Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
Mountain protectors try again in N.C.
North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison introduced a bill today to phase out North Carolina’s use of mountaintop removal coal. The bill mirrors one that has been in the legislature before and that received bipartisan backing, with 75 legislators signing a letter of support. Rep. Harrison’s bill also aims to help ratepayers during the economic recovery by placing a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in the state.
Two historic homes get some TLC energy
Meet two families in the High Country of North Carolina who paid extraordinarily high electric bills and still suffered from drafty homes—until they won energy efficiency home improvemetns in Appalachian Voices’ contest.
Welcome to Congress, Mr. Mooney. Your bill is the worst.
Alex Mooney is newly elected to Congress, from West Virginia’s 2nd district. His first bill is a doozie – it would stop a stream protection rule he’s never seen, have drastically different impacts than he thinks, and be written and enforced by an agency whose purpose he doesn’t understand.
A first for North Carolina, now open for fracking
March 17 marked the first day in history that North Carolina has been fully open to the oil and gas industry for the dangerous, environmentally destructive practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Though the moratorium on fracking has been lifted, communities and environmental organizations across the state are prepared to continue fighting.
Although industry gets fined, citizens still pay the price
In one of the largest Clean Water Act deals in recent memory, Duke Energy agreed to pay $102 million to settle federal charges for its coal ash pollution in North Carolina. It’s the most recent example of a coal-related company facing fines for violating the law, and although that’s a step in the right direction, it can never compensate for the human cost borne for years by citizens living near coal ash ponds and mountaintop removal mines.
