Health and Public Safety
May 23, 2013 -
Under legal pressure from environmental advocates, North Carolina regulators are seeking court orders to force Duke Energy to clean up groundwater contamination from unlined coal ash storage ponds at power plants near Asheville and Charlotte, where the pollution threatens the region's drinking-water supply.
May 10, 2013 -
The automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequester will have a severe effect on programs serving women in general and mothers in particular -- especially those living in the South. With Mother's Day approaching, we take a by-the-numbers look.
May 10, 2013 -
Activists hauled polluted water from Appalachia to Washington, D.C. this week to draw attention to the plight of communities affected by mountaintop removal coal mining. The action comes as legislation was reintroduced in Congress to protect coalfield waterways.
May 2, 2013 -
The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights recently visited West Virginia communities affected by the controversial mining practice and said allegations of health damage, water pollution, failure to protect cemeteries, and harassment of opponents should be investigated and addressed.
April 30, 2013 -
How many tragedies will it take before industry stops its relentless search for the world's cheapest wages and decides fair labor costs and safe working conditions are a part of doing business?
April 26, 2013 -
Seven different agencies regulate fertilizer plants in Texas, but none of them have authority over how close they are to homes and schools.
April 24, 2013 -
There were two big developments this week in the fight to end mountaintop removal, with a federal appeals court upholding the EPA's authority to revoke permits for such coal mining operations, and a group of scientists calling for a moratorium on the practice. Is the end of blowing up Appalachia near?
