Energy & Environment Archives - Ohio Valley ReSource

May 23

Energy & Environment

Coal prices are surging, but Appalachian boom unlikely

Ohio Valley ReSource · Coal prices are surging, but Appalachian boom unlikely David Byrd, of Sulphur, Kentucky, is one of the few people left who sell coal for household uses. Think heaters and blacksmiths. And after doing it for 62 years, he can tell the quality of each piece just by feeling them. “See how […]

By Justin Hicks

May 23

Energy & Environment

Coal prices are surging, but Appalachian boom unlikely

By Justin Hicks

May 9

Energy & Environment

Abandoned mine lands restoration brings excitement, but long-term challenges remain for mountain communities

Ohio Valley ReSource · Abandoned mine lands restoration brings excitement, but long-term challenges remain Behind a Valero gas station just outside Norton, Virginia, an access road winds up a mountain to an old strip mine site. The road ascends to a flat area, devoid of the region’s usual thicket of trees and understory, open […]

By Katie Myers

May 9

Energy & Environment

Abandoned mine lands restoration brings excitement, but long-term challenges remain

Katie Myers

Apr 5

Energy & Environment

Coal company CEO indicted on federal money laundering charges

The CEO of a coal company that does business in Kentucky has been indicted on federal charges relating to an international money laundering, wire fraud and bribery scheme. Hunter Hobson is the CEO of INMET Mining, which owns the Darby Fork mine in Harlan County, where a 33 year-old roof bolter died in a mine […]

By Katie Myers

Apr 5

Energy & Environment

Coal company CEO indicted on federal money laundering charges

Katie Myers

Apr 4

Energy & Environment

Eastern Ky. coal miner’s death sparks safety questions, a community in mourning

On the night of Sunday, March 20th, James D. Brown drove from his home in Lynch, Kentucky to the Marathon gas station in Cumberland to grab himself something to eat before work in the Darby Fork coal mine. Normally, when his shift ended and the sun rose, he’d drive himself back over the winding mountain […]

By Katie Myers

Apr 4

Energy & Environment

Eastern Ky. coal miner's death sparks safety questions, a community in mourning

Katie Myers

Mar 31

Energy & Environment

Rural communities struggle as high gas prices linger

Kaycee Steele had to raise menu prices at Route 11 Pizza Plus in Booneville, Kentucky last month. She opened the small business in July, but it’s been tough running a new restaurant during the pandemic. And since she opened, she said some of her food prices have tripled. Now her food supplier is charging extra […]

By Corinne Boyer

Mar 31

Energy & Environment

Rural communities struggle as high gas prices linger

Corinne Boyer

Feb 28

Energy & Environment

Battered and flooded by increasingly severe weather, Kentucky and Tennessee have a big difference in forecasting

McEWEN, Tenn.—Tammy Shaw and her granddaughter, Hope Collier, were trying to find an escape path when water started spilling under their doors. It was Aug. 21, a day Middle Tennessee residents will likely never forget; one that left 20 people dead. Nearby, nearly 21 inches of rain fell, shattering the state’s all-time record of 13.6 […]

By James Bruggers, InsideClimate News and Caroline Eggers, WPLN

Feb 28

Energy & Environment

Battered by weather, Kentucky and Tennessee have a big difference in forecasting

James Bruggers, InsideClimate News and Caroline Eggers, WPLN

Jan 14

Energy & Environment

Kentucky mental health professionals dealing with case overload after multiple disasters

Ohio Valley ReSource · 011822OVR – F Corina Hall remembers looking out her window and watching her car be submerged by water shortly before 4 a.m. on March 1, 2021. Minutes later, water soaked her feet in her bathroom. Hall said that shocked her. She didn’t expect the water to keep rising, and she didn’t […]

By Corinne Boyer and Liam Niemeyer

Jan 14

Energy & Environment

Kentucky mental health professionals dealing with case overload after multiple disasters

Corinne Boyer and Liam Niemeyer

Jan 10

Energy & Environment

Heavy Rainfall, Snow Hit Ohio Valley Communities Hard Over the First Week of the Year

Over the holidays, many eastern Kentuckians had gathered together in hopes of spending quality time with their families and taking a moment away from the stresses of everyday life. But between surging COVID-19 cases and recurring natural disasters, this New Year, it felt hard to catch a break. Rounds of flooding and snowfall in the […]

By Katie Myers

Jan 10

Energy & Environment

Heavy Rainfall, Snow Hit Ohio Valley Communities Hard Over the First Week of the Year

Katie Myers

Jan 9

Energy & Environment

In New River Gorge National Park, Fire Is Part of A Healthy Forest

It’s an unseasonably mild day in December, and from a parking area on the edge of the New River Gorge, you couldn’t tell there had been a wildfire near here just days earlier. As we make our way down a steeply sloped trail, we encounter some young rock climbers who seem hardly bothered by what […]

By Curtis Tate

Jan 9

Energy & Environment

In New River Gorge National Park, Fire Is Part of A Healthy Forest

Curtis Tate

Dec 22

Energy & Environment

Paying for Black Lung: Renewal Deadline Looms for Overextended Federal Trust Fund

In 1983, two southwest Virginia coal miners told an Appalshop filmmaker they were worried about a slate of budget cuts to social services by then-president Ronald Reagan. The reason? They had developed black lung – a severe, progressive lung disease that comes from inhaling dust while working in coal mines. In the film, the two […]

By Katie Myers

Dec 22

Energy & Environment

Paying for Black Lung: Renewal Deadline Looms for Overextended Federal Trust Fund

Katie Myers