About Appalachian Voices

A sinister modern haze has overtaken the famous blue mist that gave the Great Smoky Mountains their name, threatening forests and communities across Appalachia. The three national parks that suffer from the worst air pollution in the entire national park system are in the southern Appalachians. Symptoms of air pollution in our forests include large-scale tree death and visibility so limited that the mountains sometimes disappear.

Asthma rates are on the rise, prompting the American Lung Association to join environmental groups in calling for tighter restrictions on the pollutants that have been linked to the disease. In the central and southern Appalachians, the greatest source of these airborne pollutants is coal-fired power plants.

Appalachian Voices is working to clear the air by cleaning up the sources of pollution and educating the public. In 2002, Appalachian Voices was a leader in the coalition that passed the North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act, a state law that will clean up emissions from the state’s coal-fired power plants. We are now working to pass similar laws in neighboring states, while also making sure utilities comply with the new North Carolina law.

Our publications on air pollution are aimed at educating the public and decision-makers about this important issue. They include An Appalachian Tragedy, a coffee table book published by Sierra Club Books in 1998, and “Code Red,” our report about the five most polluted national parks in the nation, which received massive national media attention in 2002. 

Just south of our nation’s capital, one of the greatest environmental and human rights catastrophes in American history is underway. In the coalfields of Appalachia, some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems are being obliterated and entire communities are being driven off their land by flooding, landslides, and pollution resulting from mountaintop removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal is just what its name implies - a relatively new coal mining technique that involves blasting away the tops of mountains and dumping them into neighboring valleys and streams in order to reach thin seams of coal that lie underneath.

Since the 1990s, when we helped found the West Virginia-based group Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices has been working with coalfield residents to end mountaintop removal. We have provided funding, training, and other resources to the grassroots advocates in the coalfields. We have sponsored hundreds of overflights in small planes, taking reporters, political leaders, conservationists, and business owners to see the devastation from above.

We are currently working with coalfield residents to launch a national campaign to end mountaintop removal. We are also working for the passage of the Clean Water Protection Act, a bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would ban the process of dumping mining waste directly into streams, thereby ending mountaintop removal. 

Willa Coffey Mays is a native of Appalachia and has a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. She has worked for the environment and other non-profit causes for her entire career leading organizations through change, fostering growth, building constituencies, designing and leading campaigns, and sharpening organizational focus. Her background includes environmental work in North Carolina, Virginia, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters in Business and Healthcare Administration.

Dr. Matthew Wasson is an ecologist and the director of programs for Appalachian Voices where he oversees the award-winning online campaign to stop mountaintop removal coal mining on iLoveMountains.org. Beginning with his doctoral research at Cornell University on the impacts of acid rain on birds, Wasson has spent the last 15 years working to address the impacts of all aspects of the “coal cycle” from mining, transportation and combustion of coal to the deposition of pollutants and disposal of power plant waste. 

Lenny Kohm is the campaign director for Appalachian Voices. Lenny worked for 15 years with the Gwich’In Indians of Northwest Canada and Northeast Alaska, travelling the country and presenting his slideshow presentation, “The Last Great Wilderness,” in support of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A passionate advocate for both environmental protection and human rights, Lenny has devoted much of his life protecting the arctic and an indigenous culture that he has grown to love. 

Sandra Diaz is the Development & Communications Director for Appalachian Voices. She started her career in environmental advocacy as a grassroots organizer in Florida for organizations such as Humane Society of the United States, League of Conservation Voters and the Alaska Coalition. She then moved to Boone in 2007 as the national field coordinator for Appalachian Voices’ Mountaintop Removal Campaign. Sandra assumed her current position in late 2009. 

