Posts Tagged ‘Coal mining’
Corruption and Enforcement Failures Raise Concern for Clean Water
Recently uncovered conspiracies to violate the Clean Water Act have heightened concerns about corruption in central Appalachia and the effectiveness of state agencies responsible for enforcing the law.
Read MoreSeeking Justice: Activists and agencies react to systemic violations of mining laws
James C. Justice is the rare, modern-day coal baron who actually resides in Appalachia. Despite his local ties, Justice-owned operations in five states have earned him a reputation among environmental advocates as one of the region’s worst violators of mining laws.
Read MoreCourt Strikes Down Bush-era Water Rule for Coal Mines
By Molly Moore In February, a U.S. district court struck down the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which loosened stream protections near mountaintop removal mining sites, declaring it violated the Endangered Species Act. Senior Judge Barbara Rothstein wrote that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement wrongfully proceeded with the environmentally harmful rule even…
Read MoreCherokee Tribe Works to Replenish Deer Population
By Kelsey Boyajian On the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation’s Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina, white-tailed deer are a rare species. The population was depleted in the late eighteenth century during the peak of the fur trade, but today, efforts are being made to restore the deer population — plentiful in the rest…
Read MoreProtecting Tennessee’s Scenic Vistas
The Volunteer State once again has an opportunity to stop mountaintop removal coal mining from destroying more beloved mountains.
Read MoreAdam Hall: A Defender of West Virginia
By Kimber Ray Depressed towns and waters laced with toxic chemicals have been handed down to West Virginia in the wake of mountaintop removal coal mining, yet many in the community leave these grievances unspoken. Adam Hall, the son of a strip miner in Glen Daniel, W.Va., was once among those who were voiceless on…
Read MoreOSM Investigates WV Mining Law Enforcement
By Brian Sewell The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced on Dec. 30 that it will investigate West Virginia’s surface coal mining regulatory program. The announcement comes six months after the Citizen Action for Real Enforcement campaign — a coalition of 18 state and national organizations — held a press conference and…
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…
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