AppalachianThe FREE Voice February/March 2014

WATER CRISIS in West Virginia: 10,000 gallons of chemicals, 300,000 residents without water, and more unanswered questions about how this happened and who exactly is protecting our water.

ALSO INSIDE: Investigating Snowshoeing 5 Years Later Melungeon A Look Back at Kingston’s Canaan Valley Coal Ash Disaster p. 16 Identity p. 9 p. 6 TheAppalachianVOICE cross Appalachia A publication of A Environmental News From Around the Region AppalachianVoices A Note from Our Executive Director der communities, those suffering from lished in 2015, creative expressions On January 9, more than 10,000 gallons of chemicals used to process coal spilled into the Elk River NC: 171 Grand Blvd Boone, NC 28607 • 828-262-1500 A Call for Justice: The People’s Pastoral abuse and drug addiction, and people will include a production at the Barter VA: 812 East High Street Charlottesville, VA 22902 • 434-293-6373 in West Virginia — just upstream of a drinking water intake serving more than 300,000 people. As I By Kimber Ray create a non-denominational document living on polluted lands. Theatre in Abingdon, Va. But the heal- DC: 122 C St NW, Ste 240, Washington, DC 20001 • 202-266-0479 write this in early February, residents across a nine-county region are still dealing with contaminated and art collection inviting inclusive TN: 1408 Peltier Road, Knoxville, TN 37912 • 865-617-2451 tap water. The collective voice of the world ris- CCA issued its first, traditional ing process, Kirkhope says, begins with dialogue and action. Pastoral Letters — those written by a listening. “Stories are a big part of it,” AppalachianVoices.org | [email protected] The latest disaster in West Virginia was not the result of an isolated mistake or oversight, but es up — from the people of Appalachia’s “So often, people want to help, but bishop rather than the people them- she adds. “Going over the struggles is Editor...... Jamie Goodman rather a systemic, decades-long failure of regulators and elected officials to place public health above hills and hollers, from the rich diversity they help the way they think people selves — in 1975 and 1995. The response an important part of getting over it, Managing Editor...... Molly Moore the interests of coal and chemical corporations. It was as predictable as it was preventable. of global communities, and from the - need help as opposed to what really Associate Editor...... Kimber Ray air, water and land of Earth itself. The was always strong. “People came out getting through it. When you know Contributing Editor...... Brian Sewell Water polluted by the poorly regulated coal industry is an everyday fact of life for many in Ap needs to be done,” Kirkhope explains. Catholic Committee of Appalachia and to commit their lives to serving the you’re being heard, it brings about a Distribution Manager...... Maeve Gould palachia, not just a one-time emergency. In addition to the severe pollution caused by mountaintop “You don’t know what needs to be done mountains,” Kirkhope recalls, and their sense of hope.” Editorial & Web Assistant...... Meredith Warfield removal mining, slurry from coal washing — a process that involves the spilled chemicals — is Jeannie Kirkhope, administrative direc- until you ask people what they need.” work contributed to the evolution of CCA invites you to help collect Editorial Assistant...... Kelsey Boyajian stored behind earthen dams or pumped into empty mine shafts underground. Either way, the threat tor of the CCA, hope to gather this call Graphic Design Assistant...... Clarissa Gotsch The People’s Pastoral will express these stories — anyone can share their to groundwater is unmistakable. In one example, residents of Prenter, W.Va., south of Charleston, for help — first from Appalachia, then organizations like Big Laurel Learning stories of struggle from marginalized Center, a social and ecological justice story online or host a listening session experienced years of skin rashes and tooth decay from contaminants in their wells linked to coal slurry.- expanding globally after this spring. groups including the impoverished, the community in Mingo County, W.Va. in their community. Add your voice at DISTRIBUTION VOLUNTEERS: Alison Auciello, Karen Austin, Debbie As Appalachian Voices’ Program Director Matt Wasson describes on p. 14, this ongoing contami Their project, the People’s Pastoral, will undocumented, the gay and transgen- Once the People’s Pastoral is pub- ccappal.org. Bahr, Heather Baker, Becky Barlow, Aaron Barr, Bob Belton, Blue Smoke nation of groundwater has forced many West Virginians to stop using their well or local municipal Coffee, Maria Bolton-Joubert, Charlie Bowles, Cindy Bowles, Lynn water, and instead rely on water piped in from an industrial stretch of the Elk River in an area known Brammer, Jane Branham, Steve Brooks, Carmen Cantrell, Sarah Smith Caskey, Charlie Chakales, Kim and Shay Clanton, Chris Clark, Patty locally as “Chemical Valley.” Maison Reciprocity Takes on Europe the European Decathlon will focus on six separate shipping containers and Clemens, Sister Beth Davies, Detta Davis, Deborah Deatherage, Finley Amidst the inevitable lawsuits, finger-pointing and government By Kelsey Boyajian task is almost 60 percent complete as of reassembled in France. Dula, Nels Erickson, Lauren Essick, Beth Gandy, Charles Garratt, Dave investigations arising from the water crisis, one thing remains clear: it mid-January. an urban development solution. ASU’s Gilliam, Scott Goebel, Lisa Goodpaster, Bruce Gould, Gary Greer, Kelly Appalachian State University’s So- “The European Decathlon starts to will take a lot more than a few tweaks of local, state and federal policies ASU first championed this 12 year- design will feature a four-story space Griffin, Susan Hazlewood, Sandy Heim, Sharon Helt, Cary and Karen to truly ensure that West Virginians and other residents of Appalachia’s lar Decathlon team is hammering away with two floors of businesses, two think not only regionally, but globally Huffman, Tim Huntley, Pamela Johnston, Mary K., Amelia Kirby, Rose old energy efficiency competition in coal country can use their water resources without fear of falling ill, in preparation for the Solar Decathlon floors of residential space and an open- as well by designing a home that can Koontz, Frances Lamberts, Susan Lewis, Loy Lilley, Debra Locher, Joy 2011 with their Solar Homestead project, or worse. It will take a major shift in political power away from the Europe 2014 to be held in Versailles, reflect both this region and France,” Lourie, Gail Marney, Mast General Store, Kathy McClory, Kim Greene based on a rural setting in Asheville. In air green space on the roof. A slightly McClure, Rich McDonough, Mike McKinney, Ed and Pam McNally, Steve coal industry and to the people of Appalachia. France this summer. ASU will be pair- explains Mark Bridges, the communica- contrast to the United States’ contest, smaller 1300-square-foot mock version Moeller, Nick Mullins, Catherine Murray, Don O’Dell, Bob Partida, Dave For the mountains, ing with Universite d’Angers for the of the building will be transported in tions manager for the project. Patrick, JW Randolph, Bronwyn Reece, Martin Richards, Carol Rollman, project, dubbed Maison Reciprocity. The Kristin Rouse, Jenny Rytel, Debbie Samuels, Steve Scarborough, Gerry and Joe Scardo, Kathy Selvage, Brian Shults, Brenda Sigmon, Lucy GET INVOLVED environmental & cultural events Spencer, Jennifer Stertzer, Mike Wade, Bill Wasserman, Jim Webb, Dean Tom Cormons, Executive Director Energy Savings for Appalachia Gatherings Mountain Justice Spring Break designated “Local Legacy” by the Library of Whitworth, Amy Wickham, Graham Williams, Barbara Williamson, Diana Learn how to reduce your home energy use, March 1-9, March 9-16: Anti-mountaintop Congress.” Events include a syrup making Withen, Johnny Yousef, Gabrielle Zeiger, Ray Zimmerman About the Cover save money and better protect the environment removal activists are hosting two retreats to demonstration, crafts, music, dancing and a at an Energy Savings for Appalachia presenta- bring together concerned citizens, students maple syrup camp. Free. Pickens, W. Va. Call Printed on 100% recycled newsprint, cover 40% recycled paper, all soy-based inks tion with Appalachian Voices. To find a commu- and environmentalists who want to learn 304-924-5363 or visit pickenswv.squarespace. nity meeting near you and join the movement, from and stand with Appalachian com- com/maple-syrup-festival visit appvoices.org/energysavings/events munities fighting to protect our land and Appalachian Farmers Market culture. $50-500/Va. retreat, $100-125/W.Va. Great Backyard Bird Count Association’s 6th Annual Conference retreat. Cost includes housing, food, train- Feb. 14-17: Join this 17th annual birdwatchin March 22, 9 am-4:30 pm: The AFMA will Keep Appalachia’s Finest Environmental News Source Free ings and workshops. To register: mjsb.org event at select National Parks or in your again host this informative conference with

own backyard. Participants spend 15 min- a focus on local food and agriculture. Dr. Organic Growers School Spring Conference For 16 years, The Appalachian Voice has utes — or as long as they’d like — tallying Allen Straw will give a speech entitled ‘Food March 8-9: Choose from over 70 classes birds numbers and species, then entering Safety for our Local Food System’. Those delivered in-depth stories and the latest news and workshops to learn about gardening, them into the GBBC online checklists. Free. attending will learn about insect and pest baking bread, permaculture, sustainable about what affects the air, land, water and Visit: birdsource.org/gbbc identification, USDA programs, erosion living and other advice for recreational communities of Appalachia — news that doesn’t AppalachianVoices.org/subscribe control, speciality crops, and other useful Winter Lecture Series: The and professional growers. $85. Asheville, farming information in the sessions and often receive mainstream media coverage. American Chestnut N.C. To register: organicgrowersschool.org or mail this completed form to: 171 Grand Blvd, Boone, NC 28607 workshops. $20. Slater Community Cen- Feb. 18, 25 and March 4, 11, 7-9 pm: The ter, Bristol, Tenn. To register: appfma.org ❑ Yes, I would like to receive The Appalachian Voice in my mailbox (min. $25 donation) Frontier Culture Museum hosts a series WPA Concert Series: Atlantic Chamber

of lectures on the decline of the American Ensemble at RVCC ❑ Maximize my donation -- do not send The Voice / I prefer to read it online! The day after the West Virginia Guided Wildflower Hikes Chestnut, exploring the importance of this March 9, 4pm: Witness the talents of eleven Name of Member ______chemical spill was reported, March 22-23 and 29-30: Look for tree species to frontier culture and examine professional musicians from Richmond, Vir- Erin Savage and Eric Chance signs of spring during a hike with park Address ______current restoration efforts. Free. The Dairy ginia. $30. Rockfish Valley Community Center, of Appalachian Voices paddled staff plant specialists. Free. Rock Island Barn Lecture Hall, Frontier Cultural Museum, Afton, Va. Visit: wintergreenperformingarts.org/ City ______State ______Zip ______onto the Elk River accompanied State Park, Tenn. Call: 931-686-2471 Staunton, Va. Visit frontiermuseum.org atlantic-chamber-ensemble by intern Sarah Caldwell, Paul Help us distribute critical Phone ______Email ______Corbit Brown from Keeper of the 4th Annual Dahlonega Trail Fest 37th Annual Appalachian Studies Nexus 2014 Water, Climate, Food and environmental news to March 14-16: Celebrate Dahlonega’s des- Conference ❑ $35 ❑ $50 ❑ $100 ❑ $500 ❑ Other: $______* Mountains, and Rob Goodwin Energy Conference ignation as an AT Trail Community. Fes- March 28-30: Join the Appalachian Studies newsstands across the ❑ Mountain Protector (monthly contributor) $______/month ($10 minimum) from Coal River Mountain March 3-7: The conference, led by UNC’s tival includes camping, speakers, music, Association for their three-day conference Watch. A sickly sweet odor Water Institute, will focus on bringing to- region, and receive a copy MC/VISA # ______Expiration date ______films, and a 5K trail run. Free. Dahlone- focusing on the rich traditions in New Ap- wafted through the hazy air as gether scientists, members of government ga, Ga. Visit: dahlonegatrailfest.org palachia. $20-105/students, $50-155/non- of The Voice delivered Signature ______they collected water samples. and business organizations to work towards students. Scholarships available. Marshall straight to your home. Photo by Eric Chance solving environmental issues. $125-$425. *Minimum $35 for voting membership 56th Annual Highland Maple Syrup Festival University, Huntington, W. Va. To register: The Friday Center, Chapel Hill, N.C. To March 15-16: Attend this famous festival, a appalachianstudies.org/annualconference/ register: nexusconference.web.unc.edu cross Appalachia A Environmental News From Around the Region Spotlight on Eastern Kentucky Economy Recent Conservation Gains in Appalachia By Meredith Warfield researchers hope to contain this disease By Molly Moore Rogers announced $100 million in federal, and maintain local ecosystem health. With the Southeastern Cave Conser- state and private funding to bolster the A 21-acre addition to the Chatta- When more than 1,700 citizens gath- vancy’s recent 75-acre land acquisition, region’s internet access. The Lexington hoochee National Forest in Georgia will ered in Pikeville, Ky., to discuss ideas two caves that were formerly off-limits Herald-Leader reported that it could take ensure protection of the Soque River, a for regional economic revitalization at have now been opened to the public in three years to install fiber optic infrastruc- critical tributary to Atlanta’s primary the Shaping Our Appalachian Region eastern Tennessee. The Run to the Mill ture, the first phase of the project. drinking water source. The Soque River (SOAR) Summit last December, the crowd Cave Preserve includes a pit nearly 170 Another project touted by politicians is also home to a significant population was diverse. feet deep and the largest population of at the summit was the expansion of the of brook trout, Georgia’s only native In attendance were concerned endangered Indiana Bats in the state. Mountain Parkway between central Ken- species of trout. With the Trust for citizens, grassroots organizers and Preliminary studies have revealed a tucky and Pikeville to four lanes, a $750 Public Land’s purchase, the public will many of the state’s government and likely presence of white-nose syndrome million, six-year project that Gov. Beshear have use of the fishing waters as well as business leaders. — an infection that has wiped out has called on lawmakers to approve. easier access to thousands of surround- During breakout sessions, par- roughly 5.7 million bats in eastern North Also in January, President Obama ing acres of national forest. ticipants discussed topics such as jobs, America. By managing the property, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, tour- declared that eastern Kentucky would be ism and regional identity. Common one of five new “promise zones” where Cold Snaps May Disrupt Invasive Pests themes included the need to invest coal the area will be given special preference severance taxes back into coal-impacted for federal grant dollars through exist- By Kimber Ray ary, another below-zero cold snap is ing programs. The initiative also aims predicted. This could prune southern communities and to encourage youth to Good news for Appalachia: this to diversify the economy by increasing pine beetle populations, as well as win- remain in the region. past January marked one of the coldest support for education, leadership and ter ticks and even the kudzu plant. But Progress was quick regarding one winters in nearly 20 years. job training and establishing a revolving Yong-Lak Park, an entomologist with of the most popular ideas at the summit: Consecutive warmer-than-average loan fund for small businesses. West Virginia University, says it is too the expansion of broadband internet in winters have allowed harmful insects To learn more about the SOAR Sum- soon to evaluate the effect on dormant under-served eastern Kentucky. In Janu- — even those native to the region, such mit, read the report at governor.ky.gov/ insects until they awaken in the spring. ary, Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal as southern pine beetles — to soar to Documents/SOAR-report.pdf. outbreak levels. Just a few degrees be- While these lethal bug temperatures low zero can prove deadly for the less were the norm before the advance of cli- hardy among these pests. Widespread mate change, researchers caution that this NC Trail Wins Environmental Education Award mortality requires much lower tempera- cold spell is only a brief improvement. tures: eight degrees below zero for the Across the country, some insects will By Kelsey Boyajian interactive trail, completing it in a mat- southern pine beetle, and 30 degrees inevitably survive, but for now, many ter of months. According to Park Ranger A trail at Lake James State Park has below zero for the invasive emerald communities have been granted a tempo- Jamie Cameron, they received what he received an environmental education ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid. rary respite to plan alternative methods believes to be the first environmental award from the National Association As of press deadline in late Janu- to address harmful and invasive insects. education award to be given to a trail. for Interpretation for championing fun The trail features hand-built dis- and informational ways to take a hike. plays ranging from a rotten log station Report Finds Budget Cuts Harm National Parks Two maintenance employees of to a fairy house around the ¾ mile walk. the park volunteered to construct the By Kelsey Boyajian lead to a shorter campground season and A recent report entitled “Death by a the cancellation of 200 programs. The Blue Thousand Cuts” portrays the mounting Ridge Parkway was hit the hardest with financial difficulties faced by national a loss of $784,000, leading to a shutdown parks due to budget cuts directly affect- of parks and picnic areas. The report, ing their maintenance and operations. authored by Environment America, notes that national parks are an important home These cuts have totaled $350 million to threatened and endangered species, as since last year, a 13 percent reduction in well as a significant source of revenue for funding for all national parks. In Shenan- the national and local economy. doah National Park, a $625,000 reduction Great Attendance at Virginia Parks Virginia State Parks had record- Virginia’s 36 parks totaled $206 million, breaking attendance this past year with representing a four percent increase nearly nine million visitors, a six per- from the previous year’s earnings. cent increase from 2012. Revenue from Page 4 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 5 Edited / CMYKed and READY Edited / CMYKed and READY

