Register for WVHC’s 2026 Fall Review, Oct. 23–24 at Canaan Valley Resort, featuring hikes, advocacy training, a keynote, dinner and silent auction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 28, 2026 Contact: Olivia Miller, Interim Executive Director, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, olivia.miller@wvhighlands.org Nikki Forrester, Director of Communications...

Learn the difference between native and wild fish through West Virginia’s trout, including brook, rainbow, brown, tiger and golden rainbow trout.

Discover West Virginia’s five madtom species, their unique adaptations, habitats, and why these small catfish are important indicators of healthy streams and rivers.

Learn how to prevent tick bites while exploring West Virginia's forests, parks and trails with practical safety tips for hikers, campers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

New York became the first U.S. state on Tuesday to halt construction ​of large new data centers, imposing a one-year moratorium as concerns grow that the facilities driving the artificial-intelligence boom are raising power costs, straining water ‌supplies and burdening local communities.

Meta said it was working with officials to be a ‘good neighbor’ and drinking water supplies were not affected

When I published “Annihilating the Hillbilly” in 1971, the manifesto argued that the stereotyping of Appalachian people was not folklore but a tool. Coal operators, federal agencies, national media, and political elites used the hillbilly caricature to blame mountain people for conditions created by absentee ownership and extractive industries. The image was a weapon. The […]

New solar records and long-term coal decline in the United States lead to latest clean power milestone

Since 2005, GDP in the Information sector—which includes data centers—has nearly tripled, but employment has actually declined.

People who live close to the Monarch Compute Campus data center that Nscale is building north of Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia, have the opportunity to sell their homes to the company, and some are doing so as of early June 2026.

West Virginia Rivers Coalition and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed a lawsuit in April against Armsted Graphite Materials LLC, alleging repeated Clean Water Act violations.

In celebration of when Dolly sods became protected as a wilderness area by the federal government with the help of Helen McGinnis and The WV Highlands Conservancy.   Artist: Harris […]

Hill County commissioners’ split vote to issue a moratorium appears to be a first in Texas.

A coalition banded together to stop a coal company from using a haul road through the Monongahela National Forest to transport coal to a railroad facility about 20 miles away in Rupert, West Virginia.

In communities across West Virginia, the topics of public school funding and data centers are receiving ample attention. And while often viewed as separate and unrelated, the issues are more intertwined than most might think. The multi-million dollar tax breaks that data centers and other economic development projects receive come directly at the cost of […]

For as long as West Virginia has existed, the abundant natural resources beneath our feet have created wealth for outsiders, while poverty has plagued our own people.

A judge who sparked conflict-of-interest concerns with his connections to a case pressed by community and environmental advocates to challenge a controversial data center project has volunteered to be recused from the case. For weeks, Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia Chief Judge Daniel Greear had resisted calls for him to step away from the case brought to the court by advocacy groups fighting a large data center project planned for Tucker County by Purcellville, Virginia-based Fundamental Data LLC. But Greear, who is seeking re-election on a nonpartisan ballot to the...

Residents of the Town of Anmoore are growing concerned about a black dust that has been coming out of the Amsted Graphite Materials factory and settling into people’s homes and yards.

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By C.A. Holmes, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Environmentalism has taken many different forms over the years, from local grassroots activism to national non-profits and everything in between. But many of […]

The White Sulphur Springs National Fish Hatchery is helping restore the endangered Candy Darter and other imperiled aquatic species, supporting freshwater biodiversity in West Virginia’s headwater streams.

South Fork Coal Company missed a hearing about its numerous permit violations.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - On the heels of receiving an inaugural “Undisputed Champion of Coal” award from an industry-backed pro-coal group, President Trump has announced $175 million in taxpayer-funded handouts to seven coal plants, including Appalachian Power’s Amos and Mountaineer plants and Monongahela Power’s Fort Martin.

During last year’s Legislative Session, the West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 2014 which laid the framework for data centers to be developed across the state. Initially, this bill seemed

West Virginia’s decision-makers are further rolling out a welcome mat for data center developers. But they’re keeping confidential to West Virginians what developers are peering inside the state’s door – and what environmental baggage they might bring with them. A panel of West Virginia lawmakers on Feb. 4, 2026 advanced a rule that would keep basic information about proposed “High Impact” data center projects confidential and hidden from public view, casting aside transparency concerns from West Virginians who fear they’ll have adverse financial and environmental impacts. And on Feb. 5,...

A proposed bill could give away millions in tax breaks to data centers

The joint Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee approved several changes to microgrid proposals during a meeting Wednesday.

The joint Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee approved several changes to microgrid proposals during a meeting Wednesday.