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The Modest Mayapple
Story by Alison Singer What first caught my eye was the tightly wound green bundle atop the stem. They looked like closed umbrellas. “What are those?” I asked, pointing. “It’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit,” my friend told me, and I let the name slide over my tongue. I pictured a preacher clasping his hands in front of his…
Read MoreFormer Appalachian Voices Director Mary-Anne Hitt Recognized by Alma Mater
Mary Anne Hitt, who served as Appalachian Voices’ Executive Director from spring 2004 until November, 2008, recently received the University of Tennessee’s Notable Woman award. The award, given every year since 1995 by the University of Tennessee Commission for Women, honors “a woman whose accomplishments bring distinction to the university.” Margaret Crawford, who serves as…
Read MoreAppalachian Voices’ Attorney Puts Duke CEO Jim Rogers in The Hot Seat
While several dozen people were outside Duke Energy headquarters protesting CEO Jim Rogers’ decision to construct new coal-fired power plants in North Carolina and Indiana, Scott Gollwitzer, Appalachian Voices’ In-house Counsel, was inside asking questions at the annual shareholders’ meeting. When it was his turn, Gollwitzer briefly described the devastating social and environmental impacts of…
Read MoreVirginia AV Office Opposing Surry’s Behemoth Coal Power Plant
By Mike McCoy AV’s Virginia office is focused on preventing a behemoth of a coal plant from being permitted and built in the small town of Dendron, Virginia in the Hampton Roads area. Nine Virginia electric cooperatives are partnering in a 1500 megawatt coal plant that will have massive environmental impacts. The Old Dominion Electric…
Read MoreTeam Beltway Weighs In: Clean Water Protection Act Reaches 151 Cosponsors
By J.W. Randolph The federal Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) has reached 151 cosponsors in just under 4 months of cosponsor recruitment, Appalachian Voices ‘Team Beltway’ is pleased to announce. During the last Congress, it took 21 months to reach the same goal. This shows that our grassroots work across the country to educate…
Read MoreRail-trail leads along Piney River near Virginia’s Blue Ridge
Story by Joe Tennis Easing along the Piney River, the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail chugs along a historical path, crisscrossing the Amherst-Nelson county line. This easy to moderate rail trail, at five miles in length, was once the path of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway. Trains stopped rolling in 1981, and that’s when Popie…
Read MoreAppalachian Voices Welcomes New Executive Director, Willa Mays
Appalachian Voices is pleased to announced the appointment of Willa Coffey Mays as our new executive director. Mays brings 20 years of experience working with non-profit organizations, ten of those with groups focused on the environment, working in marketing, fundraising, leadership, and program development. “To have an executive director with the breadth of experience and…
Read MoreWind Power: A View from the West
By Dawn Stover Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our time, and virtually everyone agrees that renewable energy must be part of the solution. Unfortunately, the scramble to implement “green” technologies—primarily wind power—is rapidly transforming landscapes across the United States. And in the rush to erect turbines, wildlife impacts are too often overlooked…
Read MoreMaking Realistic Choices
Proposals for new wind energy projects are generating controversy in Appalachia. Opponents of wind projects, such as the ones in Tazewell or Highland counties of Virginia, or Barbour and Randolph counties of West Virginia, are worried about biodiversity, about safety, about property values and about views of the mountains. This is perfectly understandable. The legitimate…
Read MoreLetters to the Editor
Jobs depend on mountaintop removal To the Editor, I am writing in regard to an e-mail that was forwarded to me by a mountaintop removal opponent. My husband mines coal by mountaintop removal, and is right now laid off. My husband and I were born and raised in the great state of West Virginia. We…
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