Duke Energy’s purchase of Piedmont Natural Gas was finalized this week after North Carolina utility regulators signed off on the deal. The acquisition is only the latest development in a regionwide push to expand natural gas investments and infrastructure that foreshadows an energy future experts are urging us to avoid.
The global push for “green” energy has led to clearcutting across the Southeast, where forests are being harvested to fuel Europe’s — and particularly the United Kingdom’s — push to use alternative fuels.
Lara Mack, our Virginia Field Organizer, helped organize last Saturday’s “March on the Mansion” in Richmond to call for clean energy solutions over fracked-gas pipelines, toxic coal ash and climate impacts. She reflects on the legacy, captured in the timeless song, “If I had a hammer,” on the power of citizens coming together to fight for social justice.
In this guest post, West Virginia resident and former coordinator of The Alliance for Appalachia Katey Lauer shares her perspective on the aftermath of the storms and the humanity she witnessed as communities come together and begin to rebuild.
The shift to a clean energy economy in Virginia faces many obstacles — extreme mining, extreme drilling, and apparently extreme legislating. The General Assembly, after failing during session to wrest authority from the governor over the state’s compliance with the Clean Power Plan, used a budgetary ploy after session that handicaps the administration’s efforts.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe stated that Virginia will “stay the course” and continue working to reduce carbon pollution after the U.S. Supreme Court hit pause on the Clean Power Plan. But there’s still more that we’re counting on Governor McAuliffe to deliver.
Challenges to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan are now going through the legal system.
The Catholic Committee of Appalachia’s third pastoral letter highlights the voices of ordinary citizens and focuses on social justice and environmental issues including mountaintop removal coal mining, water quality, climate change, poverty and health.
We are standing with citizens from across North Carolina advocating for a strong state Clean Power Plan at public hearings and through outreach to state decision-makers
After a setback dealt by the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s imperative that decision makers in our region understand the opportunities presented by the Clean Power Plan rather than falsely attacking it as the cause of the coal industry’s hard times.
