Friday, May 6th, 2016 | Posted by Tarence Ray | 5 Comments
After a nearby creek ran bright yellow last month, residents of Martin County, Ky., still have questions for local and state officials — and that’s not uncommon in a county that has seen its fair share of coal slurry spills and municipal water problems. So why are so many officials ignoring the problem? [
Read More ]
Tuesday, April 12th, 2016 | Posted by Tarence Ray | 4 Comments
A lot of folks have had questions about last month's mine blowout on Pine Creek, in Letcher County, Ky. So we’ve put together an explainer that runs through the facts, the science and the regulatory protocols behind spills like this — and offers tips on what you can do about them.
[
Read More ]
Thursday, December 10th, 2015 | Posted by Erin Savage | 1 Comment
Late Monday evening, Appalachian Voices and our partners finalized a historic settlement in our case against Frasure Creek Mining. The settlement follows a five-year-long legal battle to protect eastern Kentucky’s waterways and bring a coal company notorious for violating environmental laws to justice. [
Read More ]
Tuesday, May 5th, 2015 | Posted by AV's Intern Team | 1 Comment
Two species of crayfish native to Appalachia are in danger of becoming extinct after years of suffering habitat loss and water quality impacts attributable to mountaintop removal coal mining and other industrial activity. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agency is proposing the species be listed as endangered under federal law. Whether or not they are pushed past the point of no return depends largely on the outcome of a recent proposal by the agency to add them to the federal list of endangered species. [
Read More ]
Monday, February 23rd, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | 1 Comment
Friday, Appalachian Voices and our partners filed a motion to intervene in a case between the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and Frasure Creek Mining to ensure clean water laws are being enforced in Kentucky. To anyone following our lawsuits in Kentucky, these recent developments will sound familiar. [
Read More ]
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Kentucky regulators recently filed an administrative complaint against Frasure Creek Mining for hundreds of violations of the Clean Water Act. As we wait to see if the state is going to take its responsibility to protect the people and water of Kentucky from pollution seriously, Appalachian Voices will continue to do whatever we can to ensure that Frasure Creek and other polluters are held accountable. [
Read More ]
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Last week, Appalachian Voices and our partners won a major victory in the Kentucky courts when a judge overturned two slap-on-the-wrist settlements that the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet had reached with Frasure Creek Mining a few years ago. [
Read More ]
Wednesday, November 19th, 2014 | Posted by Erin Savage | No Comments
Two recent studies include more bad news regarding the impacts of mountaintop removal on streams throughout Central Appalachia. One indicates that work done to restore previously degraded streams is inadequate, while the other raises important questions about the feasibility of selenium pollution enforcement. [
Read More ]
Monday, November 17th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. That certainly seems to be the case with Frasure Creek Mining. Four years ago we took legal action against them for submitting false water monitoring reports, and now they are at it again, but this time the false reporting is even more extensive. [
Read More ]
Thursday, August 14th, 2014 | Posted by Erin Savage | No Comments
Mountaintop removal's health impacts were the number one concern of eastern Kentuckians that participated in the SOAR Health Impact Series, but the topic was barely addressed at a recent SOAR gathering in Hazard. If they hope to soar beyond political rhetoric, Rep. Hal Rogers and Gov. Steve Beshear must take those concerns seriously, and support more research into the connections between mountaintop removal and health. [
Read More ]
Wednesday, July 30th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Over 2,000 miles of streams have been buried by Mountain Top Removal mining, and many more have been degraded. This seems like it should be illegal, but the destructive practice continues. That's why Appalachian Voices has been working to keep the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry from opening up new loopholes in our environmental laws that would make it easier to poison streams. [
Read More ]
Friday, July 18th, 2014 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
Last week a federal judge upheld a previous decision requiring a Virginia coal company to get a permit for their discharges of toxic selenium. [
Read More ]