Beginning in January 2023, four local environmental and social justice organizations held a series of community listening sessions, one in each coalfield county in Southwest Virginia.
Blog Archives
Community, culture and creation: Working to bring new investments into the coalfields
TAGS: clean energy economic development Environmental Justice Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards southwest virginia The Clinch Coalition UNITY sessions Virginia Organizing
Environmental justice council recommends strict soot and ozone standards
Today, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council voted unanimously to submit a letter to the Biden administration highlighting the disproportionate impact of fine particulate matter and ozone pollution on low-income communities and communities of color.
TAGS: Environmental Justice fine particulate matter national ambient air quality standards ozone pollution White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Statement from Appalachian Voices on U.S. Department of Energy inserting itself into the Mountain Valley Pipeline process
With no current action on the pipeline pending before FERC, the letter is an unnecessary and unusual step by the Biden administration, and one that contradicts the commitment to environmental justice highlighted in the administration’s new executive order signed on Friday.
TAGS: Environmental Justice Federal Energy Regulatory Commission mountain valley pipeline U.S. Department of Energy
Biden administration builds on commitment to environmental justice
In a Rose Garden ceremony this afternoon, President Joe Biden signed a new executive order building on his administration’s efforts to work to ensure that everyone in the United States can live in a safe and healthy environment, protected by the nation’s environmental and civil rights laws.
Five reasons why the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans for a major gas buildout must be stopped
TVA is currently ignoring federal climate goals for a 100% carbon-free energy sector by 2035 to push forward a plan for the second-largest fossil fuel buildout of any utility in the country. These plans will line the pockets of two mega gas corporations, fuel climate change and devastate southeastern habitat and public health.
TAGS: Cumberland Fossil Plant economic development Environmental Justice Kingston Fossil Plant natural gas pipeline Tennessee Valley Authority
No Easy Answers on Coal Ash Cleanup
To protect groundwater and community health, coal ash ponds must be cleaned up. But, as communities in Tennessee have learned, safely removing the toxic waste brings its own set of challenges.
TAGS: Allen Fossil Plant Coal Coal Ash coal ash cleanup coal ash impoundments Electric Utilities Environment Environmental Justice Kingston Coal Ash Spill Kingston Fossil Plant Kingston workers memphis South Memphis Southern Environmental Law Center Tennessee TVA TVA Kingston coal ash spill
House passes Inflation Reduction Act, which will mean historic climate and energy investments, a huge victory for miners with black lung and more
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 12, 2022 CONTACT Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act, sending the bill containing many of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda priorities to…
TAGS: Black Lung Disability Trust Fund Build Back Better Act Climate change Congress Environmental Justice Inflation Reduction Act Sen. Joe Manchin
Appalachian Voices opposes permitting reform proposal by Sen. Manchin and Democratic leadership
Residents of every Appalachian and environmental justice community deserve to benefit from climate policy, and we firmly oppose any approach by Congress that sacrifices frontline communities as part of a political bargain.
TAGS: budget reconciliation Clean Water Act Climate change Congress Environmental Justice mountain valley pipeline National Environmental Policy Act Sen. Joe Manchin
Reconciliation package includes billions of dollars in climate spending
The climate investments included in this package are crucial and urgent. The reduction in carbon emissions they’ll lead to are badly needed, but they will also help the places that have powered the United States for generations finally reach their full economic potential.
TAGS: budget reconciliation Climate change Congress Environmental Justice Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 just transition Sen. Joe Manchin
Even as 2022 Virginia General Assembly wraps up, threats of environmental rollbacks continue
With the signing of the budget, the Virginia General Assembly wrapped up a session filled with challenges and disappointments.
TAGS: air pollution control board Andrew Wheeler bipartisan infrastructure law clean energy and community flood preparedness act Coalfield Community Development Program Coalfield Inter-agency Task Force coalfields Department of Housing and Community Development Dominion Energy electric co-ops electric utility Environmental Justice gob Gov. Glenn Youngkin metals mining pipelines regional greenhouse gas initiative shared solar state corporation commission Virginia Clean Economy Act Virginia Energy Virginia General Assembly
