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Center in the Media
News Archive
(Listing with summaries)
2009-2010
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
News Archive
(Headlines only)
2009 -2010
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
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The Appalachian's Center's work has been featured in hundreds of news stories and editorials in national, regional, and local newspapers. Recent articles include
those below (see archives for older articles). In addition, Joe Lovett has appeared on Sixty Minutes, Bill
Moyers' NOW, the BBC, and in Sasha Waters' award-winning documentary, Razing Appalachia, which aired on the PBS feature Independent Lens.
National and Regional Articles:
(click here for State Articles)
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A new documentary blows the top off a hazardous coal-mining
practice Mari-Lynn Evans, executive producer of the
film Coal Country, knows first-hand the dangers coal miners face
and the sacrifices they make. She grew up in Bulltown, W.Va.,
and has a brother who still works in the mines.
Nashville Scene, May 20, 2010
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Environmental regulations to curtail
mountaintop mining The Obama administration on Thursday imposed strict new
environmental guidelines that are expected to sharply curtail
"mountaintop" coal mining, a controversial practice that has
enriched Appalachia's economy while rearranging its topography.
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EPA moves to stop W.Va. coal mine that
was issued federal permit The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took a rare step against a planned "mountaintop" coal mine in West Virginia on Friday: proposing to block the mine, despite the fact that it has a federal permit.
The Washington Post, March 27, 2010
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EPA Petitioned to Revoke West
Virgina's Clean Water Authority West Virgina
officials have failed to abide by the federal Clean Water Act,
instead deferring to the industries they are supposed to
regulate, a coalition of environmental groups claims in a formal
petition asking the federal government to take back control of
discharge permitting and enforcement from the state.
Environmental News Service, June 22, 2009
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The Preacher and Mountaintop Removal; Another good reason not to
pollute the land. God lives in the same neighborhood!
Daily Yonder, May 12. 2009
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Dear Mr. President:
Declare August 3rd as Armistice Day in the Appalachian
Coalfields Huffington Post, May 12, 2000
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New EPA Review Prompts Anxiety Over Mining Jobs A
federal judge in West Virginia issued a ruling Tuesday that
dealt another blow to the controversial mining practice known as
mountaintop removal. NPR March 31, 2009
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Tensions High as EPA Reasserts Mining Authority
Just
one day after the Environmental Protection Agency announced
plans to reassert its powers to protect mountain streams from
the ravages of mountaintop coal mining, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers approved the broad expansion of such a project without
EPA input. The Washington Independent March
30, 2009
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EPA delays hundreds of mountaintop mining permits
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency put
hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday to
evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands. The
Associated Press, March 24, 2008
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Mountaintop
Mining (Part One) One of the last things the Bush
administration did was change a rule to allow coal mining
companies to dump debris into streams. That means one mining
company will be able to remove one of the last mountaintops in a
West Virginia county. The Environment Report, February 4,
2009
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Bush Administration Altered Appalachian Landscape
There might not be a better place to contemplate the impact of
President Bush's environmental legacy than Larry Gibson's
mountain in southern West Virginia. NPR News, January 18, 2009
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Massive Coal Ash Spill Leads to Challenge of Tennessee Valley Authority
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Local Residents, Environmental Advocates: “Coal is Not Clean”
Press release, January 6. 2009
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Lawsuit aims to overturn mountaintop removal rule Environmental groups filed a lawsuit today aimed at overturning a recent Bush administration rule change that loosened restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining. E News, December 22, 2008.
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Mining the Mountains Explosives and giant machines are
destroying Appalachian peaks to obtain coal. In a tiny
West Virginia town, residents and the industry fight over a
mountain's fate, Smithsonian Magazine, January 2009
State Articles:
Since the Center’s inception in 2001, its work has
been extensively covered by West Virginia's largest newspaper, the
Charleston Gazette. Please visit their archives for a
comprehensive look at the Appalachian Center and the issues it
confronts. Of special interest in the Charleston Gazette is
Mining the Mountains, a comprehensive and ongoing series of
stories on mountaintop removal mining that frequently feature the
Center’s work.
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Judge orders Patriot to
clean up selenium discharges A federal
judge on Tuesday held Patriot Coal in contempt of
court and ordered the company to install equipment
to clean up selenium pollution at two of its
operations in Southern West Virginia.
