Blog Archives

NEW REPORT: Benefits for coal miners with black lung falling behind

This morning, advocates for miners with black lung and their families released a new report detailing how black lung benefit payments have fallen far behind the cost of living, putting ailing miners and their dependents among the most at risk as inflation continues to rise.

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Mountain Valley Pipeline: Risky, ruinous and roadblocked

Nine years after the Mountain Valley Pipeline project was announced, it remains unnecessary and dangerous to the communities, water resources, lands and habitats through which it is routed.

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Appalachian Voices urges Congress to pass Biden’s proposed investments in Appalachian coalfields

Today, President Joe Biden released his Fiscal Year 2024 budget to fund government programs through September 2024. The budget proposal includes crucial investments in programs to boost economic growth in the coalfields, ensure coal mine reclamation and protect miners from black lung disease.

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Senators from Appalachian states request a federal study of whether black lung benefits are adequate

black and white graphic with skeleton wearing miner hat, text reads "black lung kills"

A study by the Government Accountability Office looking at the adequacy of current black lung benefits for miners and their families requested by U.S. senators should bolster ongoing efforts to improve those benefits.

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Wins and losses in the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session

six people stand on a street in Richmond

Even with the short session, Appalachian Voices’ capitol team had a lot to keep track of, with a number of bills we were hoping to convince legislators to support — and quite a few we were hoping to convince them to vote down.

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Statement from Appalachian Voices on U.S. Fish and Wildlife biological opinion for Mountain Valley Pipeline

Today, for the third time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Biological Opinion and Incidental Take Statement for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, one of several authorizations necessary under federal law to allow construction of the project. 

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CDC shares new research: For miners, death rate from lung disease is higher than ever before

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared a new study that sounds a clear alarm bell to leaders across the country about the dire need for a renewed focus on safeguarding the health of coal miners across the country.

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As comment deadlines come to a close, more than 40,000 voice opposition to new Mountain Valley Pipeline federal permits

In response to the U.S. Forest Service’s intention to break 11 of its own rules for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, over 30,000 individuals and organizations submitted their opposition to the agency’s plan ahead of a February 21 deadline.

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Northern Long-Eared Bats Added to Endangered Species List

bat head and wings

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently classified northern long-eared bats as endangered, which could help save the species most impacted by the deadly fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome.

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Guest post: New SkyTruth research reveals legacy of mountaintop mining — and the policy implications

Explosives and heavy equipment: the perfect combination for mine owners to extract coal from a pristine Appalachian landscape. Too bad this process, known as mountaintop removal mining, is terrible if you live near the mined mountain, or in a watershed downstream, or on a planet faced with the imminent threat of ever-increasing temperatures brought about by greenhouse-gas emissions.

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