Friday, February 7th, 2014 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | 2 Comments
Since Sunday night, coal ash has been spilling into the Dan River from a coal ash pond at Duke Energy’s retired Dan River Plant in Eden, N.C. The spill began when a storm water pipe under the coal ash pond burst, causing coal ash to flow through the pipe into the river. Appalachian Voices water quality specialists traveled to the site of the spill to take photos, sample water and document the damage already done by the spill.
[ Read More ]Thursday, January 30th, 2014 | Posted by Amy Adams | No Comments
By the end of this year, the EPA will finally publish the first-ever federal rule regulating the disposal of coal ash. The agency’s December 19 deadline is the result of a settlement reached today in a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice, representing Appalachian Voices, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other groups. The law, strong science and good public policy all support regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste. Will the EPA stand up for environmental and public health?
[ Read More ]Thursday, December 5th, 2013 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | 4 Comments
Bluegill from Lake Sutton with a deformed spine (top) compared to a normal bluegill (bottom). Photo courtesy SELC
Coal ash, the toxic waste produced by coal-fired power plants continues to plague communities across the country. A new study, conducted by Dr. Dennis Lemly, research associate professor of Biology at Wake Forest University and a leading expert on selenium poisoning, found that selenium from coal ash discharges into Sutton Lake near Wilmington, N.C., is killing more than 900,000 fish each year and causing deformities in thousands more. (more…)
Read More ...Wednesday, November 6th, 2013 | Posted by Kara Dodson | No Comments
Through public meetings and community outreach, Appalachian Voices is working to help citizens living near coal plants like the Belews Creek Power Station stand up for their right to clean water.
Over the past three weeks, the Winston-Salem Journal published a series of excellent articles focusing on the significant environmental and health threat of toxic coal ash in North Carolina — specifically from Duke Energy’s coal plants.
Appalachian Voices’ Red, White, & Water team has been working this year in communities surrounding the Belews Creek coal plant near Walnut Cove, N.C., and we’ve found a mountain of stories and data pointing to Duke Energy’s poor pollution record.
The articles, researched and written by Bertrand M. Gutierrez, paint a clear picture of the air and water contamination spreading out from the Belews Creek coal ash pond. The three-part series includes:
Thursday, September 26th, 2013 | Posted by Sarah Kellogg | 2 Comments
G.G. Allen Steam Plant’s Waste Storage Facilities and Nearby Neighborhood
Last month, more than 150,000 people across the country submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, encouraging the agency to adopt strong regulations for the toxic waste water produced by coal-burning power plants.
The comments were submitted to the EPA after the agency proposed an update of the rules under the Clean Water Act last April. The proposed steam electric effluent limitation guidelines, or ELG rules, have the potential to protect more than 23,000 miles of waterways from up to 5.3 billion tons of toxic waste water a year.
The EPA’s rules for coal waste water have not been updated since 1982, and since four out of five power plants have no limits on the levels of heavy metals they can dump into rivers and lakes, the new rules could provide hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens with peace of mind.
(more…)
Thursday, September 12th, 2013 | Posted by Kara Dodson | No Comments
A Kentucky court ruling for clean water comes as the EPA finalizes revisions to rules governing power plant wastewater discharge. Tell the EPA to develop strong standards to protect clean water before September 20.
Here’s some good news for your Thursday — a Kentucky court ruled in favor of clean water in a landmark case that will protect the Ohio River from being further polluted by coal waste.
The ruling comes just in time for a nationwide revision to a 30-year-old U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guideline linked to the court’s decision.
Back in 2010, Louisville Gas & Electric’s Trimble County coal plant near Bedford, Ky., was permitted to store toxic waste byproducts in a wet pond that flowed into the Ohio River. That means the only barrier between a stream of heavy metals, including arsenic and selenium, and the drinking water source for millions of people was a settling pond. Essentially, the Kentucky Division of Water had given LG&E a free pass to slowly poison the river and the communities that rely on it.
(more…)
Wednesday, August 28th, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments
You can read The Charlotte Observer article, but the upshot is that the public strongly denounced the state’s proposed “do-nothing” settlement. Almost 5,000 people submitted comments, almost all saying that the settlement doesn’t go far enough to ensuring our water is safe from coal ash waste.
So basically, the public reaction’s was….
And I can only imagine that Duke Energy’s is…
Watch this space for more to come. After all, the state has now filed an injunction for all coal-fired power plants in the state.
Tuesday, August 27th, 2013 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments
According to N.C. DENR Secretary John Skvarla, if you love clean air and water, this is your dress code.
Out of the many things that were targeted in the North Carolina legislature, water quality took a huge hit. Not only did the state budget call for the consolidation of the Division of Water Quality and Division of Water Resources, it slashed the two agencies combined budget by more than 12 percent.
