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Sizing up APCo’s plan, through customers’ eyes
Appalachian Power Company customers gathered in Roanoke recently to learn more about their electricity provider’s long-term resource plans and get involved in these critical decisions. Here’s a look at how APCo’s plan stands to impede Virginia from harnessing its full renewable energy potential.
Read MoreNorth Carolina lawmakers put fracking first
Residents across North Carolina are looking to their local government officials to oppose fracking since pleas to decision makers in Raleigh have largely fallen on deaf ears. The town of Walnut Cove, N.C., and Rockingham County recently joined the small but growing list of localities where commissions of elected officials have passed anti-fracking moratoriums.
Read MoreI heard it through the pipeline
From Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s perspective, it’s probably best to just keep a lid on what state officials say publicly about controversial natural gas pipelines proposed to cut through the state. But among opponents of the pipelines, the administration’s actions are only deepening skepticism of the governor and his relationship with the projects’ primary backers.
Read MorePro-solar group gets on Duke Energy’s bad side
Duke Energy wants to smack down NC WARN for setting up a experimental solar project on the rooftop of a Greensboro church and testing a law prohibiting third-party electricity sales in North Carolina. The company is not helping its reputation for quashing clean energy efforts that aren’t its own.
Read MoreSettlement in Virginia Coal Pollution Case to Result in Cleaner Water
Contact: Ricky Junquera, Sierra Club, 202-625-2392, ricky.junquera@sierraclub.org Erin Savage, Appalachian Voices, 206-769-8286, erin@appvoices.org Wise County, Va. – The Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Voices today filed a consent decree resolving the 2012 Clean Water Act enforcement suit against A&G Coal Corp., a subsidiary owned by coal billionaire Jim Justice, and found responsible…
Read MoreGov. McCrory signs “Polluter Protection Act”
Late last Friday afternoon, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law H765, the “Regulatory Reform Act of 2015.” This massive reform bill should be called “The Polluter Protection Act” with its plethora of anti-environmental provisions, rollbacks and giveaways to industry. So, just how bad is this bill?
Read MoreUnderstanding the Stream Protection Rule
While the draft Stream Protection Rule is far from perfect, it is a long overdue update to protections for surface and groundwater from mountaintop removal coal mining. Not surprisingly, the coal industry had relied on “war on coal” talking points to fight against the rule, and claims these protections are unnecessary and will undermine an otherwise viable industry. Let’s examine those claims.
Read MoreFollow the leader: A Tennessee electric co-op moves forward
As one rural electric cooperative in Appalachia expands clean energy and technology, other utilities in the region can learn from its example of leadership. Appalachian Electric Cooperative is launching a community solar program, conducting a feasibility study for fiber optic internet and leading the way forward for rural energy efficiency programs in Tennessee.
Read MoreCharlottesville Joins National Day of Climate Action
From Anchorage to Miami, and South Portland to San Diego, thousands of people came out for the National Day of Climate Action this month. In Charlottesville, Appalachian Voices helped turn out perhaps the largest, most diverse environmental justice crowd ever assembled here.
Read MoreN.C. General Assembly restricts local governments on fracking
In the final hours of the legislative session, the N.C. General Assembly approved Senate Bill 119, which contains a provision that invalidates local ordinances put in place to restrict fracking. The provision was added just days after commissioners in Stokes County approved a three-year moratorium on oil and gas operations in the county.
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