2008 – Issue 4 (June)

MAY 27 RALEIGH, NC – Representative Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) and Appalachian Voices announced the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act, a bill to end the use of coal obtained from mountaintop removal mining – a controversial form of strip mining. If passed, North Carolina would be the first state in the nation to implement such legislation. “Right…

Climate change legislation, if it ever comes, should not include “clean coal research” said Tennessee activist groups, including Save Our Cumberland Mountains and Students Promoting Environmental Action in a protest this May. Instead of focusing on coal research, investments should be directed toward alternative, renewable energy technologies, the students said. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)…

A scramble to lease natural gas drilling rights is underway in Appalachia following the discovery of super-giant natural gas reserves more than a mile below the surface. “This has come out of the night like a freight train,” said Pennsylvania State University geoscientist Terry Engelder. The Appalachian gas reserves may exceed 500 trillion cubic feet…