A bimonthly digest of regional energy news
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality again rejected a permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline's proposed extension into the state. MVP also announced another delay and cost increase for the 300-mile fracked-gas pipeline.
Changing the structure of the tax on coal mining that funds federal benefits for miners could bring tens of millions of dollars annually to the cash-strapped Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. Currently, the fund does not receive any revenue from exported coal.
The Alliance for Appalachia is hosting a webinar on April 13 to bring solidarity and support to Hopi and Diné people who are facing similar mine reclamation issues in the West.
In March 8 letters to state officials, activists said that hundreds of thousands of struggling families in North Carolina will remain at risk of eviction and utility shut-offs if further action is not taken before the end of the month.
Regulators are installing air quality monitors in two Eastern Virginia communities that have been beset by coal dust from a Norfolk Southern railyard for years.
West Virginia could move away from coal and generate more than 70% of the state's electricity using wind and solar power by 2035, according to a new report.
Ohio lawmakers seem at odds over what to do about an energy-bailout bill signed last year, but mired in scandal ever since.
A federal court halted work at nearly 1,000 stream crossings in Virginia and West Virginia one week after federal regulators allowed construction to resume on most of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
If approved, the rate increase could disproportionately impact low-income households in North Carolina.
As more coal companies file for bankruptcy, it remains unclear what will happen to hundreds of thousands of acres of unreclaimed mine land in eastern Kentucky and the rest of Appalachia.
"It is the best of both worlds. We can save money and care for the environment,” said Father Jonathan Goertz, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Danville, one of the churches joining the effort.
The last of North Carolina's moratoriums on utility shutoffs expired in August. While Gov. Roy Cooper allocated $175 million in rent and utility bill assistance, consumer advocates say that it won't be nearly enough.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule allows utilities to dump coal ash into unlined pits through April 2021, and some companies may be able to do so for longer.
Critics say a plan developed by Kentucky Utilities to address groundwater pollution from an unlined coal-ash pond seeping into Herrington Lake is inadequate.
Environmental groups in Alabama are asking power companies and legislators to move coal ash into lined landfills or recycle it.
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