The Front Porch Blog

Tenn. Tuesday – A Bright Day, Welcoming The Newest Tennessean

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 | Posted by Brian Sewell | No Comments

Appalachian Voices Tenn. Director welcomed his second daughter this week, and we added our name to the long list supporting the Tennessee Wilderness Act.

Appalachian Voices Tenn. Director welcomed his second daughter – the newest Tennessean – to the world this week, and we’re proud to join the long list supporting the Tennessee Wilderness Act.

Appalachian Voices’ resident Tennessean, and a proud one at that, is celebrating the birth of his second daughter, who for at least a little while yesterday morning was the newest resident of the great state of Tennessee. Congratulations JW, Elizabeth and Emma, we know Isla James will be as proud of her home as y’all are.

Staying with that wonderful news, Appalachian Voices has joined a long list of businesses and organizations supporting Tennessee Wild, a group dedicated to protecting the Cherokee National Forest for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations. The group is also a leading force in efforts to pass the Tennessee Wilderness Act, which would designate 20,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest as wilderness, the highest form of protection on public lands, including the first new wilderness area in the Volunteer State in more than two decades. In July, the bill was introduced for a third time by Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
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Virginia votes are key to protecting America’s waters from coal ash pollution

Monday, August 12th, 2013 | Posted by Nathan Jenkins | No Comments

Senators Mark Warner (l) and Tim Kaine of Virginia are key to an upcoming vote on coal ash.

There’s a move afoot in Congress to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from passing the first-ever national rule for power plants to properly dispose of coal ash–all 125 million tons of it produced every single year.

U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, of my home state of Virginia, are key votes on this proposal.

Coal ash, left over from burning coal for electricity, contains toxins like arsenic, lead and mercury. Coal ash sometimes goes into concrete mixes, wallboard materials, and even into golf course construction. But usually, it’s mixed with water and stored in huge impoundments, often near rivers and streams where the coal-fired power plants are located. Because there are no federal rules for handling coal ash, it’s up to the states to oversee disposal, and most states treat it with less care than common household garbage.
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House Republicans fight for mountaintop removal mining

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013 | Posted by Thom Kay | 1 Comment

Rep. Bill Johnson really likes coal, and he’s willing to put the health of Appalachia’s streams and communities at risk to prove it.

A lopsided legislative hearing held by the House Natural Resources committee last Friday is further proof that fans of mountaintop removal mining aren’t giving up without a fight. The hearing focused on legislation recently introduced by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), a proud coal industry advocate, and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), a pro-coal congressman in his own right.

With the catchy title “Preventing Government Waste and Protecting Coal Jobs in America,” or “PGWPCJA,” H.R. 2824 would stop the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) from writing a rule to protect streams from excessive coal mining pollution. Instead, the bill would require OSM to implement the flawed 2008 Stream Buffer Zone rule and prevent the agency from improving that rule for a minimum of seven years.

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Stepping Toward Wind and Solar Energy in Virginia

Thursday, August 1st, 2013 | Posted by Nathan Jenkins | No Comments

Virginia may not be a renewable energy leader anytime soon, but the commonwealth is coming closer to embracing industries that will yield economic and environmental benefits.

The call for action on climate change has grown louder in the weeks following the announcement of the Obama administration’s climate action plan. As the president laid out in June, the plan that leads to a more sustainable energy policy, and as the newly confirmed administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, reminded us this week, it is also an incredible opportunity for job creation.

In Charlottesville, Va., last week, Vice Mayor Kristin Szakos and City Councilwoman Dede Smith spoke about climate change at a press conference that was organized by Environment Virginia. The speakers highlighted the need to reduce carbon emissions by investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, while removing support and subsidies for dirty energy sources.

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Committee to Vote on Mountaintop Removal Tomorrow

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 | Posted by Thom Kay | 2 Comments

Hal Rogers realizes that cutting the EPA's budget by one-third will not lower the deficit, instead he says, "“In this bill, I’m trying to repeal the war on coal.”

Hal Rogers knows cutting the EPA’s budget by one-third will not lower the deficit, instead he says, “In this bill, I’m trying to repeal the war on coal.”

Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m., the U.S. House Appropriations Committee will vote on a bill that is an egregious attack on the environment. The Appropriations bill before them would sharply cut funding for the Department of the Interior and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, and prevent the agencies from improving the regulation of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. We need your help to stop these attacks.

The bill would cut EPA’s budget by a whopping 34 percent. For those of you interested in cutting the deficit, keep in mind that the EPA’s budget makes up around one-fifth of one percent of this country’s annual spending. Hacking their funding was not done to reduce the deficit. As Chairman of the Appropriations committee Hal Rogers (R-KY) said himself, “In this bill, I’m trying to repeal the war on coal.”
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Tennessee Tuesday: Tourist Motorcade #1 Comes to Town! Efficiency Works!

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 | Posted by JW Randolph | 1 Comment

Welcome to Tennessee Tuesday! Today Tennessee continues to shine as the President and his crew come to Chattanooga to tout jobs and economic growth, unarmed armadas roam the Cumberland River in search of a world free from coal-pollution, groups like “Thrive 2055” highlight statewide watershed-based economic planning initiatives, and Rhea County prepares to improve the standard of living in…China.

Let’s start this week’s edition of Tennessee Tuesday with some positive news. Tennessee, once again is getting national plaudits for our wonderful outdoor resources (duh), making Men’s Journal’s “50 Great Places to Visit this Summer”, highlighting the reasons that tourism is a $15 billion industry in our state.

In 1969, Chattanooga’s industrial smelters belched so much smog the city was ranked as having the country’s worst air pollution. Forty years later, the smoke has cleared to reveal world-class climbing, Class IV kayaking, and nearly 100 miles of mountain-bike trails — all within 30 minutes of downtown. Treat it like a hub: Over a weekend, you can climb Sunset Rock, paddle the Ocoee River’s middle-section rapids, and bike the new 10-mile section of Stringer’s Ridge (located entirely within city limits). Cap it off with pints at downtown’s Boathouse raw bar – reachable along the river by standup paddleboard.

And, you’ve probably heard that we’ve got an especially noteworthy tourist visiting today. President Obama is traveling to Chattanooga, inciting local businesses to hilariously take to Twitter to get a bit of that Obama bump. Also, as you may have expected, OPINIONS!! The President will deliver a speech on the middle class today at 1:30 EST from the Amazon distribution center in Chattanooga, which you can follow here. Amazon announced that they are adding thousands of new jobs nationally, although labor advocates have been critical of the kinds of jobs Amazon creates in the past.

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House Votes to Block EPA on Coal Ash

Thursday, July 25th, 2013 | Posted by Thom Kay | 2 Comments

States have consistenty failed to protect water resources from toxic coal ash. But the U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill to prevent the EPA from doing anything about it.

This afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2218, a bill that strips the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate coal ash. The bill fails to protect human health and the environment from the unsafe disposal of toxic coal ash waste.

The bill’s supporters, led by bill author Rep. David McKinley (R-WV), continue to claim that the bill provides “minimum federal standards” while keeping states in the driver’s seat in regulating coal ash disposal. They even claim that states know best, and have done a good job so far. This is most certainly not the case, and state failures are well documented.

The bill’s true purpose is to stop the EPA from classifying coal ash as a hazardous material and implementing federal regulations to govern its disposal. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) repeatedly said of amendments that increased EPA oversight of state programs that they would “undercut” the purpose of the bill. In other words, the bill was not passed to ensure the safety of coal ash disposal sites or to protect human health and the environment. The only thing it accomplishes is stopping the EPA from creating a rule that the coal and utility industries would not like.

We will now turn to the U.S. Senate and work to ensure that it does not take up the bill, but instead supports the EPA’s authority and mandate to protect human health and the environment with enforceable federal standards.

How did your representative vote?

