Blog Archives

Guest post: New SkyTruth research reveals legacy of mountaintop mining — and the policy implications

Explosives and heavy equipment: the perfect combination for mine owners to extract coal from a pristine Appalachian landscape. Too bad this process, known as mountaintop removal mining, is terrible if you live near the mined mountain, or in a watershed downstream, or on a planet faced with the imminent threat of ever-increasing temperatures brought about by greenhouse-gas emissions.

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Google Earth teams up with Appalachian Voices

Appalachian Voices teamed up with Google Earth on a video to show how the search engine’s satellite imagery helps us protect the environment.

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Court rules that coal mines need a permit for water pollution from valley fills

creek with unnatural blue hue

Good news for clean water! Despite a setback in appeals court, overall the Red River Coal Company court ruling will help communities fight back against pollution from mountaintop removal coal mines.

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Settlement forces W.Va. coal mine to reduce pollution

Charleston, WV — The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club today filed a settlement with Bluestone Coal Company that will hold the company responsible for releasing illegal levels of toxic selenium

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Miners with black lung disease deserve better

Coal miners were promised health care benefits if they contract black lung, a deadly disease. Congress owes it to them to ensure those benefits are funded.

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Saving Appalachian Species

The Endangered Species Act plays a crucial role in protecting our region’s wealth of biodiversity — but this bedrock environmental law is under attack.

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Coal miners call on Congress for support amidst dual threats from black lung and COVID-19

complicated black lung disease

CONTACT: Rebecca Shelton, Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, rshelton@aclc.org Willie Dodson, Appalachian Voices, willie@appvoices.org (NOTE: Several miners and their family members are available for interviews; images are also available; please contact Rebecca or Willie.) The president of the Black Lung Association

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What do Virginia’s new energy laws mean for the coalfields

New energy laws in Virginia provide significant opportunity for solar development in the state’s historic coalfields, but not enough direct support for communities hit by the clean energy transition.

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Endangered Species Rulings Could Impact Energy Projects

big sandy crayfish

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the protection of 445 stream miles in Central Appalachia in January that serves as habitat for two at-risk aquatic species.

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Sen. Manchin takes new view of mountaintop removal coal mining

Photo of mountaintop removal mining by Kent Mason

CONTACTS: Thom Kay, Senior Legislative Representative, thom.kay@appvoices.org, 828-262-1500 At a confirmation hearing today for the nominee to head the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement, Sen. Joe Manchin asked nominee Lanny Erdos to commit to revive a National Academies

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