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Busting Big Coal-Legal Action Initiated Today
The WaterWatch team at Appalachian Voices has teamed up with organizations and legal groups to launch legal action against three coal mining companies for violations of the Clean Water Act. Unbelievable in this day and age, I thought, when my assistant, Eric Chance, and I researched discharge monitoring reports from Kentucky and discovered potential instances…
Read MoreCoal Ash Pond Failure in Wimington NC
Right here in North Carolina a coal ash pond at Progress Energy’s Sutton Plant near Wilmington was breached on Monday. Monday’s heavy rains may have been a factor in the failure, but there is another wave of heavy rains coming to the region today and tomorrow that may cause even more problems. for more information…
Read MoreOperation Medicine Cabinet-Drug Take Back Day Oct. 2
Do you have outdated or unused prescription drugs, over the counter medications, syringes or other medical supplies? Come drop them off at the sponsored take-back centers in Ashe and Watauga Counties on three different days this October. Any prescription or over the counter drugs will be accepted, no questions asked. On Friday October 1 drugs…
Read MoreJoin the Watauga River Cleanup Saturday Sept. 25
Come out and join us this Saturday (September 25) to help clean up the Watauga River. Starting at 9am groups will be picking up trash from the Watauga River from Foscoe all the way to the Guy Ford Road Bridge, covering a total of nearly 30 miles of stream. Because of extremely low water levels…
Read MoreBoone Town Council hears about Fish Kill and Coal-Tar Sealant Ban Tonight
Please join the Watauga Riverkeeper at the Boone Town Council Meeting this Tuesday (September 21) evening at 7:00 pm to show your support for a ban on coal tar based asphalt sealants. The Watauga Riverkeeper, Donna Lisenby will be giving a presentation to the town council about coal tar based asphalt sealants and why they…
Read More“Cooperative should scrap proposed coal plant”
This Op-Ed, by the coalition coordinator for the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition of which Appalachian Voices is a proud member, is running at Tidewater News Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s announcement on Wednesday to delay plans for a massive coal-fired power plant in Hampton Roads offers a ray of hope that Virginia can still get…
Read MorePhotographer Awarded for Photos on Beauty of Coal Country
Carl Galie, an photographer hailing from Winston-Salem, was recently awarded the first ever Art for Conservation Grant to go towards the printing of his work for public display. He has been very active with Appalachian Voices in our work to end mountaintop removal, both through action online and visiting decision-makers to tell them about his…
Read MoreRally for Blair Mountain Labor Day Weekend!
If saving mountains is a hobby of yours (and if you’re reading this blog, I imagine it is) then head out to the Whipple Company Store in Scarbro, W.Va., this weekend to support the historic Blair Mountain! On Saturday, Sept. 4, from noon until 5 p.m., Whipple Company Store and the Friends of Blair Mountain—along…
Read MoreNY Times on Coal River Wind Project, Editorial Too
This month, the New York Times ran a story in the front page of the Business Section about the battle over Coal River Mountain. This mountain, the last standing in the Coal River Valley, is slated for a 6,600 square mile mountaintop removal mine. But local residents, led by grandmother Lorelei Scarbro, has a different…
Read MoreTVA idling units at 3 coal plants- as good as it sounds?
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a New Deal initiative designed to uplift the Tennessee and surrounding Appalachian states by providing electricity to the region, is now better known for one of the largest environmental disasters on the east coast (not including the BP oil spill). A few days before Christmas of 2008, 1 billion gallons…
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