Every day, more Americans become concerned with the threat of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Just yesterday, I was made aware of a website called “What About Mountains?” created by a fourth grade class at the Episcopal School of Knoxville. These…
Blog Archives
Kentucky’s Lab Certification- Is it strong enough?
Yesterday, Appalachian Voices submitted public comments on a proposed wastewater lab certification program in Kentucky. To discharge polluted water, coal companies must receive a permit under the Clean Water Act. This permit that requires companies to test wastewater and report…
TAGS: Appalachian Water Watch Clean Water Act Coal Environment Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Kentucky Litigation Mountaintop Removal Red White and Water Water Water Pollution
Coal Ash Floods Congress and the Courts
On April 11, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment and Economy held a hearing in part to promote the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2013, drafted legislation that would prevent the EPA from implementing federal regulation…
TAGS: Appalachian Voices Clean Water Act Coal Ash North Carolina Red White and Water Water Pollution
EPA Releases Proposal To Update Clean Water Act Standards for Power Plant Pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally proposed a range of options to regulate waste water from power plants which are responsible for half of the nation’s water pollution. While the public comment period has yet to begin, a public…
Tennessee Legislators Dodge Vote on Mountaintop Removal Although a bill to protect Tennessee’s mountains received broad citizen and political support — and media attention from around the world — state legislators chose to deny public testimony on the measure and…
Canvassing Against Coal Ash
Last Saturday, the Red, White and Water team traveled to Belmont, N.C., to the G.G. Allen Steam Station for a day of canvassing. Walking door-to-door, we asked residents of the communities near the coal-fired power plant if they had been…
TAGS: Coal Ash Duke Energy Electric Utilities Environment EPA Health North Carolina Red White and Water Water Pollution
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
“I’m Here Because I Love Mountains:” Watch a speech by Appalachian Voices’ JW Randolph
On Feb. 8, Appalachian Voices Tennessee Director, JW Randolph, spoke to members of the state legislature, the media and the environmental community. Below is a video and the transcript of his speech in support of the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection…
TAGS: appalachia Coal Economy Electric Utilities Environment Health Mountaintop Removal Politics Tennessee Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act Tennessee State legislature TVA Water Pollution
