It’s clear the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is angry at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Randy Huffman (pictured) vented his frustrations before the Senate committee on Energy, Industry and Mining on Wednesday.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is considering regulating coal ash from power plants as hazardous waste, but some state officials and industry leaders are concerned the classification could have major ramifications. The EPA has been closely looking into how coal fly ash impoundments are built since December 2008. President of Sponsored Programs at WJU and former MSHA administrator Davitt McAteer is seeking funding to add the state's coal fly ash impoundments to the universities Coal Impoundment Project website, which lists safety information for the public.

A West Virginia woman recently launched a new Web site that she hopes will help give Appalachia a better image nationally. The Web site is Appalachia Today and it's the brainchild of editor and publisher Becky Kimmons.  Kimmons plans to also post information about what's going on in the state legislature and she hopes other writers and artists will get involved. The Web site can be found at appalachiatoday.wordpress.com..

Water from the Ohio was named Best Municipal Water in the World during the 20th annual  International Water Tasting competition last weekend in Berkeley Springs West Virginia. The tap water from Hamilton beat out 43 global competitors to win first place.  That's a step up from last year when Hamilton's water was named best in the country. Waters were tasted in four separate flights over two days. Twelve judges spent an afternoon and evening tasting finalists in four categories: municipal,  bottled, sparkling and purified drinking water. 

Changes are underway in a community that's been considered a poster child of suburban sprawl for many years. In Cranberry Township north of Pittsburgh, housing developments have been largely zoned away from the highway strip malls, the churches and ballfields -- requiring people to drive in order to shop, worship and play. But what's known as Smart Growth is making in-roads here. Ken Chiacchia is a journalist who explored this issue for Pittsburgh's City Paper.