Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
What does EPA’s carbon rule mean for your state?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced Clean Power Plan aims to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants nationwide. A new tool on the EPA’s website summarizes climate change impacts, current state actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and how the rule allows users to see how their state will be affected by the federal effort.
Take Action: Protect Appalachian Streams from Toxic Selenium
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to loosen national recommended water quality standards for selenium, a toxic pollutant commonly released from mountaintop removal coal mines. You can stand up for streams in Appalachia by submitting comments urging the EPA to protect aquatic life and strengthen selenium standards.
On Capitol Hill, Appalachian citizens make the case against mountaintop removal
Last week, Appalachian Voices and Earthjustice teamed up with a group of Appalachian residents in Washington, D.C., to lobby members of the U.S. House of Representatives to cosponsor the Clean Water Protection Act, and discuss the importance of protecting clean water with the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Surface Mining.
Science-backed lawsuits protect clean water in Central Appalachia
A recent federal court decision found that conductivity released from mines violated clean water laws. Another case just filed in Virginia challenges the discharge of total dissolved solids from mines in watersheds already damaged by high levels of total dissolved solids. Both cases could result in stronger protections for Central Appalachian streams.
Another coal-related chemical spill in Central Appalachia
Hundreds of fish were killed after Cumberland County Coal released a chemical into Kentucky’s Clover Fork River on May 30. Although the company was cited for polluting the river, fines alone cannot erase the damage done to a community and an ecosystem.
