Thursday, December 10th, 2015 | Posted by Erin Savage | 1 Comment
Thursday, July 30th, 2015 | Posted by Tarence Ray | No Comments
Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | 1 Comment
Monday, February 23rd, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | 1 Comment
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Friday, December 5th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | 1 Comment
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Monday, November 17th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Wednesday, February 19th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | 4 Comments
Friday, December 13th, 2013 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Earlier today Appalachian Voices and a number of partner organizations sued the EPA over their approval of Kentucky’s new, weaker standard for selenium pollution.
Selenium is extremely toxic to fish, and causes deformities and reproductive failure at extremely low levels. The pollutant is commonly discharged from coal mines and coal ash ponds, but currently Kentucky does not regulate its discharge from these facilities.
These new standards were proposed at the behest of coal industry groups, likely motivated by citizen groups’ success at requiring companies in other states to clean up their selenium pollution. We have also seen the state governments of Virginia and West Virginia take steps towards making similar rollbacks to their own standards, making the EPA’s approval of Kentucky’s weakened standards even more alarming.
(more…)
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Yesterday, advocates for clean water won a major court victory in Virginia. Under a court order, A&G Coal will be the first coal company in Virginia required to get a permit for their discharges of toxic selenium. U.S. District Judge James P. Jones ruled that because the company did not tell regulators that they might discharge selenium, their permit does not allow them to.
Selenium is a common pollutant at many Appalachian coal mines and is toxic to fish at very low levels, causing deformities, reproductive failure and death.
The case was brought by the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates.
>> Read the press release to find out more
>> Read the judge’s ruling here
Friday, July 19th, 2013 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Last week, an attempt by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to toss concerned citizens out of court failed.
Judge Phillip Shepherd denied a motion to dismiss our challenge of a settlement between Frasure Creek Mining and the cabinet. Appalachian Voices and our partners KFTC, Kentucky Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance, will now be allowed to proceed with our argument that the settlement should be vacated.
In October of 2010, we filed a Notice of Intent to Sue Frasure Creek for submitting false water monitoring data. Frasure Creek and the cabinet reached a settlement for those violations, but it has not been approved by the court. Before that, the data Frasure Creek submitted to the state never showed any violations. After our legal action, they switched labs and began showing hundreds of water quality violations every month.
We attempted to sue Frasure Creek for these subsequent violations, but the cabinet filed a complaint in state administrative court for the same violations. We intervened and became full parties to that case, but then a slap on the wrist settlement was entered between Frasure Creek and the cabinet completely without our consent. Our current challenge to this settlement is based on the fact that we are full parties in the case yet we had no say in the settlement’s creation.
The cabinet attempted to get our challenge thrown out because they claimed that we did not follow proper procedures when we filed it, but the judge dismissed their arguments. Now, the cabinet must respond to the substance of our challenge.
>> Click here to read the ruling
>> Click here to read more about this challenge
>> Click here for more information on our Kentucky Litigation