Hiking the Highlands This GREEN House Snowshoeing Canaan Valley’s Winter Wonderland A Sustainable Habitat By Molly Moore Since that day in 2009, whenever These tracks can also uncover the By Sarah Kellogg the opportunity to learn about sustain- able design, especially when it comes When fresh snow muffles the the snow reaches the tops of Cousin’s presence of elusive snowshoe hares, Nestled in a mountain forest of to energy efficiency. “It’s been really sounds of scurrying squirrels and ankle-high boots, she straps on a pair nocturnal animals that have a white oaks, poplars and rhododendron, a exciting to watch my 14- and 17-year- creaking twigs, the winter woods offer of lightweight aluminum snowshoes. coat in winter and brownish-red fur in neighborhood of charming houses sits olds learn,” remarks Finger. “I think a serenity that’s different from the rus- Generally, snow should be at least other seasons. Their big feet help them lightly on the land. These are the energy they’re even more proud than we are.” tling, lively forests of spring, summer four to five inches deep for snowshoeing, stay aloft in the snow in the same way efficient homes of the GreenWood Com- Three out of the four homes have and fall. But the deep snow that can though that can vary depending on a that a snowshoe distributes a person’s munity, a project of the Watauga County south-facing windows with overhangs, make a frosty trail so bewitching can particular trail’s rocks and roots. The ver- weight across the snow’s surface. Habitat for Humanity. The neighbor- which allow sunlight to naturally heat also creep over the tops of otherwise satile sport has a mellow learning curve According to Cousin, an old cabin hood is the result of hard-working the home, a feature known as passive sturdy boots, sending even a dedicated that makes it an accessible hobby for near Blackwater Falls State Park’s Lindy families and dedicated volunteers who solar design. Streetlights powered by hiker in search of snowshoes. people of all ages and abilities, Cousin Point overlook offers quiet, lucky visi- share a vision that affordable housing solar panels are an example of active Future homeowners have been Paulita Cousin was one such con- says. She recalls a gentleman who first tors a chance to spot the reclusive snow- can also be sustainable. working hard with experts tried the pastime in his late 90s — he shoe hare. Lindy Point is also one of Snowshoes make winter trails more accessible. solar technology, and were provided vert. As the naturalist and park ac- Habitat for Humanity is an interna- and volunteers to construct loved it, and came back for repeat visits. the best trails in the park for beginning Photo by Jessica Scowcroft by a generous donation from Rumple tivities coordinator at West Virginia’s tional nonprofit organization that helps energy-efficient housing through For a nature enthusiast like Cousin, snowshoers and cross-country skiers. Memorial Presbyterian Church. Blackwater Falls State Park, Cousin had Rob Gilligan, superintendent of low-income families finance and build Watauga County’s Habitat for the winter offers a window into the During the winter, a forest service road The walls of each house are Insu- long preferred to explore the Tucker four West Virginia state parks including their own homes. Melissa Finger, her Humanity project. The siding lives of more reclusive wildlife such that connects the park’s sledding area lated Concrete Forms — interlocking County park by hiking. When she tried Blackwater Falls and Canaan Valley, husband Kenny and two sons, Isaiah used to construct the GreenWood as bobcats, gray and red foxes, coyotes to the Lindy Point Trail is unplowed blocks made of a styrofoam-like sub- Community homes, at right, is to lead a group outing in three feet of advises snowshoers to wear layers, and Dakota, are part of the Watauga and black bears. Tracks in the snow and provides a fairly level, three-mile stance — that are stacked and filled locally sourced hemlock wood. snow, however, each step was a chal- bring a snack and water, and travel in County, N.C., Habitat chapter, and Photos by Alex Hooker reveal where these animals were leap- excursion to one of the park’s signature with concrete. These insulate 50 percent lenge. After a brief struggle the crew pairs for added safety. He suggests that will be finishing their own home this ing, running and walking. “It’s fun, I viewpoints. The woods along this route better than what’s required by code, turned around and borrowed snow- resort guests let hotel staff know their February. The experience has been Finger. “We have a single get easily distracted by following their feature rhododendron and mountain and 20 percent better than Energy Star shoes from the park’s rental facility, expected return time, and says that transformative for them — in recent wide trailer that’s freezing path just to see where they went and laurel, which keep their green leaves requirements. The blocks are easy for and the rest of the day went smoothly. since all trails are marked with reflective months they have spent every Saturday cold and our power bills are what they’re doing,” Cousin says. in winter, and also include maple and volunteers to stack, making construc- blazes, late afternoon explorers should working and learning together as they outrageous, so we’re super cherry trees and evergreens like red tion simpler, and are produced only bring a headlamp or cell phone so construct their sustainable new home. excited.” spruce and hemlock. an hour and a half away in Johnson they can see the blazes if needed. Most Since its inception in 1987, Watauga Watauga Habitat has For outdoor enthusiasts looking City, Tenn. importantly, snowshoers should go at Habitat has constructed 23 homes for big plans for the future. — just a short walk away — in these for a slightly more demanding route, Additionally, the GreenWood homes their own pace. “There’s no hurry or those in need of affordable housing. They recently received a $50,000 grant projects to provide opportunities for Cousin recommends visiting the other are extremely well-insulated. According stress involved,” he says. “It’s all about In spring 2011, the organization broke from Walmart to build an on-site lumber environmental service learning. end of the park and taking the two- to Jim Rogers, the construction coordina- enjoyment.” ground on the first of 20 homes that mill, which will process the hardwood With exceptionally low energy mile trek from the Dobbin House Trail will make up the Habitat GreenWood tor for Watauga Habitat, air leaks in a trees that will be cut down to clear the bills and exciting plans for commu- to Pase Point, which boasts a couple CANAAN VALLEY neighborhood. Today, the two completed normal house amount to a window-sized lots for the next sixteen houses. Ad- nity cookouts this summer, everyone SNOWSHOEING of short but steep inclines and more houses on this 20-acre plot of land are hole, whereas air leaks at the GreenWood ditionally, Watauga Habitat and the at GreenWood is in high spirits. “We rugged terrain. homes are the equivalent of a hole the Blackwater Falls State Park already a model of affordable and sus- residents plan to expand the community truly feel blessed,” says Finger. “It’s an The state park also connects to Winter activities: Snowshoeing, cross- tainable community development. size of a 3-by-5 index card. area, build rain gardens and construct answer to our prayers.” country skiing, sledding a host of trails in the Monongahela “We thought it was important to Since the homes are so airtight, sediment ponds to keep runoff from go- Watauga Habitat holds regular vol- National Forest. Particularly bold ad- Snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails: they are well-suited for a heating and More than 10 miles, many groomed pull the community together,” says ing into streams. They hope to involve unteer days on Wednesday afternoons and venturers can even take the eight-mile Rentals and lessons available: Yes Alex Hooker, executive director of air conditioning unit called a ductless students from Green Valley Elementary Saturday mornings. Call (828) 268-9545. Davis Trail from the Blackwater Falls Contact: (304) 259-5216, the Watauga Habitat. “The vision is mini-split heat pump. These units can blackwaterfalls.com petting zoo all the way to Canaan Val- for homeowners to all work together be very energy efficient since they allow Canaan Valley State Resort Park ley State Resort Park, which has its own to keep up the community and shape for the temperature of each room to be snowshoeing and cross-country skiing Winter activities: Snowshoeing, cross- set individually and eliminate the need country and downhill skiing, ice skating, things the way they want to.” trails in addition to a downhill ski area. snow tubing Already, current and future home- for air ducts, which account for up to 30 • Delicious Deli-Style Sandwiches Snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails: owners are bonding as they work on percent of energy loss in a home. 19 miles Each home is also equipped with • Homemade Soups Rentals and lessons available: Yes completing the third and fourth houses Contact: 304-866-4121, canaanresort.com in the neighborhood. “We’ve all worked Energy Star certified appliances, win- • Vegetarian Fare dows and lighting. All of this energy White Grass Touring Center on each other’s homes,” says Finger, Winter activities: Snowshoeing, cross- whose house is GreenWood’s third. efficiency means that residents often • And Much More! country and telemark skiing, ski skating, “People are going above and beyond pay only about $30 a month to heat sledding and cool their 1400-square-foot homes. Snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails: — their house is done and they’re still 31 miles, 15-19 miles groomed out helping.” This will be a major upgrade for the Rentals and lessons available: Yes Homeowners and volunteers in- Fingers, who paid almost $450 to heat 240 Shadowline Drive, Boone, North Carolina Contact: (304) 866-4114, whitegrass.com volved in the construction process have their home this past December. “We (828) 262-1250 • www.Peppers-Restaurant.com Blackwater Falls, photo by AKA Flash Photography can’t wait to move in,” says Melissa Page 6 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 Whitewashing Reality: Diversity in Appalachia Handing Off and Holding On: By Rachel Ellen Simon the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Melungeon Identity and Appalachia The United States may be thought At the same time that the natives By Kimber Ray English. William Isom, a coordinator of as the good ol’ “Red, White, and were being forced out, Africans were for the grassroots Community Media Blue,” but in the minds of many, Ap- being forced in. By 1860, people of Afri- Attempting to trace the origin of the Organizing Project, explains that his palachian America is simply “white, can descent made up between 10 and 15 Melungeon people is akin to pursuing the family had long passed down an oral white, white” — racially, that is. The percent of the region’s population. These source of the Cumberland River coursing history of their Melungeon heritage; stereotype of Appalachia as a strictly slaves brought with them the akonting through their historical territory. Like the yet he was the first to conduct more white Anglo-Saxon region has been per- and ngoni, precursors to the five-string waters of the Cumberland Gap, where extensive academic and genealogical petuated by journalists, novelists, social banjo. The combination of African-Amer- neighboring streams weave through research on his family’s deep-rooted scientists, and even many regional ican blues with other musical imports Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia to history in the Cumberland Gap re- historians. Yet this generalization over- formed what would become one of the meet among the rolling crests of the Ap- gion of Tennessee. simplifies a more complicated — and region’s most popular exports: modern- palachian Mountains, the Melungeons “I’ve always been really intrigued more colorful — reality. day country and bluegrass music. — a mixed-race population of Appalachia with genealogy and keeping records Appalachia is not a homogenous Invariably, the commingling of cul- — are the product of a great fusion. Yet even as a kid,” Isom states. “So I’ve region today, and, even historically, tures led to intermarriages that created The coal boom drew a mix of European immigrants and African Americans to work in Appalachia. Photo where had these waters passed before always been interested in copies of diversity has always been present. ethnic and racial combinations new to courtesy of University of Kentucky Libraries, Harlan County Mine Strike Photographic Collection, 1939 they arrived in Appalachia? the family tree and family photos. It’s Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the the region. Even as diversity increased, Irish immigrants upon their initial arrival. residents from 31 different countries If the water had traveled along the a personality thing; I’m that guy who 16th century, Appalachia was home to racist laws supported a climate of white Other European immigrants were during that time period. Many of these same path as the Melungeons, some With a map of the Cumberland Gap spread on the likes to archive things and keep these table, Sylvia Ray, mother of Tammy Stachowicz, thousands of Native Americans, the superiority while facilitating the disen- lured to the area by the first major coal newcomers were drawn to the region might speculate that it had pooled into franchisement of non-whites, who were scraps together.” researches the residences of her Melungeon largest being the Cherokee. Following boom at the end of the 19th century. As for work in specific industries, includ- swimming holes for the lost colonists of ancestors. Ray is preparing a meal in the 1968 clumped into a category then dubbed From sifting through these pieces their forcible removal via the 1838 Trail demand for miners increased, coal opera- ing poultry processing in East Tennes- Roanoke Island, off the coast of North photograph to the right. Many recipes were passed of the past, Isom says he’s settled on of Tears, around 1,400 natives remained “coloreds.” This term was used to signify tors began to look outside the region for see, Christmas tree farming in western Carolina. Others may suggest these down by her Cherokee grandmother in southeastern the idea that Melungeons are am- in the mountains, forming the core of Native Americans, Africans and even more workers; they particularly targeted North Carolina and horse farms in West were the same waters that had carried Kentucky. Photos courtesy of Tammy Stachowicz biguous because the population is eastern and southern European