Proud Appalachian
@rwheeler.bsky.social
I’m was an appellate public defender in Kentucky for 35 years. I’m an advocate for civil and human rights, a proud progressive, a loving dad, a doting pawpaw, and a much tolerated spouse. I post about Appalachia, Kentucky and politics.🦋
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Methane gas pipeline proposals keep popping up across #Virginia & #NorthCarolina, w/ signs more may be coming. Local groups worry regulators aren’t considering the cumulative impacts of so many gas projects packed together. Read more from Inside Climate News.
https://loom.ly/Ui27B3c
https://loom.ly/Ui27B3c
Gas Pipeline Proposals in Virginia Multiply Through the South—and Worry Community Activists - Inside Climate News
MVP’s Southgate Extension and Williams Companies’ Southeast Supply Enhancement Project are proposed in close proximity within a single North Carolina county.
insideclimatenews.org
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Methane gas pipeline proposals keep popping up across #Virginia & #NorthCarolina, w/ signs more may be coming. Local groups worry regulators aren’t considering the cumulative impacts of so many gas projects packed together. Read more from Inside Climate News.
https://loom.ly/Ui27B3c
https://loom.ly/Ui27B3c
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
A federal judge has ruled that West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice owes over $29 million to a Tennessee company for his family's coal companies' failure to meet collateral and payment obligations for reclaiming his mines.
https://loom.ly/6rBJ7-c
https://loom.ly/6rBJ7-c
November 22, 2025 at 10:00 PM
A federal judge has ruled that West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice owes over $29 million to a Tennessee company for his family's coal companies' failure to meet collateral and payment obligations for reclaiming his mines.
https://loom.ly/6rBJ7-c
https://loom.ly/6rBJ7-c
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Kentucky wetlands, streams, and drinking water at risk under proposed changes to Clean Water Act. From @derekparham.bsky.social at WKU: #kyga26
Kentucky wetlands, streams, and drinking water at risk under proposed changes to Clean Water Act
The EPA is moving to narrow the definitions of protected waterways under the Clean Water Act, opening many waterways to pollution and destruction.
www.wkyufm.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Kentucky wetlands, streams, and drinking water at risk under proposed changes to Clean Water Act. From @derekparham.bsky.social at WKU: #kyga26
My wife is a nurse practitioner with a doctorate who has dedicated herself with great sacrifice for decades helping the sick, including volunteering for the underprivileged, and sharing her experience by teaching at UK. This decision is a travesty for a country sorely in need of nurses like her.
To every nurse who sacrificed years earning your degree: Trump just declared you're not a professional.
Department of Education says nursing is no longer a professional degree
The education department no longer considers nursing as a professional degree program, which can weaken funding for students wanting to enter the health care field.
www.statesman.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:08 PM
My wife is a nurse practitioner with a doctorate who has dedicated herself with great sacrifice for decades helping the sick, including volunteering for the underprivileged, and sharing her experience by teaching at UK. This decision is a travesty for a country sorely in need of nurses like her.
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
"In a small Appalachian community whose first settlers arrived in 1830, a place transformed by mining in the decades that followed, David Butcher is leading an ambitious effort to reclaim both history and hope."
www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11...
#Appalachia
www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11...
#Appalachia
Tablertown reclaims its name: How the Voinovich School is partnering to invigorate abandoned mining land in Southeast Ohio
In a small Appalachian community whose first settlers arrived in 1830, a place transformed by mining in the decades that followed, David Butcher is leading an ambitious effort to reclaim both history ...
www.ohio.edu
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
"In a small Appalachian community whose first settlers arrived in 1830, a place transformed by mining in the decades that followed, David Butcher is leading an ambitious effort to reclaim both history and hope."
www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11...
#Appalachia
www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11...
#Appalachia
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Smart investments, stronger communities! 🌞 With $33,350 in support from the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, RenewAll installed a 25.7-KW solar array, cutting costs and freeing up resources to support local businesses and revitalization efforts. https://loom.ly/sNBbNPA
RenewAll Lights the Way for Community Revitalization
In the heart of West Huntington, WV, a spark of innovation is fueling a brighter future.
loom.ly
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Smart investments, stronger communities! 🌞 With $33,350 in support from the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, RenewAll installed a 25.7-KW solar array, cutting costs and freeing up resources to support local businesses and revitalization efforts. https://loom.ly/sNBbNPA
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Appalachian Voices is proud to present a bold new set of policy recommendations for Virginia's legislators and decision makers, with policy suggestions by and for the people who call Southwest Virginia home.
https://appvoices.org/new-economy/va-coal-community-platform/
https://appvoices.org/new-economy/va-coal-community-platform/
Virginia’s Coal Community Development Platform
A policy platform built by and for Virginia’s coalfield communities, with local priorities shaping economic transition rooted in real community needs.
appvoices.org
November 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Appalachian Voices is proud to present a bold new set of policy recommendations for Virginia's legislators and decision makers, with policy suggestions by and for the people who call Southwest Virginia home.
