The Energy Report
Contaminated Drinking Wells Near Ash Ponds
As of July, the N.C. health department sent “do not drink” notices to 301 homeowners near coal ash ponds whose well water contains dangerous levels of heavy metals and other contaminants associated with coal ash.
Read MoreResidents Near Duke Ash Ponds Told To Not Drink Their Water
Across North Carolina, residents living near Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds have received letters warning them not to drink their well water. Although Duke denies responsibility for the contamination, the utility recently plead guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act in a separate case.
Read MoreLabor Dept. Audits MSHA
Following a scathing report by two media organizations into unpaid mine safety fines, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced plans to audit the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s handling of delinquent penalties. The 2014 report by NPR and Mine Safety and Health News motivated members of Congress and mine safety experts to urge the…
Read MoreNorth Carolina’s Complicated Road to Renewables
As coal ash continues to plague communities across North Carolina, the state’s legislature is debating whether to invest in or put a freeze on renewable energy. The Energy Freedom Act, introduced by House Republicans, would allow third party solar sales in the state and has the potential to increase investments in solar energy. The bill…
Read MoreMcAuliffe Fast-tracks Efficiency
Citing the clean energy sector as a “key strategic growth area” for Virginia’s economy, Governor Terry McAuliffe moved up the state’s goal to reduce retail electricity use by 10 percent from 2022 to 2020. The governor appointed 12 individuals from the public and private sector to his Executive Committee on Energy Efficiency, which is tasked…
Read MoreDEP Orders Coal Prep Plants to Disclose Chemicals
An April order by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection requires the state’s approximately 90 coal preparation plants to disclose the chemicals used to process coal. The DEP order follows a series of coal-related spills in early 2014 and the discovery that many potentially hazardous products used to process coal were previously not required…
Read MoreFracking Concerns Fuel Research, Government Opposition
The latest hydraulic fracturing news includes new fracking bans and moratoriums and an increase in earthquakes linked to underground injection of fracking wastewater.
Read MoreTVA Milestone at Nuclear Plant
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted in May to issue an operating license to Watts Bar Unit 2, a nuclear power reactor owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, pending additional regulatory requirements. If approved, Watts Bar 2 would be the first commercial nuclear reactor licensed in the United States since the first unit at the…
Read MoreLawsuit Defends Blackside Dace
A federal lawsuit filed in Knoxville, Tenn., alleges regulators failed to meet legal obligations to protect a threatened fish endemic to Appalachian streams. Four citizens groups, including the Sierra Club and Statewide Organizing for Community Empowerment, claim the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife…
Read MoreMountaintop Removal Reduces Nearby Songbird Populations
Forest-dependent songbird species appear in significantly smaller numbers in areas adjacent to reclaimed mountaintop removal mines, according to a study published this year in the journal Landscape Ecology. Evaluating bird populations in forested land next to reclaimed mine sites in Kentucky and West Virginia, researchers found declines in nearly two dozen types of songbirds, including…
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