Posts Tagged ‘Mountaintop Removal’
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 MoreAV Testifies in Congress
Today, Appalachian Voices’ Director of Programs, Dr. Matt Wasson, is testifying before the Congressional Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Follow us on Twitter! The hearing begins at 10 a.m. EST, and you can view the hearing homepage and watch the LIVE video feed here. The majority of this committee has been pushing a coal-industry…
Read MoreWe Can End Mountaintop Removal in Tennessee
By Dr. Minnie Vance Chattanooga, Tenn. In Tennessee, we love our mountains. These peaks and valleys inform our southern heritage, enhance our connection to family and represent the best of what we call state and country. Our mountains are home. Nevertheless, we too are facing down the barrel of continued mountaintop removal mining. Unfortunately, in…
Read MoreReclaiming Appalachia: Can Legislation and Enforcement Restore Mountains?
By Molly Moore Kathy Selvage has lived in Stephens, Va., her entire life. From her front porch, she can almost see the field where her childhood home once sat. Instead of the hardwood forest that surrounded her home, graded hills lean against each other like a lumpy bag of onions beneath a blanket of savannah…
Read MoreChurch “Shares the Plate” with App Voices
Appalachian Voices recently had the honor of being chosen for Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church’s “Share The Plate” program, in which the Pittsburgh, Pa., church donates 50 percent of their quarterly tithings to a justice-related nonprofit. After seeing an Appalachian Treasures presentation organized by local activist Shane Freeman, the Reverend David McFarland and the church board…
Read MoreTennessee Office Making Ground with State Legislature, TVA
In Tennessee, our staff is currently working with the state legislature to pass the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill that would ban high elevation surface mining techniques such as mountaintop removal in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. In collaboration with partners across the state, we are building relationships with key members of the House…
Read MoreConcerned Citizens Dispute Water Quality Study
The Whitesville, W.Va.-based Sludge Safety Project is claiming that a recent study of the water quality in an area of Boone County by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection used flawed research methods, contains errors and misinterprets its own data. In January, the WVDEP completed a year-long study that found that drinking water supplies…
Read MoreSELC Releases Top Ten Endangered Places List, Shows Threats in Southeast
The Southern Environmental Law Center recently released its fourth-annual Top 10 Endangered Places list for 2012, highlighting the ecologically and culturally rich areas throughout the Southeast that are threatened by development, water issues and the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal and hydraulic fracturing. Southeastern states bordering Appalachia, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, are each featured…
Read MoreTennesseans Launch Statewide Television Ad Campaign to Protect Our Mountains
Mountaintop Removal is Destroying Our Proud Mountains. Now TN is Fighting Back. Advocates of the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act are raising the bar with a powerful new television ad asking Tennesseans to contact their state elected officials in support of the bill. The ad will be running statewide on Fox News, with heavy buys…
Read MoreKentuckians and Friends Show State Officials Their Love for Mountains on Valetine’s Day
Despite cool, rainy weather in Frankfort, KY, more than 1,200 individuals showed up on the steps of the Kentucky state capitol building for I Love Mountains Day. This annual event is held by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth so that KFTC members and other advocates can come together to show their support for protecting eastern Kentucky’s…
Read More