Contact: Ricky Junquera, Sierra Club, 202-625-2392, ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org Erin Savage, Appalachian Voices, 206-769-8286, erin@appvoices.org Wise County, Va. – The Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Voices today filed a consent decree resolving the 2012 Clean Water Act enforcement suit…
Monthly Archives: October 2015
Gov. McCrory signs “Polluter Protection Act”
Late last Friday afternoon, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law H765, the “Regulatory Reform Act of 2015.” This massive reform bill should be called “The Polluter Protection Act” with its plethora of anti-environmental provisions, rollbacks and giveaways to industry. So, just how bad is this bill?
30 Groups Demand Single FERC Study of Fracked-Gas Pipelines
Contacts: Joe Lovett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, 304-645-9006, jlovett@appalmad.org Joanna Salidis, Friends of Nelson, 434-242-5859, josalidis@gmail.com Tammy Belinsky, Preserve Craig, 540-874-5798, tambel@hughes.net Kirk Bowers, Sierra Club, 434-296 8673, kirk.bowers@sierraclub.org Hannah Wiegard, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, hannah@appvoices.org Monique Sullivan, Chesapeake Climate Action Network,…
TAGS: Atlantic Coast Pipeline clean energy Climate change Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC fracking mountain valley pipeline Natural Gas Pipeline
Understanding the Stream Protection Rule
While the draft Stream Protection Rule is far from perfect, it is a long overdue update to protections for surface and groundwater from mountaintop removal coal mining. Not surprisingly, the coal industry had relied on “war on coal” talking points to fight against the rule, and claims these protections are unnecessary and will undermine an otherwise viable industry. Let’s examine those claims.
TAGS: appalachia Climate change Coal Environment Health Kentucky Mountaintop Removal Politics Stream Protection Rule Tennessee Virginia Water Pollution West Virginia
Environmental Groups Plan Legal Challenge of Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Contact: Ben Luckett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, 304-645-125, bluckett@appalamad.org Anne Havemann, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-1984 anne@chesapeakeclimate.org Kirk Bowers, Va. Chapter of Sierra Club, 434-296-8673, kirk.bowers@sierraclub.org Hannah Wiegard, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, hannah@appvoices.org The proposed 564-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would carry…
Citizens See Opportunities for Southwest Virginia’s New Economy
Contact: Adam Wells, Appalachian Voices, 276-679-1691, adam@appvoices.org Wise, Va. — More than 100 citizens from across the Virginia coalfields have shared their thoughts on how to reshape and grow the region’s economy at the Southwest Virginia’s New Economy Forums. Hosted…
Follow the leader: A Tennessee electric co-op moves forward
As one rural electric cooperative in Appalachia expands clean energy and technology, other utilities in the region can learn from its example of leadership. Appalachian Electric Cooperative is launching a community solar program, conducting a feasibility study for fiber optic internet and leading the way forward for rural energy efficiency programs in Tennessee.
TAGS: appalachia Appalachian Voices clean energy Electric Utilities Energy Efficiency Solar Energy Tennessee
Charlottesville Joins National Day of Climate Action
From Anchorage to Miami, and South Portland to San Diego, thousands of people came out for the National Day of Climate Action this month. In Charlottesville, Appalachian Voices helped turn out perhaps the largest, most diverse environmental justice crowd ever assembled here.
TAGS: Charlottesville clean energy Climate change global warming Natural Gas People's Climate March pipelines Virginia
N.C. General Assembly restricts local governments on fracking
In the final hours of the legislative session, the N.C. General Assembly approved Senate Bill 119, which contains a provision that invalidates local ordinances put in place to restrict fracking. The provision was added just days after commissioners in Stokes County approved a three-year moratorium on oil and gas operations in the county.
Drivers of Pollution
By W. Spencer King Nearly ninety percent of Americans drive to work everyday, the commute bookending the workday with traffic, red lights and monotony. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change and smog, which are detrimental to both the environment and…
