Posts Tagged ‘Coal Ash’
Canvassing Against Coal Ash
Last Saturday, the Red, White and Water team traveled to Belmont, N.C., to the G.G. Allen Steam Station for a day of canvassing. Walking door-to-door, we asked residents of the communities near the coal-fired power plant if they had been impacted by water pollution. I met Archie Dixon, who was featured in the Gaston Gazette…
Read MoreHelp Protect Kentucky’s Fish from Toxic Selenium
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet is currently attempting to significantly weaken the state’s water quality standards for selenium. Selenium is a pollutant common at some coal mines that deforms and kills aquatic life. It bioaccumulates, increasing in concentration as it moves up the food chain, affecting larger fish and aquatic birds. At higher levels,…
Read MoreFinding Arsenic in Mountain Island Lake: Even a Sixth Grader Can Do It
Just recently, sixth grader Anna Behnke found high levels of arsenic near her home on Mountain Island Lake, a drinking water source for hundreds of thousands in the Charlotte, N.C. metro area. The contamination — which exceeds EPA drinking water standards twenty-fold — comes from coal ash seepage at Duke Energy’s Riverbend power plant, which…
Read MoreN.C. State Rep. Harrison: Let the EPA Do Its Job
By Davis Wax Editorial assistant, Spring/Summer 2013 What should the role of the states be in protecting human health and the environment? Last Friday, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Economy held a hearing to untangle that complex question. North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison testified to the committee on the need…
Read MoreN.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison to Make Case for Federal Environmental Protections
On Friday morning, North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison will testify before a House hearing on “the role of the states in protecting the environment under current law.” It’s an area she knows a lot about – in 2007, Harrison introduced a bill to prohibit utilities in North Carolina from purchasing or burning coal from mountaintop…
Read MoreCoal Report
Impoundment Safety Called Into Question Questions and criticism followed a Nov. 30 accident at a CONSOL Energy-operated coal slurry impoundment in West Virginia that left one worker dead. A few days after the incident, The Charleston Gazette reported that records “outlined company concerns that construction to enlarge the dump had not been moving fast enough…
Read MoreSoutheastern Coal Plants Retire and Convert | Other Shorts
The growing share of electricity generated by natural gas and recent announcements of coal plant retirements are rapidly changing the energy sector across the southeast. On Jan. 7, Georgia Power announced its plans to retire 15 coal- and oil-fired units at four plants across the state. The same week as Georgia Power’s announcement, Duke Energy…
Read MoreKentucky Attempts to loosen Selenium Standards, Fish Attempt to Leave the State
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet is in the process of making the state’s water quality standard for selenium less stringent. Selenium is a metal that is especially toxic to fish, and is often released into streams through coal mining. There will be a hearing before the Administrative Regulation Review Committee on Monday February 11,…
Read MoreDespite Positive PR for Duke Energy, Our Water is Still at Risk
Don’t like what people are saying about you? Change the conversation! Duke Energy has gotten a ton of mileage for their decision to retire or convert some of their older, more inefficient power plants in the Tarheel State. It’s environmentally-friendly after all – recycling news stories! And you can create a whole new news story…
Read MoreCoal Ash: Now a Part of a Balanced Breakfast
By Hallie Carde Red, White and Water intern, Spring 2013 This just in: in addition to fruits and veggies, our nation’s children should be getting their daily dose of coal ash. Or at least that’s what statements at a public hearing in Franklin County, Missouri, seem to suggest. Just last week, there was a hearing…
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