immi- Virginia. By 2010, minorities accounted the notorious ships of 17th century Por- historically mixed. In vivid detail, he “If you called someone Melungeon, grants. Between 1820 and 1920, more than for more than 16 percent of the region’s tuguese slave traders across the Atlantic speaks of how the English first scaled it meant you hated that person to the 60,000 Italians, Hungarians, Austrians, population. Ocean. While any of these stories may the Appalachian mountains in the 17th core of their being,” Isom says. “But Russians, Poles and other immigrant Despite the influx of such newcom- be true, each one blunders over an es- century and encountered people of now it’s fine,” he adds, because “most workers had settled in the Appalachian ers, minority population rates in Appa- sential truth: the Melungeons— like the color — neither Native American nor of the Melungeon population has as- coalfields, constituting as much as 40 per- lachia remain well below the national river — are an indisputable presence black — who dressed like Europeans, similated into broader society, so the cent of the workforce. African Americans average. Yet, contemporary Appalachia that is greater than any far-flung origin. lived in houses, and spoke some kind of threat — the dread — of getting your from further south were also drawn to the is undeniably a much more multicultural “You can’t pin down a definite English, which they used to announce property taken, or being murdered is movement in the mid-’90s. mines and surrounding timber camps, place today than it was even thirty years definition for Melungeons,” says Tucker that they were Portuguese. no longer a reality.” Isom asserts that there are actu- creating a melting pot of diversity in ago, a fact that is gaining wider recogni- Davis, a freelance journalist and self- But this history still would not Growing acceptance of Melungeon ally two kinds of Melungeons: racial central Appalachia. tion among artists, academics and lead- identified Melungeon from Buchanan provide a decisive answer of origin: the identity is the most recent emergence in Melungeons and cultural Melungeons. Yet, the jobs that initially drew these ers of nonprofits, if not yet the general County, Va. He recalls a youth spent Portuguese were the first slave traders, this complex narrative. “I knew no one While a racial Melungeon is someone newcomers to America and to the region American public. Today, Heifer Inter- exploring his rural mountain commu- and their population included Jews, that referred to themselves as Melun- from a historically mixed community, did not last. The coal slump of the 1920s national’s Blue Ridge Seeds of Change nity of Grundy, where everyone had a Muslims and North Africans. What is geon prior to 1990 because until recently Isom explains, a cultural Melungeon is and the Great Depression of the 1930s initiative supports the growing number different story about what it was to be known with more certainty is that the in some areas it’s still a term you don’t “poor folks — who make up the bulk of led to widespread unemployment, with of Latino food producers in Appalachian Melungeon. From neighbors recount- term Melungeon did not appear in print say out loud — it’s a racial epithet,” people in Appalachia — who might not vast numbers of workers leaving for North Carolina, while the Affrilachian ing tales of African or Native American until 1813, where it was used to ascribe states Isom, who himself became en- have racial disparities to deal with, but northern industrial cities, reducing both Artist Project chronicles the experience lineage, to a Sunday school teacher who mixed-race identity to others. gaged with the grassroots Melungeon Appalachia’s population and diversity. of African Americans across the region. said they could be identified by a small Continued on page 10 Tucker Davis has documents from By 1990, minorities made up only 9 per- Even the federal government has knot of bone on the back of their heads, this early time period of his own ances- cent of Appalachia’s total population, come to embrace a broader understand- no one could say who the Melungeons tors appearing in court, fighting the theft with African Americans comprising the ing of the region’s demographics; in re- were with certainty. Water Pollution Reporting of their land after having been labeled vast majority of this subgroup. sponse to a petition filed by Appalachian A popular misconception is that Melungeon. According to Isom, dis- scholar Fred Hay in 2005, the Library of Melungeons can be identified by their If you live in • Black or brown water spills? Diversity on the Rise crimination and the resentful sentiment Congress officially changed its Subject dark skin and piercing blue or green Central Appalachia, • Unsafe management of sediment ponds? During the past three decades, of being labeled a Melungeon can still Heading that referred to the people of eyes. This may have been true histori- HAVE YOU SEEN... • Contaminated drinking water? however, diversity has been increasing be very tangible in northeast Tennessee. Appalachia as “Mountain Whites” to cally but, by its very nature, a racially • Spills from trucks, trains or other machinery? throughout the region, particularly in Recalling folklore that would brand “Appalachians (People).” This seem- mixed group will manifest in countless urban areas and university towns. In Melungeons as bogeymen, Isom says ingly minor triumph indicates a much expressions over time. Report pollution events anonymously the 1990s, racial and ethnic minorities that children would be warned, “Don’t greater one — Appalachia’s long-white- The quest to conclusively charac- CALL 1-855-7WATERS accounted for nearly half the region’s go out in the woods at night, the Melun- washed image is finally being colored terize Melungeons may be spurred by VISIT appalachianwaterwatch.org population growth, while the Latino geons will get you.” In his community, it in to reveal a more nuanced, accurate the abiding mystery of whether they population increased by nearly 240 per- was not uncommon for fights to ensue portrait of the region and its history. were in Appalachia even before the cent. West Virginia alone welcomed new if the word was thrown around. appalachian water watch

Page 8 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 9 “Nobody else was so self- Melungeon Identity reliant — canning, freezing Continued from page 9 and growing their own food,” Mountaintop Removal Masquerade she says. Other children in the Opponents of Proposed Surface Mine share a cultural and economic identity. neighborhood made sure that They understand that even though they she knew just how unusual Highway Push for Environmental Review might be white and from the mountains, this seemed. “We got teased By Molly Moore twelve miles of streams are slated for they’re still not quite white enough, mercilessly. Kids behind us on demolition with the “coal synergy” they’re not quite assimilated into the the school bus would throw Tim Mullins recalls what Pound, route, yet no thorough study of the mainstream, they’re not marketable.” spit wads and make animal Va., was like in the 1970s — nestled new plan’s environmental impacts has The idea of racial status forming noises,” Stachowicz adds. In in the commonwealth’s mountainous been conducted. Instead, in 2012 the the basis of identity is a persistent — her journey to understand her southwestern corner, it was a town of state completed a draft of a more cur- and harmful — belief. “Race itself is so identity, she conducted her the- crowded sidewalks, ample schools and sory environmental assessment, which socially constructed,” remarks Tammy sis work on Melungeons and nary a parking spot to be found. Today, doesn’t address the effects of mining or Stachowicz, a diversity instructor at Dav- came to a versatile conclusion: formerly bustling businesses are dilapi- analyze how the new route will affect enport University in Michigan. For Sta- “Nature doesn’t make you Me- dated eyesores, trees are sprouting on local economies. chowicz, her experience as a Melungeon lungeon. Nurture does.” the sidewalks and the schools are closed. During the past year, opponents had nothing to do with her skin tone. Yet despite this conviction Pound’s downturn troubles Mullins, — including Appalachian Voices, the Stachowicz discovered her Me- — one which she found vali- a southwest Virginia native who cares publisher of The Appalachian Voice — col- lungeon origins while searching for dated by various Melungeons William Isom found this undated photograph of his great-great-aunt and uncle, Lillian Isom and Henry Cloud, while deeply about his community. Yet he is lected roughly 90,000 public comments the source of her family’s puzzling she spoke with — many people searching for information about his family’s heritage in northeastern Tennessee. Photo courtesy of William Isom adamantly opposed to the Coalfields Citizens opposed to the Coalfields Expressway and petition signatures asking the Fed- rally outside the Federal Highways heritage. She grew up on a farm in have never stopped trying to Expressway, a proposed highway that of Melungeons — one that excluded the stigma that came to be associated eral Highway Administration to require Administration offices in Washington, D.C. Michigan, where her family carefully pinpoint a firmer genetic source of Me- coal companies and state proponents many self-identified families — and with race led much of the public to the state of Virginia to complete a full in December. Photo courtesy of Sierra Club. tended their garden and orchard and lungeons. With the advances of modern tout as a solution to the area’s lagging At right, an aerial image from the Virginia concluded that Melungeons are primar- speak of “purity.” Those who could supplemental environmental impact raised animals including horses, goats, technology, this fascination has taken on economy. For Mullins, the current road Department of Transportation shows progress ily sub-Saharan African and European. not conceal a multi-racial background statement that reflects the route changes. pigs and chickens. Although she recalls a new form. plan is a mountaintop removal coal mine on the Hawks Nest portion of the highway. Tucker Davis is unconvinced. “Even if encountered countless civil, educational “We think that if you did a full these memories fondly, Stachowicz felt Most recently, researchers pub- in disguise that holds scant economic Jane Branham, vice president of lo- a group of researchers vote on some and economic limitations. analysis you would find that there’s throughout her childhood that there lished a Melungeon DNA study in the potential and great environmental peril. cal organization Southern Appalachian technical definition of Melungeons, it Yet prior to — and even following greater cost, and that the impacts from the was something about her family that Journal of Genetic Genealogy. The final The project was conceived in 1995 as Mountain Stewards, forecasts a grim won’t matter,” he says. “It won’t change — the rise of racial slavery and legal mining would be against the law — dis- was different. results examined only a “core group” part of a 116-mile, four-lane interstate to worst-case scenario. “It’s going to be what it means to be Melungeon.” segregation, people of all different posing pollutants into already-impaired connect Pound, Va., and Beckley, W.Va. left to the taxpayers to reclaim, under In a nod to the damaging effects of backgrounds were sharing cultures streams,” says Sierra Club organizer But the commonwealth determined the guise of a highway, which the state other citizens trying to work to create assigning an identity to others based and marriages, adding to the identity of Marley Green, who lives in Wise County, that the roughly $5 billion project was of Virginia is not equipped to fund,” she something new because they want to on race, the American Anthropological Melungeons today. As Davis explains, Va. “We feel the impacts of the mining too expensive and placed the Coalfields says. “And the people living there will live here and survive as a community, Association wrote in 1999 that “hu- the story of Melungeons is not just one proposed by this route are a violation of Expressway on the backburner. be just about run out of their homes. If and I don’t see any help from [our politi- mans are not unambiguous or clearly of discrimination, but also of diversity the Clean Water Act.” In 2006, following West Virginia’s you’ve never lived or been near a moun- cians],” she says. “It’s very disappoint- demarcated ... race is an arbitrary and and community. “When I think of Me- According to Green, an environ- example, two coal companies — Alpha taintop removal site it’s not a pretty ing, but it comes back down to [the fact subjective means of classifying groups lungeons, I think of unity,” he states. mental impact statement should also Natural Resources and Pioneer Group thing. It’s very devastating, it’s constant that] it’s people that make things hap- of people, used to justify inequalities ... In revealing the legacy of Me- consider how the road would affect the — offered to nearly halve Virginia’s con- coal trucks, machines, blasting, dust — pen anyway, and then politicians some- and the myths impede understanding lungeons, Isom says that he wants health of nearby communities in light struction cost by surface mining a 50-mile it’s not just what you see, it’s everything how manage to take the credit for it.” of cultural behavior.” to “dispel the myth of Appalachian of recent studies that connect health section of the route and leaving behind a in the air, in the water. It’s a scary thing.” “I think that it’s time to invest This plight is poignantly revealed in whiteness and dispel the cut-and-dry problems to surface mining. rough-grade road bed. By creating a “coal Branham warns that by diverting back in Appalachia and [the Coalfields Appalachia, which has long struggled to story of American settlement in Ap- Mullins, who serves as a volunteer synergy” public-private partnership, a traffic away from small towns, the high- Expressway] is not it,” Branham contin- shed stereotypes imposed by others. For palachia: that there was Cherokee, then and board member with The Health new route was proposed, which follows way will stymie efforts to boost tourism. ues. “Another strip job under the guise Melungeons, this struggle is magnified. the Scotch-Irish came, then the TVA, and Wagon, a nonprofit that provides health- coal seams to maximize coal extraction “I see the people around me and of a road is not it.” Despite sharing the Appalachian cultural mountaintop removal — that’s Appala- but skirts local economic hubs near care to underserved populations in six heritage — a story of independence and chia.” He adds, “I want to mess that up Pound such as Grundy and Clintwood. southwest Virginia counties, surveyed a fighting spirit shadowed by mistrust as much as I can.” “This new route that they’ve made, mountain residents about their health from generations of exploitation — Me- Exactly where Melungeon identity it’s going to just bypass all these little concerns. He estimates that 75 percent lungeons have suffered harsh discrimi- ends and Appalachian identity begins towns,” Mullins says. “It just doesn’t of those he spoke with don’t trust local VOTED BEST BBQ nation from their “whiter” neighbors. is uncertain. Davis suggests that maybe make any sense to me because it’s just water quality. “How do you keep some- Prejudice against Melungeons has being Melungeon is just a state of mind. IN THE REGION going to make less jobs for people and one from getting cancer who lives along waxed and waned over time, in step Stachowicz likens it to a venn diagram, it’s just going to do more damage to our one of these creeks and rivers that has by Appalachain Voices’ staff of tasters! with shifting racial perceptions in the pointing out that with generations of water and our health.” got arsenic in it?” Mullins asks. United States. Through the emergence Appalachians and Melungeons all liv- The original proposal, which was Adding to the environmental risk is OPEN FOR LUNCHCLOSED AND MONDAYS. DINNER. of racial slavery in the late 17th century, ing together, “you can’t know one with- subject to a federally required environ- a legal provision known as the Govern- Hwy 321 Bypass wealthy landowners sought to keep out the other.” Then again, maybe it’s mental impact statement in 2001, would ment Finance Exemption, which would Blowing Rock,N.C. the poor under control by pitting racial not so surprising that there is no single have destroyed 720 acres of forest and excuse the participating coal companies (828) 295-3651 groups against one another. Despite the element that can define the shared ex- four miles of streams. In comparison, from complying with federal surface www.woodlandsbbq.com shared heritage of many Appalachians, perience of identity. more than 2,000 acres of forest and mining reclamation laws.

