dr. Avner Vengosh and his graduate students from Duke University to sample drinking water wells and test for the toxic chemicals associated with coal ash pollution.

People welcomed us into their homes, told us their worries about contaminated drinking water, and brought friends and neighbors to our community meetings where we shared information about coal plant pollution. And many of them are now getting involved to tell the government to enforce the laws that are meant to protect water resources and public health.

This is Appalachian Voices at our best — helping citizens get the information and tools they need to voice their concerns to elected leaders and other decision makers, making them powerful advocates for their families, their communities, and the environment.

Toward that end, we’re proud to be a co-sponsor of the first Southeast Coal Ash Summit this fall, where citizens can learn from state and federal officials, scientists, activists – and each other – about this significant threat to the South’s waters.

View images of the meetings and find out how you can get involved in our Red, White and Water campaign.

For our mountains and water,

Tom

Study Reveals Mountaintop Removal’s Isotopic Fingerprint

Friday, August 23rd, 2013 | Posted by | No Comments

By Nolen Nychay
Editorial intern, Fall 2013

Toxic Heavy Metals Have Contaminated This Stream Below A Mountaintop Removal Site

Researchers at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment identified three unique isotopes, or irregularly formed elements, that seem to have a direct correlation with mountaintop removal coal mines. The isotopes identified were sulfate, strontium, and inorganic carbon — all occur naturally but are found in unusually high concentrations adjacent to mountaintop removal sites.

Dr. Avner Vengosh, a professor of geochemistry at Duke and author of the new study, believes that measuring these isotopes can not only help identify the degree of contamination within watersheds, but also determine how much of the contamination is directly affiliated with mountaintop removal.
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Join the Inaugural Southeast Coal Ash Summit

Friday, August 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 1 Comment

For folks interested in the topic of toxic coal ash and how it threatens our communities, here’s an opportunity to learn more and engage with others interested in the issue.

On Sept. 27-28, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will host an inaugural Southeast Coal Ash Summit in Atlanta, Ga.

Advocates, national and regional experts, and concerned citizens from across the Southeast will gather together for two days to learn more about toxic coal ash and how we can protect our communities and waters from this toxic waste.

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We’re ready for “New Power in the Old Dominion”

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013 | Posted by Cat McCue | 4 Comments

The Wise Energy Coalition is taking to the road to educate Virginians about new ways to power the Old Dominion.

For years, Appalachian Voices and our partners in the Wise Energy for Virginia (WEFV) Coalition have been advocating for clean energy here in the Old Dominion. We need policies that move Virginia away from a dependence on dirty fossil fuels and embrace the promise of energy efficiency and renewable sources like wind and solar.

After our major victory in stopping what would have been largest coal plant in the state, the WEFV Coalition shifted focus to bringing clean energy solutions to Virginia. We’re calling the campaign “New Power for the Old Dominion” and it’s coming soon to a town near you.

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