Close Calls as Congress Defeats Rollbacks to EPA Boiler Rule and Speed-up of Keystone XL Pipeline

Get ready, because a hostile hive of lobbyists echoing industry cries that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is no more than big government, job-killing, mean, green machine may have just been shaken up again. On Thurs., March 8, Congress narrowly defeated an amendment to a transportation funding bill authored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that…

Read More

Subcommittee 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 More

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…

Read More

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”…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTAINS TARGETED NORTH CAROLINA INFORMATION Contact: Sandra Diaz, Appalachian Voices, (828) 262-1500; sandra@appvoices.org Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper, (828) 817-5358; hartwell@wnca.org Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk Groups head to court to force issuance of important national safeguards Washington, D.C. – Environmental and public health groups announced their intent…

Read More

What’s Clean Air Worth to You?

Why is the EPA Advancing the Mercuryand Air Toxics Standard (MATS)? How much will the EPA’s MATS be worth to your state? CLICK HERE to find out. What happens when 40 year old coal-fired electric power plants don’t have modern pollution control systems to remove mercury and other air toxics from their smoke stack emissions?…

Read More