Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended a decade of confusion with the release of a long-awaited Clean Water Rule, which clarifies the scope of waters that are protected under the Clean Water Act. As the EPA pursues updates to the “effluent limitation guidelines,” we hope the Obama administration ready to continue the trend of strengthening and modernizing the Clean Water Act.
Duke Energy announced plans today to retire its polluting, uneconomical Asheville coal plant and build a natural gas-fired facility in its place. While the news should be celebrated as progress, it also represents another precarious step along a dangerous road that will prolong our region’s over-reliance on fossil fuels and saddle consumers with long-lived investments in natural gas.
The West Virginia Environmental Quality Board upheld a decision by the state Department of Environmental Protection to revoke the certification of Appalachian Laboratories Inc., where employees routinely conspired to violate the federal Clean Water Act.
In mid-March, Appalachian Voices and our partners in Kentucky sued Frasure Creek Mining in federal court for more than 20,000 violations of the Clean Water Act, which could lead to nearly $700 million in fines.
After we revealed thousands of water pollution violations at Frasure Creek Mining’s mountaintop removal coal mines in eastern Kentucky, state regulators (finally) took administrative action. Appalachian Voices and our partners are seeking to intervene in that process to ensure environmental protections are enforced, and we have filed our own lawsuit in federal court.
Contacts: Eric Chance, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500, eric@appvoices.org Ted Withrow, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, 606-782-0998, tfwithrow@windstream.net Pat Banks, Kentucky Riverkeeper, 859-200-7442, kyriverkeeper@eku.edu Pete Harrison, Waterkeeper Alliance, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org Adam Beitman, Sierra Club, 202-675-2385, adam.beitman@sierraclub.org Pikeville, Ky. – A coalition of citizens…
On Tuesday, DENR announced a historic $25.1 million fine for coal ash pollution at Duke Energy’s Sutton power plant. The agency also recently released updated permit drafts for coal ash ponds at other sites, proposed to “better protect water quality near coal ash ponds until closure plans are approved.” Though permitting the pollution will lead to better monitoring, it does nothing to stop or even stymie the toxic discharges.
Duke Energy likes to use a tagline about how, for more than 100 years, it has provided affordable, reliable electricity to its customers “at the flip of a switch.” But a year after the Dan River spill, Duke seems to accept that coal ash pollution has its own chapter in the company’s corporate story. Now, facing federal criminal charges, Duke will pay for its crimes.
Contacts: Eric Chance, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500, eric@appvoices.org Ted Withrow, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, 606-782-0998 (c), tfwithrow@windstream.net Pat Banks, Kentucky Riverkeeper, 859-200-7442, kyriverkeeper@eku.edu Pete Harrison, Waterkeeper Alliance, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org Adam Beitman, Sierra Club, 202-675-2385, adam.beitman@sierraclub.org Frankfort – A coalition of citizens…
Friday, Appalachian Voices and our partners filed a motion to intervene in a case between the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and Frasure Creek Mining to ensure clean water laws are being enforced in Kentucky. To anyone following our lawsuits in Kentucky, these recent developments will sound familiar.
