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The High Cost of Energy on Our Water
By Jamie Goodman American industries are thirsty for fresh water, and our electrical generation has by far the biggest cup to fill. Close to half of the water withdrawn from our rivers and lakes is destined to cool power plants fueled by coal, uranium and natural gas among others. A fair portion of the water…
Read MoreThe Value of Running Water
By Molly Moore Appalachia’s signature streams and rivers braid together the region’s hills, hollows and pastures, offering fishing, recreation and transportation in addition to the planet’s most vital liquid. Rivers are so integrated into daily life that some people cross a bridge every day without truly seeing the waterway beneath it. But that doesn’t mean…
Read MoreAbrams Falls Trail: A Jaunt to a Jewel of the Smokies
By Stephen Otis The Abrams Falls Trail has historical nuances you won’t find just anywhere. Located in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, the trail, creek and falls are named after a historic leader of the Cherokee Nation, Chief Abram; a short side trail leads to Elijah Oliver’s…
Read MoreBuild a Rod, Tie a Fly: In Search of Healing Waters
By Brian Sewell When David Frady, a 46-year-old from Leicester, N.C., woke up this morning, he felt like going fishing. So far, the rain has kept him indoors, where he’ll practice tying flies, work on the small boat he volunteered to build or pick his guitar, his other favorite stress-relieving activity. Frady says he’s always…
Read MoreUnderground Controversy: Fracking’s Impact on Clean Water
By Jessica Kennedy Nearly all types of conventional energy have their fair share of controversy, and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas is no different. This highly-profitable process continues to spread while many people call for stricter regulations and more research into its potential consequences. Fracking now produces one third of all the…
Read MoreBuried Blackwater: Revealing Coal’s Dirty Secret
By Brian Sewell No one knows exactly when the industry began injecting coal slurry, the toxic, semi-solid waste that remains after mined coal is washed, into networks of abandoned mine shafts throughout Appalachia. But it was sometime after a disaster on a cold morning in 1972, when 132 million gallons of blackwater erupted from a…
Read MoreRecycling the Rain Brings a Barrel of Savings
By Paige Campbell Tom McMullen may be the most water-wise homeowner in the neighborhood. McMullen, his wife Amanda and their two sons live on six-tenths of an acre inside the town limits of Abingdon, Va. A small front lawn and the house itself take up a third of the lot. But walk out the back…
Read MoreSaying Hello and Goodbye
At Appalachian Voices, we are fortunate to share our work with some of the finest minds in the conservation movement, and this year is no exception. We would like to welcome three exciting new additions to our team, expanding our expertise exponentially as we move into the next 15 years. Directing Our Development Kevin Jones,…
Read MoreCoal Report Briefs
Whistleblower Gets His Day: A federal judge ordered a West Virginia coal company to allow Charles Scott Howard to return to his mining job and also pay a $30,000 fine for discriminating against a whistleblower. Cumberland River Coal Co. and its parent company, Arch Coal, reportedly fired Howard for reporting unsafe conditions at a Cumberland…
Read MoreArtists for Appalachia Help Us Celebrate 15 Years
By Kayti Wingfield What better way is there to celebrate 15 years of protecting the beautiful and unique Appalachian region than bringing people together with Appalachian-inspired music and revelry? That’s what we did on July 21 in Charlottesville, Va., when hundreds of members from across the region joined us as we commemorated 15 great years…
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