Articles by Sue Sturgis
Sue Sturgis is the editorial director of Facing South, the online magazine of the nonprofit Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, N.C.
All Articles
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Boss Hog’s attempted regulatory coup in North Carolina
For the past two years, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has been crafting new rules to require water monitoring at factory hog farms, a significant source of pollution in the state. But last week, even with concerns growing over the environmental impacts of hog farms, the North Carolina Senate unanimously passed a bill that […]
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Nuclear plans hurting power companies’ credit ratings
Power companies pursuing construction of new nuclear plants may find it harder to get credit — meaning ratepayers could end up shouldering a greater financial burden for the costly and environmentally harmful projects. Moody’s Investors Service, a leading independent credit rating firm, recently released a report that says it’s considering taking a “more negative view” […]
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West Virginia, Kentucky miners boycott Tennessee over proposed mountaintop removal restrictions
There will be no more excursions to Dollywood for Roger Horton, a coal miner who lives in West Virginia — at least not until U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) drops legislation he’s sponsoring that would limit mountaintop removal mining. Horton is the mastermind behind a tourism boycott involving miners in neighboring West Virginia and Kentucky, […]
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Is the proposed clean energy agency a dirty deal for taxpayers and the environment?
Will the proposed clean energy agency become a slush fund for nuclear power?U.S. lawmakers are considering legislation that would create a new independent federal agency to promote government investment in clean energy. But watchdogs are raising questions about whether the way the proposed agency is structured is unfair to taxpayers and bad for the environment. […]