Page 10 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 11 Water Crisis in West Virginia On January 9, 2014, a chemical called MCHM leaked into the water supply of 300,000 West Virginia residents, causing a crisis unlike anything that America has dealt with before. Following are the stories of the affected as well as those of folks trying to help. Uncertainty Upstream Citizen Stories Appalachian Water Watch Responds to the Spill The WV Clean Water Hub is a community-organized effort that has been supported by volunteers and grassroots groups in West Virginia By Erin Savage, Water Quality Specialist I drove to the spill site with the Appa- — including Aurora Lights, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keeper of the Citizens gathered outside the state House of Delegates chamber to demand that officials for Appalachian Voices lachian Water Watch team to join local Mountains Foundation, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and more pass meaningful legislation to protect residents. Photo by Paul Corbit Brown When I first heard about the chemical groups in collecting independent water — to identify communities in need of clean water and supplies, and to connect affected communities with volunteers and donors. spill in Charleston, W.Va., on the morning samples. Rob Goodwin of the West Vir- This inspiring effort is an example of the ways neighbors step up Life is Surreal Since the Chemical Spill I survived. But every time I shower or get of Jan. 9, I emailed the rest of the Appala- ginia organization Coal River Mountain to help their neighbors in Appalachia. It is also a stark reminder of the By Linda Frame river’s clean. Oh wait! We found a second close to the water I wonder what long-term chian Voices staff and immediately started Watch was waiting for us on the banks far-reaching impacts of this preventable disaster caused by industry “That’s a First World Prob- chemical. School will be open tomorrow. damage it is causing my family. My pets are packing an overnight bag. While I didn’t of the Elk River, where we immediately noticed the distinct licorice-like smell that negligence and lax regulations. lem, Mom,” my teenage son told Oh wait! It’s closed for the next 5 days. drinking bottled water. Surreal. exactly know what I would be doing once These citizen stories were compiled by Dana Kuhnline for The It’s been hard to get away from social There is desperation to return to Life Before first alerted nearby residents to the pres- Volunteers with the West Virginia Clean Water Hub deliver water me one day. I can’t remember I reached West Virginia — or much about Alliance for Appalachia in late January. media where we have all been sharing our the Spill. Only now have I realized that there is ence of the MCHM. A low fog hung over in Mammoth, W.Va. Photo by Joe Solomon now what trivial thing I was com- what exactly had happened — I knew I experiences. “Has your zone been cleared no such thing. There is no going back. There the river, which might have been unre- plaining about. Because that was might be there for several days. before the chemical spill. for flushing?” “Are you showering with it?” is no trust. We have been violated and lied to. markable if not for its strange blue tint. Information flooded in from news Fending For Yourself On Thursday evening, Jan. Even in the parking lot at Kroger a woman That’s the silver lining of this catastrophe Along with Goodwin and others, we reports and our friends in West Virginia. By William Holsting 9, I was where I am a lot of the was talking about parts-per-million with the — it didn’t just go after the poor people. It is first paddled downstream to the drink- A substantial but unknown quantity of We don’t have the licorice smell now, but when they started time, at the grocery store. I noticed people guy who helped her out with her groceries. A affecting those of us who are used to only First Crude MCHM — a chemical used to wash ing water intake, and then upstream to flushing it smelled bad for awhile. I still don’t trust the water. You wash buying large amounts of water and thought to coworker and I decided it’s like being in a weird World Problems. And now some of those folks, sci-fi flick but no one gave us the script. coal — had leaked into the Elk River from just below the spill site, taking samples your hair and you feel itchy and scratchy about your ears, and I don’t myself, “I hope they recycle all that plastic.” those who might have thought caring about The day after our water was deemed safe, the environment was a hobby or a CHOICE or a decades-old tank at Freedom Industries, in both locations. Fumes filled the air as know if it’s the water or just in my mind. I would feel more comfortable Easy for me to say. I have curbside recycling I decided first to wash my hands in it. I wanted even something to hide, see things differently a chemical storage facility. The spill oc- we carefully tried to limit direct contact almost putting a pump in the creek and taking a shower from that. and access to clean drinking water. Then I It’s awful if you go to brush your teeth and then you forget and got in my car and learned about the “do not to take a shower. It had been five days of either now. They are mad at Freedom Industries and curred just a mile and a half upstream with the water. Freedom Industries originally re- you stick your toothbrush under it and then you’ve messed up, then use” order from West Virginia American Water not showering or heading out-of-county to the the bumbling response of the governor and from a West Virginia American Water YMCA to use safe water. I turned on the bath ported a leak of 5,000 gallons, but revised you’ve got to find another toothbrush. I don’t do it now, but I did at first. Company because of the chemical that had his Department of Environmental Protection. drinking water intake that serves more faucet. Let the water run. Smelled it. Sat on Let’s hope they stay that way. If anything the figure to 7,500 gallons and increased it Some people still have their old wells, and I’ve been thinking been allowed to leak into the Elk River, maybe than 300,000 people. A state of emergency about whether it’s worth the cost to put a well in, and take the risk the bathroom floor and looked at the water. It is going to change, we need them. again to 10,000 by late January. Although for hours, maybe for days. No one will say. Still. was declared and West Virginia American that it would be dry or have red water. I really just wish they would Life has been surreal since then. CNN looked normal. Turned the faucet off. Turned it Linda Frame lives in Charleston, W.Va., with her the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- Water customers in nine counties were fix the water system. West Virginia American Water took a big ad out trucks in the work parking lot. A strange licorice back on. Smelled it some more. The licorice husband and two teenage sons. She is the com- vention initially recommended a safety instructed to only use their water for in the paper saying how safe the water is, but you can’t believe the smell in our water. Being told we can drink it, smell faded and I took the plunge. Again, no munications manager for the West Virginia Center level of one part-per-million of MCHM, on Budget and Policy. flushing toilets and extinguishing fires. water company because what they’re selling is water. oh wait! Don’t drink it if you’re pregnant. The one had given us the script. Since our experience with the coal they later advised pregnant women to not They need independent people checking that water who are industry has taught us not to trust a com- drink the water even at the 1 ppm level. not connected with the water company, and the chemical company pany’s self-reported pollution monitoring, Then, 12 days after the spill — and af- should have been regulated more years ago. There’s enough blame One Seriously Angry Granny this feeling was about. washing dishes and sponge baths, leaving the ter the water company had lifted the “do to go around. They were just renegades up there with nobody to UNFIT TO DRINK: State Delegate Mike Manypenny (D-Taylor Co.) By Linda Sodaro And the answer rose up house loaded down like a mule to do laundry look after them. holds a jug of contaminated water he received from West Virginia resident clearly before me. The Elk was MY river. My and shower at a friend’s house. not use” order — Freedom Industries Sometime last year, my good friend Kim If you don’t stick up for yourself the water company’s not going Dustin White, who was prohibited from bringing his father’s polluted water parents brought me home from the hospital to We did the prescribed flushing procedure disclosed the presence of PPH, a second and I had a conversation about the joys of a to stick up for you. into the State Capitol. Manypenny accepted the jug and said he will have a one-bedroom trailer that was directly across and it has not worked, in fact it made us feel chemical. By Jan. 24, the chair of the fed- hot shower. The perfect temperature, with lovely it analyzed. Read more about White on p. 14. Photo by Paul Corbit Brown the narrow expanse of the river from the site of sick. The water still reeks of what I call geneti- eral Chemical Safety Board commented William Holsting owns a landscaping business in Ashford, W.Va. handmade soap and standing there as long as the spill. I spent my first ten years in that trailer cally modified blueberries. I wake with a daily that Crude MCHM and PPH should not we liked. She said, “I don’t think we’re always park, and the river was a constant in my life and headache and my nose is bloody most all the be in drinking water at any level. going to have that.” How to Help a source of magic and wonder. How dare those time. The thing that scares me most is that Continued Unknowns West Virginia Pride be done to fix it. The folks who make me proud Donate to this centralized hub to Kim’s prophetic words came to pass Jan. By Hannah Spencer b------assault her this way? The wave of grief I am certain that this was in the water long to be a West Virginian live in unaffected areas, contribute water and baby supplies: 9, 2014, when Freedom Industries spilled [an I returned to West Virginia the didn’t hit until Sunday morning as I lay in bed before residents discovered the spill. I tasted Through this disaster I have been reas- but have still worked every day to collect dona- donatenow.networkforgood.org/keeperoft- initially] reported 6, 251 gallons of MCHM and week after the spill to join several others hemountains after awakening. It was a powerful, cleansing and smelled it around the second week of De- sured that I am proud to be a West Virginian. The tions and supplies to send to the affected areas. PPH into the Elk River. My reaction upon hearing from local nonprofits and universities outpouring and I felt somewhat better afterward. cember, but I just thought the filter on my water folks who make me proud to be a West Virginian West Virginians stay strong no matter Volunteer: the news that Thursday went from zero to fury in taking tap water samples in homes facebook.com/WVCleanWaterHub Emotions aside, there remained the practi- pitcher needed to be changed. are those who haven’t had work since the water what happens. We bond together as tight-knit → the first five minutes. How could this have been cal matters of life without water to be dealt with. How fortunate we are that MCHM has an Continued on page 15 crisis, but are still at their local fire departments communities and we help each other through Keep informed and take action: allowed to happen? What were these chemicals ourwaterwv.org Water distribution sites were set up in our town odor! Otherwise we might never have known and churches handing out supplies every day. times of need. → and what would they do to us? Erin Savage of Appalachian Voices → westvirginiawatercrisis.wordpress.com and we didn’t have a problem with getting it; this chemical was poisoning our water. The folks who make me proud to be a West Hannah Spencer is an emergency relief organizer By Saturday, my anger had not abated and collects a water sample from the Elk → facebook.com/friendsofwater14 Virginian are angry about what has happened and president of educational nonprofit Aurora however as I write this, distribution centers Linda Sodaro is one seriously pissed off granny River downstream from the spill site → facebook.com/AuroraLightsWV I knew I had to do something, so I sat quietly Lights. She lives in Morgantown, W.Va. have been shut down. I am out of step with the living in South Charleston, W.Va. on Jan. 10. Photo by Eric Chance to their communities and demand something → appalachianwaterwatch.org for awhile, breathing and asking myself what new rhythm of life — having to heat water for

Page 12 | The Appalachian Voice February/March 2014 Who Has Priority Over Water? Uncertainty Upstream Continued from page 12 Citizen Stories Continued and churches. In some locations the of their tap water. An Expanded Idea of Leadership By Matt Wasson, Ph.D. The first step to understanding this ing plans were likely to water ban had been lifted, while in I struggle with what to tell people riddle is understanding what many Ap- destroy the well water of By Jen Osha Buysse I have spoken with many families who CHARLESTON, W.Va. — What do others water use was still prohibited. whose water we tested. Even when the haven’t been able to work in the weeks since palachians know first-hand already: Coal nearby residents, which had The stories that get me the most are the January’s Kanawha Valley chemical spill, Although West Virginia American results are clear, I can’t be sure that the the chemical spill. They can’t just not buy industry activities have been polluting provided a reliable supply stories of mothers with children who are sick the Exxon Valdez spill and the Deepwa- Water assured residents that their chemicals won’t work through miles and asking why the state water, but they can’t buy food or pay heating their water supply for a long, long time. of clean water for genera- ter Horizon incident have in common? water would be safe after flushing of water lines and is not considering it an bills in the freezing weather. They don’t want to Take, for example, the residents of tions. According to the PSC All were man-made environmental disas- — a long, laborious process that can show up at their emergency. Why is the ask for help, but their income has been cut off. Prenter in Boone County, W.Va. A few documents: “Arch Coal’s involve draining hot water tanks and houses later. Inevi- Everyone can find a way to use whatever ters, disrupting the lives of thousands of A SON’S OUTRAGE: I tried to take a Jan. 28 sample of government providing years ago, elevated levels of lead, nickel, proposed Mountain Laurel skills they have during this ongoing emer- people, and all cracked open for public the water from my dad’s West Virginia American Water changing filters — the people I spoke tably, the highest less emergency water arsenic and other chemicals in the tap Mine ... will potentially de- gency. Someone has a truck, someone knows view astonishing examples of corporate tap — the gallon jug above — into the state capitol to with didn’t trust the company’s claims burden of this risk every day, even though water was causing skin rashes and dental water the aquifer that is the parents at a school they can organize – we’ve and regulatory dereliction. show our politicians the water we are forced to live with. and continued to drink and cook falls on those who every day we’re learning decay, which could portend kidney and source for [Logan County’s] had to expand our idea of what leadership con- What don’t they have in common? Security told me I could not bring it in, and if I did I would with bottled water. In some homes, cannot afford to new, disturbing