Posts Tagged ‘Mountaintop Removal’
Great News for Clean Water in Kentucky
In a precedent setting move today, Judge Phillip Shepherd granted limited intervention rights to Appalachian Voices, KFTC, the Kentucky Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance in the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s Case against International Coal Group (ICG) and Frasure Creek Mining. Here is the full press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Judge grants environmental groups the right…
Read MoreKentucky Legal Action Update
Last Thursday there was a hearing to decide if we would be allowed to intervene in the interest of clean water in a legal case between the state of Kentucky and ICG and Frasure Creek Mining. The Appalachian Water Watch team shot a short video in the court room prior to the start of the…
Read MoreWhy Fight When You Can Hide?
Welcome to the biggest fight of 2011! In one corner, Appalachian Voices’ Water Watch team stands poised and ready to fight for clean water. In the other corner, Big Coal tries to defend their polluting ways. The next round of the showdown will begin on Thursday, January 27 at 1:30 pm in a Kentucky courtroom.…
Read MoreBreaking News: Kentucky refuses to post the full record against ICG and Frasure Creek
On Dec 17, 2010, Judge Shepherd ordered the Kentucky Energy & Environment Cabinet to post the proposed consent judgments with ICG and Frasure Creek to its website and provide for a 30 day public comment period. When the Appalachia Water Watch crew went to the state’s website to see if they followed the Judge’s order…
Read MoreThe People vs. Big Coal- Appalachia Water Watch
Our Appalachia Water Watch team has been busy busting Big Coal in Kentucky with great results. After finding over 20,000 violations of the Clean Water Act, including evidence of tampering and falsification of discharge monitoring reports, we filed a legally required 60-day intent-to-sue letter. On day 59, the state of Kentucky announced a settlement, including…
Read MoreKentucky’s Investigation into Coal Company Water Violations Should Dig Deeper
Last Friday the State of Kentucky announced that they had negotiated a $660,000 settlement with three coal companies over 2,765 water quality related violations at 103 coal mining operations in Kentucky. Based on a recent analysis by Appalachian Water Watch team, however, the state’s investigations may not have dug deeply enough. The long list of…
Read MoreBreaking News: Kentucky Filed Legal Action Against the ICG and Frasure Creek coal companies today
Due to violations of the Clean Water Act by ICG and Frasure Creek Mining companies, discovered and made public by Appalachian Voices and our partners in October, the state of Kentucky today filed its own legal action against the two companies. Kentucky charged ICG with 1,245 violations at 64 coal mining operations in 8 counties…
Read MoreBlowing Up Mountains for Coal- Costly and Unsustainable
NOTE: The following Letter to the Editor appeared in The Mountain Times in the November 4, 2010 issue. Dear Editor, A mountains of thanks to The Mountain Times for coverage of one of the most important issues affecting our Appalachian mountains—mountaintop removal coal mining—in your October 28 article about Trees on Fire. Mountaintop removal has…
Read MoreCongress and the Public Oppose Mountaintop Removal
One of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd’s last public statements was that a majority of Americans and a majority of Congress oppose the practice of mountaintop removal. Since that statement less than one year ago, we have seen an enormous growth in the public opposition and political opposition to mountaintop removal. Faith groups such as…
Read MoreFixing What Has Been Destroyed
By Mike Alilionis Mountaintop Removal Campaign intern, Fall 2010 This past weekend, activists gathered on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia – home of Larry Gibson, keeper of the mountains. Larry, as well as activists from Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero hosted the Mountain Justice Fall Summit – a weekend of education, training, and momentum…
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