The Energy Report
Solar and Wind Projects Take Off Across Appalachia
First Utility-Scale Solar Projects Proposed in West Virginia By Brian Sewell Solar Thin Films Inc., a New York-based company, recently announced a contract to develop up to 35 megawatts of solar capacity in West Virginia. Through an agreement with property owner Tri-State Solar, the solar developer plans to install three sites in Alderson, Crawley and…
Read MoreNew Research and Lawsuits Keep Mountaintop Removal in the Spotlight
By Brian Sewell While battles over mountaintop removal permits reach their boiling point and lawsuits are filed and settled, new research revealing the environmental costs continues to pile up. In September, a study by Duke University, Kent State University and the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies compared the environmental toll of mountaintop removal to the…
Read MoreCoal River Makes America’s Most Endangered Rivers List — Again
By Anna Norwood Coal River in West Virginia has been named one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers for 2012, ranking ninth on watchdog organization American Rivers’ list of the top 10 threatened waterways in the country. American Rivers cites mountaintop removal coal mining with contaminating Coal River.The report states that, “approximately 20 percent of the…
Read MoreCoal Financing Under Scrutiny
By Molly Moore Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo ranked as the five worst banks for coal financing in an annual report issued by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and Sierra Club. Banks were rated according to their investment in mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants. The report…
Read MoreOSM Threatens Takeover of Kentucky Surface Mining Regulation
By Molly Moore Office of Surface Mining Director Joe Pizarchik made headlines in May when he sent a letter to Kentucky regulators warning that their failure to require appropriate reclamation bonds could lead to a federal takeover of all or part of Kentucky’s surface mining enforcement program. Surface mining law allows states to enforce the…
Read MoreEPA to Appeal Spruce No. 1 Court Decision
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in May that it would appeal a court decision that overturned the agency’s veto of the Spruce Mine No. 1 mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia. The mine in question — Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine No. 1 — would span 2,278 acres and be the largest mountaintop removal mine…
Read MoreSeverance Tax Leaves Kentucky in the Red
By Julie Johnson The money that coal, timber, oil and natural gas companies pay in severance taxes is less than the subsidies provided by the state to the same companies, according to a recent study by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). MACED examined Kentucky’s 2006 revenue from the coal industry—including severance taxes—and…
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