In this legislative session, Tennesseans’ voices were silenced. Here’s what I would have said. Yesterday, I was honored to be called to testify before the Tennessee State Senate Committee on Energy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, along with a friend, hero…
Blog Archives
What We Weren’t Allowed to Say
TAGS: appalachia Coal Mountaintop Removal Scenic Tennessee Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act Tennessee State legislature
Protecting Tennessee’s mountains? Not worth the Senate’s time.
Despite broad citizen and political support for a bill protecting Tennessee’s mountains, the state Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee today decided to not even allow public testimony on the measure and instead killed the bill. SB99, the Scenic…
TAGS: appalachia Appalachian Voices Coal Mountaintop Removal Politics Tennessee Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act Tennessee State legislature
Lawmakers to hold hearings on Scenic Vistas bill on heels of ad campaign from conservatives
Press Advisory Appalachian Voices March 19, 2013 Contact: JW Randolph, Tennessee Director, 202-669-3670; jw@appvoices.org Nashville – Tennessee Senate and House panels are scheduled tomorrow to consider bi-partisan companion bills that protect mountain forests on the Cumberland Plateau by effectively prohibiting…
TAGS: Coal Environment Mountaintop Removal Tennessee Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act Tennessee State legislature
Stop Brushing off the Bad Stuff
West Virginia University professor and public health researcher Dr. Michael Hendryx’s latest article, “Personal and Family Health in Rural Areas of Kentucky With and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining,” appeared in the online Journal of Rural Health a couple of days…
A Week of Education and Action
Last week, more than a hundred college students from around the country spent their spring break in Appalachia, Va., to learn about mountaintop removal coal mining, involve themselves in nonviolent actions, and volunteer for social projects that benefit a community…
Tennessee Votes on Scenic Vistas Tomorrow. CALL TODAY!
Call today and Urge Tennessee Legislators to Protect the Beauty and Economic Vitality of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee legislators are scheduled to take up a critical vote tomorrow on the Scenic Vistas Protection Act — a good bill with broad,…
TAGS: appalachia Appalachian Voices Coal Environment Mountaintop Removal Outdoor Recreation Tennessee State legislature
Help Protect Kentucky’s Fish from Toxic Selenium
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet is currently attempting to significantly weaken the state’s water quality standards for selenium. Selenium is a pollutant common at some coal mines that deforms and kills aquatic life. It bioaccumulates, increasing in concentration as…
TAGS: Appalachian Water Watch Clean Water Act Coal Coal Ash Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Mountaintop Removal Politics Selenium Water Water Pollution
Lesson Learned: The Buffalo Creek Flood
I woke up this morning to a frozen world. Fog and ice descended on the hills above Boone, N.C., last night and are still waiting around for the thaw. It was silent other than the periodic crack of a branch…
TAGS: appalachia Coal Environment Health Kentucky Mountaintop Removal Water Water Pollution West Virginia
Virginia Transportation Board OKs Coalfields Expressway Project
Yesterday, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a four-lane divided highway that will flatten steep mountain ridges in southwest Virginia along a route proposed by Alpha Natural Resources — the largest coal company operating in Appalachia today. The proposed 26-mile Coalfields…
TAGS: appalachia Appalachian Voices Coal Economy Environment EPA Health Mountaintop Removal Politics Virginia Water Water Pollution
A Clearcut Connection Between Mountaintop Removal and Climate Change
By Melanie Foley Legislative Policy and Research Assistant, Summer 2013 Scientists from the universities of Kentucky and California recently released a study detailing the climate implications of coal extraction by mountaintop removal. If coal mining continues at its current pace,…
TAGS: appalachia Appalachian Voices Climate change Coal Environment Kentucky Mountaintop Removal Tennessee Virginia West Virginia
