In the 1980s, in the United States, coal and aluminum production were each thriving industries. The production of primary aluminum depended, at that time, on plentiful, inexpensive coal – and the rich mines of Appalachia supplied it. Coal production in Kentucky reached a peak in 1990, and dozens of aluminum […]

Brad Kreps directs the Nature Conservancy’s Clinch Valley Program, which is working to make the vision of developing solar energy projects on former coalfields a reality in central Appalachia. Chatter about the potential of covering played-out coalfields in central Appalachia with solar arrays has simmered for years. Progress on the […]

This article was originally published by Ohio Valley ReSource. Environmental groups have reached a settlement agreement with a petrochemical company in Ohio to beef up air pollution controls at a proposed petrochemical plant along the Ohio River. Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical America and South Korea-based Daelim Industrial Co. have proposed building a […]

This story was originally published by the Ohio Valley ReSource. Automaker Toyota is planning to announce a major investment in solar and other renewable energy in Appalachia and the Southeastern U.S. The plan includes a massive new solar facility on an old surface coal mine property in Kentucky. Sources close […]

When Jennie and Brian Kahly decided to move to a 150-acre family farm in West Virginia’s Preston County, they thought a lot about what type of farmers they wanted to be. “We went ahead and made a list of values, and one of those values was to minimize our fossil […]

AEP’s plan would bring jobs to an impoverished region, but its structure would break the established regulatory mold in a state that has pushed back on renewables. Appalachian Ohio, a region hurt by the decline of coal, may become home to one of the largest solar projects east of the […]