Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
Rural Electric Co-ops Can Renew Community Spirit
Guest Contributor Brian Depew: The cooperative spirit that brought electric service to rural America represents the community-driven values of small towns. Today, more than 900 rural electric co-ops serve 42 million people in 47 states. Co-ops remain democratically controlled, run by elected customer-members. But they have drifted from their community-oriented mission.
Virginia Power Shifters intend to organize and win on climate
Building community and standing up to polluters with grassroots strength: these were among the themes of Virginia Power Shift, which took place in Richmond last weekend. Students worked tirelessly to involve campuses from all over the state, and delegations traveled from across Virginia to join in the hard work that constitutes this amazing young leaders’ summit.
McAuliffe can pave the way for a cleaner future for Virginia
In almost every campaign speech, Terry McAuliffe told the story of how he started a driveway-paving business in his neighborhood when he was 14 to earn money to help pay for his college education. Now Virginia’s 47th governor, McAuliffe should apply these values to his gubernatorial agenda and there’s no better place to start than by investing in a strong clean energy sector for the commonwealth.
A Small (but important) Step: Appalachian Power’s New Energy Efficiency Proposal
April began with bright news in Virginia: Appalachian Power plans to begin providing energy efficiency programs for its customers in the commonwealth. These initial steps are a sign the company could soon be ready to offer a wider range of efficiency programs.
A Moral Call to End Dangerous Coal Ash Storage
Last Monday, concerned citizens packed the pews of a local church in Eden, N.C. The crowd, which was a diverse mixture of age, race and background, assembled for a town hall meeting on coal ash, organized by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP as a part of the Moral Monday movement.