issues with the water situation? sists of, and I’ve witnessed all these incredible The Exxon Valdez oil spill was 11 million nerve damage and cancer. Residents and Sharples system.” be arrested. One security guard grabbed my arm and the licorice smell remained even after move or to con- scientists believed the pollution came While the documents Mason Burns sits by a candle at an Honor the We’ve been gather- people working together to fill truck after truck. gallons. The Deepwater spill was 210 mil- pulled me outside. They said it was an “unidentified flushing — though it was hard to tell tinue purchasing Water vigil in Tornado, W.Va. Photo courtesy ing a lot of liquid baby This crisis is far from over and we must from coal slurry — the waste by-product sought to justify the expense substance.” That’s right folks, my father’s water is an if it was because the flushing had not bottled water. lion gallons. The Freedom Industries spill of Honor the Water vigils all work together to settle into a sustainable of removing impurities from coal — be- on the grounds that the ex- “unidentified substance” now. If it’s not safe to bring formula and diaper wipes was something on the order of 10,000 worked, or because the chemical was Seeking an- level of support that we can maintain as long ing dumped into abandoned mine shafts, tension would “eliminate into the precious gold dome of the capitol then why the for the families with gallons — less than 1/10th of a percent of just now reaching their home. swers, some con- young children. We have an incredible group as needed. where was free to flow through cracks the use of local groundwa- hell is it coming out of our tap! the Valdez. How could a relatively small Some residents reluctantly started cerned citizens attended a town hall of people working together in unaffected ar- Jen Osha Buysse is an emergency relief orga- in the earth into groundwater and ulti- ter and provide a more than I really think it’s unfair that a retired coal miner and chemical spill in one river cut off drink- showering with tap water, but oth- meeting hosted by a local TV station, eas to support those affected — local unions, nizer, co-founder and board chair of educational mately the wells of local residents. adequate supply of drink- Vietnam veteran who served his country cannot even ing water access to 300,000 people — 16 ers drove to the homes of unaffected while others gathered at the state capi- daycares, schools. [One] local pediatrician nonprofit Aurora Lights. She is a busy teacher Enter the West Virginia American ing water that will sustain have clean water right now. At least water is safer where and mother living in Morgantown, W.Va. percent of the state’s entire population he is right now — in a hospital outside the affected area. friends and relatives. I met families tol to protest. On Jan. 30, more than donated baby supplies and landscape com- — scattered across nine counties? Water Company, which operates the the expected growth in the struggling to keep up with household 20 days after the spill, Gov. Earl Ray panies have offered their trucks. water treatment plant and distribution project area,” nobody seri- Dustin White is an organizer with the Ohio Valley Environ- mental Coalition and a resident of Charleston, W.Va. This chores — laundry and dishes piled Tomblin noted that he had requested network that was shut down Jan. 9. In ously expects growth near a water was collected in Boone County, where he is helping up, especially for families with young additional help from the Federal 2010, Boone County partnered with West massive mining complex in to care for his ill father. children. And while many officials Emergency Management Agency, and Wary and Waiting asked him about the water discoloration, and Virginia American Water on a multi- Logan County, where popu- were treating the problem as solved, also asked West Virginia American he said I must have spilled something in it. He By Karen Smith Zornes million dollar project to run fresh water lation has been declining for from a coal-chemical storage facility — residents were having ongoing physi- Water to continue supplying affected made me feel like an idiot. He told me to keep I didn’t have a problem with the spill at lines out to Prenter and other commu- decades. The real motivation for the proj- to serve 300,000 people in nine counties. cal reactions to their water. areas with bottled water. “Despite the flushing my lines and that someone would be first; I thought, “Accidents happen.” But when nities. The project was mostly paid for ect is found in the expected economic de- Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has been quick As with most of the more than best efforts of the company and gov- out to test my water. Four days have passed, it came time for us to flush, I had an asthma by a federal grant, with Boone County velopment benefits section, which reads: to absolve the coal industry of culpability, and we haven’t heard anything. 84,000 chemicals used in commerce ernment,” he wrote to FEMA, “many attack from the smell. I went outside for fresh and the water company making up the “The extension Project will help satisfy We’ve spent hundreds of dollars on new instead blaming the chemical industry today, little is known about the toxic- people no longer view their tap water air and tried to flush again later — and had difference. Not a penny was paid by the mine permitting requirements for Arch filters for the fridge and the home, bottled and a particularly bad company. But any ity and risks associated with Crude as safe and are continuing to demand another asthma attack. After our flush, our water, and gas to drive to get water and coal companies that polluted the water Coal’s proposed Mountain Laurel mine.” attempt to decouple the coal industry MCHM, the primary chemical in the bottled water to meet their potable water still looked blue and still had the smell. supplies. We’re spending money we don’t in the first place. Similar evidence of how public from this disaster will surely fail the laugh spill. It’s unclear when — or if — pipes water needs. It is impossible to predict So I waited for three days after the flush to have. The money we’ve spent on water was A paper trail of Public Service Com- money has been used to benefit the coal test, given that the spilled chemical was shower, and got a skin rash from the water. and hot-water heaters will be rid of when this will change, if ever.” supposed to pay my electric bill. Used, mission filings reveals similar stories industry while expanding the customer After that I called the water company. not only used by mining companies to chemical residue, and it’s uncertain As the aftermath of the spill con- Being a three-time cancer survivor happening again and again, as West base of a private water company runs The man at West Virginia American Water Rare & Out wash coal, but also had already been leak- whether MCHM is breaking down tinues to unfold, neighbors who may makes me wary about the long-term effects told me the strong smell meant the water was Virginia American Water gobbled up one throughout PSC documents. And so it ing into West Virginians’ water supply into the cancer-causing agent formal- not have originally seen eye-to-eye on of this. I don’t think the customers should be safe to use. I told him about my blisters, and of Print Books municipal utility after another. In one came to be that West Virginia American long before Jan. 9, as residents of Prenter dehyde or other toxic materials. Hun- environmental issues are beginning to the ones to pick up the bill for this disaster. instance in 2004, the state gave approval Water, consolidating its infrastructure as he said it was probably my shampoo, though Specializing in and other communities near coal prepara- dreds of West Virginians have gone to talk. Residents are banding together to Karen Smith Zornes is a concerned citizen living I’ve used the same shampoo for years. I Books about Black for the water company to develop the any profit-driven entity would, wound up tion plants can attest. the doctor with skin and eye irritation form new grassroots networks such in Boone County, W.Va. Mountain College Sharples Water Line Extension in Logan with a single water intake on the Elk River The fact that so many people are and respiratory ailments, while many as the WV Clean Water Hub, and citi- County because a coal company’s min- — a mere mile and a half downstream dependent on one facility that is run by others are dealing with headaches and zens from all throughout Appalachia West Virginia American Water, a huge rashes at home. The long-term health and beyond are pitching in to help Forty Minutes from Fresh Water multinational corporation focused on impacts are unknown. local nonprofits continue to provide By S. Rhodes available is in Nitro, W.Va., 40 minutes away, increasing its own bottom line, is a cen- Four weeks after the event, af- water. Although the path ahead is My community is partially in Putnam and it ends soon. tral factor in the scale of this disaster that fected citizens continue to contact still littered with unknowns, the con- and partially in Cabell County. I have many We are really just getting the chemical simply cannot be ignored. And, as many our Appalachian Water Watch water versation is reaching a fever pitch as elderly neighbors, and yes, there are also heavy in our tap. The smell alone, with no West Virginians know and the PSC pa- pollution hotline and website with communities in West Virginia — and children and handicapped individuals that physical contact, is burning our eyes, nose per trail demonstrates, the coal industry reports of health complications from beyond — stand together to defend need access to clean water. Water distribu- and mouth, and it’s causing headaches and plays a major role in that as well. exposure and the lingering smell of the right to clean water. tion in this area was cut off on Jan. 18. even chest pains in myself, my husband and Matt Wasson is program director with Crude MCHM coming from their taps. Erin Savage is a water quality spe- I own a small business that I run out many of our neighbors. Our main water lines Appalachian Voices and holds a Ph.D. in One report indicated that children in cialist with Appalachian Voices, the of my home and have been unemployed have not been flushed, so the multiple times Powered that we have flushed our house is just pulling Jean & Carl Franklin by (PV) ecology from Cornell University. This op- during this water crisis. Needless to say, Solar Cells the household had experienced a rash publisher of The Appalachian Voice. She 103 Cherry Street free wireless internet Locally roasted Fair Trade driving an hour each day to Charleston for more chemical into our lines and tanks, filling Black Mountain, NC 28711 ed was first published in The Charleston after coming in contact with the water and Eric Chance manage the water pollu- water is causing financial hardship, and is our homes with that noxious smell. frappes & fruit smoothies Gazette on Jan. 18, and his commentary on Jan. 7 — two days before the spill tion alert website appalachianwaterwatch. (828) 669-8149 homemade pastries & desserts just not feasible for myself and many others S. Rhodes is an artist in Putnam County, W.Va. Coffee & Espresso regarding the spill has appeared on NPR, was reported. All callers continue to org and hotline 1-855-7WATERS [email protected] here. The closest bottled water distribution 221 w. state street black mountain, nc 828.669.0999 www.dripolator.com MSNBC and The Huffington Post. express uncertainty about the safety Page 14 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 15 Continued from page 16 The coal ash here was not subject to the same level of precaution as the A History of Action on Coal Ash An Unforgettable Lesson, Forgotten cents per month. In order to foot the bill, remaining coal ash stored at Kingston; In this will continue through 2024. mounds of dry ash are visible above Federal waste laws require that the United States Environmental Protection Agency Five Years After the Kingston Coal Ash Spill complete a review and any necessary revisions of their waste disposal rules every Damage Displaced the tree line, lacking a protective cover By Kimber Ray dence had been found of drinking or to prevent dust from blowing into the three years. Yet despite the notorious Kingston coal ash disaster in 2008, and three to Alabama separate coal ash spills since, the agency has not complied with this obligation since groundwater contamination. While neighborhood. It rises from the land- Just after midnight, a thunderous The cost of the spill was not limited 2000. This timeline presents an abbreviated history of repeated delays on the same cannot be concluded for fill to coat the cars and clotheslines of swell of sound peeled apart the silence to the Tennessee Valley. More than 300 public safeguards since the Kingston Fossil Plant spill. the impoverished Alabama commu- nearby residents. that had settled onto Harriman, Tenn. A miles away in Perry County, Ala., the nity where much of the coal ash was “Landfills don’t make good neigh- mountain of black coal ash — the waste social and environmental burden of shipped, TVA ratepayers found that bors,” Bullard says. “Before the landfill byproduct of burning coal — descended more than four million tons of the 5.4 their wallets suffered more enduring came, this land was basically farms, upon the surrounding neighborhood, million-ton spill is borne by residents damage than the environment. cattle fields and trees. People enjoyed snapping trees and ripping three homes living in the small, rural community “I couldn’t believe we weren’t working outside, but [now] you can from their foundations. The Emory of Uniontown. Between 2009 and 2010, finding more impact,” says Dr. Shea smell the landfill. It’s destroyed their River was choked to a trickle as more hundreds of trainloads of dry coal Tuberty, an associate professor of biol- life, and it might destroy the land and than 300 surrounding acres were cov- ash were shipped here — the heart of ogy at Appalachian State University. their livelihood. And they’ve been pow- Dec. 28, 2008: Coal ash disaster in Harriman, Tenn. takes five days to show up on ered in a toxic sludge. Alabama’s “Black Belt” — where more most national news outlets; spurs citizens to strike up the banner against coal ash pollution. For two years after the spill, Tuberty erless to stop it.” The 1.1 billion gallons of waste — than 75 percent of residents are African worked with a team of researchers and With the help of attorney David with a nearly identical cleanup cost — American and nearly half live in poverty. JANUARY: A second coal ash spill takes place at a TVA plant in Alabama. environmental stewards assessing the Ludder, as well as attorneys from the that cascaded from the Tennessee Valley According to a study conducted in 2009 June: EPA reveals the locations of 44 “high hazard” coal ash dams — meaning ecological impacts of the disaster. environmental law firm Earthjustice, Authority’s Kingston Fossil coal-fired North Carolina, landfills are 2.8 times collapse would likely cause loss of human life — previously kept a secret. Despite the magnitude of the residents of Uniontown have filed a power plant on Dec. 22, 2008, marked The black liner covering the coal ash containment more likely to be sited in areas where spill, nature seemed to work to the cell, above, will be topped with two feet of soil and discrimination complaint with the the largest industrial spill in United the minority population exceeds 50 June: EPA issues two draft coal advantage of the TVA: fresh sediment grass when the Tennessee site is converted to a EPA’s Office of Civil Rights. The office States history. When the public took in percent. This is a phenomenon known 2010 ash