Plant your Feet on the Battleground

Blood Mountain Trailhead

By Robert Sutherland Google “Blood Mountain” and you’ll find enough fodder for any armchair traveler. But like any other escape to the outdoors, Blood Mountain cannot be appreciated online. Named for a battle waged nearby between the Cherokee and Creek peoples, Blood Mountain is the highest peak on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, and the…

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Yesterday and Today: Defending the Clean Water Act

By Jamie Goodman Forty years ago, it took a flaming river to spur our nation to protect its waterways. The river that played a prominent role in the creation of the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency is thought to have erupted in flames on thirteen separate occasions in a one-hundred-year period, ending…

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Bears, Body Rhythms and Boundaries

By Molly Moore It’s a feat that no rational human would attempt. A person who laid essentially dormant for up to six months without urinating or defecating would probably die from elevated levels of nitrogen and other wastes. If not, that person would at least show signs of muscle deterioration upon stirring. But not hibernating…

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SELC Releases Top Ten Endangered Places List, Shows Threats in Southeast

The Southern Environmental Law Center recently released its fourth-annual Top 10 Endangered Places list for 2012, highlighting the ecologically and culturally rich areas throughout the Southeast that are threatened by development, water issues and the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal and hydraulic fracturing. Southeastern states bordering Appalachia, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, are each featured…

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SELC’s Top 10 Endangered Places List Shows Threats in the Southeast

By Madison Hinshaw, Communications Editorial Intern in Spring 2012. The Southern Environmental Law Center recently released its fourth-annual Top 10 Endangered Places list of 2012, highlighting the scenic, ecologically and culturally rich areas throughout the Southeast that are being threatened by development, water issues and the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal and hydraulic fracturing. The…

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MSHA’s “Rules to Live By” Remind Us of Real Risks

On Jan. 31, the head of U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, Joe Main, announced the next phase of the “Rules to Live By” training, a program with a catchy title that aims to reduce mining fatalities and injuries. The 14 targeted safety standards in the “Rules to Live By III: Preventing Common Mining Deaths”…

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Sewanee Coal Seam Prohibition Bill Introduced in TN

Tennessee State Senator Berke and Representative McDonald Introduce Legislation That Will Protect Tennessee’s Mountains, Waters, and Public Health. Appalachian Voices Urges TN Legislature to Support This Bill. Appalachian Voices and other allies across Tennessee, including “Statewide Organizing For Community eMpowerment” (i.e. “SOCM“) were successful in working with the Tennessee Legislature to file a bill that…

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TN Governor Can Lead Tennessee Away from Mountaintop Removal

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam opposed mountaintop removal during his gubernatorial campaign. Now is the time for him to put action to those words Appalachian Voices is working around the clock to pass the Tennessee Scenic Vistas legislation. This bill would make Tennessee the first state to ban mountaintop removal by ending surface mining over 2,000…

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Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk

Appalachian Voices issued the following press release to news outlets in North Carolina. A similar version was released nationally by the eleven environmental and public health groups involved in this litigation. Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk Groups head to court to force issuance of important national safeguards Washington, D.C. – Environmental…

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A Prayer for Tennessee Mountains

Our good friend and ally Pat Hudson of LEAF has very kindly allowed us to republish her words from Tennessee’s “40 Days of Prayer for the Mountains.” I really wanted to share these with everyone. Please take action to support our efforts to end mountaintop removal in Tennessee here. – jw For the past 40…

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