Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’
Star Parks Shine in the Appalachian Region
In July, Staunton River State Park in Scottsburg, Va., became the fourth park in central and southern Appalachia to receive an International Dark Sky Park designation — a marker of a prime destination for stargazing.
Read MoreTennessee Rivers at Risk
By Cody Burchett According to a report released this May by the nonprofit Tennessee Clean Water Network, surface water enforcement actions issued by Tennessee state regulators have dropped 75 percent since 2008. Of the 53 enforcement orders issued last year by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, more than a quarter were related to…
Read MoreLawsuit Defends Blackside Dace
A federal lawsuit filed in Knoxville, Tenn., alleges regulators failed to meet legal obligations to protect a threatened fish endemic to Appalachian streams. Four citizens groups, including the Sierra Club and Statewide Organizing for Community Empowerment, claim the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife…
Read MoreAppalachian communities are still at risk
Our goal with Communities at Risk is to ramp up the pressure on the White House to end mountaintop removal. As citizens have argued for years, cracking down on the continuing devastation of Appalachian mountains and streams is critical to moving the region forward. It’s incumbent on the Obama administration to help revive Appalachian communities, which have powered the nation’s economic ascendancy for generations.
Video Shows Rare View of Mountaintop Removal Mining
CONTACT: Cat McCue, Communications Director, (434) 293-6373; cat@appvoices.org A short video released today by Appalachian Voices with stunningly detailed drone footage provides a rare view of mountaintop removal coal mining and the increasing proximity of this destructive form of mining to people living in Appalachia. The video also includes interviews with local citizens who want…
Read MoreState Legislative Updates
While lawmakers in Washington, D.C., might get most of the spotlight, the legislators in state capitols across the region are busy making — and blocking — laws that affect Appalachia’s land, air, water and people. Here’s the latest updates from state legislatures around the region
Read MoreThe Girls of Atomic City
The Untold Story of Women Who Helped Win World War II By Denise Kiernan Back when African Americans and Caucasian Americans couldn’t drink from the same water fountains and women were an anomaly in the workforce, a team of young women unknowingly helped enrich fuel for the world’s first atomic bomb in the hills of…
Read MoreLooking on the bright side, states seek solar benefits
U.S. jobs grew nearly 20 times faster in the solar industry than the whole economy’s national average, reports The Solar Foundation, and some southeastern states are catching the rays of the burgeoning industry with policies encouraging growth in both privately-owned and utility-scale solar.
Read MoreSandhill Cranes: A Winter Spectacle in Southeast Tennessee
Each winter, thousands of redheaded, long-legged sandhill cranes descend upon the mud flats and grain fields along the banks of the Tennessee River at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Tennessee.
Read MoreBe cool and keep fighting
For the next couple of days, you’ll have a hard time looking at anything online or on TV that doesn’t try to break down the midterm elections. Most pundits will analyze what happened, and some will try to tell you what it all means. Whatever that is, the job before us has not changed, and our responsibilities to Appalachia are the same today as they were yesterday and will be tomorrow.