Kentucky’s Lab Certification- Is it strong enough?

By Eric Chance | May 1, 2013 |

Yesterday, Appalachian Voices submitted public comments on a proposed wastewater lab certification program in Kentucky. To discharge polluted water, coal companies must receive a permit under the Clean Water Act. This permit that requires companies to test wastewater and report the data to ensure it falls within the limits of the permit. In Kentucky, there…

Read More

Lawmakers to hold hearings on Scenic Vistas bill on heels of ad campaign from conservatives

By Brian Sewell | March 19, 2013 |

Press Advisory Appalachian Voices March 19, 2013 Contact: JW Randolph, Tennessee Director, 202-669-3670; jw@appvoices.org Nashville – Tennessee Senate and House panels are scheduled tomorrow to consider bi-partisan companion bills that protect mountain forests on the Cumberland Plateau by effectively prohibiting new surface coal mining on ridgelines above 2,000 feet. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act is…

Read More

Stop Brushing off the Bad Stuff

By Brian Sewell | March 19, 2013 |

West Virginia University professor and public health researcher Dr. Michael Hendryx’s latest article, “Personal and Family Health in Rural Areas of Kentucky With and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining,” appeared in the online Journal of Rural Health a couple of days ago. The study immediately gained the attention of Kentucky media, and supporters of the coal…

Read More

Canvassing Against Coal Ash

By Matt Grimley | March 15, 2013 |

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 More

A Week of Education and Action

By Nathan Jenkins | March 13, 2013 |

Last week, more than a hundred college students from around the country spent their spring break in Appalachia, Va., to learn about mountaintop removal coal mining, involve themselves in nonviolent actions, and volunteer for social projects that benefit a community that all too many choose to ignore. By the time I arrived on Friday, the…

Read More

Tennessee Votes on Scenic Vistas Tomorrow. CALL TODAY!

By JW Randolph | March 12, 2013 |

Call today and Urge Tennessee Legislators to Protect the Beauty and Economic Vitality of the Cumberland Plateau. Tennessee legislators are scheduled to take up a critical vote tomorrow on the Scenic Vistas Protection Act — a good bill with broad, bipartisan support that would help one of Tennessee’s most important assets – our mountains. Representative…

Read More

An Uphill Climb Gets Steeper

By Appalachian Voices | March 12, 2013 |

Sequestration Comes to Appalachia By Melanie Foley Legislative Policy and Research Assistant, Summer 2013 In August 2011, Congress and President Obama made a pact. They agreed to $1.2 trillion worth of cuts over 10 years if another deficit reduction compromise could not be reached. Efforts to avoid the severe and widespread cuts failed, and as…

Read More

Lesson Learned: The Buffalo Creek Flood

By Brian Sewell | February 26, 2013 |

I woke up this morning to a frozen world. Fog and ice descended on the hills above Boone, N.C., last night and are still waiting around for the thaw. It was silent other than the periodic crack of a branch and the following echo that bounced around the hills. Stepping outside after reading Ken Ward…

Read More

Virginia Transportation Board OKs Coalfields Expressway Project

By Nathan Jenkins | February 21, 2013 |

Yesterday, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a four-lane divided highway that will flatten steep mountain ridges in southwest Virginia along a route proposed by Alpha Natural Resources — the largest coal company operating in Appalachia today. The proposed 26-mile Coalfields Expressway is only a few miles off of several less destructive routes studied by the…

Read More