Concerns Grow Over the EPA’s Stance on Selenium Pollution

Thursday, July 25th, 2013 | Posted by Erin Savage | 3 Comments

In February, we wrote about the new selenium water quality standards being proposed by the Kentucky Division of Water and urged concerned citizens to express their concern to the state. Now, Kentucky has gone ahead with its proposal, submitting the new standards to the EPA for review. While the EPA may deny Kentucky’s proposed standards, concerns are growing that the EPA, influenced by states beholden to their mining industries, may release its own inadequate standard. That is why we are urging people to tell EPA to stop Kentucky, and to require strong, enforceable standards in every state.

Selenium is of particular concern in Kentucky and other Central Appalachian states because it is often released into streams through mountaintop removal coal mining and is toxic to aquatic life at very low levels. Even though many high-selenium coal seams are mined in Kentucky, companies typically claim there will be no selenium discharge when first applying for a permit, so that the pollutant is not included on the permit. Selenium has rarely been included on mining permits in Central Appalachia, effectively allowing companies to avoid monitoring or treating it, unless citizens force them to with lawsuits. A recent victory in a lawsuits over illegal selenium discharges from a Virginia surface mining operation indicates that selenium pollution is a widespread problem at mountaintop removal mines across Central Appalachia.

Kentucky has faced increased pressure from citizens and the EPA to include selenium standards on pollution discharge permits, so that water quality is adequately protected. Unfortunately for the coal companies, selenium is expensive to treat and difficult to keep out of streams impacted by surface mining in high-selenium coal seams. Adding selenium to permits would mean that many coal companies have to start paying for a much larger portion of the damage they create. It appears that the state is helping coal companies find a way to avoid responsibility for selenium discharges. By increasing the legal limit of selenium allowed in streams and including fish tissue-based standards that are difficult, if not impossible to enforce, the state will allow many companies to continue to skirt their responsibility to the land and the people of Kentucky.
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The Environment on The Hill: Congress Continues to Undermine Essential Protections

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 | Posted by Thom Kay | No Comments

Rep. Jared Huffman asks fellow members of the House Energy and Mineral Subcommittee: “Why should we be allowing mountaintop removal mining to bury hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams, destroy mountain towns, and threaten people in the region with cancer, lung and heart disease?”

Rep. Jared Huffman asks his fellow committee members “Why should we be allowing mountaintop removal mining to bury hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams, destroy mountain towns, and threaten people in the region with cancer, lung and heart disease?”

Yesterday was a busy day on Capitol Hill. With multiple hearings on environmental issues in the House and Senate, Congress is trying to get a lot of business done before the August recess.

House Natural Resources Committee Questions OSM Director Pizarchik

Joseph Pizarchik, Director of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSM) was questioned by the members of the Energy and Mineral Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. The hearing was supposedly focused on the “war on jobs” and the Stream Buffer Zone rule rewrite.

The Bush administration changed the Stream Buffer Zone rule in 2008 to make it easier for coal companies to dump mining waste into Appalachian streams, and among many others, we have been fighting to get OSM to write a stronger rule ever since. The good news is that OSM is indeed in the process of creating a new rule, the Stream Protection Rule. The bad news is that they’ve been working on it for four years and don’t expect it to be released until next year at some time. We also don’t know how strong the rule will be.

Meanwhile, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) of the energy subcommittee has called Pizarchik to the Hill about a half-dozen times to criticize the rulemaking process. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) even criticized the rule, certain that it will cost “thousands of jobs.” Any claims of job killing are based on paranoid assumptions. After all, OSM has not even released a first draft of a rule.
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Tenn. Tuesday – Compromise is Not a Condition

North Carolina Sues Duke Energy Over Coal Ash Pollution, Again

Budget Hacks in White House Bow to Industry Pressure on Clean Water Rule

Tenn. Tuesday – A Bright Day, Welcoming The Newest Tennessean

Virginia votes are key to protecting America’s waters from coal ash pollution

House Republicans fight for mountaintop removal mining

Stepping Toward Wind and Solar Energy in Virginia

Committee to Vote on Mountaintop Removal Tomorrow

Tennessee Tuesday: Tourist Motorcade #1 Comes to Town! Efficiency Works!

House Votes to Block EPA on Coal Ash

Concerns Grow Over the EPA’s Stance on Selenium Pollution

The Environment on The Hill: Congress Continues to Undermine Essential Protections