Posts Tagged ‘EPA’
N.C. State Rep. Harrison: Let the EPA Do Its Job
By Davis Wax Editorial assistant, Spring/Summer 2013 What should the role of the states be in protecting human health and the environment? Last Friday, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Economy held a hearing to untangle that complex question. North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison testified to the committee on the need…
Read MoreN.C. Rep. Pricey Harrison to Make Case for Federal Environmental Protections
On Friday morning, North Carolina Rep. Pricey Harrison will testify before a House hearing on “the role of the states in protecting the environment under current law.” It’s an area she knows a lot about – in 2007, Harrison introduced a bill to prohibit utilities in North Carolina from purchasing or burning coal from mountaintop…
Read MoreDespite Positive PR for Duke Energy, Our Water is Still at Risk
Don’t like what people are saying about you? Change the conversation! Duke Energy has gotten a ton of mileage for their decision to retire or convert some of their older, more inefficient power plants in the Tarheel State. It’s environmentally-friendly after all – recycling news stories! And you can create a whole new news story…
Read MoreCitizens Object to State of Kentucky’s Backroom Deal With Coal Company
Resources Citizens’ Objection Letter Agreed Order Click for full-sized image Appalachian Voices * Kentuckians For The Commonwealth * Kentucky Riverkeeper * Waterkeeper Alliance Contact: • Eric Chance, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500, eric@appvoices.org • Ted Withrow, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, 606-782-0998, tfwithrow@windstream.net • Pat Banks, Kentucky Riverkeeper, 859-200-7442, kyriverkeeper@eku.edu • Peter Harrison, Waterkeeper Alliance, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org Frankfort,…
Read MoreThe Mayan Calendar Has Ended, And There is Still Coal Ash in the Tennessee River
So the world did not end today, as much of the discussion around the end of Mayan calendar seemed to suggest. But it might have seemed like that to the residents of Harriman, Tn. exactly four year ago today, when an earthen dam at a nearby power plant failed, and 1 billion gallons of coal…
Read MoreDuking It Out: CEO Retires, Rates Increase and other shorts
By Matt Grimley Under a proposed settlement with the N.C. Utilities Commission and the N.C. Public Staff, Duke Energy President and CEO Jim Rogers will retire from his positions at the end of 2013. The agreement, announced late November, would resolve all issues involved in the commission’s investigation of Duke’s $32 billion merger with Progress…
Read MoreNo Longer Hidden in Plain Sight, Thanks to SoutheastCoalAsh.org!
For how large coal ash impoundments can be, they are sure hard to spot. For example, there are two large earthen dams full of coal ash just north of Charlotte near Mountain Island Lake. Can you spot them? (Answer: They’re on that long ridgetop to the left of the plant.) Since Duke Energy is probably…
Read MoreAppalachia’s Political Landscape
The Battle is Over — Has the “War” Just Begun? By Brian Sewell Less than a month after the Nov. 6 elections, Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia announced that in 2014 she would seek the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller. Although Rockefeller has not yet announced if…
Read MoreCoal Industry Employment Remains in Flux and other shorts
On Nov. 27, Southern Coal announced it would recall 650 laid-off miners after entering into a multi-year contract with American Electric Power. The deal will allow Southern Coal to reopen mines that were closed earlier this year and will prevent the layoffs of another 500 workers. Much of the complaints about a political “war on…
Read MoreA Physician’s Take on Coal Pollution
A few weeks after releasing our report, The Human Cost of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, and helping launch the No More Excuses campaign through iLoveMountains.org, I was turned on to a interview about the impacts to human health during various stages of the coal use cycle. On Earthjustice’s Down to Earth podcast, Jessica Knoblauch spoke…
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