RockingChair

Front Porch Blog

Updates from Appalachia

AV-mountainBorder-white-medium3

Final Stream Protection Rule released

On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Interior released the Stream Protection Rule, which aims to protect streams from the impacts of surface and longwall mining. The final rule offers only modest improvements to protections for public waterways, but it is well worth defending from congressional attack.

Read More
Peter outside his landlords' home in Charlottesville.

Why is Dominion’s IRP important for Virginia’s future?

In Virginia, electric utilities providing public services are regulated to ensure that they balance reliability, sustainability, and affordability. That balancing act is what “integrated resource planning” is all about. In this blog, we dive into the recent plan from Dominion Virginia Power, the heavyweight in the state’s electric sector whose choices affect not only its customers, but virtually all of us, and our environment.

Read More
North Carolina lawmakers have set about a brazen scheme to strip powers that McCrory enjoyed from the incoming Cooper administration.

Trouble is afoot in NC special session

After days of deflecting questions and refusing to explain their priorities for the “emergency session,” Republicans introduced a slew of bills that would make sweeping changes and dramatically shift the balance of power away from the governor. Take action to stop this blatant abuse of power.

Read More
Watauga County resident Lydia Head with volunteers Sarah Merlotte and Hannah Emery (not pictured: Taylor Petty) Photo: Katie Kienbaum

Lighting up the night with the Daylight Savings Challenge

To make this winter a little easier for folks in Boone, N.C. facing high energy bills, Appalachian Voices devised the Daylight Savings Challenge. Five student volunteers helped us distribute energy efficient LED light bulbs to seniors. All together, the project should save the residents at least $280 a year. That translates to about 1.75 tons of coal that won’t get burned and more than four tons of carbon dioxide pollution that won’t contribute to climate change

Read More

America’s miners deserve better than this; time to do your part

America owes a debt to the nation’s coal miners. The Miners Protection Act would begin to pay that debt, but the opportunity for Congress to pass the bill is quickly slipping away.

Read More