Posts Tagged ‘Coal mining’
Burning Wood: The Good, the Bad and the Misunderstood
As the push continues to seek alternative and renewable energy resources, utility companies are increasingly turning to an energy source from days gone by: wood. The growth of the biomass-for-energy industry has been particularly vigorous in the Southeast, with exports of wood pellets rising by 70 percent in just the past year. While this industry…
Read MoreTeacher, Wife, Activist, Mother:
Wilma Lee Steele Turns Focus to Healing By Molly Moore For Wilma Lee Steele, the devastation wrought by mountaintop removal coal mining can’t be measured solely by polluted streams or transformed ridgelines. For someone as spiritually connected to the mountains of her West Virginia home as Steele is, blasting away mountaintops for the sake of…
Read MoreNathan Hall: Reclaiming Appalachia’s Land and Future
By Rachel Ellen Simon Nathan Hall was born in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, surrounded by lush hardwood forests, cool trout streams and barren moonscapes — the latter courtesy of mountaintop removal coal mining. “It was all around me, in every direction from the house where I grew up within a mile or two,” he…
Read MoreOn the Right Side of the Law
By Molly Moore From the gallery of the Kentucky State Capitol, lawyer Wes Addington and a group of women from eastern Kentucky — mostly widows of coal miners — watched the Kentucky House pass a bill expanding legal and safety protections for state miners. The women had advocated tirelessly in support of the law, and…
Read MoreVested Power: State-Level Legislative Agendas in 2013
By Brian Sewell, J.W. Randolph and Nathan Jenkins At the state level, the public often has greater access and input on decisions and the processes of their governments. But so do special interests — especially campaign funders and industries that play a significant role in state and large-scale economies. State governments in Appalachia create their…
Read MoreHigher 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,…
Read MoreWhere is our National Media? — Editorial
I know rants about this particular point have appeared widespread in independent publications, but The Appalachian Voice has avoided weighing in. Now it’s time to go there. IS mainstream media on vacation? The most well-known story of late conspicuous in its absence from big news conglomerates is certainly the weeks-long Occupy Wall Street protest still…
Read More