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Tennessee Student Environmental Alliance Connects Children with Nature
By Julie Johnson Students in eight Chattanooga-area schools are helping to clean up the greater Tennessee River watershed. Focusing their efforts on the “Ridge to River” system, the students learn about their water and the effects of pollution on its quality, from the small streams at the tops of mountains to the large rivers in the…
Read MoreEPA Grants Temporary Stay of Execution for Over 79 Mountains
Story by Sandra Diaz In line with an interagency “memorandum of understanding,” the Environmental Protection Agency announced their recommendations on 79 valley fill permit applications associated with mountaintop removal coal mining. In a move that pleased environmentalists and coalfield residents in central and southern Appalachia, the EPA wants to further review all 79 permits for…
Read MoreAstroturfing vs. Grassroots—The Debate over Coal Continues
By Sandra Diaz Fake FACES, false FORCE, and astroturf lobbying. During the past two months, the coal industry was rocked by scandals that stemmed from backfired public relations campaigns. It started when ACCCE, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, hired Bonner and Associates to help influence Congress to vote against climate legislation. Bonner and…
Read MorePublic Hearings Discuss Duke Energy Rate Increase
By Julie Johnson Duke Energy customers and concerned citizens are challenging the North Carolina electric utilities provider over a proposed 18 percent rate increase. The utility provider is proposing a 13.5 percent increase for residential consumers to support the projected $1.8 billion costs of an 825 megawatt upgrade to the coal-fired Cliffside Steam Station in…
Read MoreOther Coal Related News
Environmental Groups Request Decision Review Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting a review of the recent Fourth Circuit court decision in a controversial mountaintop removal mining case. The lawsuit challenged the Corps’ violation of the Clean Water Act by authorizing permits…
Read MoreThe Global Gym
By Maureen Halsema Playing outside is great for your physical and fiscal health, and it does not require a membership fee or have piles of sweaty towels and long lines for the ellipticals. This worldwide “gym” offers thousands of miles of trails to hike, rocks to climb and waters to paddle. Some of the greatest…
Read MoreOur finest hours
When the history of the 21st century is written, the most important question will be how – or even whether — we responded to the climate crisis. As nations gather this fall in Copenhagen to consider a climate treaty, we Americans need to understand what is at stake. First, it’s now settled that the…
Read MoreMountain Mysteries
Bigfoot, UFOs, and the Downright Paranormal In Appalachia By Joe Tennis In Larry Thacker’s world, UFOs have touched down in the Appalachian Mountains. And, there’s a mysterious Bigfoot creature roaming the dense woods of Tennessee. Thacker—the director of student success and retention at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn.—is the author of the recently released…
Read MoreLetters to the Editor
Well Contamination Nightmare Dear Appalachian Voice: Thank you for your extensive coverage of water quality in your most recent issue. It was excellent. I have been beating that drum ever since I discovered last April that the water supplying the house that I rent in Boone had e. coli in it. Through my landlord,…
Read MoreBloodshed and Coercion in the Coalfields: From Colombia to Appalachia
Story by Sandra Diaz As I wrote in the last issue, I traveled along to the coalfields of northern Colombia in South America through the Witness for Peace program. Part of our trip was spent talking to Sintramienegetica union leaders, who represent Drummond Coal workers, based out of Birmingham, Alabama. Drummond Coal has been accused…
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