skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, March 30, 2025

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

JD, Usha Vance visit Greenland as Trump administration eyes territory; Maine nurses, medical workers call for improved staffing ratios; Court orders WA to rewrite CAFO dairy operation permit regulations; MS aims to expand Fresh Start Act to cut recidivism.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Dept. of Health and Human Services prepares to cut 10,000 more jobs. Election officials are unsure if a Trump executive order will be enacted, and Republicans in Congress say they aim to cut NPR and PBS funding.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural folks face significant clean air and water risks due to EPA cutbacks, a group of policymakers is working to expand rural health care via mobile clinics, and a new study maps Montana's news landscape.

WV Enviro Groups Call MVP Greenlight a 'Terrible Precedent'

play audio
Play

Monday, June 5, 2023   

A 300-mile-long fracking pipeline project slated to cross numerous streams and rivers in West Virginia and Virginia got a major boost over the weekend when President Joe Biden signed the debt-ceiling bill.

Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director for the group Appalachian Voices, said one more Clean Water Act permit is needed for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to complete construction. Lawmakers slipped permission for it into the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.

"Congress would be directing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead and issue authorization for Mountain Valley Pipeline on the Clean Water Act, within 21 days of the bill's passage," Anderson pointed out.

The pipeline is expected to cost around $6 billion. One study by the advocacy group Oil Change International found the pipeline would spew more than 89 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, akin to adding 26 new coal-fired power plants. Supporters, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., argued the project will keep energy costs lower for consumers.

Cindy Rank, chair of the Extractive Industries Committee for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, added the bill goes further, and attempts to remove litigation as an option for groups and citizens who oppose the project.

"It sets a terrible precedent for just about any other, especially major projects that may be coming down the line," Rank contended. "None of them are easy. All of them have problems. And problems have to be dealt with legally."

Anderson added the pipeline's construction could increase natural-disaster risks for neighboring communities.

"Almost three quarters of the proposed path involves building on slopes that are either considered moderately susceptible or highly susceptible to landslides presents a real public safety issue," Anderson outlined.

He noted the pipeline has already been cited by regulators in multiple states for more than 500 instances of water quality and other environmental violations related to sediment runoff.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Mississippi's three-year recidivism rate reached 40% in 2023, according to state task force data - among the highest in the United States. (Pixabay)

Social Issues

play sound

For thousands of Mississippians leaving prison each year, a single question looms large: Who will hire me? State lawmakers could remove some of the …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Rural communities in Missouri are bracing for a tough reality as they plan ahead for the possibility of federal cuts to programs such as Medicaid…

Social Issues

play sound

This has been "National March Into Literacy Month" but it may become tougher over the summer to "march" into a public library and ask for help finding…


Students harvest food grown in the school greenhouse and use it for meals in their culinary program's in-house restaurant and cafeteria, creating a sustainable cycle. (Courtesy of Exact Solar)

Environment

play sound

Groups in Pennsylvania are asking Congress to preserve federal clean-energy tax incentives. Concerned about the possible repeal of 30% energy tax …

play sound

By Sara Hashemi for Sentient.Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration John…

The USDA reported since April 2024, there have been avian influenza virus detections in 336 commercial flocks and 207 backyard flocks, for a total of more than 90.9 million birds affected.(Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

West Virginians are more concerned about bird flu's effect on grocery costs rather than health implications, and Republican voters are more likely to …

Social Issues

play sound

The federal HALT Fentanyl Act advancing through Congress would increase prison time for fentanyl traffickers. Kentuckians convicted on distribution …

Social Issues

play sound

Labor groups representing thousands of Minnesota state workers find themselves at serious odds with Gov. Tim Walz over his move this week to reduce …

 

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