Creating New Appalachian Monuments

Members of the Raising the Shade project team during fall 2025. Photo courtesy of MAAV

Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia is a three-year project that is seeking to expand “the idea of what a monument can be.” It features nine monuments that explore different forms and a variety of the region’s stories. The monuments take a variety of forms: traditional statues, a children’s book, an album and a music festival, a quilt and more. 

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Fluvanna County fights back against proposed Tenaska gas plant

Fluvanna County is situated in Virginia’s Piedmont region. It is a county of great beauty — home to rolling fields, forest, bordered by the James River and bisected by the Rivanna River, the first Virginia river designated as a state Scenic River. It is also home to one of the largest gas-powered electricity-generating facilities in the region. Now, the company behind that methane gas plant wants to double Fluvanna’s gas infrastructure.

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Coal company owned by Sen. Jim Justice’s family faces court hearing over continued failure to clean up mines 

In a federal court hearing regarding a motion to hold A&G Coal Company in contempt for violating a January 2023 consent decree, attorneys for the company argued that it doesn’t have enough money to meet the terms of the decree, including funding mine cleanup at three delinquent mines. But attorneys representing the conservation groups that brought the original lawsuit presented evidence that executives for companies owned by the family of West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice — including A&G — routinely move money between the companies as they feel is warranted.

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