Mountain protectors try again in N.C.

DotGriffith North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison introduced a bill today to phase out North Carolina’s use of mountaintop removal coal. The bill mirrors one that has been in the legislature before and that received bipartisan backing, with 75 legislators signing a letter of support. Rep. Harrison’s bill also aims to help ratepayers during the economic recovery by placing a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in the state.

Read More

Many roads lead to clean energy

NAACP_solar.jpgUtilities are cranking more and more electricity onto the grid on extremely cold or hot days — but too much of that ends up leaking out windows and doors in lower-income housing. As the NAACP points out, energy efficiency and other distributed energy sources are safer, healthier, and more equitable ways of providing electricity, and they have the added bonus of bringing much needed economic opportunity to communities of color.

Read More

Apologies for the Dan River spill, guilt for coal ash crimes

Dan RiverDuke 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.

Read More

Criminal charges filed against Duke Energy

12311876586_dd088acae8_zThe U.S. Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against Duke Energy for violating the federal Clean Water Act at coal ash sites across North Carolina. The company announced today that it has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors to resolve the charges that includes $102.2 million for fines and mitigation.

Read More

Danger still looms over the Dan River

amy-rally-speachIn the wake of the Dan River coal ash spill, which spewed 39,000 tons of the toxic waste into the scenic river, much attention has been given to the problems of leaky, unlined coal ash pits across North Carolina. What hasn’t received adequate attention is another menacing threat just upstream from the site of last year’s spill.

Read More

Today, I prayed we #kickcoalash

belewsGuest Contributor Caroline Rutledge Armijo: On Sunday, Residents for Coal Ash Clean Up met on Belews Lake, overlooking the smokestacks at Duke Energy’s Belews Steam Station in Stokes County, N.C. Today marks the one year anniversary of the coal ash spill into the Dan River, the third largest coal ash spill in our nation’s history but likely a drop in the bucket of what would happen if there was a spill at Belews Creek.

Read More

Atlantic Coast Pipeline Proposal Advances

Duke Energy, Dominion Resources and other partners are teaming up to build a 550-mile pipeline to better access natural gas produced in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, where fracking has proliferated in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

Read More

Seleni-what?

Illustration by Jack Rooney

Most people have probably never heard of selenium, but for coal operators and fish it’s a big deal. Appalachian Voices’ water quality expert takes a moment to explain the issues surrounding this mineral — necessary in small amounts but toxic to aquatic life even at very low levels — and the EPA’s controversial attempts to regulate it.

Read More

The Energy Report Round-Up

By Brian Sewell Dan River Coal Ash Cleanup “Complete” After removing approximately six percent of the coal ash it spilled into the Dan River in February, Duke Energy announced it has “completed cleanup efforts” to remove coal ash from the river in North Carolina and Virginia. The Dan River Basin Association, a local group working…

Read More