2010 – Issue 4 (Dec/Jan)

Story by Bill Kovarik An alarming rise in new cases of black lung disease inspired new Mine Safety and Health Administration regulations announced this fall by the Obama Administration. The new regulations come 15 years after occupational safety and disease control agencies recommended a tightening of standards. They also come seven years after the Bush…

Short term gains and long term loss Story and photo by D.A. Hawkins Coal mining is dangerous work. Spend any length of time talking with a group of underground coal miners and you are sure to hear “war stories” about close calls with severe injury or even death. Every aspect of the job requires a…

Story by Bill Kovarik Lawsuits against the Tennessee Valley Authority are continuing in the wake of the coal ash disaster two years ago. Currently, 58 lawsuits against TVA have been consolidated into a class action suit alleging various health, economic and environmental damages from the collapse of a poorly-built dam and release of one billion…

Story by Jillian Randel Elisa Young walked to the front of the room, slammed down a jar of blackberry ginger crepe syrup and a ziploc bag of coal ash in front of the three Environmental Protection Agency government officials. “Think about the blackberries growing in the unlined coal ash ditches of Meigs County when you…

Story by Jared Schultz At the Grandfather Home for Children in Watauga County, N.C., evidence of the devastation that addiction can wreak on families and communities resides in the residents, some as young as infants. One baby, less than a year old, went through a multi-week detox process when he first arrived—his mother had shared…

Story by Jeff Deal While the U.S. Congress wrestled with the question of uninsured Americans, many Appalachian residents were without health insurance in 2008 and 2009. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, the number of insured residents in the region ranges between one out of every five people in Georgia to one…

An End-of-the-Decade Checkup on the Wellbeing of Our Region Story by Parker Stevens and Jeff Deal How much money would you take in exchange for 40 years of your life? $1 million? $1 billion? Would any sum of money be sufficient to replace the years with your family and friends, the laughter and the love…

Story by Jamie Goodman Environmental groups in Kentucky are celebrating a major victory over a proposed coal-fired power plant slated for Clark County. Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) reached a settlement with environmental groups, three individual co-op members, the Kentucky attorney general and Gallatin Steel—EKPC’s largest industrial customer—agreeing to halt plans for the utility’s proposed…