Posts Tagged ‘Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’
Residents fight for Kentucky water
SB 89 would strip protections for Kentucky’s groundwater, headwater ephemeral streams and many wetlands, increasing pollution risks, raising water treatment costs and exacerbating flood risks for communities across the commonwealth.
Read MoreMassive Funding Boost Spurs Coal Clean-up Efforts in Appalachia
Appalachian states received $725 million from the federal government this summer to clean up decades-old abandoned mines. Read about their efforts!
Read MoreThe slow, steady process of making regulators and coal companies monitor pollution
In late summer of 2022, Appalachian Voices discovered selenium, a common pollutant associated with coal mining, in high concentrations in certain streams in the Big Sandy River watershed in Pike County, Kentucky. These waterways receive runoff from the S-1 Hunts Branch Surface Mine, a nearly 2,000-acre mountaintop removal coal mine operated by Lexington Coal Company.
Read MorePublic Hearing on Kentucky Utilities’ Coal Ash Cleanup Plan
Critics say a plan developed by Kentucky Utilities to address groundwater pollution from an unlined coal-ash pond seeping into Herrington Lake is inadequate.
Read MoreKentucky Holds Hearing on 10,000-acre Mining Ban
Residents of Harlan County, Ky., are seeking to ban surface mining on 10,000 acres of land near the towns of Benham and Lynch.
Read MoreHistoric Clean Water Act Settlement in KY
Following a five-year legal battle regarding thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act, Appalachian Voices and our partners finalized a settlement with Frasure Creek Mining and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet in December.
Read MoreState Environmental Departments Criticized
Government and media investigations have criticized the oversight of state environmental departments in North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively.
Read MoreA Family’s Troubled Water
After mountaintop removal coal mining began near their eastern Kentucky home, the Halberts saw their water quality and quality of life plummet. Three years later, they continue to seek answers.
Read MoreBringing Polluters to Justice — One Court Case at a Time
By Eric Chance and Erin Savage On Oct 1., Appalachian Voices and a coalition of citizens’ groups reached a historic settlement in a Kentucky case involving some of the most far-reaching and astonishing violations of the Clean Water Act in its 40-year history. The agreement between the citizens’ groups, International Coal Group, Inc., and the…
Read MoreHigher Fines for Big Coal in Kentucky Clean Water Act Case
By Erin Savage The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet recently reached a settlement of $507,000, with Nally & Hamilton Enterprises, Inc., a mountaintop removal coal mining company in eastern Kentucky. The fine tops previous record-setting fines issued in Appalachian Voices’ on-going case against Frasure Creek and ICG coal companies, $310,000 and $350,000, respectively. Appalachian Voices,…
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