CSX No. 2100 was repowered from a kit developed in Canada by Canadian Pacific. It emits only water vapor and no carbon dioxide, depending on how the hydrogen was produced.
CSX unveiled a hydrogen-powered locomotive this week, rebuilt from a diesel locomotive at its Huntington Shop.
CSX No. 2100 was repowered from a kit developed in Canada by Canadian Pacific. It emits only water vapor and no carbon dioxide, depending on how the hydrogen was produced.
“The successful debut of our first hydrogen-powered locomotive stands as a testament to the exceptional skill and dedication of our employees at the CSX Huntington locomotive shop,” CEO Joe Hinrichs said in a statement.
Emissions from transportation are the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions, and major railroads are looking for opportunities to repower diesel locomotives with alternative fuels.
In addition to hydrogen, some locomotives operate with liquefied natural gas or run on batteries.
Thanks to a federal grant, CSX will replace a small fleet of diesel locomotives with battery powered ones at the Curtis Bay coal export terminal in Baltimore.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Berryman said an expected shift in the air flow high up in the atmosphere could temporarily cause the smoke to dissipate in time for the July Fourth weekend.
With Canadian wildfires affecting air quality levels throughout much of the state, many people are wondering about the wisdom of spending time outdoors over the holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service said a predicted change in weather patterns could temporarily dissipate some of the smoky haze affecting the state as we head into the early part of the weekend.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Berryman said an expected shift in the air flow high up in the atmosphere could cause the smoke to dissipate in time for the July 4 weekend.
“We’ve been seeing a flow from the northwest that’s been transporting the smoke down from Canada into our area,” Berryman said. “Once we get into the weekend we are looking at more of a westerly flow — potentially sourcing that air from a different location that would lead to an improvement in conditions.”
Berryman said that while we may have a short break from poor air quality, she expects another shift in the weather pattern back to a northwest airstream.
As the wildfires continue to burn out of control in Canada the state can expect a return to hazy and smoky conditions by midweek.
To see the latest on air quality for your area, visit AirNow.gov.
Click here for information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on protecting yourself from wildfire smoke.
On this West Virginia Morning, hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers are gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy. Randy Yohe reports on implementing the “Ready Read Write” initiative.
On this West Virginia Morning, hundreds of southern West Virginia teachers are gathered in Charleston this week, learning how to best improve student literacy. Randy Yohe reports on implementing the “Ready Read Write” initiative.
Also, in this show, officials have issued alerts about air quality issues in West Virginia. Eric Douglas has more.
The Putnam County Commission approved an ordinance Tuesday that could restrict drag shows. Curtis Tate has more.
And with the July 4 holiday approaching, officials are asking the public to rethink using fireworks. Delaney Wells has more.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.
Teresa Wills is our host.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
With weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing across the U.S. and Canada from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.
NEW YORK (AP) — On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it’s a thick, hazardous haze that’s disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.
And with weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.
That means at least another day, or more, of a dystopian-style detour that’s chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.
The weather system that’s driving the great Canadian-American smoke out — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — “will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days,” U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said.
“Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out,” Ramsey said. “Since the fires are raging — they’re really large — they’re probably going to continue for weeks. But it’s really just going be all about the wind shift.”
Across the eastern U.S., officials warned residents to stay inside and limit or avoid outdoor activities again Thursday, extending “Code Red” air quality alerts in some places for a third-straight day as forecasts showed winds continuing to push smoke-filled air south.
The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and was expected to reach Norway on Thursday, the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute said, but wasn’t expected to be a health concern.
In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered schools to cancel outdoor recess, sports and field trips Thursday. In suburban Philadelphia, officials set up an emergency shelter so people living outside can take refuge from the haze.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was making a million N95 masks — the kind prevalent at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — available at state facilities, including 400,000 in New York City. She also urged residents to stay put.
“You don’t need to go out and take a walk. You don’t need to push the baby in the stroller,” Hochul said Wednesday night. “This is not a safe time to do that.”
The message may be getting through. So far, officials said Wednesday, New York City has yet to see an uptick in 911 calls related to respiratory issues and cardiac arrests.
More than 400 blazes burning across Canada have left 20,000 people displaced. The U.S. has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. Other countries are also helping.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to President Joe Biden by phone on Wednesday. Trudeau’s office said he thanked Biden for his support and that both leaders “acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change.”
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the country’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated quickly. Smoke from the blazes has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday.
“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, where the sky took on the colorful nickname of the local university: Orange.
The smoke was so thick in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking group canceled a planned hike this week, and she was forgoing the restaurant patios that are a beloved summer tradition in a nation known for hard winters.
“I put my mask away for over a year, and now I’m putting on my mask since yesterday,” Ma lamented.
Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense.
In the U.S., federal officials paused some flights bound Wednesday for New York’s LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark and Philadelphia because smoke was limiting visibility.
