Appalachian Voices testifies before Senate panel on coal-mining rule

Contact: Matt Wasson, Program Director, 828-773-0799, matt@appvoices.org Cat McCue, Communications Director, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org Appalachian Voices Director of Programs Matt Wasson, Ph.D., is testifying tomorrow morning before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at a hearing on the implications and environmental impacts of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s draft Stream Protection…

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A Family’s Troubled Water

After mountaintop removal coal mining began near their eastern Kentucky home, the Halberts saw their water quality and quality of life plummet. Three years later, they continue to seek answers.

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NCDENR Defends NCDENR, Not the Environment

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North Carolina environmental officials held a press briefing last week to discuss the massive Feb. 2 Dan River coal ash spill. After offering misleading statements in defense of the agency, officials abruptly walked out amid unanswered questions on their continued delays in holding polluters fully accountable.

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Burning Wood: The Good, the Bad and the Misunderstood

As the push continues to seek alternative and renewable energy resources, utility companies are increasingly turning to an energy source from days gone by: wood. The growth of the biomass-for-energy industry has been particularly vigorous in the Southeast, with exports of wood pellets rising by 70 percent in just the past year. While this industry…

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A Science of Responsibility:

Dr. Ben Stout’s Dedication to Community-Based Research By Brian Sewell Dr. Ben Stout, a stream ecologist and professor of biology at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, is as at home in nearby communities as he is in the classroom. For more than 20 years, he has conducted his research outside of the lab and…

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Advancing a Creative Economy for the Clinch River Valley

By Kimber Ray In the remote coalfields of southwest Virginia, a collaborative grassroots project is taking on the challenge of balancing job creation and environmental conservation. The Clinch River Valley Initiative, conceived at an economic development forum in 2010, is an award-winning coalition of concerned citizens, local government, and environmental and business groups, ardently committed…

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