rules; thousands of Americans swept in from the Emory River, cover- park. Photo by Cat McCue. The Tennessee Valley agreed to investigate the complaint this attend public hearings, and more than the sight of 10-foot-high ash piles and as “environmental racism,” and Dr. ing the ash not removed during the Authority purchased 180 surrounding properties past July, but since then there has been 450,000 comments are submitted. dead fish strewn across a hellish scene after the catastrophic landslide of coal ash in Robert Bullard, dean of the School cleanup, and the Emory joined the mas- no significant action. September: Samples taken near a that morning, no one could have antici- Harriman, Tenn. Photo credit: Appalachian Voices. of Public Affairs at Texas Southern sive flow of the Clinch and Tennessee This lack of action has been true for Duke Enegy coal plant reveal arsenic pated what would follow. University and a founding voice for levels 25 times higher than the federal rivers, effectively diluting much of what many outside studies. Given the dilut- much of the national debate as well. The “Fish Appear Healthy After TVA the environmental justice movement, limit for drinking water. pollution remained. ing power of the rivers combined with now-notorious Kingston coal ash spill Coal Ash Spill,” reported a headline in believes this was at play when the October: Largely under industry Analysis of fish tissue did show sustained cleanup efforts, it seemed the shined a harsh spotlight on the absence The Chattanoogan nearly two years after Kingston coal ash was relocated from pressure, EPA re-opens the public comment period, effectively delaying coal ash elevated levels of selenium, arsenic and TVA was scrambling to hide an environ- of federal coal ash standards. It was not rules. the event. That same year, the Tennes- a predominantly white to a predomi- heavy metals, exposure to which can mental fallout that never came to pass. until October 2013 when a federal judge see Department of Health released their nately black community. cause health effects including cancer, But while the efficiency of the reme- sided with environmental groups — final public health assessment: no evi- Bullard adds that shipping the Fall: EPA starts yet another public comment period, autoimmunity and respiratory illness. diation was unexpected, the spill itself including Appalachian Voices — that 2011 causing further delays was not. The holding cell for the coal could see “huge populations of great coal ash to Uniontown was only an But on average, Tuberty says, levels the EPA was ordered to comply with October: Coal ash spills from Oak Creek Power Plant blue herons and ospreys like pterodac- extension of the initial injustice: the seldom exceeded the toxic threshold ash was never built right. Sitting on a a congressional mandate to establish into Lake Michigan just days after the EPA tripled the tyls landing on the trees in the spring,” opening of the landfill in 2007 despite dose that triggers these harmful effects. tenuous water foundation, its 60-foot- coal ash regulations. On Jan. 29, 2014, number of coal ash ponds on its “high hazard” list. recalls Tuberty. But for most residents, widespread opposition from the com- After observing levels of heavy metals high walls were made of recycled coal the EPA announced that these regula- December: EPA list of sites contaminated by coal ash the damage and lingering fears of munity. In both instances, residential reaches 157. in fish peak, then drop off to normal ash sediment and lacked any reinforc- tions will be published by Dec. 19, 2014. contamination were too great to allow concerns were ignored by elected averages, the team decided to conclude ing steel or concrete. Residents had The strength of the forthcoming rules them to remain in the homes they had officials and the U.S. Environmental their research. reported seeing workers fix leaks in the remains uncertain. March: EPA sends draft coal ash rule to the Office of grown to love. Protection Agency. 2012 Management and Budget, where it sits unaddressed. The most overwhelming effect on wall several times in the decade leading At the Kingston plant, the TVA is The current price tag of remediation When the coal ash came, Bullard the environment may have been the up to the spill. just a year away from bringing their April: Data from 49 coal plants show arsenic, efforts has already exceeded $1 billion says, “Newspapers reported that the cadmium, lead and other toxins exceeding federal health initial physical impact: the tsunami of According to a report filed by TVA site remediation efforts to a close. TVA and, according to a TVA budget report landfill was in an isolated location, there and state groundwater standards. ash and loss of habitat. Even weeks after Inspector General Richard Moore in 2009, Spokesman Scott Brooks says the disas- engineering consultants had warned the released last fall, could rise to as much was no community opposition, and it June: EPA reveals existence of 451 more coal ash dumps, bringing the known total Help us the spill, Tuberty recalls water with the ter site will be converted to a park, with to 1,161. Almost half are unlined. utility in 1985, and again in 2004, that the as $2 billion. These costs encompass site would bring economic development.” consistency of a milkshake, and fish with ballfields and a green space. “We’re October: EPA announces that it needs more time to review wall might fail. Yet due to a lack of state repair and cleanup, compensation to A public hearing for residents to voice FILL THE coal-black gills and stomachs full of ash. going to leave the area around the spill coal ash toxicity data; they expect revisions to take six property owners and converting TVA’s their concerns was held only after the But the TVA denied that fish had or federal regulations regarding coal ash as an asset to the community,” he adds. months to one year to complete. other high-risk wet-storage facilities permit for the landfill had already been RACKS! died. “They were picking up trash — an absence that still exists today — the Yet it would be no surprise if resi- — where coal ash is mixed with water signed. As for economic development, bags full of dead fish while they were TVA was able to exercise their liberty to dents are not inclined to offer thanks July: The U.S. House pass a bill that, like a similar and stored in massive ponds — to safer it was a hollow promise from the start. slurping off all the coal ash,” Tuberty ignore these predictions. for this “asset.” Much of the enormous 2013 measure in 2011, sought to prevent the EPA from dry-storage landfills that cannot break Jobs that arrived to help unload the coal regulating coal ash. Volunteer to bring remarks. “That level of dishonesty was Costs in the aftermath of the spill cost for the Kingston coal ash spill has out in a catastrophic flood. ash are long gone — disappearing with The Appalachian Voice completely unnecessary.” have been enormous — both economi- been passed off to the community. And October: Federal judge rules in favor of environmental groups Ratepayers will shoulder most the last train’s shipment. — including Appalachian Voices — and orders EPA to present a timeline by Dec. 29 Aside from this, Tuberty says, the cally and psychologically. Many resi- with the debate about how to handle to your community. of this financial burden. Beginning in Although there have have been no for finalizing coal ash rules. TVA also took some samples upstream dents chose to build their lives by the coal ash still unresolved, Kingston is October 2009, more than nine million published studies on the human and Contact Maeve at from the site of the spill and — due to Kingston plant because of the area’s at risk of becoming nothing more than residents throughout TVA’s service ter- environmental impact of the coal ash January 2: Federal judge extends the deadline for a rule timeline to [email protected] a mistake in their analysis — reported natural beauty. The adjacent reservoir a notation in an ongoing timeline of ritory experienced a rate increase of 69 in Uniontown, the effect is palpable. 2014 Jan. 29. 828-262-1500 lower levels of heavy metals in fish than was a popular birding area where you preventable accidents. Continued on page 17 January 29: EPA ordered to submit final coal ash rules by the end of the year. Page 16 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 17 Adam Hall: A Defender of West Virginia Appalachia’s Political Landscape By Kimber Ray Justice Fall Summit, a gathering where By Brian Sewell regardless of the commission’s sugges- produced in Virginia — a reform advocacy Among other provisions favorable to participants cultivate skills and strate- Depressed towns and waters laced tions, state lawmakers can approve their groups have pushed since 2007. the coal industry, the law prevents the U.S. gies to resist mountaintop removal coal with toxic chemicals have been handed IN THE STATES: own regulations. Army Corps of Engineers from changing mining. He was leading a workshop West Virginia: down to West Virginia in the wake of Kentucky: the definition of “fill material” under the on economic justice when members of Tennessee: On Jan. 8, in his State of the State mountaintop removal coal mining, yet Clean Water Act, allowing companies Hands Off Appalachia — a campaign to Gov. Steve Beshear did not men- For the seventh year in a row, a broad address, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin touted many in the community leave these using mountaintop removal coal mining end financial investment in companies tion coal much in his Jan. 7 State of the coalition of environmental, public health the economic prospects of natural gas grievances unspoken. Adam Hall, the to continue dumping waste in rivers and supporting mountaintop removal — ap- Commonwealth speech, but he did put and faith-based groups will rally to sup- and finding new markets for coal, and son of a strip miner in Glen Daniel, streams. According to the EPA, “valley proached him to pitch an idea. the spotlight on S.O.A.R, an initiative to port Tennessee’s Scenic Vistas Protection promised to never back down from the W.Va., was once among those who fills” associated with mountaintop re- The goal was to hold a peaceful provide economic assistance to eastern Act, a bill that would ban surface mining U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were voiceless on the subject: his father moval mines have covered an estimated protest at the Stamford, Conn., head- Kentucky counties suffering from coal’s techniques such as mountaintop removal because of its misguided policies on coal. described his work as a paycheck and a 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams. quarters of the largest funder of moun- downturn. Coal mining communities on peaks above 2,000 feet in elevation. In But, Tomblin said, “there are other types roof, avoiding all other details. Adam Hall speaks to a group of The Army Corps has not announced taintop removal: the Union Bank of could also receive an economic boon from the 2013 session, the Senate Committee on of investments we often take for granted,” But no roof could muffle the environmental advocates about the plans to rewrite the rule, but Rogers claims Switzerland. Hall was not initially sure diverse ecology at risk of destruction a bill in the state House to allocate 100 Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resourc- mentioning schools, water and sewage deadly reverberations of the Upper Big “the EPA and the Corps have been crafting if he would take part in the protest, but from mountaintop removal. Photo percent of severance taxes collected from es deferred the bill without discussion. infrastructure and broadband internet. Branch Mine disaster in 2010, an explo- a rule behind closed doors” that would after joining HOA members for an un- courtesy of Adam Hall mining back to those communities; cur- In an editorial announcing its opposition To support those investments, the Friends sion that left 29 miners dead. The event essentially ban new mining projects under productive meeting with the UBS head rently 50 percent goes to the state. Several to mountaintop removal, the Knoxville of the Future Fund are again pushing for spurred Hall to break his silence and the Clean Water Act. According to Rogers, of environmental risk management, bills have been introduced that would News-Sentinel wrote that, “An objective, the establishment of a permanent natural support efforts to restore communities the pro-mountaintop removal provisions he sensed that “they didn’t even care restrict the use of eminent domain to in- dispassionate review of the economic and resource trust fund by the state. damaged by coal. were added to help the coal industry. people were dying” and “their policies state oil and gas producers, just months environmental issues surrounding the bill The day after the governor’s speech, Hall began volunteering with lo- The budget also includes $46 million were just a shield to escape liability.” Appalachian Bookshelf after citizens petitioned Gov. Beshear should lead to only one conclusion — it is however, the chemical spill that left cal nonprofit Coal River Mountain for the Army Corps to speed up its permit- On Nov. 25, nearly 30 people gath- to oppose the practice for the proposed time for the bill to become law.” Rep. Glo- 300,000 West Virginians without water Watch. A dedicated member since, he The Forest Unseen: ting process for valley fills associated with ered at the UBS headquarters. Hall stood garnering attention from top environ- Bluegrass Pipeline in northern Kentucky. ria Johnson and Sen. Lowe Finney, lead was discovered, quickly realigning the contributes to several ongoing initia- A Year’s Watch in Nature mountaintop removal, and requires the blocking the entrance to UBS while in- mental lawyers, scientists, activists And for the fourth consecutive year, Rep. sponsors of last year’s bill, reintroduced legislature’s priorities. Within days, the tives. One project involves cultivating By David George Haskell Army Corps and EPA to provide monthly side, other activists chained themselves and, ultimately, the U.S. government. Mary Lou Marzian reintroduced a bill that the legislation. state Senate passed a bill to require regular a community garden to show how lo- reports to Congress on permitting and to the stairs and hung a large banner: Leutze’s first book and the precedent- would require utilities to meet a portion inspection of chemical storage facilities cal farming can offer a viable economic Virginia: projects under review. In a circle of Cumber- setting legal case raise questions about of demand with energy efficiency and alternative to mining. He also works on UBS Stop Funding Mountaintop Remov- and to require public water systems to land Plateau old-growth the power of government to regulate renewable energy over time. New Democratic Gov. Terry McAu- Washington Responds to the Tadpole Project, promoting water al. Several others had climbed a nearby develop emergency plans to respond to forest roughly the size industry, the integrity of national parks liffe has brought a renewed sense of quality through stream and roadside crane at dawn to unfurl another banner water contamination. A bill to provide W.Va. Chemical Spill and the value of natural beauty. North Carolina: optimism to progressives in the common- with the same message. Although Hall of a hula hoop, Haskell low-interest state loans of up to $15,000 The disaster that left 300,000 West cleanups. By contributing directly to the — Rachel Ellen Simon One year into his first term as gover- wealth, but the state legislature remains was not among the 14 protesters ar- finds reasons for awe and wonder in the to businesses affected by the water crisis Virginians without safe water led to a rare community, he hopes