This week, Appalachian Voices and 12 partner organizations are on Capitol Hill to tell Congress to protect our communities by making coal companies clean up their functionally abandoned coal mines, known as zombie mines.
Blog Archives
A week of action to stop zombie coal mines
TAGS: Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance Alliance for Appalachia Black Warrior Riverkeeper Bond Improvement and Reclamation Assurance Act Center for Coalfield Justice Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act Coal River Mountain Watch Congress Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Resource Council Rep. Matt Cartwright Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards Southern Connected Communities Project Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment The Clinch Coalition U.S. Rep. Don Beyer. zombie mines West Virginia Highlands Conservancy zombie mines
Guest post: Alabama electric cooperatives rank last in new regional scorecard
If you haven’t heard, Energy Alabama has released an updated scorecard evaluating the performance of Alabama’s rural electric cooperatives in areas such as democratic governance, member services, and access to clean energy, to name a few.
TAGS: Advancing Equity and Opportunity Collaborative electric co-ops Energy Alabama energy democracy Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Mountain Association One Voice Partnership for Southern Equity Rural Power Coalition Southeast Regional Electric Cooperative Scorecards
Scorecards rate rural electric cooperatives in Virginia
A scorecard released today by Appalachian Voices reveals that rural electric cooperatives in the Southeast need critical reform to ensure they are operating according to good governance standards and providing clean energy programs to their members. The new scorecards build on a previous project, and find that while Virginia’s electric co-ops have made some reforms and are leading the region, there is still room for improvement.
TAGS: Advancing Equity and Opportunity Collaborative electric co-ops Energy Alabama energy democracy Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Mountain Association One Voice Partnership for Southern Equity Repower REC Shareable Southeast Regional Electric Cooperative Scorecards Virginia
Scorecards rate rural electric cooperatives in Tennessee
Today, advocacy organizations across seven southeastern states released scorecards that examine the policies and programs of the region’s rural electric cooperatives across a number of areas, including governance, transparency, energy efficiency, member access to renewable energy and other factors. Though no co-op across seven states scored more than 65 out of 100 total points, co-ops in Tennessee achieved an average score of 28 points.
TAGS: Advancing Equity and Opportunity Collaborative electric co-ops Energy Alabama energy democracy Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Mountain Association One Voice Partnership for Southern Equity Repower REC Shareable Southeast Regional Electric Cooperative Scorecards Tennessee
Scorecards rate rural electric cooperatives in North Carolina
Today, Appalachian Voices released scorecards examining how electric cooperatives in North Carolina measured up across a number of areas, including governance, transparency, energy efficiency, member access to clean energy and other factors. The results showed that the majority of the 26 co-ops in North Carolina impose significant barriers for customer-members to participate in the democratic governance of their co-ops, while only a few offer services or supportive policies to help members lower their electric bills.
TAGS: Advancing Equity and Opportunity Collaborative electric co-ops Energy Alabama energy democracy Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Mountain Association North Carolina One Voice Partnership for Southern Equity Repower REC Shareable Southeast Regional Electric Cooperative Scorecards
Southeast Regional Scorecard release will grade rural electric cooperatives on democratic governance, clean energy policy and more
On Nov. 16, organizations from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia will release scorecards examining how electric cooperatives in their states measured up across a number of areas.
TAGS: Advancing Equity and Opportunity Collaborative clean energy Energy Alabama energy democracy Energy Efficiency Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Mountain Association National Rural Electric Cooperative Association One Voice Partnership for Southern Equity rural electric cooperatives Southeast Regional Electric Cooperative Scorecards
Regulators decide on Kentucky Power’s third rate hike in five years
Although the Kentucky Public Service Commission denied the utility’s original request for a 25 percent rate increase, the body approved a rate hike of 12.5 percent for residential customers.
TAGS: energy democracy Guest Contributor Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Kentucky Power monopoly utilities Mountain Association rate hike
Powering Up: Diversifying central Appalachia’s economy
From The Appalachian Voice: As coal production continues to decline, many citizens and groups in central Appalachia are working hard to find new avenues for economic diversification.
TAGS: Central Appalachia Economic diversification Kentuckians for the Commonwealth POWER+ Plan southwest virginia
An end to Frasure Creek’s water violations in Kentucky — finally
Late Monday evening, Appalachian Voices and our partners finalized a historic settlement in our case against Frasure Creek Mining. The settlement follows a five-year-long legal battle to protect eastern Kentucky’s waterways and bring a coal company notorious for violating environmental laws to justice.
TAGS: Appalachian Voices Appalachian Water Watch Clean Water Act Coal Environment Health Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Kentucky Litigation Mountaintop Removal Politics Water Pollution
States Hold Strong on Clean Power Plan Positions
Appalachian states vary in their reactions to the Clean Power Plan: West Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio have filed a lawsuit against the new regulations, while Virginia and Maryland are working to defend the plan.
TAGS: clean power plan Climate change Enivonmental Protection Agency Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky KFTC North Carolina Virginia
