skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

KY Environmentalists Cheer EPA Smokestack Pollution Rules

play audio
Play

Friday, July 15, 2011   

BEREA, Ky. - Kentucky is one of 27 states that will have to work with coal-fired power plants to reduce air pollution, as directed recently by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

New rules aimed at reducing smokestack emissions that cause soot and smog will take effect next year - and not a moment too soon, according to Teri Blanton, a Kentuckians for the Commonwealth fellow. Anti-pollution upgrades from coal-fired power plants are long overdue, she says.

"The health of Kentuckians and the surrounding states have been affected by the lack of these industries to upgrade, and take care of problems that they knew that they had, and that would have to be addressed at some time."

The new smokestack-emissions rules are expected to cost utility companies nearly $1 billion a year, the EPA says. Industry officials warn that electricity rates are likely to increase in order for them to comply.

Blanton insists the government and public have subsidized the environmental and public-health failures of coal companies for too long. The EPA, she believes, is finally coming to the rescue.

"We have known for decades that producing energy through coal-fired power plants is disastrous to the health of the people. Everyone lives within 50 miles of a coal-fired power plant, and we're all affected by what comes out of their stacks."

In her view, those who vilify the EPA for stepping up anti-pollution controls are misguided.

"Our emotions toward the EPA should be, 'Thank you for taking steps to protect our health, and the health of our children, and the health of our unborn children by making these changes within the power industry.' "

Blanton believes the EPA could do more, and hopes for future moves to limit air pollution during coal extraction.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021