Insights + Opinion

No More Excuses: Duke Energy, Clean Up Your Toxic Ash Holes

No More Excuses: Duke Energy, Clean Up Your Toxic Ash Holes

For four years, Waterkeeper Alliance and our North Carolina Riverkeepers have been locked in a pitched battle with Duke Energy to force the irresponsible company to clean up its dangerous, illegally polluting ash ponds which we call toxic ash holes. In 2009, I traveled to Raleigh to meet with the Aquifer Protection Section of the North Carolina […]

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    Southern Illinois Says No to Peabody Coal at Historic Hearing

    Southern Illinois Says No to Peabody Coal at Historic Hearing

    Outnumbering Peabody Energy supporters more than four to one among those willing to make public comments, outraged residents, farmers and former miners expertly broke down the inconsistencies and errors in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (IEPA) tentative determination to issue a water quality permit at a packed strip mine hearing on Tuesday in the heart of Illinois’ coal country. […]

    Obama’s Nuke-Powered Drone Strike on America’s Energy Future

    Obama’s Nuke-Powered Drone Strike on America’s Energy Future

    So the “all the above” energy strategy now deems we dump another $6.5 billion in bogus loan guarantees down the atomic drain. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has announced finalization of hotly contested taxpayer handouts for the two Vogtle reactors being built in Georgia. Another $1.8 billion waits to be pulled out of your pocket and poured […]

    Exclusive: Duke Energy Ongoing Coal Ash Spill Into Dan River

    Exclusive: Duke Energy Ongoing Coal Ash Spill Into Dan River

    [This is the second article in a four-part series. Read part one, read part three, read part four.] In the wake of what may be the third largest coal ash spill in U.S. history, Waterkeeper Alliance deployed a disaster response team to assess the damage and monitor remediation efforts by Duke Energy and the of […]

    Pete Seeger: From Way Up Here the Earth Looks Very Small

    Pete Seeger: From Way Up Here the Earth Looks Very Small

    “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”  —Words painted on Pete Seeger’s banjo A man with a banjo can be a powerful force for good. Pete Seeger, who died Jan. 27 at the age of 94, inspired generations of political and environmental activists with songs ranging from “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” […]

    Why Big Coal Operates in Constant State of Violation

    Why Big Coal Operates in Constant State of Violation

    The dirty secret in President Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy policy was quietly overlooked in his State of the Union address. Three weeks after global media attention on the West Virginia coal-chemical disaster, the most important line of information still remains buried in an AP report: … [A] review of federal environmental enforcement records shows that nearly three-quarters of the […]

    Fast Tracking TPP Would Mean More Corporate Control of Our Democracy

    Fast Tracking TPP Would Mean More Corporate Control of Our Democracy

    Do you care about having access to local and sustainably produced food or protecting your drinking water? Are you concerned about corporate influence distorting our elections? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you should be worried about legislation Senator Max Baucus and Rep. Dave Camp recently introduced that would grant the Obama […]

    Why Investing in Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea

    Why Investing in Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea

    A mind-boggling sum of about $800 for each person on the planet is invested into fossil fuel companies through the global capital markets alone. That’s roughly 10 percent of the total capital invested in listed companies. The amount of money invested into the 200 biggest fossil fuel companies through financial markets is estimated at 5.5 trillion dollars. […]