Major League Baseball’s Yankees and Phillies had their games postponed. On Broadway, “Hamilton” and “Camelot” canceled Wednesday performances and “Prima Facie” star Jodie Comer left a matinee after 10 minutes because of difficulty breathing. The show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.
It was not to be at Central Park’s outdoor stage, either. Shakespeare in the Park canceled its Thursday and Friday performances of “Hamlet,” saying ’tis not nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of wretched air.
State officials are expressing hope that a trade dispute over Canadian aircraft won’t affect hundreds of people working at the company’s service center in West Virginia.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that about 400 people work at Bombardier’s commercial aircraft service center in Bridgeport. The facility at North Central West Virginia Airport in October picked up 89 jobs from Bombardier’s shuttered maintained operations in Georgia.
But the company is locked in a trade dispute with Chicago-based Boeing, which argues that the price of C Series passenger jets that Bombardier charged to Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines was artificially low. The U.S. Commerce Department sided with Boeing and has proposed stiff duties on Bombardier jets.
“They’ve been a big part of our success and employ a lot of people,” airport director Rick Rock said of Bombardier. “So as far as our airport and the state of West Virginia is concerned, we really appreciate having them here.”
Rock said heavy tariffs would affect aircraft sales and hurt operations at the service center.
“Obviously, if the aircraft they’re selling isn’t marketable because of those tariffs, then there’s certainly going to be a diminished need for repairing aircraft here,” he said.
West Virginia’s congressional delegation has also taken notice. Rep. David McKinley and Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have written a letter urging the federal government to be aware of “the potential for unintended economic consequences presented by this case.”
“We support enforcement of U.S. trade laws to counteract unfair or unlawful activities by foreign interests, but ask that you consider closely the merits of this case along with the broader impacts on U.S. jobs and economic benefits in our communities,” the letter says.
Gov. Jim Justice has voiced similar concerns in his own letter, saying Bombardier’s West Virginia Air Center “anchors an aerospace cluster in North-Central West Virginia, and is a major factor in the region’s economic growth and vitality.”
Bombardier in October announced the sale of the C Series business to European aerospace giant Airbus, which makes planes in Mobile, Alabama. As part of the deal, the C Series headquarters would remain in the Montreal area but a second assembly line for the 100- to 150-seat plane will be set up at Airbus’ facility in Alabama, to circumvent import duties to the United States.
Boeing has called it a questionable deal by two government-subsidized competitors.
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Tyler Childers to The World is a Beautiful Place…, The Sea The Sea to Qiet and beyond. But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with recent Davis & Elkins College graduate Kaia Kater, a singer-songwriter who traveled from Quebec to West Virginia nearly four years ago to learn more about Appalachia‘s old-time music and culture. We sat down with Kaia in our Charleston studios to talk about her musical journey, her love of bluegrass and R&B, and her recent feature from Rolling Stone magazine.
Kaia Kater’s newest release is Nine Pin, now available for purchase, download, and streaming. You can hear more of her music on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVMusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic.
Interview Highlights
On being from Canada:
I’m from Montreal, Quebec. I grew up there for most of my life. Then I spent a little bit of time in Winnipeg, Manitoba. And I’m currently based in Toronto, Ontario.
It’s funny because I had very little appreciation for Canada until I left Canada. And then I was like, “Wow… things are pretty ok in Canada!” And so I think, living home was probably the best thing because now I have more of an appreciation for my country.
On falling in love with old-time music at a young age:
Actually my grandpa is a luthier. He used to build harpsichords and guitars, but he cut some of his thumb off in 2013… he’s ok! [Laughing] But I think that sort of cut his career short, but he was retiring anyway. At family gatherings and Christmases and birthdays, we would always gather around and have a kitchen party where we would play tunes. And it was always really exciting for me because it was the time I could stay up past my bedtime to listen to people sing and play. And sometimes I would just fall asleep listening to people singing. It was just really special for me.
I got into old-time music in a really odd way. My mom fell in love with bluegrass music when I was eight. And she was like, “Ok. We’re going to go to a bluegrass festival now!” So I just got carried along, and registration was free if you were under 11. It was actually Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Oak Hill [in New York], and they ran this Bluegrass Academy for Kids. It’s a really successful program, but at the beginning, it was basically [where] parents could drop off their kids at 9am and pick them up at 3pm and during that time, you would pick either banjo, bass, fiddle or violin. You would bring your own instrument, and all of these kids from 8- to 11-years-of-age would just hang around and learn how to play bluegrass music.
So I tried all of the different instruments. I tried fiddle and bass, and then I settled on the banjo. And I was determined to be a bluegrass banjo player, and somehow old-time swooped in like a hawk and picked me up, so I switched to clawhammer. And I think it’s because a lot of the teachers around me at home were clawhammer players and influenced me that way.
