Posts Tagged ‘Water Pollution’
The Appalachian Citizens Enforcement Project
The Appalachian Citizens Enforcement Project (ACE Project) is a new citizen water monitoring program being launched by The Alliance for Appalachia this summer. Appalachian Voices’ own Appalachian Water Watch team has been working with several Alliance partner organizations over the last two years to recruit and train volunteers to monitor and report water quality data…
Read MoreMountaintop Removal 101: Congressional Research Service Updates Report
Every day, more Americans become concerned with the threat of mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Just yesterday, I was made aware of a website called “What About Mountains?” created by a fourth grade class at the Episcopal School of Knoxville. These students may just be learning about the issue, but they know that “mountaintop removal coal…
Read MoreKentucky’s Lab Certification- Is it strong enough?
Yesterday, Appalachian Voices submitted public comments on a proposed wastewater lab certification program in Kentucky. To discharge polluted water, coal companies must receive a permit under the Clean Water Act. This permit that requires companies to test wastewater and report the data to ensure it falls within the limits of the permit. In Kentucky, there…
Read MoreCoal Ash Floods Congress and the Courts
On April 11, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment and Economy held a hearing in part to promote the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2013, drafted legislation that would prevent the EPA from implementing federal regulation of coal ash, leaving regulation up to the states. Some witnesses, including the former director…
Read MoreEPA Releases Proposal To Update Clean Water Act Standards for Power Plant Pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally proposed a range of options to regulate waste water from power plants which are responsible for half of the nation’s water pollution. While the public comment period has yet to begin, a public hearing is schedule for July 9th in Washington, DC. More details on the rule itself,…
Read MoreTennessee Legislators Dodge Vote on Mountaintop Removal Although a bill to protect Tennessee’s mountains received broad citizen and political support — and media attention from around the world — state legislators chose to deny public testimony on the measure and instead let the Scenic Vistas Protection Act die without a vote. Appalachian Voices Tennessee Director…
Read MoreCanvassing Against Coal Ash
Last Saturday, the Red, White and Water team traveled to Belmont, N.C., to the G.G. Allen Steam Station for a day of canvassing. Walking door-to-door, we asked residents of the communities near the coal-fired power plant if they had been impacted by water pollution. I met Archie Dixon, who was featured in the Gaston Gazette…
Read MoreHelp Protect Kentucky’s Fish from Toxic Selenium
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet is currently attempting to significantly weaken the state’s water quality standards for selenium. Selenium is a pollutant common at some coal mines that deforms and kills aquatic life. It bioaccumulates, increasing in concentration as it moves up the food chain, affecting larger fish and aquatic birds. At higher levels,…
Read MoreLesson Learned: The Buffalo Creek Flood
I woke up this morning to a frozen world. Fog and ice descended on the hills above Boone, N.C., last night and are still waiting around for the thaw. It was silent other than the periodic crack of a branch and the following echo that bounced around the hills. Stepping outside after reading Ken Ward…
Read MoreVirginia Transportation Board OKs Coalfields Expressway Project
Yesterday, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a four-lane divided highway that will flatten steep mountain ridges in southwest Virginia along a route proposed by Alpha Natural Resources — the largest coal company operating in Appalachia today. The proposed 26-mile Coalfields Expressway is only a few miles off of several less destructive routes studied by the…
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