NC DEQ’s blatant bid for control

Over the past few months, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has seemed determined to have complete environmental regulatory control with little regard for federal or public input. In this endeavor, DEQ has taken every chance to highlight how external forces, including citizens groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are simply getting in its way.

Read More

Citizens groups, Kentucky reach historic settlement with coal company over water pollution

Deal sends strong signal to incoming Bevin administration Contact: Erin Savage, Appalachian Voices, 206-769-8286, erin@appvoices.org Ted Withrow, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, 606-784-6885, tfwithrow@windstream.net Pat Banks, Kentucky Riverkeeper, 859-200-7442, kyriverkeeper@eku.edu Peter Harrison, Waterkeeper Alliance, 828-582-0422, pharrison@waterkeeper.org Alice Howell, Sierra Club, 859-420-8092, a.howell0607@gmail.com Highlights of press coverage New York Times Louisville Courier-Journal Daily Independent (CNHI) Lexington Herald-Leader…

Read More

Gov. McCrory signs “Polluter Protection Act”

Late last Friday afternoon, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law H765, the “Regulatory Reform Act of 2015.” This massive reform bill should be called “The Polluter Protection Act” with its plethora of anti-environmental provisions, rollbacks and giveaways to industry. So, just how bad is this bill?

Read More

Understanding the Stream Protection Rule

While the draft Stream Protection Rule is far from perfect, it is a long overdue update to protections for surface and groundwater from mountaintop removal coal mining. Not surprisingly, the coal industry had relied on “war on coal” talking points to fight against the rule, and claims these protections are unnecessary and will undermine an otherwise viable industry. Let’s examine those claims.

Read More

N.C. General Assembly restricts local governments on fracking

In the final hours of the legislative session, the N.C. General Assembly approved Senate Bill 119, which contains a provision that invalidates local ordinances put in place to restrict fracking. The provision was added just days after commissioners in Stokes County approved a three-year moratorium on oil and gas operations in the county.

Read More

Thank God for our Kentucky newspapers

Local newspapers in Kentucky have helped expose state regulators’ lax treatment of industry, most recently in the form of a secretive deal stuck with an oil company responsible for polluting drinking water supplies. But sadly, Kentucky’s politicians and agencies aren’t shy in revealing whose interests they truly serve either.

Read More