Front Porch Blog
Updates from Appalachia
White House halts review of mountaintop removal health impacts
The U.S. Department of the Interior ordered the National Academy of Sciences to halt its review of the links between mountaintop removal coal mining and human health impacts.
Preparing for Monday’s Solar Eclipse
On August 21, a total solar eclipse will occur over the United States for the first time in 38 years, and will be visible in parts of the southern Appalachian mountains. Here are some tips on how to see this fascinating celestial event.
Monogamous and territorial – my common traits with woodpeckers
Living in Virginia, it’s easy to take the Blue Ridge Mountains for granted. But if you pay attention, there’s a mystery to them that many don’t appreciate — including the companies who want to build natural gas pipelines through them.
In Tennessee, Powell Valley Electric Co-op members speak out
Electric co-ops are governed by boards who are democratically elected, and therefore supposedly responsive to their customers, who are also co-owners of these utilities. The Powell Valley Electric Cooperative in east Tennessee has stirred grave concern with its herbicide spraying policy, and members are speaking out.
The fight against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is not over
As expected, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently gave a glowing review to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, overlooking the threats to wetlands, forest, drinking waters and indigenous populations along the pipeline’s proposed route.
