ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The record-breaking heat experienced around North Carolina in recent days actually has a silver lining for some of the state's places of worship. A handful are now using solar panels to sell back energy to the electric grid, and many others are considering such a move.

The First Congregational United Church of Christ in Asheville is one example. Initial revenue will go towards paying for the cost of the panels, but in five years, Reverend Joe Hoffman predicts, the solar energy will pay for half of the church's annual electric bill.

"It goes back to just the simple respect of the creator who created us. As long as we, as human beings, are taking more than anyone else, then we're hurting all living creatures."

Hoffman's church chose to install the solar panels in March of 2011 after completing an energy audit, similar to those provided for free by North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light. The organization helps places of faith initiate green projects.

Because of the panels, in the first year the Asheville church avoided the use of 14,000 pounds of coal which would have been burned to generate its power, and produced more than 13,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Temple Emanuel in Greensboro installed solar panels on the roof last fall. The proceeds will help offset the electricity expenses for the temple. The panels were paid for completely by donations from members of the congregation, who will also receive additional tax benefits for making their donations for a solar project.

Annette Green served on the committee to install the panels, and sees doing so as an example for others.

"The temple did not need to put out a single penny of their own money. We just want other people to understand that almost any congregation could probably do this."

North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light also performed an energy audit for the temple, and helped them find resources to complete the project. NCIPL says the energy audits can also be used to help relieve the utility burden on some low-income congregations.

So far, organizer Allison Scherberger with NCIPL says, they've completed 97 energy audits with North Carolina congregations. She says the audits provide a great place to start.

"It gives them concrete ways that they can live out what their faith really calls them to do. Regardless of what someone's faith tradition is, all faiths encourage people to live gently on the earth."

Reporting for this story by North Carolina News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest. Media in the Public Interest is funded in part by Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.


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To help people better understand the health of the Upper Rio Grande Basin, a first-ever "report card" gave the overall river basin a "C" for its moderate condition, and warned improvements are needed.

A group of ecosystem scientists and local conservation advocates said the moderate rating comes with a warning there is not enough water to sustain all users' needs and maintain a healthy river ecosystem.

Paul Tashjian, director of freshwater conservation at Audubon Southwest, said actions are necessary to ensure people and wildlife have continued water access.

"We're water-challenged, and I think that what I liked about the report card, is that it really looked at all the water users alongside of each other and valued all of them together," Tashjian remarked. "Not just the living river, but also the importance of our farming communities, the importance of our compact."

He added New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande had the highest score, while the Lower Rio Grande got the lowest score at 41% or "C minus." The report card is meant to provide a backbone for developing meaningful resiliency strategies.

Casey Brown, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, who helped develop the report card model, said it showed limited water availability is due to climate change, interstate management issues, infrastructure, and increased demand from a growing population.

"Here's how much water we have. How are we going to allocate that water among its very competing uses?" Brown asked. "What our model does is help make it clear what those different allocations mean, in terms of trade-offs for the different water users."

Enrique Prunes, manager of the Rio Grande for the World Wildlife Fund, which also participated in creating the report card, said the Upper Rio Grande, flowing from its headwaters in Colorado, through New Mexico and ending in Texas, has supported people and wildlife for thousands of years.

"There are many communities that depend on the water that this river provides," Prunes outlined. "Agriculture -- 85% of the water that is used in the Rio Grande goes to agriculture -- but of course, for biodiversity, for ecosystems, that component of the environment is very important."

Some three million acres of Colorado lands have been protected through land trusts and their partners, and new online resources launched by the group Keep it Colorado aims to help more families keep producing on their farms and ranches, and maintain their land for future generations.

Erin Quinn, conservation director with the Aspen Valley Land Trust, said protecting lands through conservation easements now is a good idea for a number of reasons.

"One is that the cost of real estate is so high," said Quinn. "But second, the state's incentives have never been better. So if you're considering, now is a great time."

By donating a conservation easement on private property to a qualified land trust, the charitable act qualifies the landowner for a transferable state income tax credit, which can be traded to people seeking to lower their tax liability for up to $5 million per easement.

Toolkits for landowners interested in learning more about easements, and for people who have purchased lands already protected, are available online at 'KeepItCO.org.'

A 2018 study found that every $1 invested in conservation through the tax credit generates $12 in economic benefits by protecting prime farmland, habitat for Colorado's wildlife, and land along streams, lakes and rivers.

Quinn said one question she hears a lot from landowners is, 'Will I still own my land after conservation easement?'

"And the answer is yep, the land is still yours," said Quinn. "And you're free to sell it, transfer it or mortgage it, but with the knowledge that the conservation easement will protect it in perpetuity."

Quinn said land conservation is meant to keep Colorado's treasured places open and natural, and to protect the region's land, water, wildlife, culture and heritage. She added that the actual uses of conserved land can change over time.

"But the land will remain undeveloped," said Quinn. "Maintaining space in my area for farming, ranching, scenic corridors, wildlife habitat and just simply for places for kids to play - those are all benefits."

A new report found nearly all Missouri coal plants are releasing toxins into the local groundwater.

The report from two nonprofits, the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice, showed improper storage of waste material from coal-fired power plants is causing unsafe levels of groundwater contamination at 91% of U.S. coal plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency implemented the Coal Ash Rule in 2015, requiring power plants to monitor local groundwater and regulating safe storage of the byproducts of coal combustion.

Patricia Schuba, president of the Labadie Environmental Organization, said leaking ash disposal sites have been an issue in Missouri for decades, and the EPA needs to be proactive.

"Communities like mine would like the EPA to step up, start investigating these sites and enforce the rule," Schuba asserted. "I think it needs to come from EPA. Our state regulators here in Missouri bend over backwards to accommodate the polluters."

The Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing U.S. investor-owned electric companies, said as producers begin to close basins where coal ash is stored, they are doing so "in ways that put safety first, protect the environment, minimize impacts to the community and manage costs for customers."

The EPA has established ash-disposal sites need to have a plastic liner and a layer of compacted soil in order to prevent groundwater contamination. But the requirements to retrofit ash disposal sites to correct groundwater contamination currently applies only to ash dumps active when the coal ash rule went into effect in 2015. Older sites were allowed to be closed without changing the soil underneath, or adding a plastic barrier.

Schuba argued sites like the one near her need to be dug up and cleaned up.

"EPA needs to act on this. We can't get this corrected quick enough," Schuba contended. "And for a place like Labadie, you have to go in, find the pollution, and tell the utility they need to dig up the waste, put it in a lined landfill and remediate the land, so just dewatering it, you can't dewater in a flood plain."

The Coal Ash rule requires groundwater wells be dug and tested near ash disposal sites, which has enabled reporting on the amount of groundwater contamination at each site.

"I would think anybody who lives in a community near one of those plants should not be drinking their water, and that's sad because we're all dependent on groundwater," Schuba emphasized. "Most Missourians drink groundwater, and if not, they're drinking water from the river where this pollution is washing out into."

Coal ash toxins in water are tasteless, odorless, and can't be seen.