In 2008, Donna Lisenby moved to the Appalachian Mountains to become the first Upper Watauga Riverkeeper. She is a full-time public advocate for the Watauga River, the Elk River, Doe Creek and Watauga Lake watersheds. She is part investigator, scientist, lawyer, and advocate. A tenacious and highly experienced change agent for building sustainable human relationships with the earth, Ms. Lisenby is also a compelling and passionate voice for rivers and watersheds in the Southeast. Through the support and vision of Appalachian Voices, Ms. Lisenby will protect YOUR WATER from polluters.

In the 10 years that she served at the helm of the Catawba Riverkeeper Program, Ms. Lisenby was named “Charlotte’s Best Advocate” by Charlotte Magazine in May, 2000, a “1999 Guardian of the Environment” by The Charlotte Observer and was selected as a recipient of the Charlotte Coalition’s “Blue Thumb” award. The Catawba Riverkeeper Program is also the only environmental organization to receive three Best of Charlotte Awards for “Best Effort to Improve the Environment” in 1999, 2000 and 2004. Other awards include the the Mountain Island Lake Marine Commission’s Blue Fin Award for 2003, the Lake James Task Force Award for Outstanding and Distinguished Service in 2004, and the 2005 J. H. “Mac” McSwain Community Service Award for exemplary community service to the Lake Wateree Community.

In 2005, Ms. Lisenby was elected by her fellow Waterkeepers to serve in a leadership position as a board member of Waterkeeper Alliance. The Waterkeeper Alliance is the international organization led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. There are currently 177 local Waterkeeper Programs in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Australia, Africa, India, China, Europe and Russia. Waterkeeper Alliance and its member organizations around the globe spend each day protecting the waterways upon which all living beings depend. The Alliance approves new Waterkeeper programs and licenses the use of the Waterkeeper names. The Waterkeeper program names, such as “Riverkeeper,” “Lakekeeper,” “Baykeeper,” “Coastkeeper” and others, are synonymous with effective citizen action.

Eric is the AmeriCorps Water Quality Associate for the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 2009 with a B.S. in Forestry. As part of the Riverkeeper team, he assists with monitoring and conducting research on different types of water pollution, from sediment pollution to the impacts of coal, and helps to organize outreach events in order to promote stewardship of our waterways. 

Dr. Bill Kovarik is contributing editor of the Appalachian Voice newspaper. He is also a professor of communication at Radford University, where he teaches science and environment writing, media history, and media law. He worked for twenty years as a reporter with daily and wire press, including The Baltimore Sun, The Charleston (SC) Courier, and the Associated Press. His books include “The Forbidden Fuel” (1982), “Mass Media and Environmental Conflict” (with Mark Neuzil, 1996), and “Web Design for the Mass Media” (2001).

Susan Congelosi is the operations manager for Appalachian Voices. Susan earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California in 1975. She moved to Boone, North Carolina in 1976 to build a glassblowing studio, and has resided in the Boone area ever since. She pursued further studies in accounting and real estate, and has worked professionally in both fields for many years. She has always been a passionate and active defender of the environment.

Benji Burrell is the Technologist at Appalachian Voices and serves as the webmaster of the award winning website, iLoveMountains.org.  He produces high quality videos as well as advocacy and organizing tools for our campaign to end mountaintop removal coal mining.  His videos and 3D Google Earth tours have been seen hundreds of thousands of times, and were shown to UN delegates during the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen.

Benji is also an experienced manufacturing engineer with a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech.  As an AmeriCorps volunteer, he served as our Forest Restoration Program Coordinator and revised “Managing Your Woodlands: A Guide for Southern Appalachian Landowners.”

Contact him by emailing .

JW Randolph (pictured here with Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester) has been working with Appalachian Voices since October, 2004. JW was a founder of the wildly popular “Pizzas and Vistas” program for student volunteers. In the spring of 2005 these students were instrumental in getting 80% of the NC General Assembly to oppose weakening federal clean air laws. In the summer of 2005 JW worked with US PIRG to increase fuel efficiency standards and to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Throughout 2006 JW worked on the Appalachian Voices “Front Porch Blog,” organized students, and worked on legislative efforts in Raleigh, Richmond, and Washington DC. This winter JW finished coursework for a self-designed degree in “Appalachian Political History” from Appalachian State University. He is currently in Washington, DC working to pass the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169.)