And there is the curious case of John Skvarla, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources who has derided his own agency as an “eco-enforcer” before he came onboard.
At a luncheon for the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, he claimed to not have a position on climate change since he’s not a scientist, and stated that if environmentalists had their way, “we would live in lean-tos and wear loincloths.”
(more…)
Friday, August 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Tom Cormons | 3 Comments
In the latest issue of The Advocate, we feature our intrepid Red, White & Water team, which was on the road in North Carolina over the last couple months meeting with people living near toxic coal ash ponds. The response was tremendous.
Led by our North Carolina campaign coordinator, Sandra Diaz, our team of interns and volunteers made hundreds of phone calls and knocked on dozens of doors. We teamed up with Dr. Avner Vengosh and his graduate students from Duke University to sample drinking water wells and test for the toxic chemicals associated with coal ash pollution.
People welcomed us into their homes, told us their worries about contaminated drinking water, and brought friends and neighbors to our community meetings where we shared information about coal plant pollution. And many of them are now getting involved to tell the government to enforce the laws that are meant to protect water resources and public health.
This is Appalachian Voices at our best — helping citizens get the information and tools they need to voice their concerns to elected leaders and other decision makers, making them powerful advocates for their families, their communities, and the environment.
Toward that end, we’re proud to be a co-sponsor of the first Southeast Coal Ash Summit this fall, where citizens can learn from state and federal officials, scientists, activists – and each other – about this significant threat to the South’s waters.
View images of the meetings and find out how you can get involved in our Red, White and Water campaign.
For our mountains and water,
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 | Posted by Kate Boyle | No Comments
A story this week describes how the Office of Management and Budget caved to industry pressure and weakened an EPA proposal to update a 30-year-old rule on power plant wastewater discharges.
We’ve written before on the Front Porch Blog about the need to dramatically strengthen federal limits for wastewater discharges from the nation’s power plants, which account for roughly two-thirds of all toxics that wind up in America’s rivers, streams and other waters. In June, the Environmental Protection Agency, finally, issued a proposal to update the 30-year-old discharge rule.
While not perfect, the proposed “effluent limit guidelines,” or ELG rule, would go a long way to reducing the discharge of toxics, including mercury, selenium, arsenic and lead, to name just a few. The EPA included several different options for electric utilities to achieve the pollution reductions.
Read More ...Wednesday, June 12th, 2013 | Posted by AV's Intern Team | No Comments
By Chelsey Fisher
Editorial assistant, Summer 2013
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory recently deemed June “Solar Energy Month,” despite attempts by the General Assembly to repeal the state’s renewable portfolio standard.
On the heels of Republican-led legislative threats to environmental protection and renewable energy in North Carolina, Republican Governor Pat McCrory deemed June “Solar Energy Month” at a solar farm in Wake County on June 4.
This acknowledgment is definitely deserved, considering North Carolina ranked fourth in the nation for new clean energy projects and jobs during the beginning months of 2013. Clean energy has grown tremendously in the state over the past five years and has saved 8.2 million megawatt-hours, according to a study by Research Triangle Institute.
“We think the energy business, alongside with agriculture, will help North Carolina get out of this recession,” McCrory said at the declaration, according to the News & Observer.
Strata Solar CEO Markus Wilhelm, who owns one of the largest solar companies in the country, said to the News & Observer that he considered McCrory to be a “friend” of the solar industry.
Wilhelm also said that the growth in solar power usage in North Carolina is due to the state’s support of renewable energy.
(more…)
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 | Posted by Eric Chance | No Comments
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 are currently no standards for labs that do this type of testing.
The proposed certification program is a direct result of the lawsuits for falsified water monitoring data we filed against three of the state’s largest coal mining companies. Our investigation revealed that many coal companies were repeatedly submitting the same data and knowingly leaving out reports of any violations of their permits. After we filed these lawsuits, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet inspected the labs being used for this monitoring and found that in many cases they were not even capable of correctly performing the required tests.
This graph shows some of the inaccurate data submitted by Frasure Creek Mining before our lawsuits lead them to start using a new lab. Click to enlarge.
We believe that enforcing standards on labs used by coal companies will help ensure that labs report accurate data, and that the regulations meant to protect water and those that depend on it from dangerous pollution are effectively enforced. This proposed rule will be a big step forward and we have applauded the cabinet for its efforts to fix these problems. However, there are several weaknesses in the rule that we hope are fixed before it is finalized.
All too often the cabinet has failed to live up to its obligations to protect the people and environment in Kentucky. That is why our comments suggest that discretionary duties given to the cabinet in this rule be made mandatory. Appalachian Voices will continue to work to require the state agencies to actually enforce these standards.
>>Click here to see our comments
>>Click here to read the proposed lab certification rule
>>Click here to read the draft lab manual
