Formerly the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment. Great Horned Owl © Estate of Roger Tory Peterson. All rights reserved. The Center uses research, advocacy, and litigation to 1) protect Appalachian communities and the natural environment that supports them by enforcing and strengthening state and federal environmental laws and by forcing the region's extractive and polluting industries to pay the true costs of doing business; and 2) revitalize Appalachian communities by helping to develop and implement an environmentally sustainable and equitable economic policy for the region.