For almost a decade, residents of Alexandria have been fighting to retire GenOn’s Potomac River Coal Plant, a 61-year-old dirty power plant. Those efforts have forced the company that owns the plant, GenOn (formerly Mirant), to set aside $34 million in an effort to contain some of the plant’s pollution, but this is not enough.  [...]

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March 25th, 2011 was the second annual Virginia Loves Mountains Day. Instead of having a rally in one place as we did in 2010, this year we had a rally at each of the 11 US Senate district offices across the state. Over 100 people came to visit Webb and Warner’s senate staff in Hampton [...]

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Sept. 28: Some Virginia residents are concerned about the new Cypress Creek coal-fired plant and its impact on the Chesapeake Bay, but plant officials say it’s needed to keep up with rising demand. NBC’s Amna Nawaz reports. Check out the video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33012073#33012073

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Cross posted from the Appalachian Voices’ Front Porch Blog Another shiny coal industry front group. How authentic. … The coal industry PR generators must be running low on fuel, because they have been misfiring repeatedly over the course of the Summer, and it looks like they may have another false start with “FACES” (Federation for [...]

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cross-posted from the CCAN blog. This morning, CCAN staff, volunteers and concerned Americans nationwide staged series of beach-themed rallies in around fifty cities across the country. Held in partnership with 1Sky, the festive gathering sought to urge our Senators to enact climate legislation that ensures a real cap on CO2, dictated by the EPA, as [...]

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Cross-posted from the CCAN Blog. Dendron, Virginia, has more than its share of challenges. The community of around 300, located in the southern corner of Surry County, struggles with an outdated municipal water system, crumbling sidewalks and no major businesses within the town. Prior to the Great Depression, Dendron had been a company town of [...]

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February 23, 2009 As always, there’s plenty going on in the mountains this week. We’re very excited about the introduction of the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act in Georgia (the number one consumer of MTR coal in the nation!) and Maryland in the last two weeks, to be followed with the introduction of the bill in [...]

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This is cross-posted from CCAN’s Blog Yesterday Gov. Kaine applauded Virginia’s electrical co-ops for donating energy efficient lights to Virginia State Parks, hailing it as “a major step forward” for Virginia. It’s great that Virginia is taking strides to be more energy efficient. Considering Virginia spent just $84,000 statewide on efficiency measures in 2006, compared [...]

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Virginia, like the nation, is at a critical juncture. The economy is declining and the climate is warming with potentially catastrophic consequences. Right now, Virginia has an enormous opportunity to secure a clean energy future that will reinvigorate the economy and curb emissions of harmful greenhouse gases. Will you join us in seizing this enormous [...]

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