Archive for June 2015
Spreading the Word at FloydFest
It’s not too late to get tickets to this year’s FloydFest: Fire on the Mountain, but don’t delay, as they won’t last long. Appalachian Voices staff is gearing up for an unforgettable event. We’re collaborating with festival staff to create a special Tattoo Parlor in the middle of the festival, where we will spread the…
Read MoreLabor Dept. Audits MSHA
Following a scathing report by two media organizations into unpaid mine safety fines, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced plans to audit the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s handling of delinquent penalties. The 2014 report by NPR and Mine Safety and Health News motivated members of Congress and mine safety experts to urge the…
Read MoreSolitude and Discovery at Zaleski State Forest
During Baby Josie’s first mountain hike, her parents took her on a 10-mile loop in southeast Ohio that wanders by a pond of lily pads, along ridgelines and through pine groves.
Read MoreCommunities at Risk from Mountaintop Removal
A new interactive map shows that, even as Appalachian coal production declines, mountaintop removal coal mining is encroaching on many communities in the region.
Read MoreWhite House Unveils New Plans to Protect Honeybees
By Laura Marion The White House unveiled its federal honeybee protection plan less than a week after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that honeybee populations further declined by 40 percent between April 2014 and April 2015. The agency’s National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators plan will provide funding…
Read MorePublic Comment Period on Key Ingredient of RoundUp
By Laura Marion This May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told Reuters news agency that it has finished a review of the health and environmental impacts of glyphosate — a chemical used in popular herbicides such as RoundUp — and will release a preliminary human health risk assessment this July. After this release, the EPA…
Read MoreLa Crosse Virus on the Rise in Appalachia
By Laura Marion A third species of mosquito capable of transmitting the La Crosse encephalitis virus has been discovered in the Appalachian region, according to a report published by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Up to 100 cases of the disease are reported each year in the United States. The disease mainly…
Read MoreTennessee Rivers at Risk
By Cody Burchett According to a report released this May by the nonprofit Tennessee Clean Water Network, surface water enforcement actions issued by Tennessee state regulators have dropped 75 percent since 2008. Of the 53 enforcement orders issued last year by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, more than a quarter were related to…
Read MoreHealing the Red River’s Tributaries
Advocates for Kentucky’s Red River are advancing a plan to protect the creeks that feed this iconic waterway.
Read MoreOn the Front Lines
When mountaintop removal threatened to surround the tiny town of Inman, Va., residents pushed back.
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