Charleston Gazette, August 31, 2010
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DEP hopes new mining
policy heads off EPA crackdown West
Virginia regulators on Thursday issued new
water-quality guidelines they and the coal industry
hope head off the Obama administration's efforts to
crack down on mountaintop-removal mining.
Charleston Gazette, August 12, 2010
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Selenium settlement or a
decision from the judge? The big selenium
case before U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers
may be headed for a settlement, or at least an early
end, according to some legal filings that were just
made public. Charleston Gazette, August 12,
2010
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Patriot Coal's selenium
cleanup lags, court told Patriot Coal
should be forced to cease stalling efforts to stop
exceeding water pollution limits for toxic selenium
at its mountaintop-removal mining operations in
Southern West Virginia, a federal judge was told
Monday. Charleston Gazette, August 9, 2010
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EPA proposes veto of
largest W.Va. strip mine's permit The Obama administration on Friday moved another step toward blocking the largest mountaintop-removal mining permit in West Virginia history.
Charleston Gazette,
March 26, 2010
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Petition asks EPA to take
over part of Ky. enforcement of Clean Water Act
Environmental groups have petitioned the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to take over a key
part of Kentucky’s enforcement of the Clean Water
Act, saying state regulators have failed to protect
rivers and streams from mining pollution.
The Courier Journal, March 15, 2010
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EPA report: Streams near mining toxic
Water quality downstream from surface coal-mining operations in West
Virginia and Kentucky greatly exceeds recommended toxicity limits,
according to previously unreleased sampling data from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Charleston Gazette,
March 15, 2010
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New petition seeks federal EPA takeover of Kentucky water permit and
enforcement program; ‘Complete breakdown’ by state alleged
Charleston Gazette, March 15, 2010
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Despite EPA deal, Massey water violations more frequent
Coal Tattoo, Charleston Gazette, January 11, 2010
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Environmental groups threaten to file suit against Massey Energy
Environmental groups claim the coal company is not complying with
the Clean Water Act at its surface mines, but Massey denies the
charge. WV Public Radio, January 11, 2010
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Pa., W.Va. Address Salt Problems
Differently As West Virginia legislators strategize about
controlling salt levels in West Virginia streams, the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection is taking a very different
approach to the same problem. The State Journal, Jan.8, 2010
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Hobet deal cuts stream impacts, preserves
jobs The Hobet permit allows Patriot to continue mining,
and use of its huge dragline machine, at the Hobet 21
mountaintop-removal complex along the Boone-Lincoln county border.
The Charleston Gazette, Jan.5, 2010
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Dunkard Creek Residents Blame Agencies for
September Fish Kill West Virginia and Pennsylvania
residents of the Dunkard Creek watershed took environmental
officials to task at a Dec. 3 community meeting about the death this
fall of the creek’s fish and mussels. The State Journal, December 4,
2009
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Compliance orders reveal attempt to suspend water standards in
Dunkard Creek The West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection gave Consol Energy permission on three occasions to
release more chloride into Dunkard Creek than the law allowed.
WV Public Radio, September 28, 2009
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30-mile fish kill at Dunkard Creek: DEP
delayed action on pollution problems over the last decade Three
weeks ago, fish started dying in Dunkard Creek, a scenic stream that
winds along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border in Monongalia
County. Charleston Gazette, September 26, 2009
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State report:
Dangerous levels of selenium in water, fish near coal mines State regulators have found dangerous levels of selenium in water and fish near coal mines in Eastern Kentucky, but they have not put restrictions on the mineral, environmental groups charged Tuesday.
Lexington Herald-Leader, September 1, 2009
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Groups say
state ignored selenium studies in issuing E. Ky. mining permit State regulators ignored studies that revealed high levels of selenium in fish and waterways in Eastern Kentucky when they issued a blanket permit for hundreds of coal-mining operations in July, environmental groups alleged Tuesday.
