Monthly Archives: February 2014

Citizens Deliver Coal Ash Petition to Duke Energy

12797909964_793e620d6f_b (1)Tuesday afternoon, more than 150 concerned citizens gathered at Duke Energy’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., to demand that the company take action to clean up its toxic coal ash. The event was the result of an amazing collaboration between a variety of environmental and social justice groups from the states affected by the Dan River spill — North Carolina and Virginia — as well as national interest groups.

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AV Takes Part in Google’s New Maps Gallery

Appalachian Voices was among a handful of entities invited by Google to provide maps for the Maps Gallery, which launched today. Our offerings include a map that shows how families in the Southeast pay a higher percentage of their income for electricity compared to the national average, one that shows average poverty rate by electric utility territory, and six maps that highlight the connection between mountaintop removal coal mining and poverty and health issues. In conjunction with the Maps Gallery launch, we also released a new report explaining in detail the data we pulled from to create the maps.

Google Features Map of Poverty and Electricity Costs in the South as Part of Worldwide Launch of Interactive Maps Gallery

PRESS RELEASE Map images from the report (images are high-res PNG, contact cat@appvoices.org for other formats): Main: Electricity cost burden for all electric utilities in the Southeast Figure 1: Electricity cost burden for rural electric cooperatives in the Southeast Figure

West Virginia Patriot Slurry Spill MCHM Test Results

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Preliminary water testing results from the February West Virginia coal slurry spill that blackened six miles of Fields Creek reveal that pollutants included MCHM, the coal-washing chemical that contaminated the drinking water of 300,0000 West Virginians in January. This finding is significant because state environmental officials appeared to be uncertain whether MCHM was involved — it seems that once more, polluting companies withheld important information from the public.

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NCDENR Defends NCDENR, Not the Environment

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North Carolina environmental officials held a press briefing last week to discuss the massive Feb. 2 Dan River coal ash spill. After offering misleading statements in defense of the agency, officials abruptly walked out amid unanswered questions on their continued delays in holding polluters fully accountable.

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Preventable Spills Yield Predictable Apologies

As the cornerstone of crisis P.R., apologies are to be expected after the West Virginia chemical spill and the coal ash spill in North Carolina. But without action, apologies aren’t meaningful — they’re a reflex, a stalling tactic and a reminder of past offenses. In the weeks and months ahead, we should hold polluters responsible by remembering all the acceptances of accountability and the promises to do better that came after the spills.

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Powering Our Communities as an Olympic Event and Utilities as the Competitors

apcoOur plans and achievements are be measured against our past performance and our potential. Take Olympic figure skating: the judges might remark, “That’s the best she’s ever skated!” or “He would have to beat his personal best by twelve points to medal.” But what about assessing how an electrical utility performs?

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Second Ruptured Pipe Spills Arsenic into Dan River

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Contaminated water continued to flow into the Dan River from Duke Energy’s coal ash pond in Eden, N.C., this week. On Tuesday, state officials reported that a second pipe running beneath the coal ash pond is leaking water containing arsenic at levels 14 times higher than human health standards. Officials do not know how long the pipe has been leaking, but video footage from inside the pipe shows stains around the leaky seams, indicating that the leak is not new.

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Coal-related Spills Connect Us All

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Over the last several weeks, with each report from West Virginia or North Carolina of a coal-related water pollution crisis, I couldn’t help but imagine my favorite river, the Moormans, being poisoned by a mysterious chemical called MCHM, choked by toxic coal ash, or fouled by coal slurry. In fact, it is my river that is threatened. And your river, too. But our shared connection to the creeks and rivers running through our lives unites us in the fight to protect our waters, and that’s what gives me hope.

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KY and NC: Different States, Same Recipe for Lax Clean Water Enforcement

Yesterday there was a hearing in Franklin Circuit Court for our ongoing challenge of a weak settlement that the state of Kentucky reached with Frasure Creek Mining. The settlement is a slap on the wrist that lets them off the hook for thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act, and it bears a striking resemblance to the settlement between North Carolina and Duke Energy that has come under scrutiny after their recent coal ash spill into the Dan River.

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