Bad Bill of the Week

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has just introduced a bill that has the sole purpose of making it easier for coal companies to pollute water. S.2122, the “Defense of Environment and Property Act” neither defends the environment nor private property. While the Senator makes the argument that the legislation protects the right of “landowners to do…

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Nally & Hamilton Case Continues in State Court

Yesterday Appalachian Voices along with our partners Kentucky Riverkeeper, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, and Waterkeeper Alliance challenged the recent settlement between Nally & Hamilton and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet in state court. Click here to see the press release with more information on this newest development. Click here to see the how the…

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Groups Challenge Public’s Exclusion From Secret Negotiations

An agreement negotiated in secret between the Beshear administration and a major polluter in eastern Kentucky does little to protect the public or prevent future violations, claimed several groups representing Kentucky citizens who use water polluted by the company’s coal mining operations.

The citizens’ groups filed a petition in Franklin Circuit Court on Thursday asking that the agreement between Nally & Hamilton Enterprises and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet be vacated on the grounds that there is “no factual evidence in the record, much less substantial evidence, [that] supports a finding that the Agreed Order is a fair resolution of Nally’s thousands of [Clean Water Act] violations, or that it will be an effective deterrent of future violations.”

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Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet cuts deal with Nally and Hamilton for Water Pollution Violations

Last week the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet entered a settlement with Nally and Hamilton Enterprises to resolve tens of thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act. The pending agreed order, originally submitted in September, was signed by the Cabinet Secretary Len Peters, now making it official. Nally and Hamilton is one of the…

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Happy Birthday, Clean Water Act!!

We recently took the Red, White and Water campaign to the Festival Latino in Wilmington, NC. Festival goers signed photo postcards to their member of Congress Representative Mike McIntyre asking him to stand up for our clean water protections. Hispanic communities suffer disproportionately from the impacts of coal pollution. 32 coal-fired power plants across the…

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Lisa Jackson has had enough!

In this editorial, published by the Los Angeles Times, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson makes her case for protecting our clean air and water from an unprecedented congressional attack on basic environmental and health safeguards. Join the movement to save our clean water here. ‘Too dirty to fail’? House Republicans’ assault on our environmental…

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Higher Fines for Big Coal in Kentucky Clean Water Act Case

By Erin Savage The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet recently reached a settlement of $507,000, with Nally & Hamilton Enterprises, Inc., a mountaintop removal coal mining company in eastern Kentucky. The fine tops previous record-setting fines issued in Appalachian Voices’ on-going case against Frasure Creek and ICG coal companies, $310,000 and $350,000, respectively. Appalachian Voices,…

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Mercury Proposal Receives Support, Opposition

This spring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule that would reduce mercury, particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emissions from coal plants. According to the agency, the proposed rule would save an estimated 17,000 American lives a year beginning in 2015 and prevent 120,000 cases of childhood asthma. A campaign motivated by environmental organizations…

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