Posts Tagged ‘Mountaintop Removal’
October/November 2013 Newsbites
Community meetings to tackle blasting issues, a photo exhibit to benefit Appalachian Voices, and saying Hello to new faces and Goodbye to a familiar one.
Read MoreNew Research and Lawsuits Keep Mountaintop Removal in the Spotlight
By Brian Sewell While battles over mountaintop removal permits reach their boiling point and lawsuits are filed and settled, new research revealing the environmental costs continues to pile up. In September, a study by Duke University, Kent State University and the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies compared the environmental toll of mountaintop removal to the…
Read MoreClimate Action Plan has Major Implications for Coal
By Brian Sewell In late June, President Obama announced his administration’s climate action plan. The speech at Georgetown University signaled to Congress that the president was keeping his promise to come up with executive actions to address the threat of climate change, and reignited claims of a “war on coal” in Central Appalachia and nationwide.…
Read MoreCourt Rules to Protect Virginia Rivers and Streams from Mining Pollution: A & G Coal to be Held Responsible for Unpermitted Discharges of Toxic Selenium
Contact: Matt Hepler, SAMS, 276-565-6167, mhepler24@gmail.com Kim Teplitzky, Sierra Club, 412-802-6161, kim.teplitzky@sierraclub.org Erin Savage, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500, erin@appvoices.org Appalachia, Va. – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia ruled Monday that A & G Coal is responsible for discharging toxic selenium from their Kelly Branch mine into nearby Callahan Creek. The Court…
Read MoreKentuckians Challenge Cabinet’s Order for Failing to Protect Clean Water from Coal Pollution
Resources Citizen’s petition for review (May 2013) Citizens’ Objection Letter (Jan 2013) Cabinet and Frasure’s Agreed Order FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Appalachian Voices * Kentuckians For The Commonwealth * Kentucky Riverkeeper * Waterkeeper Alliance CONTACTS: • Eric Chance, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500, eric@appvoices.org • Pat Banks, Kentucky Riverkeeper, 859-200-7442, kyriverkeeper@eku.edu • Peter Harrison, Waterkeeper Alliance, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org…
Read MoreEnergy Report Shorts
OSM Approves Expansion of Appalachia’s Largest Slurry Impoundment The Federal Office of Surface Mining recently approved an expansion of the Brushy Fork impoundment in West Virginia — one of the largest slurry disposal sites in the country — to hold two billion more gallons of the waste produced from washing coal. Unless the West Virginia…
Read MoreA Return to the States
By Appalachian Voices staff State legislatures in Appalachia are using their authority on health care reform, taxes, education, and energy and environmental policy to accomplish their own agendas, and sometimes, to rebuke federal policies. Here is the latest from our region’s representation. Virginia As he prepares to leave office this fall, Gov. Bob McDonnell will…
Read MoreTennessee Legislators Dodge Vote on Mountaintop Removal Although a bill to protect Tennessee’s mountains received broad citizen and political support — and media attention from around the world — state legislators chose to deny public testimony on the measure and instead let the Scenic Vistas Protection Act die without a vote. Appalachian Voices Tennessee Director…
Read MoreLawmakers to hold hearings on Scenic Vistas bill on heels of ad campaign from conservatives
Press Advisory Appalachian Voices March 19, 2013 Contact: JW Randolph, Tennessee Director, 202-669-3670; jw@appvoices.org Nashville – Tennessee Senate and House panels are scheduled tomorrow to consider bi-partisan companion bills that protect mountain forests on the Cumberland Plateau by effectively prohibiting new surface coal mining on ridgelines above 2,000 feet. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act is…
Read MoreOrganizational Roundup
Teaming Up For Virginia Appalachian Voices’ Virginia campaign team partnered with Downstream Strategies to help in their research for a report that details how the coal industry is reaping huge benefits from the Commonwealth of Virginia each year. Released in mid-December, “The Impact of Coal on the Virginia State Budget” reveals that Virginia taxpayers have…
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