Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia’
Recognizing Renewable Opportunities
Kentucky could realize 34 percent of its energy demand from renewable sources by 2025, a new study shows. Authored by West Virginia-based Downstream Strategies and Kentucky-based Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, the report found that solar photovoltaic and combined heat and power, the simultaneous generation of mechanical power and thermal energy used for heating…
Read MoreDid A Steamed Bun Ask the White House To Label Coal Ash As Non-Hazardous?
Last week, we escaped another harrowing attempt by Rep. David McKinley (WV) and company to allow coal-fired utilities to keep getting away with polluting our water (and sometimes air) with coal ash, the toxic byproduct of burning coal for electricity. While a rider to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from issuing federal standards on…
Read MoreHIDDEN TREASURES #2 – West Virginia
Welcome to part two in our exploration of the most amazing places in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountains — this time exploring some of our most fabulous Public Lands. Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park Droop Mountain Battlefield, in the Greenbrier River Valley, is home to West Virginia’s last civil war battle scene. A system…
Read MoreProtect Families: Stop Toxic Coal Ash From Polluting the Federal Transportation Bill
West Virginia Rep. David McKinley is a man on a mission — to save the coal industry from the bullies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. McKinley’s afraid that the EPA may eventually require coal-fired utilities to contain their coal ash so it’s not allowed to continue to pollute our waterways. But McKinley is not…
Read MoreSenator Manchin Should Listen to Himself
It’s rare to get this upset over someone making a valid statement, but the other day Sen. Manchin (D-WV) said something that I completely agree with, and it’s driving me nuts. When discussing the future of coal in a hearing with Department ofEnergy Secretary Steven Chu, he stated the following: “It doesn’t make any sense…
Read MoreRemembering Buffalo Creek
By Brian Sewell In the morning of Feb. 26, 1972, nearly 132 million gallons of water and coal waste rushed from Buffalo Mining Company’s slurry impoundments through Buffalo Creek Hollow, Logan County, W.Va. The flood coursed through 16 coal mining settlements along the creek where hundreds of families lived, while children slept or watched cartoons…
Read MoreA PREVENTABLE TRAGEDY- No. 9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster
By Jeff Deal Ninety-nine Americans were working in the No. 9 coal mine just north of Farmington, W.Va., on the morning of Nov. 20, 1968 — but only 21 would return safely to loved ones and the light of day. And of the 78 individuals that died from the coal mine explosion, or by suffocation…
Read MoreBears, Body Rhythms and Boundaries
By Molly Moore It’s a feat that no rational human would attempt. A person who laid essentially dormant for up to six months without urinating or defecating would probably die from elevated levels of nitrogen and other wastes. If not, that person would at least show signs of muscle deterioration upon stirring. But not hibernating…
Read MoreEPA Buffaloed Over Surface Mine
A letter sent by the EPA to WVDEP in January expresses the agency’s concerns about CONSOL Energy’s 2,308-acre Buffalo Mountain surface mine. The EPA has suggested ways to reduce the negative impacts on the environment and water quality that the surface mine, one of Appalachia’s largest, will inevitably have. Stretching from Belo to Williamson in…
Read MoreBlair Community Center and Museum Needs Your Support
By Madison Hinshaw, Communications Editorial Intern in Spring 2012. If you’ve ever heard of Blair Mountain, you know the turmoil it has been through in the last several decades. Now this historic mountain and its battlegrounds are being threatened by surface strip mining. That’s why the Blair Community Center and Museum needs your support! The…
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