residents will see nor, Republican Pat McCrory continues largely unchanged. Several bills this ses- rested, he has been encouraging others anatomy of a flower or the heartbeat of is also being considered. that environmental advocates are not to call for North Carolina to “get off the collaboration between three politically di- a chickadee. Inspired by both the place- Our Roots Run Deep sion aim to stifle the McAuliffe adminis- trying to take away jobs; they’re trying to donate to their legal defense fund. vided Democrats. Senators Barbara Boxer as Ironweed: sidelines” and become an energy pro- tration’s regulatory power. One bill would He knows the fight is far from over, based writings of Thoreau and the (D-CA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Joe to create new ones. ducer. Although the legislative session require any oil or gas drilling permit on ON CAPITOL HILL: but the only thing he’s tired of is the meditative practice of contemplating Appalachian Women Manchin (D-WV) introduced the Chemi- Over time, Hall decided that his does not begin until May, speculation state-owned lands to allow fracking, and injustice in his community. Given the small, impermanent spaces known as and the Fight for House Budget Bill a Loss cal Safety and Drinking Water Protection work with CRMW still “wasn’t enough,” has begun about more reforms related to another would fast-track Appalachian entrenched clout of the coal industry, mandalas, the University of the South Environmental Justice for the Environment, a Act at the end of January. and so, he says, “I took up direct action environmental rules and energy develop- Power’s plans to build a natural gas plant he says that “no change will come in a ecologist and evolutionary biologist By Shannon Elizabeth Bell Win for Coal Similar to legislation introduced in as a means of raising local awareness.” ment. Another push to repeal the state’s by declaring it to be in the public interest. short amount of time.” Until then, he’s records his observations and musings West Virginia, the bill would require states An opportunity to expand his renewable portfolio standard is expected, At the same time, several other new bills A $1.1 trillion budget bill unveiled ready to “dig in deep and stay for the with the eye of a scientist and the words to regularly inspect aboveground chemi- involvement arrived this past October A combination of and more cuts to the Department of would support clean energy, including by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) and swiftly long haul.” of a poet. — Molly Moore cal storage facilities like the one owned by when Hall was attending the Mountain oral history and sociological commen- Environment and Natural Resources are one that would require utilities to adopt approved by Congress and signed by Freedom Industries where the Charleston, tary, Bell presents extensive interviews also ahead. Meanwhile, the N.C. Mining on-bill financing programs for energy ef- President Obama contains a host of anti- Stand Up That Moun- W.Va., spill originated. The bill would Offers a diverse mix of music & informative programming for the heart of Appalachia. with 12 Appalachian women engaged and Energy Commission faces an Oct. 1 ficiency retrofits. Another would require environmental riders aimed at crippling tain: The Battle to Save also require industries to develop state- in environmental justice work. Bell’s deadline to propose recommended rules Dominion Virginia Power to meet a por- the Obama administration’s plans to ad- One Small Community approved emergency response plans. analysis goes beyond the traditional for hydraulic fracturing in the state, but tion of its target with renewable energy dress coal and climate change. Music f m the Mountains in the Wilderness Along view that women’s activism is ground- ro TH the Appalachian Trail ed in their identification as mothers; 113 CONGRESS: Below are recent congressional bills and amendments on environ- Kentucky Tennessee North Carolina Virginia West Virginia mental issues and how regional central and southern Appalachian representatives voted. To By Jay Erskine Leutz rather, Bell argues that these women see other recent votes, or for congressional representatives outside of the five state area, assume a broader “protector identity” visit scorecard.lcv.org/recent-votes. =pro-environment vote✗ =anti-environment vote In Avery County, N.C., a handful of to safeguard not just their families, but T. Massie H. Rogers A. Barr RoeP. J. Duncan Fleischman S. Desjarlais V. Foxx McHenreyP. M. Meadows R. Hurt B. Goodlatte M. Griffith D. McKinley S. M. Capito N. Rahall HOUSE (R) KY-04 (R) KY-05 (R) KY-06 (R) TN-01 (R) TN-02 (R) TN-03 (R) TN-04 (R) NC-05 (R) NC-10 (R) NC-11 (R) VA-05 (R) VA-06 (R) VA-09 (R) WV-01 (R) WV-02 (D) WV-03 locals are pitted against a large-scale also their culture, communities and H.R. 2279, The Reducing Excessive Deadline Obligations Act, amends the Resource gravel mining company whose illegal physical environment. Thirty percent Conservation and Recovery Act and the Superfund law, weakening the ability of the ✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗✗ practices threaten to destroy their of proceeds will be donated to environ- federal government to ensure proper cleanup of toxic waste sites. 225 AYES, 188 NOES, 8 NV PASSED Senate is unlikely to consider after White House veto threat mental justice organizations in central home. Intent on stopping the mine, H.R. 2642, The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, a.k.a the Farm Bill, the author and a ragtag group of locals Appalachia. — Rachel Ellen Simon authorizes nearly $1 trillion in spending on farm subsidies and conservation programs ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ embark on a four-year legal battle, and expands support for energy efficiency, which led us to consider this broad bill a pro- LISTENER -SUPPORTED RADIO WWW.WMMTFM.ORG environment vote 251 AYES, 166 NOES, 15 NV PASSED Senate had not voted at press time

Page 18 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 19 the ENERGY REPORT the ENERGY REPORT State Department Issues Keystone XL Report OSM Investigates WV Mining Law Enforcement Unaddressed Concerns Keep Fracking in the Forefront By Brian Sewell the petition, OSM will investigate five, An assessment released by the U.S. Alberta, Canada. In a speech last year, By Brian Sewell mid-January prices soared to as much the end of 2013, the U.S. Environmental during drilling. including flooding caused by runoff, sur- State Department on Jan. 31 concludes Obama said the pipeline will get his The federal Office of Surface Min- as $135 in some areas. Protection Agency is unlikely to step up The Pennsylvania Senate Ap- face mining law violations on sites where Nationwide, stories regarding natu- that President Obama’s ultimate deci- OK only if it does not “significantly ing Reclamation and Enforcement Regardless of price, however, natu- enforcement efforts due to budgetary propriations committee approved a Clean Water Act violations exist, and ral gas-related water contamination, sion to approve or deny construction exacerbate” the problem of carbon announced on Dec. 30 that it will in- ral gas’ desirability as an energy source constraints and a lack of political will. measure to limit the liability of drilling parts of the state’s reclamation program. waste disposal and property rights con- of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline pollution. If constructed the pipeline vestigate West Virginia’s surface coal is suffering from largely unaddressed companies that use acid mine drainage Criticism of inadequate regulation cerns keep bubbling up, bolstering argu- Fracking Appalachia is unlikely to affect the rate of extrac- would carry 830,000 barrels of tar sands mining regulatory program. environmental concerns related to drill- to replace fresh water used in fracking. at the state level escalated after the coal- ments used by opponents of fracking. The proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, tion of the carbon-heavy fossil fuel in from Canada to Texas refineries daily. The announcement comes six ing and transportation. The U.S. Forest Service is consid- processing chemical spill by Freedom And as natural gas prices rise due to which would transport natural gas months after the Citizen Action for Real Despite evidence that fracking has dering allowing fracking in Virginia’s Industries left 300,000 West Virginians cold weather and a slowdown in drill- through northern Kentucky, led to the Duke’s Energy Savings Wind Power Becomes Enforcement campaign — a coalition of contaminated water — cases in Penn- George Washington National Forest without safe water. The groups have ing, the fuel’s supporters are question- introduction of several bills clarifying in the Carolinas Increasingly Reliable 18 state and national organizations — sylvania, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia despite a 2011 management plan that drawn attention to the spill to strength- ing how long claims of affordability will when, and by who, eminent domain held a press conference and delivered were recently confirmed by the Associ- prohibited drilling in the forest. Environmental groups including en their case against the DEP. last. Increased demand this winter sent can be used for energy-related projects. A report by the National Renew- a nearly 100-page petition to the OSM’s ated Press — natural gas continues to Landfills inWest Virginia can now the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy A petition on MoveOn.org by the natural gas prices surging to levels not North Carolina’s Mining and able Energy Laboratory found that in Charleston, W.Va., office. The petition be a significant component of America’s accept an unlimited amount of solid are commending Duke Energy Caro- CARE Campaign to the Office of Surface seen since 2010. Energy Commission recently finalized addition to supporting the electric grid, alleges that the state’s chronic failure energy policy and portfolio. waste from fracking operations after linas’ new “shared-savings” program Mining demanding an enforcement pro- According to the Wall Street Journal, chemical disclosure rules opting to al- wind power is increasingly dependable to enforce the Surface Mine Control Fracking is regulated on a state-by- regulators quietly changed a rule in launched January 1 as a successor to gram “that is accountable to the people prices typically spike to between $40 low natural gas companies to maintain as a primary power source and can be and Reclamation Act of 1977 demands state basis and, according to a report by order to ease waste problems related the company’s Save-a-Watt program. of West Virginia” had more than 28,000 and $50 per million British thermal “trade secrets” related to chemicals used economically feasible as new technolo- federal intervention. the EPA Inspector General released at to the practice. signatures at the end of January. units in periods of cold weather. But in While the previous program re- gies reduce intermittency. Of the 19 complaints included in warded Duke for investing in en- Wind energy is one of the fastest- EPA Publishes Carbon Solar Power Can Strengthen Absentee Corporations Still WV’s Largest Landowners ergy efficiency measures, the new growing sources of electric generation Southeastern States May Need to Reduce Air Pollution “shared-savings” method stipulates nationwide and was recently credited Rule for New Power Plants Economies, Researchers Say By Brian Sewell land. Researchers noted that during By Kimber Ray their neighbors’ wind-borne pollution. the last few decades, the number of that Duke’s compensation be tied to with preventing blackouts in Texas and On Jan. 8, the U.S. Environmental A new report says that while the Land ownership patterns in West Federal regulations would be based on major timber management operations customer savings. the Midwest during the polar vortex. The Supreme Court heard arguments Protection Agency published a draft solar industries in neighboring states Virginia, a state with a reputation for cost-effectiveness rather than measured on the list of the largest landowners has this past December on the U.S. Environ- rule to limit carbon emissions from have generated thousands of jobs, being influenced by large absentee contribution to pollution. This would increased. mental Protection Agency’s Cross-State new power plants. Under the rule, new West Virginia’s policies are holding corporations, have remained largely un- allow the EPA to impose regulations on Hoping to raise awareness of the Air Pollution Rule, a case that has been coal-fired power plants can emit 1,100 the state back. Released by the West changed for the past century, according upwind state industries where control role that absentee and local land own- debated for more than two years. pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt- Virginia-based Downstream Strategies to a report by the West Virginia Center mechanisms may cost less than $500 ership has played in West Virginia’s The challenges of addressing in- hour, around 35 percent less than the av- and The Mountain Institute’s Appala- on Budget and Policy and the American per ton of pollution, versus upwards of economic development over time, “What a great magazine!” terstate air pollution have confounded erage coal plant produces. New natural chia program, the report found that in Friends Service Committee. $10,000 in downwind states. researchers recommend policymakers regulators for decades. Due to natural gas plants are limited to 1,000 pounds Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland there The report, titled “Who Owns West “Dear Babette, wind patterns, pollution from upwind Although a federal appeals court devote resources to counties with the Absolutely Priceless! of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. are approximately 9,000 jobs associ- Virginia?” finds that not one of the Spring 2013 You and your staff of ruled in 2012 that a cost-based approach highest concentrations of land owner- states — particularly Rust Belt and The EPA faces a June 1 deadline to ated with solar. West Virginia, however, state’s 10 largest private landowners writers continue to amaze. to regulation exceeded the author- ship and ensure that large landowners Appalachian states — typically blows release a draft rule for existing power ranks 51st in solar jobs per capita, at is headquartered in West Virginia, and In my view, the quality ity of the EPA, the Supreme Court is are adequately taxed. downwind into the Northeast, where it plants, which are responsible for 40 just under 100 jobs. The report focuses that large energy and land-holding of articles in Carolina reconsidering the case in light of the To help accomplish this, the West results in federal air pollution fines and percent of carbon pollution in the U.S. on five specific recommendations — in- corporations continue to control much complexity of interstate air pollution. Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Mountain Life have rising healthcare costs. cluding third-party financing, tax credits of the resource-rich acres in the state. In The Washington Post and The Wall Street has led a movement to establish the elevated your publication The rule seeks to address the fact and other incentives for residential and five counties in the state’s southern coal- Journal reported that the court appears “Future Fund,” a permanent mineral to #1. Congratulations that downwind states have needed to in- Patriot Coal CEO: End- commercial solar power — to address fields – Wyoming, McDowell, Logan, inclined to rule in favor of the EPA. A trust fund to help asset-poor communi- on a sterling literary stall more expensive pollution controls barriers preventing West Virginia from Mingo and Boone – the top 10 landown- final decision is expected in June. ing Mountaintop Removal ties grow using revenue from coal and contribution to the High than upwind states in order to deal with establishing an economically viable ers own at least 50 percent of private natural gas severance taxes. Country!” Mining a “Win-Win” solar industry. Municipal Water To Reach Most Families Along Mill Creek — Barry M. Buxton, Ph.D. After emerging from bankruptcy, President, Lees-McRae By Molly Moore push to get clean water to the area. Patriot Coal CEO Bennett Hatfield said Y Organ Water testing by the Sierra Club, Ap- U ic A Taste of Our Mountain Life College The 94 families living along Mill in an interview with SNL Energy that B palachian Voices and Kentuckians For Awaits You . . . Come Sit a Spell, Creek in Letcher County, Ky., have gone the 2012 settlement over selenium pol- The Commonwealth revealed illegally Relax & Enjoy. years without safe water for drinking lution that forced the company to begin high levels of arsenic and other toxins or household use due to water pollu- phasing out mountaintop removal in residents’ wells. proved to be a “win-win.” Even before

