Environment

A regional waste management company has partnered with Louisville Metro Government to help increase the city’s tree canopy over the next decade.

Ecotech will work with Louisville’s Tree Advisory Commission, which was formed by Mayor Greg Fischer last year to help maintain and add to the city’s tree canopy.

Fischer helped plant the first three trees Friday and over the next 10 years, Ecotech has committed to donating 1,000 trees through its 10,000 Trees Partnership.

An analysis out from the West Virginia Center and Policy--a nonpartisan think tank in Charleston--predicts that even while coal production in Central Appalachia declines, employment will rise.

This may sound counterintuitive. But the analysis by Sean O'Leary says that could happen, due to falling productivity. In that case, it would take the same number of miners to mine less coal.

CONSOL Energy has decided to temporarily idle two coal mines, the Buchanan Mine in southwest Virginia and the Amonate Mining Complex in southern West Virginia.

This doesn't stand out as particularly surprising news--after all, demand for coal is dropping, and factors like low natural gas prices, an unseasonably warm winter and upcoming environmental regulations have made it a tough year for the industry.

There are already a number of green infrastructure projects underway in Louisville—green roofs, rain gardens, pervious parking lots, to name a few. But experts say there’s still a lot of untapped potential. A conference today at the University of Louisville looked at those projects and discussed how to expand the efforts.

Environmental activists are gathering in Washington D.C. today for an anti-mountaintop removal rally.

The capitals of Kentucky and Indiana are among five cities chosen to receive assistance in green design from the Environmental Protection Agency through the agency’s Greening America’s Capitals program.