Rep. Heath Shuler gets an earful on the CTS contaminated-waste site, and a Senate committee approves a bill introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Dole to protect against trichloroethylene.
Author: Rebecca Bowe
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Surviving steep-slope development
There are few local issues more deserving of the title “hot-button” than steep-slope development. Complex concerns like landslides, watershed conservation, property taxes and mountain views are all wrapped up in it; neighbors living downhill from steep-slope-developments-in-progress have no shortage of opinion on the subject. But rather than fan the flames of controversy, one ad-hoc committee […]
The Green Scene
On the evening of July 22, more than two dozen neighbors gathered at the Spring Mountain Community Center amid Fairview’s green mountains and winding country roads to consider how best to communicate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Several weeks earlier, The Cliffs at High Carolina—a 3,000-acre gated community that will abut many of […]
Pac a punch for Southern forests
Thanks to the Dogwood Alliance, you can now save the environment by playing a video game.
Downwind
Sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, mercury, ozone, acid deposition, ammonium nitrates, and an alphabet soup of acronyms. At times, the trial that began July 14 in U.S. District Court in Asheville sounded more like an environmental-chemistry class than a court session. After a two-year delay, the titanic lawsuit filed by the state of North […]
The Green Scene
The list of inactive hazardous-waste sites documented by the state of North Carolina is 72 pages long. The inventory lists 47 sites in Buncombe County, but the actual number is probably larger, as not all the sites are documented. Among the ones that end up on this roster are things like landfills, junkyards, shuttered industrial […]
Another orange/yellow ozone day ahead
As the TVA trial continues at the U.S. District Court in downtown Asheville, the backdrop is smoggy.
Punching holes
Five state environmental officials fielded an onslaught of questions during a public meeting about the former CTS of Asheville hazardous-waste site yesterday
The happy homosexual
Rather than employ hostile tactics to oppose a program that seeks to “correct” homosexuality, a small crew of LGBTU people have been caravanning to the gates of the Exodus International Freedom Conference to demonstrate just how happy they are living with their sexual orientation.
The Green Scene
Elk Mountain resident Kathryn Geitz watched warily last month as a pickup truck pulled up to Ciel, a high-end development site near her home, and people wearing protective suits set to work spraying an herbicide throughout the property. In the following weeks, patches of vegetation turned brown. “The spraying affected us and our dogs,” Geitz […]
TVA trial to begin
A lawsuit with significant implications for environmental health will be heard in Asheville beginning Monday, July 14. The U.S. District Court will consider a case brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. Dirty smokestacks: A lawsuit brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority by North Carolina centers on air pollution […]
The Green Scene
As summer sets in, visitors are once again flocking to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The 500,000-acre attraction, which straddles the North Carolina/Tennessee border, boasts half the remaining old-growth forest in the East, more than 2,000 miles of streams, 850 miles of trails and a wealth of biodiversity. But America’s most-visited national park is […]
Oh, the places they’ll go
At the outset of the Asheville City Council’s June 24 meeting, Mayor Terry Bellamy and Council members formally recognized the 29 graduates of the city’s 10-week Citizens Academy. Lawrence Waller, a rising ninth-grader who completed the course with his mother as part of his home-schooling education, delivered an address that would rival any high-school valedictorian’s. […]
Monitoring Council challenges CTS cleanup plan
The current plan for addressing ground-water contamination at the former CTS of Asheville plant would cap the amount the company could be required to spend on the cleanup at $3 million—even if the ultimate cost were much higher. So says the CTS Citizens Monitoring Council, a group of seven residents living near the hazardous-waste site […]
The Green Scene
As the weather gets warmer and gas prices creep upward, the buzz of motor scooters sailing up and down Asheville’s streets is becoming more common. Far more fuel-efficient than cars and trucks, scooters, which are best suited for short trips, offer motorists some relief from the pain of $4-per-gallon fuel. But for some, it’s about […]
Ashevillage: activated
Click here to see what happens when people stop being polite and start getting muddy.
Tales from the Longest Walk 2
Watch these videos to hear walk participants Margaret Morin and Andrei Jacobs discuss their experiences on the cross-country Native American journey.
A new Custom on Haywood Road
Sprouting up in the storefront beside Harvest Records on West Asheville’s Haywood Road is Custom: Hers and Home Boutique, an independently owned business started by sisters Michelle and Tammy Goñi. Custom, which opened in May, seems to fit the fabric of the surrounding area: A 20-something to 30-ish clientele with discriminating taste in clothing and […]
A road map for unknown territory
It’s common these days to hear cries for a massive shift in the way electricity is produced, in order to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. What’s less typical is for an organization that’s clamoring for a carbon-free future to offer a thorough answer to one key question: How? The Southern Alliance for […]
The Green Scene
In a place the size of Asheville, sometimes it doesn’t take much to make waves. Several weeks ago, for instance, a writer in the Xpress letters section turned up his nose at the idea of green building. “I guess what I’m getting at is the whole concept is a bunch of crap,” he wrote (see […]
Wild and free
With all the hoopla surrounding green products these days, it’s easy to believe that in order to become one with nature, all you have to do is don some organic-cotton yoga pants, bike to an eco-friendly grocery and stroll the aisles, armed with a reusable canvas tote and a keen understanding of the “Nutrition Facts” […]
