RockingChair

Front Porch Blog

Updates from Appalachia

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Empty train cars along a mountain road

Covid’s impact on coal sharpens the pandemic’s economic hardships

Even before the pandemic, a growing number of coal companies were declaring bankruptcy — and now the decades-long decline of coal is in a nosedive. This will leave already-shortchanged coalfield communities even less money to deal with decades of damage to people’s health and the environment.

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Utility affordability in the time of Coronavirus

Equitable access to affordable water and energy services — fundamental to human well-being and public health — has been a significant though largely unseen problem for decades. Then Covid struck.

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NC pipeline permit for MVP Southgate denied!

North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality denied a water quality permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate extension on the grounds that the MVP mainline is not yet completed.

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Energy Democracy for Appalachian Power: New workshops scheduled!

Our (virtual) summer series in Virginia is going strong! We’re happy to announce two upcoming workshops about Energy Democracy and Appalachian Power.

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Charting paths forward for coal communities

For communities that depended on coal, the pandemic is exacerbating an already-urgent set of interlocking problems. Two regional coalitions have released plans to chart a brighter future for communities hit hardest by the changing coal economy.

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