Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia’
Breaking the Resource Curse
“Future Funds” Could Spur Economic Development in Central Appalachia As Central Appalachian coal production declines, many realize the need to maximize tax revenues from coal and natural gas extraction. For the past three years, a movement to establish a permanent natural resource trust fund has grown in West Virginia. Ted Boettner, the executive director of…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreTeacher, Wife, Activist, Mother:
Wilma Lee Steele Turns Focus to Healing By Molly Moore For Wilma Lee Steele, the devastation wrought by mountaintop removal coal mining can’t be measured solely by polluted streams or transformed ridgelines. For someone as spiritually connected to the mountains of her West Virginia home as Steele is, blasting away mountaintops for the sake of…
Read MoreDiane Pitcock Connects Landowners to Fracking Researchers
By Molly Moore When Diane Pitcock and her family retired to rural Doddridge County, W.Va., in 2005, she planned on canning garden vegetables, watching the stars and listening to the owls. Today, however, four Marcellus Shale gas rigs surround her land, and the ridge behind her home hosts an access road instead of a forest.…
Read MoreRalph Davis: Exploring Appalachia’s Future
By Nolen Nychay In his 21 years of journalistic work at publications such as the Jackson County Sun, Paintsville Herald and Floyd County Times, Ralph Davis developed a close relationship with the small communities of eastern Kentucky and the rural lifestyle the region prides itself on. When Davis began work on his master’s thesis in…
Read MoreBill Howley: Making Electricity Local
By Harrison Dreves In 1974, a trip to West Virginia changed the course of Bill Howley’s life. The recent Yale graduate was immediately entranced by the taste of blackberries, the view of receding ridgelines and the smell of Appalachia in June. Three years later, he purchased 46 acres in a West Virginia valley and made…
Read MoreTouring Coal Country’s Past
By Molly Moore In 1978, student Doug Estepp was poking around in the West Virginia University library when he came across a newspaper headline describing the 1920 Matewan shootout — a violent episode in the dispute between coal companies and pro-union miners. Although Estepp grew up near Matewan in Mingo County, W.Va., it was the…
Read MoreThousand Cankers Disease Hits East Tennessee
By Meredith Warfield Black walnut trees are dying in Morgan and Rhea counties of eastern Tennessee. The culprit, according to a Tennessee Department of Agriculture announcement made this November, is Thousand Cankers Disease. The disease is a recent phenomenon in the East, but has been wreaking havoc in the western United States for the past…
Read MoreProgress and Setbacks for Appalachia’s Environment
Asheville City Council Approves Clean Energy Resolution In October, the city council of Asheville, N.C., unanimously approved a resolution to phase out the city’s use of coal-fired electricity and increase power generated from cleaner sources and saved through energy efficiency. Led by local citizen groups including the Western North Carolina Alliance and the Asheville Beyond…
Read MoreEPA decision on toxic mining waste leaves Kentuckians, other Appalachians at risk
Resources EPA Approval Letter Selenium Fact Sheet Read more on our blog Contact: Erin Savage, Water Quality Specialist, 828-262-1500, erin@appvoices.org Cat McCue, Communications Director, 434-293-6373, cat@appvoices.org Washington DC – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today approved Kentucky’s changes to how the state measures selenium, a toxic pollutant discharged from many mountaintop removal coal mines. Even…
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