Jay Dee's Post

by Ken Ward Jr. A year ago next Tuesday, at about 1 a.m., a coal-ash dike ruptured at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Plant near the junction of the Emory and Clinch rivers in East Tennessee. An estimated 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled into nearby streams, fields and homes.  The disaster revealed broad gaps [...]

by Ken Ward Jr. Photo by Antrim Caskey During Monday’s big dueling mountaintop removal demonstrations here in Charleston, a couple of coal truck drivers spent a lot of time circling the block, blaring their horns to try to drown out speeches by environmentalists they disagree with. If you look very closely at the photo above of one of [...]

by Ken Ward Jr. Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, holds up a temperature chart during a press conference at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2009. This decade has very likely been the warmest in the historical record, and 2009 will probably end up as one of the warmest years, [...]

For more than 100 years, coal has been the backbone of the Appalachian economy. Even today, the economies of more than 20 states depend to some degree on the mining of coal. About half of all the electricity generated in America and about one quarter of all the energy consumed globally is generated by coal. Change [...]

Robert Kennedy Jr. to Speak CONTACTS: Bo Webb, 304.207.0637 Vivian Stockman, 304.360.1979 Hundreds to Rally at WV Department of Environmental Protection against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Robert Kennedy, Jr. to speak at rally, calls for stop to MTR blasting of Coal River Mountain and protection of nation’s clean energy resources WHEN: Monday, December 7th at 2:00 p.m. WHERE: WV Department of [...]

Consumer Reports’ latest test of fresh, whole broilers bought in 22 states reveals that two-thirds of birds tested harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter, the leading bacterial causes of food-borne disease. The report reveals that organic “air-chilled” broilers were among the cleanest and that Perdue was found to be the cleanest of the brand-name chicken. Tyson and [...]

CHARLESTON, W.Va.–Roland Micklem, 81, will begin a fast at the West Virginia State Capitol on Monday, Nov. 30. It will continue for an indeterminate period of time, and Micklem has neither set demands nor preconditions for its termination. Micklem spent half a century as a naturalist, teacher and environmental writer. The loss of biodiversity caused by [...]