Posts Tagged ‘Coal’
Penn Virginia Faces Legal Challenge for Toxic Water Pollution
Resources View the Complaint Here Complaint’s Exhibit A Complaint’s Exhibit B Community Groups Protest Coal Mining Pollution and “Bully Tactics” Contacts: Eric Chance, Appalachian Voices, [email protected], 828-262-1500 Oliver Bernstein, Sierra Club, [email protected], 512-289-8618 Glen Besa, Virginia Sierra Club, [email protected], 804 225-9113 Matt Hepler, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, [email protected], 540 871-1564 Roanoke, Va. – Today, a…
Read MoreBreaking the Resource Curse
“Future Funds” Could Spur Economic Development in Central Appalachia As Central Appalachian coal production declines, many realize the need to maximize tax revenues from coal and natural gas extraction. For the past three years, a movement to establish a permanent natural resource trust fund has grown in West Virginia. Ted Boettner, the executive director of…
Read MoreA Science of Responsibility:
Dr. Ben Stout’s Dedication to Community-Based Research By Brian Sewell Dr. Ben Stout, a stream ecologist and professor of biology at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, is as at home in nearby communities as he is in the classroom. For more than 20 years, he has conducted his research outside of the lab 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 MoreJohnny Cummings: Small Town with Big Ideals
By Kimber Ray For a small eastern Kentucky town, Vicco has been making big headlines. The driving force of this publicity is the town’s energetic and openly gay mayor, Johnny Cummings. Locals praise their mayor for leading ambitious community projects in economic revitalization and infrastructure repair. Nationally, however, Cummings astonished much of the country by…
Read MoreMatt Hepler: Charting a Path to Clean Water
By Molly Moore After studying geologic features and data, Matt Hepler maps out a handful of locations in the coal-bearing mountains of southwest Virginia. With a cooler full of empty water bottles, a scientific probe and a pair of waders — just in case — he heads out to monitor water quality in areas impacted…
Read MoreAdvancing a Creative Economy for the Clinch River Valley
By Kimber Ray In the remote coalfields of southwest Virginia, a collaborative grassroots project is taking on the challenge of balancing job creation and environmental conservation. The Clinch River Valley Initiative, conceived at an economic development forum in 2010, is an award-winning coalition of concerned citizens, local government, and environmental and business groups, ardently committed…
Read MoreTouring Coal Country’s Past
By Molly Moore In 1978, student Doug Estepp was poking around in the West Virginia University library when he came across a newspaper headline describing the 1920 Matewan shootout — a violent episode in the dispute between coal companies and pro-union miners. Although Estepp grew up near Matewan in Mingo County, W.Va., it was the…
Read MoreVirginia Tech Student Works to Keep Campus Green
By Nolen Nychay For Virginia Tech student Nneka Sobers, environmental activism is more than an interest — it is a passion that empowers her to promote positive change wherever she goes. Sobers became involved with her university’s Student Environmental Coalition early in her college career, eventually becoming a liaison for the student body’s environmental interests…
Read MoreInvestigation Finds Fraud in Black Lung Cases
By Kimber Ray A year-long investigation revealed evidence this fall that the coal industry has supported fraudulent practices in order to block workers’ compensation claims for black lung disease. According to the investigation conducted by The Center for Public Integrity and ABC News, it appears that officials at prestigious medical institutions including Johns Hopkins Hospital…
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