The troubles of an investor-owned, private water utility in West Virginia illustrate some of the hazards of private water ownership. Nationally, the number of Americans relying on public water utilities is growing, and for-profit water companies face a tougher market.
Alpha Natural Resources, one of the largest coal mining companies in the United States and a big player in the Appalachian coal market, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday of this week, blaming “an unprecedented period of distress with increased competition from natural gas, an oversupply in the global coal market, historically low prices due to weaker international and domestic economies, and increasing government regulation that has pushed electric utilities to transition away from coal-fired power plants.
There are more than 300 different species of crayfish in the southeastern United States, and two West Virginia species of these adaptable freshwater crustaceans may be declared federally endangered.
Kentucky researchers prepare to test for fracking-induced earthquakes, a university fracking site stirs controversy in West Virginia, and suspicion rises that there may be natural gas beneath Stokes County, North Carolina.
Contact: Cat McCue, Communications Director, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a long-awaited draft of the Stream Protection Rule, which the agency has been working on since 2010. The purpose of the rule is to prevent…
The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) published a blog post today showing that coal produced by mountaintop removal mining in Central Appalachia decreased by 62 percent between 2008 and 2014. Demand for Central Appalachian coal will continue to decline, making further progress inevitable. But we won’t end mountaintop removal by relying on the market alone.
Virginia’s coal-bearing counties would directly benefit from the adoption of the POWER+ plan, a proposal in the Obama administration’s 2016 budget that would direct more than a billion dollars to Central Appalachia. But budget bills passed out of both houses of Congress weaken or include no mention of the POWER+ Plan.
From innovative job-training models and worker-owned business to the prospect of federal funding to reinvigorate Appalachia, people across the region are working for a stronger economy.
An online marketplace allows shoppers to reach 51 local West Virginia farms at the click of a button.
A project to help re-energize small towns is encouraging community-led projects, like the brand-new West Virginia Mine Wars Museum!
