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.

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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.

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EPA limits coal plants’ toxic discharges. Finally.

Finally, the EPA is taking action on cleaning up toxic wastewater discharges from the nation’s power plants. A new rule out this week updates standards from 32 years ago, which virtually granted license to utilities to discharge unlimited toxins into streams, rivers and lakes.

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Citizen stories counter coal industry deception

Citizens and clean water advocates used a series of hearings on the proposed Stream Protection Rule to demand improvements to the draft version and call out state agencies for repeatedly failing to enforce regulations already on the books. Coal industry representatives, on the other hand, relied on “war on coal” rhetoric and deception to rally against the rule.

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Clean Water Laws Wrestle With Coal

From The Appalachian Voice: America’s environmental regulations have hampered the coal industry to varying degrees for decades, and though those rules can protect communities from pollution, the law alone is often not able to secure clean water. Here are some of the trouble spots.

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Formidable Costs

Coal Company Conducts Business as Usual Near Kanawha State Forest By Tarence Ray Seven miles south of Charleston, W.Va., sits a 9,300-acre expanse of trails, streams and wildlife known as the Kanawha State Forest. The forest’s diverse wildflower and bird species attract naturalists from all over the region, and trails and fully-equipped campgrounds bring in…

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Clean Water Laws Wrestle With Coal

America’s environmental regulations have hampered the coal industry to varying degrees for decades, and though those rules can protect communities from pollution, the law alone is often not able to secure clean water. Here are some of the trouble spots.

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Proposed Stream Protection Rule Released

By Erin Savage The agency responsible for regulating surface coal mining across the country released a proposed Stream Protection Rule on July 16, which is intended to limit mining impacts on streams. The long-awaited rule is not the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s first attempt to control the effects of surface mining…

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