The Appalachian Voice
Tennessee Grandfather Cleans Up Creek, Wins Volunteer Award
Sierra Club members Carl and Iva Lee Wolfe moved from Florida to Mountain City, Tennessee, three years ago, after Carl retired. That’s Carl at left, pictured, with granddaughter Mariah. “We were impressed with the beauty of the area,” says Iva Lee. “But the condition of the road and the nearby Falls at Fall Branch was…
Read MoreCoal River Mountain – The Line in the Sand for Mountaintop Removal?
Story and photos by Jamie Goodman For those who support alternative energy and oppose mountaintop removal, a line has been drawn in the proverbial sand. That line is at Coal River Mountain, West Virginia. Bulldozers have continued to clear trees and topsoil from Coal River Mountain, a peak that could potentially provide some of the…
Read MoreLetters to the Editor
Appalachian Voice welcomes letters to the editor and comments on our website. We run as many letters as possible, space permitting. The views expressed in these letters, and in personal editor responses, are the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the organization Appalachian Voices. Write to [email protected]. Mountaintop Removal –…
Read MoreHow TVA Could Lead Utilities Into the Future
Story by Bill Kovark Old fashioned utilities used to make money by selling electric power. In a bygone era, making money by NOT selling electric power seemed unthinkable. A few weeks ago, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine stood the old logic on its ear by saying that “it just makes no sense” not to conserve. “Under…
Read MoreCoal Ash Cleanup Effort Comes in Phases
Story by Sarah Vig “A clean-up can either be done right or it can be a ticking time bomb,” California Senator Barbara Boxer cautioned TVA CEO Tom Kilgore during the Environment and Public Works committee’s oversight hearing on the recent coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant near Harriman, TN. In response, Kilgore promised…
Read MoreOpinion
Citizens and Advocates: The New Newsmakers By Bill Kovarik and Sarah Vig From the standpoint of public information, the TVA Fly Ash Disaster was unlike any other environmental disaster in recent history. Immediately following the spill, TVA’s public relations department attempted to spin the catastrophic failure of an earthen dam holding back a billion gallons…
Read MoreTVA must clean house
Recent events clearly show the need for a clean sweep of TVA’s leadership. It’s not just Tom Kilgore, the CEO of TVA, who needs to be held accountable. The nine-member board of directors, entirely appointed by the Bush Administration as part of an old-school, old boy network, is directly responsible for the tragic and disturbing…
Read MoreUnited Mountain Defense: On the Front Lines at TVA Spill Site
Story by Sarah Vig Call them the environmental movement’s equivalent of an emergency response team. Within only 14 hours of the dam failure at the Kingston Fossil Plant, United Mountain Defense mobilized. Having gained years of experience organizing and conducting water sampling in communities throughout Tennessee impacted by mountaintop removal mining, and with headquarters in…
Read MoreEmory River System: Beauty and Biodiversity in Peril?
By Dr. Anna George, Tennessee Aquarium “There is nothing more eloquent in Nature than a mountain stream.” On September 12, 1867, John Muir crossed the Emory River on his 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico. He had set out 12 days earlier from Louisville, Kentucky on his expedition south to the Gulf. The Emory…
Read MoreAltered Lives- The Human Side of an Environmental Disaster
Story by Sarah Vig When looking at photographs of the TVA coal ash disaster in Roane County Tennessee, the enormity of the spill’s environmental impact is immediately apparent. According to some, the disaster could only be put into perspective from the air. But in other ways, the impacts are best seen on the ground. The…
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