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west virginia

Fracking In The Mountain State Leaves A Community Scarred

November 26, 2011 by Rocky Kistner
with 723 views
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West Virginia is home to one of the most destructive coal mining practices in the world--mountaintop removal--a process that blows up pristine mountains to lay bare the bituminous coal below. But a new fossil fuel Gold Rush has hit the Mountain State; fracking for natural gas trapped deep in the Marcellus Shale... [read more]

West Virginia Senate Candidate Shoots Climate Bill with Rifle in Campaign Ad [Video]

October 12, 2010 by Nathanael Baker
with 883 views
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Mid-term elections are just around the corner in the United States.  With less than a month of campaigning left, candidates are starting to pull out all the stops to show they are the best fit to represent their state. In his latest ad campaign, West Virginia Democratic Senate candidate and current Governor, Joe Manchin takes... [read more]

Newsweek Gets Coal Terribly Wrong

April 12, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 154 views
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Daniel Stone published a dreadful piece on coal and energy over at Newsweek’s The Gaggle called “West Virginia Mine Disaster Unlikely to Affect National Energy Debate.”  Guest blogger JW Randolph of Appalachian Voices, debunks it fully in this WR repost. David Roberts at Grist responded to Energy Committee Staffer Bill Wicker for... [read more]

Senator Byrd Responds to WV Mining Tragedy, Questions Massey Coal's Safety Record

April 9, 2010 by Jesse Jenkins
with 93 views
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Cross-posted from Appalachian Voices' Front Porch blog Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. issued the following statements in response to media inquiries on a number of topics relating to the mining disaster in West Virginia: “While the situation on the ground this morning is not as encouraging as we had hoped, my... [read more]

States grapple with nuclear energy

February 28, 2010 by Dan Yurman
with 301 views
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Experience varies widely What’s a state legislature to do? The President earlier this month went to Maryland, which already had two nuclear reactors and is planning a third, to announce he’s granting an $8.3 billion loan guarantee to two more new nuclear reactors in Georgia. That’s two states down, 48 to go. Don’t hold your breath... [read more]

Coal Giant Massey Called Out for 12,000 Pollution Violations

January 15, 2010 by Tim Hurst
with 402 views
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Rail Yards at Danville, West Virginia, loaded with coal cars ready to be hauled from one of the largest transshipment points for coal in the world. (Photo: U.S. National Archives, 1974) Environmental groups to sue Massey Energy for ignoring thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act and surface mining laws. A coalition of... [read more]

Bats take down West Virgina wind farm

December 10, 2009 by Todd Woody
with 132 views
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I’ve written before about the coming collision between green energy projects and endangered wildlife. Now we have a federal court decision in a case involving an endangered bat and a West Virginia wind farm. As I write Thursday in The New York Times: A federal judge’s ruling that stopped construction of a West Virginia wind farm to... [read more]

Sen. Byrd - coal-hater and climate fanatic?

December 7, 2009 by TokyoTom
with 208 views
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It looks like Sen. Robert Byrd, a lifetime loyal supporter of the West Virginia coal industry (see his definitive biography, “Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields”), stabbed Don Blankenship/Massey Coal and the rest of the W.Va. environmentally destructive "mountaintop mining" industry in the back last Thursday, in an op-... [read more]

Senate shocker: Second biggest U.S. coal producer believes in global warming and strong climate action

October 29, 2009 by Joseph Romm
with 126 views
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Ken Ward, Jr., the best journalist in West Virginia, has been following the landmark Senate climate and clean energy hearings at his blog, “Coal Tattoo:  Mining’s Mark on our World.”  I’m excerpting his latest piece. But then there was Preston Chiaro, (above) chief executive for energy and minerals at Rio Tinto, a huge... [read more]

ALERT: Blasting Begins on Coal River Mountain

October 27, 2009 by Jesse Jenkins
with 246 views
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An update from Coal River Mountain Watch and Appalachian Voices. You can take emergency action here.Mountaintop Removal Mining to Destroy 6,600 Acres-and Wind Potential Appalachian community advocates and environmentalists across the nation are expressing outrage that mountaintop removal coal mining operations have begun on Coal River... [read more]

10 of 11 States Wasting the Most Energy Are ‘Red States’

October 22, 2009 by Tim Hurst
with 144 views
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ACEEE releases state energy efficiency rankings (Photo: © Narcisa/Dreamstime) West Virginia only state in bottom group to vote for Obama in 2008 Ten of the eleven states that have the longest way to go in terms of improving energy efficiency also lean Republican, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-... [read more]

Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail Warns Readers - Proposed Nuclear Plants Could Affect WVa Coal

October 4, 2009 by Rod Adams
with 172 views
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One of the best explanations of electricity supply dispatch curves that I have ever read is available in the Saturday, October 3, 2009 edition of the Charleston Daily Mail under the headline of Proposed nuclear plants could affect WVa coal. That article describes in detail how bidding in the PJM Interconnection transmission network sets... [read more]

Operation Free: Defending America from the threat of climate change

September 11, 2009 by Joseph Romm
with 124 views
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Today’s guest blogger is Jon Gensler, a former U.S. Army captain, LEED accredited professional, and a dual MBA/MPA Candidate at MIT Sloan and the Harvard Kennedy School (a repost). September 11th is both a difficult and honorable day. Difficult because eight years ago we were woken to threat of terrorism on our shores as thousands of... [read more]

EPA blocks permit for giant mountaintop removal mine

September 9, 2009 by Joseph Romm
with 97 views
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In a letter issued last week, the Environmental Protection Agency “moved toward revoking the largest mountaintop-removal permit in West Virginia history.” Citing “clear evidence” of likely damage, the EPA has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to “suspend, revoke or modify” the permit it granted in 2007 to Arch Coal to dig a 2,278-... [read more]

Prairie states debate restart of nuclear energy

February 28, 2009 by Dan Yurman
with 180 views
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Minnesota and Wisconsin say climate change puts atomic energy back in play Farmers know about climate. That’s why the legislatures in two of the nation’s great farming states in the upper Midwest are taking a new look at nuclear energy.  Draft bills that would repeal decades old bans on new nuclear power plants are on the docket... [read more]