 Ayers, seeing "a need for an advocacy organization that could focus exclusively on local issues related to Appalachia," officially founded Appalachian Voices as a 501(c)3 organization in July 1997.In 2007, Appalachian Voices joined with four regional organizations in Virginia to fight construction of a 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant that the state’s largest utility was seeking to build in Wise County, Virginia.Along with Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and the Southern Environmental Law Center, the groups formed the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition to oppose the plant.