read us online at cmlmagazine.com us online at read tion from poorly reclaimed coal mines. “...a wonderful read forCarolina 16Mountain years!”life Winter 2012/13 — 93 Tanner and allies filed a petition Due to persistence on the part of local the settlement, Hatfield said, Patriot for new funding under the federal Safe 828-737-0771 activists, however, 70 families now have was finding it “increasingly undesirable PO Box 976, Linville, NC 28646 Drinking Water Act in February 2013. municipal water and another 23 are to deploy mountaintop removal op- At stores & businesses almost everywhere in the High Country ... and online at Despite the progress, one residence on erations anyway” because of regulatory CMLmagazine.com slated to receive water lines. B the other side of a railroad route was not resistance and the likelihood that new U E [email protected] Elaine Tanner, a resident at Mill Y D included in the recent arrangement so F a Creek, has been meeting with state permits would be met with litigation air Tr Tanner is continuing the effort. and federal officials for 10 years in her from environmental groups. BlueSmokeCoffee.com

Page 20 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 February/March 2014 | The Appalachian Voice | Page 21 INSIDE APPALACHIAN VOICES About Our Program Work INSIDE APPALACHIAN VOICES About Our Program Work Appalachian Voices is committed to protecting the land, air and water Smart Savings: Increasing Energy Efficiency in the Southeast MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Connie Hale of the central and southern Appalachian region. Our mission is to empower people ing to help residents finance the cost Dedicated to Sustainable Business By Rory McIlmoil to defend our region’s rich By Meredith Warfield ing farms, but it became clear that As we reach of home energy improvements. Such natural and cultural heritage raising buffalo of their own needed to by providing them with tools the end of one of programs are proving to be highly “Stick to what you believe in, and successful in South Carolina, where be the next step. The decision to take and strategies for successful the coldest win- don’t deviate,” Appalachian Voices grassroots campaigns. on their own herd was a major mile- ters I have ever ex- residential participants reduced their volunteer Connie Hale advises those stone in creating the business Connie perienced, I have electric bills by an average of 34 per- of us pursuing big ideas. As a passion- Organizational Staff envisioned. She and Carla located a been thinking a cent, and Kentucky, where participat- ate restaurant and farm owner, she group of 50 buffalo in Greeneville, Executive Director ...... Tom Cormons lot about how the ing homeowners have achieved an believes it is worth it to follow your Tenn., and embarked on a mission. periods of deep average energy savings of more than dreams, and that doing what you OPERATIONS & DEVELOPMENT 20 percent. Over the course of just a few days Director of Development...... Jonathan Harvey Appalachian Voices freeze have im- think is right reaps the best reward. Connie’s crew transported the animals Controller ...... Susan Congelosi Energy Policy Director pacted residents Cutting energy costs not only helps Originally from Galax, Va., Connie to their new home on Brush Creek Buf- Operations Manager ...... Shay Boyd Rory McIlmoil across the region. alleviate poverty by increasing the graduated from Radford University coordinates our energy falo Farm. The process was no walk Director of Leadership Gifts ...... Kayti Wingfield Two managers of amount of income families have for with a degree in nutrition and began savings campaign in the park, Connie recalled, but the tively the only place that I would ever Operations and Outreach Associate ...... Maeve Gould rural electric coop- meeting their basic needs, but also can working as an independent contractor reward was priceless. “It was intense, want to live,” she says. “From the PROGRAMS eratives recently told me that they have boost rural economies. The new savings with FedEx, but she knew that this but opening that trailer and seeing people to the beauty, it’s wonderful.” Director of Programs...... Matt Wasson seen record-high energy costs for many can be spent in the community, and the would not be the extent of her career. Connie has been a generous vol- Campaign Director ...... Kate Rooth increased demand for local energy ser- “Something that I had always wanted those buffalo run out into the field and of their residential customers. unteer at Appalachian Voices since the Senior Campaign Advisor ...... Lenny Kohm vices — such installing energy-efficient play and jump and be happy — that These costs are an ongoing burden to do was own a restaurant,” she says. opening of Buffalo and More, helping Energy Policy Director ...... Rory McIlmoil heating systems — supports new busi- was a very memorable moment,” she for many in Appalachia, where rural What started as a distant idea Washington, D.C. Legislative Associate ...... Thom Kay says. “They are incredible animals.” to distribute 2,000 copies of The Ap- nesses and job creation. North Carolina Campaign Coordinator ...... Amy Adams and low-income residents often live in became a reality when Connie opened palachian Voice at her business every Employing energy efficiency can Today Connie works as the chef Tennessee Campaign Coordinator...... Ann League homes that waste significant amounts of Buffalo and More in Riner, Va., just other month. She was first introduced also have significant environmental while Carla looks after the farm. Virginia Campaign Coordinator ...... Hannah Wiegard energy. The high electric bills that result outside of Christiansburg. The menu when she picked up an issue at the The two have toiled at the rigorous Water Quality Specialist ...... Eric Chance can inhibit a family’s ability to meet benefits. By cutting energy waste, we The Appalachian Voices Energy Savings Action Center, above, provides a one-stop resource for follows a farm-to-table method, restaurant she eventually bought. Water Quality Specialist ...... Erin Savage can reduce demand for coal that is ex- residents in eight southeastern states. Users can enter their address and learn what energy savings bringing in fresh dishes sourced from restaurant pace for a few years now, even basic needs. In fact, energy costs Having been inspired by it, and see- Field Coordinator ...... Kara Dodson tracted through mountaintop removal programs and loans are available, find local energy services businesses and nonprofits, glean enjoying the daily warmth of regu- can consume 80 percent of a family’s from Connie’s buffalo farm just next Americorps Outreach Associate ...... Sarah Kellogg energy-efficiency tips, and contact their electric cooperatives. Below, AmeriCorps member Sarah lars and tourists alike. Connie firmly ing how customers enjoyed the pub- income during some months. coal mining and for natural gas that door. “I wanted to run a business that Kellogg discusses home energy use in Sugar Grove, N.C., at our first Energy Savings Informa- values the importance of community lication, Connie decided to keep The Communications & Technology This problem is rooted in the in- comes from fracking wells. The simple was sustainable and did everything in tion Session. To find a community meeting near you, visit appvoices.org/energysavings/events Appalachian Voice tradition going once Director of Communications ...... Cat McCue act of insulating a home is one more a green manner,” she says. and hopes that Buffalo and More ability of residents to afford the upfront she opened Buffalo and More. Senior Communications Coordinator ...... Jamie Goodman step toward building resilient and At first, Connie and her business plays a positive role in the lives of her cost of making needed energy efficiency an on-bill financing loan Visit Connie’s restaurant online at Program Communications Coordinator...... Brian Sewell sustainable communities. customers and employees. improvements in their homes, such as program. After taking action, partner, Carla George, purchased bi- buffaloandmore.com Editorial Communications Coordinator...... Molly Moore We need you to get involved if we “[Appalachia is] absolutely, posi- adding insulation, repairing air ducts help build the movement by son for the restaurant from surround- Americorps Communications Associate...... Kimber Ray are going to achieve our goal of seeing IT Associate...... Toby MacDermott and conducting basic weatherization. spreading the word about strong home energy loan programs of- Protecting Tennessee’s Fighting for Virginia’s Welcome, This is the problem that our Energy the Action Center and our INTERNS fered by every electric cooperative in Scenic Vistas Clean Water Hannah! Savings for Appalachia campaign aims campaign for saving money Appalachian Water Watch Assistant ...... Maggie Cozens the region. One way you can do that is to address. and energy (and the environ- The Volunteer State once again Appalachian Voices, Southern We are proud Appalachian Water Watch Assistant ...... Sarah Caldwell by visiting our Energy Savings Action Through this innovative campaign, ment!) in Appalachia. has an opportunity to stop moun- Appalachian Mountain Stewards and to introduce new Operations and Outreach Assistant ...... Sheila Ostroff we are promoting “on-bill financing” Center at appvoices.org/saveenergy taintop removal coal mining from the Sierra Club — represented by at- Virginia Cam- Editorial Communications Assistant ...... Meredith Warfield home energy loan programs that rural and sending a letter to your electric destroying more beloved mountains. torneys from Appalachian Mountain paign Coordina- Editorial Communications Assistant ...... Kelsey Boyajian electric cooperatives should be offer- utility requesting that they develop Pushing for Effective Coal Ash Rules The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Advocates — filed a lawsuit against tor Hannah Wie- On Jan. 29, the U.S. Environmental ity’s illegal pollution of groundwater, lakes Act, sponsored by Rep. Gloria Johnson Penn Virginia Operating Company gard. This Old Board of Directors Protection Agency was ordered to final- and rivers supplying drinking water for (D-Knoxville) in the state House and in late January regarding selenium Dominion native Chair ...... Christina Howe ize the first-ever federal regulations for local communities spurred lawsuits from Sen. Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) in the pollution from abandoned mines first participated in environmental Vice-Chair ...... Landra Lewis Secretary ...... Dot Griffith disposal of coal ash by Dec. 19, 2014, fol- environmental and public health groups state Senate, would prohibit high- near the southwest Virginia town of advocacy when she helped resist the Treasurer ...... Bunk Spann AppalachianVoices lowing a lawsuit brought by environmental as well as the North Carolina Department elevation surface mining techniques Appalachia. construction of a coal-fired power Members-At-Large and public health groups — including Ap- of the Environment and Natural Resources. such as mountaintop removal. Appa- Water monitoring by SAMS plant in Surry Co., Va. palachian Voices — and a Native American Following a proposed settlement Clara Bingham Rick Phelps lachian Voices Tennessee Coordinator members uncovered major selenium In her first weeks with Appala- Kim Gilliam Kathy Selvage tribe. The settlement requires the agency between the state and Duke Energy that Ann League and allies across the state problems in Callahan Creek and its chian Voices, she publicly questioned Mary Anne Hitt Lauren Waterworth Business League to release a rule by the deadline, but will does not require Duke to clean up its coal New & Renewing Members Dec. 2013 - Jan. 2014 are asking legislators to stand up for tributaries, which pass by several coal new Virgina Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Pat Holmes Tom Cormons (Ex-officio) not influence the content of the rule. Read ash pollution, almost 5,000 citizens and Silas House Tennessee’s mountains. mines. Selenium is toxic to fish at low vision of the state’s energy future. Blue Mountain Brewery — Afton, Va. more about coal ash regulation on p. 16 organizations submitted comments op- Advisory Council Jefferson Vineyards — In North Carolina, seven conservation posed to the flawed agreement. Southern Visit appvoices.org/take-action levels, triggering reproductive failure, To join Wiegard in creating a more Charlottesville, Va. Jonathan C. Allen Van Jones groups, including Appalachian Voices, filed Environmental Law Center filed the motion to support the Tennessee Scenic Vistas deformities and death. sustainable commonwealth, visit Market Street Market — Charlottesville, Va. Jessica Barba Brown J. Haskell Murray suit to participate in state law enforcement in late January on behalf of the environ- Protection Act! wiseenergyforvirginia.org Alfred Glover Brenda Sigmon To join our Business League, visit AppVoices.org or call 877-APP-VOICE measures against Duke Energy. The util- mental organizations. Join the movement for a cleaner Appalachia! Sign up for action alerts at AppVoices.org Randy Hayes

Page 22 | The Appalachian Voice | February/March 2014 Non-Profit The Appalachian Voice Organization 171 Grand Boulevard US Postage Paid Boone, NC 28607 Permit No. 294 www.appalachianvoices.org Boone, NC

The slopes of Big Bald Mountain, which straddles the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, were cushioned in soft heaps of snow on this perfect “powder day.” Former Appalachian Voices intern Megan Naylor descended on her snowboard, with her dog Bella close behind, and her boyfriend Bo Wallace captured this photo. For those who prefer a slower pace, snowshoeing offers another way to enjoy the winter landscape. Read more on p. 6 Voted best outdoor music festival July 23-27 ★ buy early and save! ★ Floyd, Va BEN HARPER AND CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE ★ MS. LAURYN HILL ★ RAY LAMONTAGNE ★ THIEVERY CORPORATION (FULL BAND)★ ZIGGY MARLEY ★ MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD ★ BUDDY GUY ★ ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND ★ JJ GREY & MOFRO ★ LETTUCE ★ CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS ★ GROUNDATION ★ CONSPIRATOR ★ DONNA THE BUFFALO+ ★ aND MaNY, MaNY MORE ON 10 sTaGEs OVER 5 DaYs!!! ★

10 UNIQUE STAGES, HEALING ARTS, SAVORY CUISINE, STELLAR MICRO-BREWS, REGIONAL WINES, CAMPING, WORKSHOPS, PANELS, TAI CHI, EDUCATION, FAMILY FUN, AND MORE!!! ★ 888-VA-FESTS (823-3787) ★ FLOYDFEST.COM ★ MP 170.5 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY, FLOYD VA ★ in the mountains of floyd, virginia