Posts Tagged ‘Economy’
Creating Opportunities in the Green-Collar Economy
By Paige Campbell “We meet people where they are.” That’s how Sarah Carter describes the philosophy of Asheville, N.C.’s Green Opportunities, a training institute for the growing green-collar jobs sector. Just how substantially that sector is growing is the subject of a Bureau of Labor Statistics report due for release this year. But in communities…
Read MoreThe EPA’s New Carbon Rule, Getting Serious About Climate Change
So we’re a little late to the punch on this one. Let’s take a moment to catch up. Last Tuesday, March 27, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the first-ever rules regulating carbon pollution from power plants. For those who didn’t already know this news, I should also mention this is not an April Fool’s…
Read MoreSubcommittee Hearing A “Dog and Pony Show” With Your Ringmaster, Rep. Bill Johnson
I’ll admit, this morning’s Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing had my head spinning. Similar to the committee’s previous hearings on the stream buffer zone rule, statements made by the Republican majority committee members could cause concerns as to who exactly they’re representing. The hearing seemed staged to give committee members yet another opportunity…
Read MoreEfficiency a Win-Win for the Mountains and the Economy
It can seem like a very long way from the ridges, hollows, and creeks of our part of Appalachians to the austere headquarters of the State Corporation Commission ( or SCC) in Richmond. The SCC regulates electric utilities in Virginia, however, and as removed as its financial number-crunching can seem from the bucolic Appalachians, the…
Read MoreScenic Vistas Efforts Becoming Headline News
Tennessee Coal Industry Front Group Falsifies Information In Attacking Church-goers Motives As the Tennessee General Assembly kicked off yesterday, 100s of supporters of our Appalachian Mountains gathered in congregations, gymnasiums, and homes across the state to complete 40 Days of Prayer for the Mountains. The efforts of LEAF, SOCM, Tennessee Conservation Voters and many others…
Read MoreOur Bright Energy Future — Are We There Yet?
In Bonneville, Wash., some residents using wind power are facing an unusual problem: Too much energy. Now the Bonneville Power Administration is asking customers to volunteer their appliances to help balance supply and demand. A story in the New York Times on Friday described the pilot project: When excess supply threatens Bonneville’s grid, an operator…
Read MoreDuke Energy’s Tough Times, Rate Hike Hearings Continue in Marion
On Tuesday Oct. 25, at the McDowell County courthouse in Marion, the N.C. Utilities Commission heard a succession of voices all proclaiming the same message: Do not approve the 17 percent rate hike proposed by Duke Energy Carolinas. Public hearings for feedback on the rate hike continue this week and Duke Energy’s customers are coming…
Read MoreLisa Jackson has had enough!
In this editorial, published by the Los Angeles Times, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson makes her case for protecting our clean air and water from an unprecedented congressional attack on basic environmental and health safeguards. Join the movement to save our clean water here. ‘Too dirty to fail’? House Republicans’ assault on our environmental…
Read MoreDirty Politics: The Biggest Threat to America’s Waterways
It Took a Movement to Create the Clean Water Act- We Need Another to Save It Update: The House passed the polluter-friendly TRAIN Act, H.R. 2041 by a vote of 249 to 169. At this moment, the U.S. House is debating HR 2041, the TRAIN Act. The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the…
Read MoreAn Intentional Government Oversight
Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is working hard to protect your right to dirty water. Or maybe it’s the right of coal companies to blow up mountains anywhere, anytime, and poison your water without paying the consequences. Whatever they want to call it, the fallacy of “regulation kills jobs in Appalachia”…
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