Spruce Pine Residents Reject Proposed Re-Zoning

By Jamie Goodman | February 21, 2012 |

A group of concerned residents in Spruce Pine, N.C. attended a town hall meeting on Feb. 13 to express discontent with a proposed re-zoning of land that would allow the disposal of bulk feldspar and processed mineral waste in their community. In December 2011, Quartz Co., with Feldspar Corporation, purchased more than 100 acres of…

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SELC Releases Top Ten Endangered Places List, Shows Threats in Southeast

By Jamie Goodman | February 21, 2012 |

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…

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SELC’s Top 10 Endangered Places List Shows Threats in the Southeast

By AV's Intern Team | February 10, 2012 |

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…

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Duke Energy Raises Rates in NC

By Molly Moore | February 6, 2012 |

On Jan. 27, the North Carolina Utilities Commission approved a 7.2 percent rate increase for North Carolina ratepayers. The North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper and a coalition of state public-interest groups filed legal briefs detailing their opposition to the rate hike. The 7.2 percent increase is the result of an agreement between Duke Energy…

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Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk

By Appalachian Voices | January 18, 2012 |

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…

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Seeds of Change Initiative to Improve Access to Local Food

By Brian Sewell | December 21, 2011 |

The Boone, N.C.-based non-profit group Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture received a $1.1 million grant from Heifer USA to strengthen the local food system in what is known as the High Country region of North Carolina. The Seeds of Change Initiative is a multi-year program that will build upon the emerging local food movement to…

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Another Nordic Revolution

By Brian Sewell | December 21, 2011 |

By Kristian Jackson It’s 5 a.m. and outside the truck, headlights reveal driving snow squalls and drifts as high as the pickup’s hood. Our crawl up Roaring Creek Road near the Toe River of North Carolina comes to a sudden halt in a wall of whiteness. We abandon our attempt to dig out the beast…

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The Scoop on Coal Ash at Asheville Plant in North Carolina

By Sandra Diaz | December 15, 2011 |

Big Thanks to Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper for his help with this post. Bird’s Eye View of Coal Ash Coal contains heavy metals by its very nature. Heavy metals are toxic and oftentimes, a little dab will do ya. For example, just one teaspoon’s worth of mercury can contaminate a 20 acre lake to…

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