Storage of TVA Coal Ash Waste Leads to Civil Rights Lawsuit

December 22 marked the three-year anniversary of the disastrous coal ash spill at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant. Residents of the damaged Swan Pond community are still struggling with the impacts of relocation and pollution. But the toxic effects of the more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash that flooded the Clinch and…

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Taking Back Tennessee

Team AV Joins Forces to Take Back TN, Push Scenic Vistas Legislation Almost three years ago, we ran a little piece on Tennessee and coal, exposing coal-industry front group FACES of Coal for the false numbers they were giving to legislators, utilities, and to the public. Of course, a week later Appalachian Voices first broke…

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Nally & Hamilton Case Continues in State Court

Yesterday Appalachian Voices along with our partners Kentucky Riverkeeper, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, and Waterkeeper Alliance challenged the recent settlement between Nally & Hamilton and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet in state court. Click here to see the press release with more information on this newest development. Click here to see the how the…

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Groups Challenge Public’s Exclusion From Secret Negotiations

An agreement negotiated in secret between the Beshear administration and a major polluter in eastern Kentucky does little to protect the public or prevent future violations, claimed several groups representing Kentucky citizens who use water polluted by the company’s coal mining operations.

The citizens’ groups filed a petition in Franklin Circuit Court on Thursday asking that the agreement between Nally & Hamilton Enterprises and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet be vacated on the grounds that there is “no factual evidence in the record, much less substantial evidence, [that] supports a finding that the Agreed Order is a fair resolution of Nally’s thousands of [Clean Water Act] violations, or that it will be an effective deterrent of future violations.”

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Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet cuts deal with Nally and Hamilton for Water Pollution Violations

Last week the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet entered a settlement with Nally and Hamilton Enterprises to resolve tens of thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act. The pending agreed order, originally submitted in September, was signed by the Cabinet Secretary Len Peters, now making it official. Nally and Hamilton is one of the…

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Lisa 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…

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Tell Congress We Can’t Afford The Status Quo on Coal Ash!

This Friday, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2273, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, a bill that puts the profits of coal ash polluters above public health. H.R. 2273 subverts public support of the EPA’s proposed federal coal ash rules by leaving coal ash pollution in the hands of states with…

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United for America’s Arctic

Appalachian Voices is proud to join 50 co-signers on a statement issued by United for America’s Arctic. We recognize the Arctic’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas as critical habitat for polar bears and marine mammals such as endangered bowhead whales, walrus and seals. Similar to the mountains and streams of Appalachia, the Arctic’s national treasures are…

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Blair Mountain Community Center and Museum Opens

A note from Chuck Keeney, Secretary of the Friends of Blair Mountain: Since the “March on Blair Mountain: Appalachia is Rising” event, some coal industry executives have claimed that if our preservation efforts succeed and Blair Mountain is spared from mountaintop removal, the “fabric of the community” will be destroyed. We at Friends of Blair…

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First Day Wrap-up of Kentucky Coal Trials

The first day of the hearing against the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and ICG and Frasure mining companies concluded Wednesday evening. Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and Waterkeeper Alliance intend to show that the penalties assessed by the Cabinet for the two coal companies are not sufficient to address the severity…

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