Search Results: south fork coal
Health and Community
Minnie Vance Sixty Years of Open-Door Healthcare By Katherine Vance When I was asked to write a 500 word feature about my grandmother, Dr. Minnie Vance, I admit that I almost turned the assignment down. I was incredibly intimated. How could I possibly fit the story of her more than half a century’s work as…
Thems “The Breaks” – Enjoying the Unknown Beauty of Breaks Interstate Park
Story by Daniel Hawkins Within the coalfields, straddling the border of Southwestern Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, lies a little-known natural wonder of the Appalachian Mountains. Known as the Grand Canyon of the South, Breaks Interstate Park is home to one of the deepest gorges east of the Mississippi. Over millions of years, the Russell Fork…
Old Dominion Postpones Seeking Air Permits for Proposed VA Power Plant
By Sandra Diaz Wise Energy for Virginia coalition, a coalition of several environmental organizations whose mission is help secure a clean energy future for Virginia, has recently seen progress in their campaign to stop construction of a new coal-fired power plant in the Hampton Roads area proposed by Old Dominion Electric Co-op (ODEC). ODEC recently…
Voices from the Field:
Citizen Activist Cathie Bird is Building Bridges By Julie Johnson Community and Environmental Advocate Cathie Bird works for Statewide Organizing for Community Empowerment (SOCM), a group dedicated to solving social and environmental issues in Tennessee. Bird is the chair of the Strip Mine Issues Committee and a member of SOCM’s Anti-racism Transformation Team. Q: What…
Coping With Contamination
Stories by Sierra Murdoch Maria Lambert Sand Lick, W. Va. Maria Lambert was born in the coal camps at the head of Prenter Hollow. When she moved down the road to Sand Lick in 2000, her father drilled a well. He tested the water and found it safe to drink. In 2003, Massey Energy began…
Flooding Takes Its Toll In West Virginia
Story by Penny Loeb Tina England knows why flood waters rose seven feet on the road up Big Huff Creek: recent logging and new roads to gas wells at the top of the mountain. “Coming off a big mountain like this, there’s nothing to hold it (the dirt from the roads) back,” England said. “All…
Mountain Aid
Story by David Brewer Music is often moving, but only once in a while does it help keep mountains from being moved. That is the hope behind the inaugural Mountain Aid festival, an ambitious effort to directly affect environmental change. Slated to take place from Friday to Sunday, June 19 to 21, at the Shakori…
Across Appalachia
To Avert Disaster: “Pennies of Promise” campaign begins for Marsh Fork school Ed Wiley, grandfather of a Marsh Fork WV elementary student, and other residents of the Coal River Valley gathered at the steps of the Capitol building in late May to announce the launch of “Pennies of Promise,” a campaign to raise the funds…
Across Appalachia
Communities Upset Over Globe Logging Plan A controversial U.S. Forest Service logging proposal has sparked dismay across the high country of North Carolina. The area to be cut includes 231 acres of the Pisgah National Forest adjacent to the town of Blowing Rock and near the Julian Price & Moses Cone Memorial Parks. The area…
Across Appalachia
Tennessee: New Law Allows Citizens to Comment on Water Permits On June 7, the Tennessee state legislature unanimously passed a bill that will allow citizens to comment on pollution and water quality permits for the first time in 30 years. Prior to the bill’s passage, when a polluter applied for a permit, there was no…