RockingChair

Front Porch Blog

Updates from Appalachia

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Duke Energy neighbors say “goodwill” package is meant to buy silence

From the Alliance of Carolinians Together Against Coal Ash: On Friday the 13th, Duke Energy released a “goodwill” offer to residents on wells near the company’s coal ash sites. To many residents, however, the ominously timed release is more hush money than it is an act of goodwill.

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Standing up for the Stream Protection Rule

Countless citizens have worked for years to push for a federal rule that would help safeguard drinking water sources and surface waters in coal-impacted communities. It finally goes into effect today, but Congress and the incoming administration have vowed to kill it. Appalachian Voices, in alliance with others, is standing up to defend the Stream Protection Rule.

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North Carolina hosts day of climate action Jan. 23

Join us on Monday, January 23 for the North Carolina Statewide Day of Action for Climate Justice! Events will be held in Asheville, Boone, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Pink Hill, Raleigh and Winston-Salem to ask for policies that promote clean energy jobs and climate justice for all people

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The “Fox Guarding the Henhouse” cabinet

Many of Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointees take positions that threaten public health, air and water quality, and our natural heritage, and that accelerate climate change. Appalachian Voices is joining with clean energy advocates, climate activists and public health proponents across the country in urging the Senate to stand for our health and environment and reject these nominees.

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Mountaintop removal coal mines like this one in W.Va. have polluted streams for years. Photo by Kent Mason.

Congress takes aim at stream protections

In December, the Obama administration released the final Stream Protection Rule knowing it would be a likely top target for the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. And it is, indeed, in the crosshairs — but members of Congress should understand they’re gambling with Appalachia’s health and economic future, all for a risky bet on coal’s unlikely comeback.

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