It’s been three years since the Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Service Authority agreed on a plan to build the Ragged Mountain Dam and dredge the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. Construction of the dam is well underway, but a scrapped contract has stalled the dredging project, and officials now say it may be time […]
It’s been three years since the Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Service Authority agreed on a plan to build the Ragged Mountain Dam and dredge the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. Construction of the dam is well underway, but a scrapped contract has stalled the dredging project, and officials now say it may be time […]
After a dozen years of planning, VDOT has awarded Nelson County $750,000 to begin restoring what was once the world’s greatest railroad engineering effort: The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel. “When it was built, it was the longest tunnel in the nation, and the longest mountain tunnel in the world,” said Allen Hale, a Nelson […]
Teri Kent runs Charlottesville’s Better World Betty, a non-profit organization and online resource for locals looking to shrink their impact on the environment. Every month, Betty —Kent’s ’50s-housewife-meets-earth-goddess alter ego—answers the most burning eco-questions from our readers about energy use, water, waste and recycling, transportation, and green buying. Q: Can I recycle orange juice and […]
The symptoms of Chronic Wasting Disease in deer read like something out of a horror movie: emaciation, a lolling head, an odor of rotting meat, and—invisible until autopsy—a spongy degeneration of the brain. CWD is a prion disease affecting cervids—elk, moose, and our own white-tailed deer. Like mad cow in cattle and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in […]
Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Green party: Snow’s Garden […]
Local environmental groups have teamed up to challenge the long-term plans of the state’s largest power provider, Virginia Dominion Power, citing a report released last Tuesday by third-party energy think tanks. The report, commissioned by Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition, which includes local organizations Appalachian Voices and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), claims that […]
Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Hawk gawk: It’s hawk […]
A federal official’s announcement last week that a cemetery and house site in the path of the planned Western Bypass is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places has become the latest hang-up for the road project, and has some questioning the process the Virginia Department of Transportation used to evaluate the property […]
The first major update to food safety regulations since the 1930s is coming down the pike for America’s farmers, and the impacts could be big for produce growers—including those in Central Virginia. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) puts what was previously a voluntary and industry-driven effort to avoid produce contamination under the direct supervision […]
Come late summer, many gardeners are about ready to throw in the towel. Squash bugs have decimated the melons and cucumbers, drought has baked the soil, and a quick week at the beach has left things nearly unrecognizable. But this summer has been truly unusual. Ample rain and cool temperatures have made gardening easier, and […]