Appalachian Voices

09/01/2026

“Disabled coal miners need this raise to help ease the constraints of the difficult positions they face daily while living with this disease,” wrote the Eastern Kentucky Black Lung Association in a letter to Rep. Hal Rogers.

The group is calling on Rogers to co-sponsor the Support Our Miners Act. The bill aims to increase the monthly black lung disability benefit — which has not kept up with the cost of living — and would tie it to inflation going forward.

Read more from Kentucky Lantern:

A Kentucky group representing miners with black lung is urging U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers to support a bill significantly boosting the federal disability benefits these miners receive.

09/01/2026

Congratulations to our colleague Katie Mowry!

Katie was featured in the West Virginia Environmental Council (WVEC)'s Member Spotlight for her advocacy and organizing work. Katie joined the Appalachian Voices team earlier this year and serves as our coal impacts field coordinator.

This week’s member spotlight features one of Appalachian Voices’ best. Katie Mowry is an environmental scientist who found her way to West Virginia through work. We hope you enjoy getting to know her a little better.

08/30/2026

In North Carolina, Duke Energy held two open houses about its proposed Davie-Davidson methane gas energy complex. Duke wants to build two massive methane gas-fired power plants, totaling almost 3 gigawatts, in Davie County, and a massive, untested first-of-its-kind “enhanced” liquefied natural gas facility in Davidson County.

Community members from the grassroots groups "Davidson and Davie for a Clean Future” and “Davie Against Data” showed up with bold signs, creative chants and powerful speeches to protest Duke’s plans.

“Air pollution is already high in this area, with fine particulate matter levels in Davidson County already close to going over the federal limit,” said Juhi Modi, North Carolina Program Coordinator with Appalachian Voices.

More in our statement with Yadkin Riverkeeper and local partners!

Community members from the grassroots groups "Davidson and Davie for a Clean Future” and “Davie Against Data” showed up with bold signs, creative chants and powerful speeches to protest Duke’s plans for a massive fossil fuel complex.

08/29/2026

The Trump-Vance administration wants to make it harder for the public to weigh in on proposed data centers and new power plants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate a public input requirement for air pollution permits for new data centers and the power plants required to run them.

"People need to have a chance to have a say before they see bulldozers,” said Keri Powell, a senior attorney at SELC.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/climate/epa-data-centers-public-comment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.81A.y9_L.3ZiFO-PPsUZE&smid=url-share

08/29/2026

Can you imagine listening to this noise for 10 to 12 hours a day? This footage shows what an East Tennessee landowner recently experienced because of methane gas pipeline construction.

Enbridge, a multibillion-dollar fossil fuel company, is constructing the Ridgeline Expansion Project, a 122-mile-long methane gas pipeline to deliver gas to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s new gas plant in Kingston, Tennessee.

The pipeline will cut through eight counties in Middle and East TN, including the front yard of this landowner’s property in Morgan County. It will also cross cherished waterways over 400 times, using explosives to blast through bedrock and clear-cutting almost 550 acres of trees.

Previously, TVA announced that Ridgeline was part of its plan to replace the Kingston coal plant and build a methane gas plant nearby. Earlier this year, TVA reversed its decision to shutter the Kingston coal plant.

Last week, the TVA board approved a long-term energy plan that will allow the utility to potentially triple its current amount of gas generation by 2040 in order to meet rising electricity demand, driven heavily by data center requests for power.

Everyone, including the homeowner filming this video, deserves clean water, air and environment. Instead of polluting the Tennessee Valley, TVA should power the region with affordable and reliable clean energy.

08/28/2026

Black lung rates among Appalachian coal miners are at a 50-year high, with miners getting sicker younger.

08/28/2026

Our team was saddened to hear of country music legend Dolly Parton’s passing this week. We cherish her music, but even more so for her endless generosity in the region we love — from her Imagination Library to her support of families impacted by the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires and so much more.

“In my Tennessee mountain home
Life is as peaceful as a baby's sigh
In my Tennessee mountain home
Crickets are singing in the fields nearby,”

— in “My Tennessee Mountain Home”

Listen or read Katie Myers’ piece about Dolly, her legacy and impact on her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, for NPR’s All Things Considered.

People in Sevierville, Tenn., remember their hometown girl, Dolly Parton — not only for her songs, but for her lifetime of generosity to the place she came from.

08/28/2026

Health care for coal miners remains as important as ever, given the crisis unfolding in coalfields across the country, particularly in Central Appalachia. At clinics like New River Health Association’s Black Lung Clinic in Oak Hill, West Virginia, coal miners have access to:

✅ Chest X-rays and lung exams to determine whether they may have the disease
✅ Benefits counselors to guide them through the process of applying for state and federal black lung claims
✅ Rehabilitation services to help regain lung function.
✅ And so much more

“The black lung clinics can be [coal miners’] first connection with someone they trust,” says Lisa Emery, director of the clinic. “My main goal is education, education, education, and getting them to trust me.”

📸: Quenton King for The Appalachian Voice

Health care for coal miners is critical given the black lung disease crisis in Central Appalachia. These clinics are vital first responders.

08/27/2026

“More needs to be done, and it needs to be done now,” said UMWA International President Brian Sanson in an “urgent demand” of the federal government.

Sanson called for the immediate enforcement of a long-delayed rule that would enforce stronger protections against the deadly silica dust that causes black lung disease after new research showed that black lung rates have increased to an almost 50-year high.

Capital-Star

08/27/2026

Last week, the Tennessee Valley Authority changed the way it charges for electricity, but the utility did not show its math on how it will protect people from higher bills, writes Caroline Eggers for WPLN News - Nashville Public Radio.

During a two-hour meeting organized on PowerPoint, a TVA official showed a single slide about the rate change to the TVA Board, the utility’s regulator. The only information provided to the public was that the new rate will cost data centers about 10% more than they would have paid, and TVA is adding an additional charge for loads over 5 megawatts.

The board, which has a majority of members appointed by President Donald Trump, voted in favor without any questions.

“Data centers must pay their fair share, but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to pollute our communities with the burden of more gas and coal emissions to power their operations,” said Leah McCord of Appalachian Voices in a statement.

The Tennessee Valley Authority changed the way it charges data centers for electricity this week, but the utility did not show its math on how it will protect p