Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
Tennessee mountains are at risk, here’s what you can do
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is conducting a public hearing tomorrow on a proposed surface mine in Claiborne County, Tenn. If the permit for the Clear Fork mine is approved, Kopper Glo Fuel, Inc., would discharge its pollution into surrounding creeks that feed the Cumberland River, many of which are already impaired by surface mining. Here’s what you can do.
Like a “good neighbor,” the Supreme Court is there
The U.S. Supreme Court handed a significant win to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when it revived a federal rule aimed at reducing air pollution that travels across state lines and harms the health of those downwind, and the ability of certain states to meet Clean Air Act requirements.
N.C. coal plant neighbors ask: “At what cost?”
Near the beginning of our new video, Stokes County, N.C., resident Annie Brown says, “I love to turn the switch on and have my lights just like anyone else, but at what cost?” It’s a question we should all ask of ourselves. But we also must direct our elected officials and electric providers to consider the question: at what cost do our outdated energy policies and practices come?
The River City is set to soak up the sun
Solar energy is no longer a thing of the future — it makes sense right here, right now. That’s the spirit of Virginia’s newest residential renewable energy initiative, SolarizeRVA, which was launched on Tuesday in celebration of Earth Day.
Mercury No More: Court Upholds EPA Air Toxics Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — but also public health advocates and anyone who likes to eat fish or breath clean air — gained a significant win this month when a federal appeals court upheld the agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).