Tom Cormons is our Virginia Director.  Tom earned his law degree with a concentration in Public Interest Law and Policy at UCLA and is a member of the Virginia State Bar.  His B.A. is from the University of Virginia, where he majored in Political and Social Thought and minored in Philosophy.  His previous experience includes law clerk with the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the United State Department of Justice, and Environmental Defense.  He also worked with endangered and threatened migratory terns in South America for six seasons, overseeing radio-tracking of the birds and as a whitewater and rock climbing guide in West Virginia.  He lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Heather, and spends his free time climbing, hiking, running rivers, and playing the fiddle.

Mike McCoy is our Virginia Field Organizer.  He studied Anthropology and Sustainable Development at Appalachian State. Graduating in 2006 he went on to work with USPIRG in Washington, DC, as a citizen outreach director. His work included building grassroots support for a strong global warming pollution reduction bill, The Safe Climate Act. The summer of 2007 he worked with USPIRG to organize students to raise awareness, money, and get petition signatures to pressure the House into passing a 15% by 2020 Renewable Energy Standard. He is currently working out of our new Charlottesville, Virginia office organizing citizens to fight a 585 megawatt coal fired power plant proposed for construction in Wise County, Virginia.

Kate Rooth originally hails from Cashiers, North Carolina and graduated from Lehigh University in 2005, having studied Political and Environmental Science. Afterwards, Kate moved to Washington DC and began working for Greenpeace, where she contributed to a variety of climate and clean energy campaigns including the International Quit Coal tour and the Cape Wind Campaign. She has since worked for Rainforest Action Network on their mountaintop removal campaign, targeting both the regulators and financiers of coal mining. Kate is also an active collective member of Rising Tide North America. Kate works out of Appalachian Voices’ DC office.

Parker Stevens Parker Stevens grew up in the mountains of western NC, around Boone and Asheville.  She studied Environmental Health at UNC Chapel Hill and recently graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health. Throughout college, Parker worked with children as an environmental and science educator.  She also spent time in East Africa learning Swahili, teaching English, and volunteering at an orphanage.  She is excited to be working for a cause that combines her love for the Appalachian Mountains and passion for public health and environmental justice.

Jed Grubbs grew up loving mountains in Chattanooga, TN.  After graduating high school he enrolled at the University of Richmond in Virginia, where he received his BA in Religion and learned to play bluegrass music.  In 2006, he moved to Portland, OR., where he worked as a professional musician, taught enrichment programs at elementary schools, and attended urban and regional planning classes at Portland State University.  Currently, he works as the Information and Volunteer Coordination Intern for Appalachian Voices.

Kimberly Hamilton is a law student at the University of Tennessee interested in pursuing a career in environmental law. Originally from Tennessee, Kimberly completed her undergraduate studies at Birmingham-Southern College with a double major in Spanish and Latin American Studies. After completing her Masters in International Studies from the University of Miami, she backpacked through Central America and Mexico before entering law school. Kimberly has focused on development studies, sustainable development and human rights in her academic pursuits. Since she has been in law school, Kimberly has researched environmental issues closer to home, focusing on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining and the Clean Water Act. Her legal internship at Appalachian Voices allows her to work hands on in the field, exploring Environmental Justice Issues and applying the knowledge and training she has received in her legal coursework. Kimberly was selected as a 2010 Equal Justice Works Summer Corps Summer member. The Equal Justice Works Summer Corps program, an AmeriCorps funded program, provides law students the opportunity to earn an education award for dedicating their summer to working on a legal project at a nonprofit public interest organization.

