All Posts
Worried about Water? The EPA’s New Tool Can Help
Maps provide a valuable perspective of the lay of the land, the ability to identify local waterways, their length and proximity to urban or agricultural areas, and their connectivity as they wrap around hills or snake through open plains. But there was always something you couldn’t learn about rivers and streams near your community by…
Read MoreVictory in Virginia ODEC Coal Plant Fight! | Participating In the Democratic Process
Victory in Virginia ODEC Coal Plant Fight! Members of the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition rejoiced recently over news that plans for the state’s largest proposed coal-fired power plant were put on hold. Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, the third largest power utility in the Commonwealth, announced earlier this fall that it was suspending the permitting…
Read MoreOrganizational Round-Up
Showing Some Clean Water Love On October 18, shortly after we go to press, the Clean Water Act will turn 40 years old. In conjunction with that anniversary, our Red, White & Water team is putting together a report on the successes of the long-standing program, complete with personal stories of residents and communities who…
Read MoreBringing Polluters to Justice — One Court Case at a Time
By Eric Chance and Erin Savage On Oct 1., Appalachian Voices and a coalition of citizens’ groups reached a historic settlement in a Kentucky case involving some of the most far-reaching and astonishing violations of the Clean Water Act in its 40-year history. The agreement between the citizens’ groups, International Coal Group, Inc., and the…
Read MoreLetter to the Editor
Chicken Farms Fowl Water Quality in N.C. Dear Editor, I appreciate your special on water pollution in our region (Changing Currents, August/September 2012). There is a more serious problem, however. Just down the mountain and around the corner from your office in Boone, N.C., there is an ongoing crime being committed against man and nature.…
Read MoreUneven Ground: Examining Appalachian History Since 1945
By Matt Grimley Imagine two Appalachias: one of banjos, moonshine, and dilapidated log cabins; the other of people, their families, their rich history and unfulfilled futures. That dichotomy and how it is exploited is what University of Kentucky professor Ronald D. Eller writes about in “Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945.” Eller writes with lucidity and…
Read MoreHow the Rest of the World Needs to Help Educate the U.S.
By Rev. Pat Watkins Several years ago, volunteers from a United Methodist Church traveled to a small village in Kenya where they observed that the women of the village were walking, twice a day with buckets on their heads, to a river a mile away to get water for their families. Deciding this village could…
Read MoreSeeking A Return to Truth
When did America’s leaders stop trusting in science? This fair country, with its wealth of knowledge and opportunity, used to be one of the global frontrunners in scientific reasoning, influence and education. We stood by the principles of proof rather than blind emotion or myth. In the 19th century, those principles brought us anesthesia and…
Read MoreTwo School Districts Go Green to Save Green
By Toby MacDermott North Adams Elementary is one of the greenest schools in southeast Ohio. With solar panels on the roof, wild turkeys roaming the grounds, and a design based on LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, standards, this school exemplifies sustainability in action. But this building is not alone. The entire Adams…
Read MoreIn Bankruptcy, Patriot Coal Creates its Legacy | Sacrificing a Historic Landmark to Coal
In Bankruptcy, Patriot Coal Creates its Legacy By Brian Sewell Concerns over how Patriot Coal will meet its commitments to generations of retirees have rippled throughout Appalachia. When the St. Louis-based spin-off of Peabody Coal filed for bankruptcy in July, it cited “substantial and unsustainable legacy costs” owed to retirees and beneficiaries as factors. Now,…
Read More