Featured Articles

• Meet Rick Webb, ABRA’s New Executive Director

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  In the June 2nd, 2022 issue of ABRA Update we reported the difficult news that Lew Freeman was stepping down after serving as Executive Director of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance since 2014.

  Allen Johnson, Chair of the ABRA Board of Directors,

• Northern long-eared bat should be declared endangered

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  Twenty-four conservation groups, including ABRA, have voiced strong support to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for the agency to finalize designating the northern long-eared bat as an endangered species.  The groups’ May 23 letter to FWS, sent on their behalf by the Southern Environmental Law Center,

• An Adieu from Lew Freeman

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  I announced two months ago that I would be stepping down as Executive Director of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance in June.  Today is my last day.

  I’ve had the privilege of helping co-found ABRA in 2014 and serving as its first Chair until assuming the role as staff head. 

• A message from Allen Johnson, Chair, ABRA Board of Directors

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  As Chair of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, we commend and thank Lew Freeman for his extraordinary and competent leadership. Lew developed, coordinated, and empowered diverse peoples and organizations into the collective ABRA force that was significantly instrumental in defeating the colossal Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.

• Opportunity to comment on commercial gold mining in Virginia

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  As previously reported, the Canadian exploration company, Aston Bay, has been performing exploratory drilling for gold across central Virginia, and advertizing their finds internationally. As one of the most environmentally destructive activities undertaken by humans, modern industrial-scale gold mining saddles host communities,

• MVP asks 4th Circuit to assign new judges to its cases

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  Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC (MVP, LLC) has requested that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals randomly assign judges to hear future cases involving appeals over permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.  In a May 16 petition filed with the Fourth Circuit,

• New webinar series on pipelines launches June 1

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  The Virginia League of Conservation Voters launches Wednesday June 1 at 7 pm a series of webinars on resisting methane buildout in the state.  The first webinar will explore the energy and utility forces driving pipeline construction in Virginia and what can be done to protect the Commonwealth and climate.

• Virginia Governor Younkin announces appointments to Air Board

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  Governor Younkin announced on May 13 the following appointments to the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board:

  • James Patrick Guy II of Saxe, General Counsel, Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative
  • Jay Holloway of Richmond, Managing Partner, Climate Law &

Conservation Hub

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ABRA’s Conservation Hub program promotes responsible resource management by providing data-focused tools that enhance a project’s transparency, strengthen its accountability to regulatory agencies and facilitate public participation in its evaluation process.

• Protecting West Virginia’s Public Lands from Expanded Use of ORV/ATVs

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  Sponsor: West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
  Developer: Lobbyists & Legislators in WV

  

  Lobbyists and legislators have persistently promoted off-highway vehicle recreation on West Virginia’s public lands, Federal and state, for the last two years.

• Proposed Buckingham County Gold Mine

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  Sponsor: Friends of Buckingham
  Developer: Aston Bay

  

  Since at least 2016, Aston Bay Holdings has drilled more than 20 exploratory holes in the A-1 agricultural zone on land situated between Yogaville and the Union Hill community.

• Greenbrier Southeast

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  Sponsor: National Forest Integrity Project
  Developer: U.S.Forest Service

  

  According to the US Forest Service, the Greenbrier Southeast project seeks to improve forest stand health and composition to improve future wildlife habitat and to provide for future commercial timber sales and economic projects.

• Corridor H – Parsons to Davis

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  Sponsor: Friends of Blackwater
  Developer: WVDOT/WVDOH

  

  Corridor H of the Appalachian Development Highway System, also known as US 48, will extend 157 miles from northern Virginia to central West Virginia. It is being constructed from Interstate 79 (I-79) in Weston eastward across the Allegheny Mountains to I-81 in Strasburg,