Christina Howe - Chair I reside in Valle Crucis where the Watauga River forms the western boundary of my property. I came to Boone after living and working in Miami, Fl. I was senior vice-president of a very large development company, which built, managed and sold shopping centers, office buildings and airport hangers. I became a commercially rated, single and multi-engine pilot with an instrument rating. I founded and still own two real estate companies. I went on to assist my late husband in building a 350,000 sq.ft. terminal in Sanford, Fl. now known as the Orlando-Sanford International Airport or OSI. I am a sailor and an avid tennis player. I enjoy golf. I was the President of the High Country Conservancy for 4 years. I am presently President of the Shull’s Farm POA. I am a passionate environmentalist and Green has always been my favorite color.

Heidi Binko - Vice Chair, Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF), a New York City-based foundation with programs to promote environmental protection, economic justice for women, and institutional responsiveness. Prior to RFF, Heidi was the executive director of the Virginia-based WestWind Foundation. She holds a masters degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and currently serves on the board of the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA). Charlottesville, Virginia.

Matthew Anderson - Stembridge -Secretary, Matthew’s background includes training with Green Corps and working with Greenpeace. Matthew directed environmental and rural advocacy and education in Washington, DC for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as well as national campaign efforts on climate and energy for the National Council of Churches in Christ. Matthew has served as executive director of Twin Cities-based coalition Faith in the City and currently directs the Creation Care Fund, which provides financial and technical support to Christian environmental grassroots initiatives. Matthew graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in environmental studies and has earned a Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota - Duluth. He lives in Saint Paul with his wife Kirsten. Matthew enjoys curling and coaching ultimate Frisbee.

Bunk Spann - Board Member, Founder of the National Center for Developmental Education, Appalachian State University, former member of the Boone North Carolina town council and current chair of the Boone area Planning Commission.

Pat Watkins - Board Member, Pat is an ordained minister in the VA Conference of the United Methodist Church, having served churches in the Lynchburg District. He and his wife, Denise Honeycutt, served as missionaries in Nigeria with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. He currently serves as a Church and Community Worker for the UMC assigned to a ministry to God’s creation in the VA Conference. He is a member of the United Methodist Women’s Division Green Team for the denomination. Pat tries to live out his passion for God’s creation by living his life in such a way as to make a smaller footprint on God’s earth. He is an avid organic, permaculture gardener. His passion is to raise the awareness, particularly among people of faith, that there is a connection between faith and taking care of God’s creation. He and Denise live in Richmond.

Brenda Boozer - Board Member, Voice professor at Lees-McRae College. Former mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Former RIVERKEEPER® board member. Banner Elk, North Carolina.

Brenda Huggins - Board Member, Retired school teacher. Former member, North Carolina Textbook Commission. Co-founder, Catawba County Litter Task Force. Newton, North Carolina.

Dot Griffith - Board Member

Mary Anne Hitt - Board Member, Former executive director of The Ecology Center (Missoula, Montana) and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project (Asheville, North Carolina). M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana. Blacksburg, Virginia.

Kathy Selvage - Board Member, Kathy Selvage, Vice President of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, is a coalfield resident of Wise County, VA, works to bring local, regional and national exposure to the destruction that mountaintop removal coal mining is wreaking on the land, people, and their culture; promotes a new energy policy and a green economy as an alternative; recipient of the 2006 S. Francis Ecological Award for innovative work promoting the interconnectedness of all life; listed as one of 14 individuals and organizations making a difference in the future of Appalachia in Blue Ridge Country, August, 2008.

Jonathan C. Allen, CPA CFP, CLU - Chair’s Council

Liz Aycock - Riverkeeper Advisory

Willa Coffey Mays is a native of Appalachia and has a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. She has worked for the environment and other non-profit causes for her entire career leading organizations through change, fostering growth, building constituencies, designing and leading campaigns, and sharpening organizational focus. Her background includes environmental work in North Carolina, Virginia, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters in Business and Healthcare Administration.