Courrier-Journal, September 1, 2009
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Judge:
WVDEP coal deals don’t block citizen lawsuits Judge
Copenhaver, in this ruling issued today, concluded that private deals between
coal companies and the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection do not block citizens from filing their own enforcement
lawsuits under the Clean Water Act. Charleston Gazette, August
18, 2009
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Mine
operators not restoring mountains, OSM report finds Coal operators in Southern West Virginia are
not restoring large strip-mining sites to their "approximate
original contour," despite a state policy change meant to require
such reclamation, according to a previously unpublished federal
government report. Charleston Gazette, July 25, 2009
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EPA takeover sought for state's water
program DEP "continues to overlook egregious
violations" of water pollution limits at industrial facilities,
including repeated mercury violations by the PPG Industries chlor-alkali
plant in Natrium, Marshall County. Charleston Gazette, June
17, 2009
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Obama mining plan
draws criticism from both sides Obama administration
officials on Thursday outlined their plans to try to reduce
environmental damage from mountaintop removal, but stopped short of
actions coal industry critics say are needed to curb destruction of
Appalachian hills, forests and streams. Charleston
Gazette, June 12, 2009
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Board adds conditions to Fayette mine
permit The state Surface Mine Board on Tuesday upheld the
renewal of a CONSOL Energy strip mine permit where company officials
had not fixed reclamation problems and water quality violations.
Charleston Gazette, June 9, 2009
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W.Va. high court OKs Massey silo near
elementary school Massey Energy can build a new coal silo next to a Raleigh County elementary school, despite permit maps that show the construction site is outside the company's mining boundary, according to a
state Supreme Court ruling issued Tuesday.
Charleston Gazette, June 9, 2009
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DEP helping PPG out of citizen mercury
suit West Virginia regulators are working on a deal with
PPG Industries to help the company avoid a citizen group lawsuit
over repeated water pollution violations of mercury limits at its
Marshall County chlorine plant, officials said. Charleston
Gazette, May 20, 2009
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W.Va. residents appeal renewal of Fayette
mining permit A Fayette County strip mine that has
repeatedly exceeded water pollution limits and not fixed other
violations should not have its permit renewed, citizen groups say in
an appeal to the state Surface Mine Board. Charleston Gazette,
April 16, 2009
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Mountaintop removal: Powellton permit
appealed Charleston Gazette, April 16, 2009
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Goodwin blocks Corps from issuing
streamlined mountaintop removal permits Federal regulators
may not approve new mountaintop removal operations through a
streamlined permitting process until they further study the impacts
of the proposed mining, a federal judge ruled this morning.
Charleston Gazette, March 31, 2009
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EPA's
mountaintop removal actions -- what do they mean? Joe
Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy
and the Environment in Lewisburg, has filed lawsuits on behalf of
citizens that have targeted mountaintop removal mining for more than
a decade. In an interview, he tells us what he thinks the EPA’s
actions do and do not mean. WV Public Radio, March 25, 2009.
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Corps escalates mountaintop removal mining
fight; Agency reinstates permit in Kentucky U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers officials on Wednesday escalated a fight with the
Environmental Protection Agency over the regulation of mountaintop
removal coal mining. Charleston Gazette, March 25, 2009
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Stalling on selenium? In early
December, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers declined to hold
Apogee Coal Co. in contempt of court for continuing to stall the
cleanup of selenium pollution from a mountaintop removal mine in
Logan County. Charleston Gazette, February 18, 2009.
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Crowd at Ansted DEP meeting opposes permit
In their ongoing quest to protect Gauley Mountain and the
surrounding communities, many interested individuals and groups
participated in an informal conference by the state Department of
Environmental Protection Thursday in Ansted. Register-Herald,
February 13, 2009
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Ruling requires DEP to improve mine
treatment CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State officials must
improve treatment of acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines
across West Virginia so that discharges comply with water pollution
limits, under a federal court ruling issued this week.
Charleston Gazette, January 16, 2009.
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W.Va. coal-ash dams seldom inspected, DEP
says CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Most of the coal-ash impoundments in West Virginia haven't been examined by a state dam safety inspector for at least five years, according to data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Charleston Gazette, January 9, 2009.
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Sago families look to Obama
Peggy Cohen's youngest son, Hunter, was only 2 years old when the
Sago Mine blew up. Today, he still blows kisses whenever the family
goes by his grandfather's grave. Charleston Gazette, January 2,
2009.
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