Posts Tagged ‘Sierra Club’
Citizen groups notify Justice-owned coal company of intent to sue over reclamation violations
A coal company owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family has been notified that Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Sierra Club are planning to file a lawsuit over its failure to clean up three Wise County, Virginia, mines.
Read MoreIn yet another significant blow to MVP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signals stream crossing permit will be indefinitely delayed
CONTACT: Dan Radmacher, (540) 798-6683, dan@appvoices.org Morgan Caplan, (443) 986-1221, Morgan.Caplan@sierraclub.org Washington, DC — This week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers committed to withhold a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at least until the project has a valid Endangered Species Act biological opinion. This confirmation was received…
Read MoreEnvironmental groups seek to defend Virginia’s denial of air permit for MVP in court
Richmond, VA — The Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, moved to intervene in a lawsuit to help defend the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s denial of an air permit for the proposed Lambert Compressor station. If built, the station would connect the beleaguered Mountain Valley Pipeline to the proposed “Southgate” extension into North Carolina. The conservation groups filed the motion in response to a lawsuit by the Mountain Valley Pipeline that seeks to reverse the board’s decision.
Read MoreReport: WV Shift to Renewable Energy Could Lower Bills, Boost Economy
West Virginia could move away from coal and generate more than 70% of the state’s electricity using wind and solar power by 2035, according to a new report.
Read MoreFERC orders halt to Mountain Valley Pipeline construction
CONTACTS: Doug Jackson, Sierra Club, 202-495-3045, doug.jackson@sierraclub.org Cat McCue, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, 802-310-4054, jmargolis@biologicaldiversity.org WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC to halt construction activities along the entire 303-mile route of the fracked-gas project. FERC’s order is in response…
Read MorePetition Focuses on Va. Regulatory Failures
Appalachian Voices recently joined the Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Mountain Advocates to file a formal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging that a Virginia agency had failed to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act since 2011.
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 MoreUnder Pressure, Patriot Coal to Phase Out Mountaintop Removal
By Brian Sewell On Nov. 15, amid bankruptcy litigation and multiple lawsuits, Patriot Coal announced it would begin phasing out mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia as part of a settlement over selenium pollution. One of the largest operators in the region, the St. Louis-based spin-off of Peabody Energy is the first major coal operator…
Read MoreAppalachian Water Watch: Bringing Polluters to Justice, One Lawsuit at a Time
Appalachian Voices has joined the Sierra Club and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards in filing suit against A & G Coal Corporation in Virginia. The suit, represented by the environmental law firm Appalachian Mountain Advocates, alleges that A & G has been polluting Virginia’s public waterways through unpermitted discharge of selenium. The unpermitted discharge violates both…
Read MoreSeeds of Change Initiative to Improve Access to Local Food
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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