Four rules finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency late last month will limit pollution from power plants — reducing climate-altering emissions, protecting the health of nearby communities and speeding the transition to renewable energy.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a suite of new rules to limit a range of harmful pollutants from power plants, protecting the climate and human health, and pushing utilities toward cleaner, more reliable ways to meet energy demand, including investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
As spring bursts into bloom in the mountains, Appalachian Voices is officially launching Building Community Resilience in Virginia’s Coalfields, a new project funded through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Grant.
In an extremely disappointing move, the Tennessee Valley Authority issued a Record of Decision for the proposed Kingston Gas Plant, a dirty and expensive project that will hurt the climate and cost families in the Tennessee Valley millions of dollars in unnecessary costs. The new plant would also require a 122-mile pipeline.
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency sent comments to the Tennessee Valley Authority highlighting “serious deficiencies” with the utility’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, or the review of power source alternatives that it is considering for the replacement of the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tennessee.
With funding from the EPA, Appalachian Voices purchased dozens of PurpleAir PM sensors, and distributed these to individuals and grassroots organizations in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
PM 2.5 is a lethal combination of metals, organic matter, acids and other substances so tiny that they can be inhaled and delivered directly into the bloodstream. These airborne pollutants are emitted by tailpipes, power plants and numerous other industries. In our region, coal mine dust is an additional source of this pollutant.
The proposal is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. In Appalachia, our people are breathing fugitive mine dust and toxic emissions from numerous industries. Time and again, state regulatory practices have fallen short in curbing the impacts of these industries. Fugitive coal mine dust in particular has not been regulated in any meaningful way. EPA can and should do more to protect our health.
After a decade of focusing on water pollution from coal mining, Appalachian Voices’ coal impacts team is embarking on an ambitious project to monitor air pollution in communities impacted by coal mining and other fossil fuel infrastructure, and in other communities where air quality is an environmental justice concern.
Appalachian Voices has received $118,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fund the Upper South and Appalachia Citizen Air Monitoring Project.