https://appvoices.org/new-economy/va-coal-community-platform/
https://appvoices.org/new-economy/va-coal-community-platform/
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Kentucky produced 24.3 million tons of coal last year, down 14% from 2023. Kentucky ranked first among states in coal production for much of the 1970s and 1980s, but is now ranked seventh. From @tatecurtis.bsky.social at @weku.bsky.social
Kentucky coal production fell 14% in 2024, mines now under 100
Kentucky’s coal production plummeted in 2024, and the number of mines in the state dropped below 100.
www.weku.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Kentucky produced 24.3 million tons of coal last year, down 14% from 2023. Kentucky ranked first among states in coal production for much of the 1970s and 1980s, but is now ranked seventh. From @tatecurtis.bsky.social at @weku.bsky.social
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Eastern Kentucky is full of isolated, rural towns that have experienced decline alongside the coal industry. But some who want to stick around are trying to reverse that by revitalizing the region’s downtown spaces. From @weku.bsky.social
In eastern Kentucky, locals try to reverse decline by revitalizing community spaces
Eastern Kentucky is full of isolated, rural towns that have experienced decline alongside the coal industry. But some who want to stick around are trying to reverse that by revitalizing the region’s d...
www.weku.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Eastern Kentucky is full of isolated, rural towns that have experienced decline alongside the coal industry. But some who want to stick around are trying to reverse that by revitalizing the region’s downtown spaces. From @weku.bsky.social
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Chuck Corra from Appodlachia joined us to talk about a distrubing new movement in Appalachia: Silicon Valley bros are building crypto-based Christian Nationalist towns in Tennessee… with their own “charters” and zero oversight.
This is the new far-right project. www.bytheballot.com/p/the-regres...
This is the new far-right project. www.bytheballot.com/p/the-regres...
November 20, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Chuck Corra from Appodlachia joined us to talk about a distrubing new movement in Appalachia: Silicon Valley bros are building crypto-based Christian Nationalist towns in Tennessee… with their own “charters” and zero oversight.
This is the new far-right project. www.bytheballot.com/p/the-regres...
This is the new far-right project. www.bytheballot.com/p/the-regres...
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
"They’re seeing that delay in the LIHEAP benefits because of the shutdown, as well as the Trump administration did fire most of the folks who work in the LIHEAP office at the federal level." - Dana Kuhnline, program director at ReImagine Appalachia
loom.ly/N0wjQlQ
#AffordableCareAct
#Appalachia
loom.ly/N0wjQlQ
#AffordableCareAct
#Appalachia
How federal funding limbo is affecting Appalachia
Health insurance costs and energy assistance federal funding remain up in the air, despite President Donald Trump recently signing a continuing resolution to fund the government through the end of
loom.ly
November 20, 2025 at 4:58 PM
"They’re seeing that delay in the LIHEAP benefits because of the shutdown, as well as the Trump administration did fire most of the folks who work in the LIHEAP office at the federal level." - Dana Kuhnline, program director at ReImagine Appalachia
loom.ly/N0wjQlQ
#AffordableCareAct
#Appalachia
loom.ly/N0wjQlQ
#AffordableCareAct
#Appalachia
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
Learn how growing trees can serve as a source of income in Appalachia! 🌲
dailyyonder.com/carbon-credi...
#Appalachia
#CarbonCredits
#Environmentalism
#SustainableEconomy
#GrowItInAppalachia
dailyyonder.com/carbon-credi...
#Appalachia
#CarbonCredits
#Environmentalism
#SustainableEconomy
#GrowItInAppalachia
Carbon Credit Markets Help Rural Landowners Hold on to Their Land | The Daily Yonder
Down a winding dirt road and dense forest canopy in Denmark, Maine, a two-story cabin sits on top of a hill, adorned with moose antlers. Bob Libby, who
dailyyonder.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Learn how growing trees can serve as a source of income in Appalachia! 🌲
dailyyonder.com/carbon-credi...
#Appalachia
#CarbonCredits
#Environmentalism
#SustainableEconomy
#GrowItInAppalachia
dailyyonder.com/carbon-credi...
#Appalachia
#CarbonCredits
#Environmentalism
#SustainableEconomy
#GrowItInAppalachia
Reposted by Proud Appalachian
As a student of history, I loathe the notion of anyone's story being erased. One of the first things that fascist do is erase the history of the LGBTQ+ community every chance they get.
Their attempts will always be met with defiance.
Especially in our mountains.
#Appalachia #LGBTQ+ #History
Their attempts will always be met with defiance.
Especially in our mountains.
#Appalachia #LGBTQ+ #History
A Declaration of Our Defiance
Appalachian history is steeped in hardship, sacrifice, and tales of men and women coming together to overcome adversity thrust upon them by…
medium.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:14 PM
As a student of history, I loathe the notion of anyone's story being erased. One of the first things that fascist do is erase the history of the LGBTQ+ community every chance they get.
Their attempts will always be met with defiance.
Especially in our mountains.
#Appalachia #LGBTQ+ #History
Their attempts will always be met with defiance.
Especially in our mountains.
#Appalachia #LGBTQ+ #History