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Appalachian Coal Losing Another Customer: High Prices Push Utilities to Competing Reserves
We posted a piece yesterday about the retirement plans for Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts – the most modern coal-fired power plant in New England – and how some are calling its eventual closure a death knell for coal in the Northeast. Or, as Jonathan Peress of the Conservation Law Foundation said in a…
Read MoreEnergy Efficiency Programs Survive the Government Shutdown
Although TVA is a government-owned electric utility, the ongoing government shutdown has not affected its operations. As a result, businesses across the Southeast are able to continue saving money and energy thanks to TVA’s Energy Right Solutions for Industry program. For instance, on Oct. 8, TVA representatives and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant handed a $2…
Read MoreAppalachian Coal Losing Another Customer: New England’s Largest Coal Plant to Close
The Brayton Point Power Station, a 1,600-megawatt power plant in Massachusetts and New England’s largest coal-burning facility, has been in operation for nearly 50 years. But recently it started to seem like no one wanted to be responsible for the aging plant. Yesterday, the plant’s owner announced plans to retire Brayton Point by May 2017.…
Read MoreN.C. Citizens Speak Up About Power Plant Water Pollution
By Sarah Kellogg Four out of five power plants currently have no limits on the levels of heavy metals they can dump into rivers and lakes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, however, is preparing to change that, and in the process they are hearing from impacted citizens around the country. Since June, more than 165,000…
Read MoreTenn Tuesday: SEJ, CAPP Coal Decline, Record Hydro!
Now, with even *more* Chattanooga! Happy Tuesday! A whole mess of Appalachian Voices’ staff spent most of last week and the weekend at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in one of the greatest cities in America — Chattanooga, Tenn. The Scenic City, has the world’s fastest internet, the first LEED-Platinum certified factory at the…
Read MoreAn Era of Undoing: The State of Appalachia’s Labor Unions
By Brian Sewell “We are union,” the marchers chanted. Blanketing the streets of downtown Charleston, W.Va., with bystanders shouting in support, the vocal crowd stretched for blocks behind a banner that read “Fighting for Fairness at Patriot.” Shortly after Patriot Coal declared bankruptcy in July 2012, the company announced plans to rescind its promise of…
Read MoreHistorical Hidden Treasures of Kentucky
By Rachel Ellen Simon U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum In the mid-20th century, an eastern Kentucky saying put a new spin on the “three Rs” – “readin’, writin’, and Route 23.” With the post-war decline of coal, millions of Appalachians sought work in cities north along U.S. Hwy. 23. This “Hillbilly Highway” also connected…
Read MoreHighlights from the Southeast Coal Ash Summit
The power of the environmental justice movement is rooted in our ability to band together and engage a broad base of support. This past weekend, more than 80 citizens convened for the first ever Southeast Coal Ash Summit in Atlanta, Ga. Appalachian Voices, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and…
Read MoreA Pressing Matter: Facing the Utility Death Spiral
The most recent issue of The Appalachian Voice includes a story about distributed energy generation, especially rooftop solar, and the ways communities, nonprofits and entrepreneurs are helping each other democratize the grid. But as they do, we’re seeing just how much old-school utilities are entrenched in old-school models that, while a bit dated, are still…
Read MoreLocal Citizens Speak Up about Nation’s Top Source of Toxic Water Pollution: Coal-Burning Waste
Last month, more than 150,000 people across the country submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, encouraging the agency to adopt strong regulations for the toxic waste water produced by coal-burning power plants. The comments were submitted to the EPA after the agency proposed an update of the rules under the Clean Water Act…
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