By Karen Uhlenhuth Coal ash—the residue from burning coal to generate electricity—is abundant and cheap. Often free for the taking, in fact. And it’s one way that at least some Midwestern communities provide traction on snowy and icy roads. But what’s left behind in the nearby water and soil when this byproduct from coal-fired power […]
On Thursday, Waterkeeper Alliance and North Carolina Riverkeepers called on the North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxler, to protect public and environmental health against the swine industry’s handling of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus outbreak in the state. Commissioner Troxler has been urged to immediately inform the public about the scope of the hog-killing […]
By Andy Rowell The fallout from the BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues. The oil giant is attempting to force the U.S. government to release evidence which BP says proves that the oil spill did much less damage than at first feared. According to the Financial Times, in filings to the U.S. court in New Orleans, […]
North Carolina, home to more high-hazard coal ash impoundments than any other state, has been ground-zero for coal-ash issues for years … long before the lawsuits began to fly. That’s probably because the state’s largest city, Charlotte, is home to the nation’s largest energy producer and anti-coal-ash-regulation lobbyist, Duke Energy. The city is also home […]
Hear the latest on the 73 Olympic-size swimming pools worth of toxic sludge that Duke Energy dumped into North Carolina waterways starting Super Bowl Sunday in this Rachel Maddow interview with Michael Gerrard, professor of environmental law at Columbia University. Gerrard talks about a North Carolina federal investigation into this coal ash leak disaster. For more information […]
[This is the fourth article in a four-part series. Read part one, read part two, read part three.] Waterkeeper Alliance and Yadkin Riverkeeper have obtained the results from a second round of water sampling on the Dan River in the wake of the third largest coal ash spill in recent U.S. history. Their results confirm that highly-contaminated […]
By Kevin Mathews You may see a lot of gold, silver and bronze at the Olympics, but one color you definitely won’t see much of in Sochi is green. Years ago, Russia won its Olympic bid in large part by pledging to host the most environmentally friendly Games ever. Now, however, it’s clear that Sochi did not […]
By Alexis Baldera Most images related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster are of oil floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico or washing up on its shores, but what has happened in the deep-sea environment? Dr. Paul Montagna of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi explores that question. In a recent publication in PLOS ONE, he estimated […]
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating a coal slurry spill, reported to be of “significant” size, from a pipe that ruptured early this morning at the Kanawha Eagle Prep Plant in Kanawha County, WV. The slurry spilled into Fields Creek and has apparently begun to reach the Kanawha River, about 3.5 miles away. The slurry […]