On becoming a professional musician:
You know when you discover your passion is when you trudge through your daily activities and chores and classes, and then at the end of the night, you’re like, “Ok. What do I really want to be doing?” And that was playing music for me.
And I think I was scared because I had seen a lot of musicians around me deal with touring. My mom was the executive director of the Ottowa Folk Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival. So a lot of musicians crashed at our house and hung out, and I think it was a really interesting education for me because I did see the darker side of touring, which is not being able to see your family. And some folks had drinking problems (not anything that was overwhelming, but it was a different way of life). And I think I was apprehensive about that, but there is a way to tour in a healthy way, I think.
Credit Susan Bibeau – Beehive Productions
/
Quebecer singer-songwriter Kaia Kater.
On deciding on West Virginia for old-time music education:
I had been going to a lot of old-time camps. I went to the Swannanoa Gathering outside of Asheville [in North Carolina], which is a little slice of heaven to spend a week to play clawhammer banjo and living in this community who are nerding out as much as you are. [Laughing] Like “I never want to go back to the outside world!” So I went there twice, and it was really my first introduction to the Southern United States because the furthest I had been was New York State.
I had actually wanted to go to Warren Wilson [College in Asheville, North Carolina] for the longest time, which is the location of the Swannanoa Gathering. It’s funny. I remember the exact moment I clicked on their website, wondering what their tuition was. And it was $42,000 a year or something. And I thought, “What?! Is that even possible?” I took a year off of school, and I didn’t expect to be going to school because I didn’t feel like anything interested me enough and the programs that did interest me, I couldn’t really afford. And I was ok with that. I just played a lot of music out in Montreal.
I casually applied to the Augusta Heritage Center, which is where Davis & Elkins College is. And I got this Facebook message from this guy named Jerry Milnes, who’s quite well-known. At first I thought it was spam. “Who is this person contacting me, offering me free college tuition to go to a school in Appalachia. Are they messing with me? Do they know my deepest dream somehow? [Laughing] Luckily I read through the whole thing, and I called him. My family and I went down exactly four years ago, we checked it out, and I loved it, and they offered me a financial package that made it so that I wouldn’t have to pay $42,000 a year. And the rest is history.
On the meaning behind Nine Pin, her latest release:
It’s named after a particular square dance formation where you have eight people (four couples) and in the middle you have one person, which what makes it a nine pin, and you dance around it. To me, it’s one of the most fun because everybody swings, and then everyone holds hands and dances around the nine pin, and then the caller says something like, “Break,” and basically the nine pin has to try and find a partner. And whoever doesn’t find a partner becomes the new nine pin. So it’s almost like musical chairs.
I started doing a lot more songwriting in my junior year of college, and I was thinking a lot about those formations and the deeper symbolism of being one person surrounded by a lot of people swirling around you (in both good and bad ways).
On her last four years at Davis & Elkins’ Augusta Heritage Center:
In many ways, it was a really beautiful experience. I was not even from this country, and I had so many people offer to have me over to their house for dinner. I don’t have a car, so I had a lot of people say, “Do you need me to take you to Kroger or Wal-Mart?” So I was met with a lot of warmth, and I think that made all the difference for me because there’s a certain amount of challenge moving to a new place and a new school.
There was a certain amount of what I call “ugly face crying,” which is when you cry so hard, your entire face turns red from sobbing and your snotting over yourself. So there was a fair amount of that from the experience of doing that for the first time. But at the end of the day, I settled into a routine, as you do. At the end of the four years, I wouldn’t be the same artist, I wouldn’t release the same music if I hadn’t spent these last four years here because I knew old-time music, and I was good at playing tunes, but I don’t think I understood the communities behind the music or the stories behind the music. And that takes time. That just takes time.
My publicist Devon Leger told me, “Listen I pitched your album [Nine Pin] to Rolling Stone, but I don’t know if they’re going to pick it up because they must have people flinging albums at them left and right.” [Laughing] And then all of a sudden, I get this frantic message from him and he’s like, “I need you to answer these four questions… it’s for a certain journalist.” I was like, “Ok…” So I answer them, sent them back. And he said, “That was for Rolling Stone!”
Credit Polina Mourzina
/
Last May, Kaia Kater was listed as one of the best new artists to watch by Rolling Stone magazine.
So we knew they were going to say something about it, but we didn’t know that they would have such kind words about it. I felt totally honored and excited that more people would be hearing the album.
I almost peed my pants when they said I sounded like Gillian Welch. [Laughing] I was like, “Really? She’s my idol!” If I could have a shrine to Gillian Welch in my house, I probably would.
On advice to folks looking to pursue old-time music in West Virginia:
Go for it. Literally nothing bad can come of it. Classical music, you just have to sit in a room and practice and do scales and scales and scales. But with old-time music, you just find someone, play banjo and fiddle tunes for an hour, and you’ve gotten better at your instrument and having fun at the same time.
