Here is letter to the editor by a KFTC member that was published in today's Lexington Herald-Leader.

Coal bad for future 

Thanks to the Herald-Leader for its Aug. 29 "Brave dissent" editorial honoring the 11 legislators who voted against the Peabody Energy deal. It soothed me to know that at least some lawmakers can resist corporate seduction.

Maybe House Speaker Jody Richards, whose commentary dominated the oped page that day, doesn't understand that coal will never provide clean energy. The environmental horror perpetrated on the land by mining, especially mountaintop-removal mining, virtually negates this possibility even if we do eventually master large-scale carbon dioxide sequestration technology, a questionable proposition at best.

Clever strategists affixed authentic green-energy policy issues to the slimy deal, increasing its appeal. It oozed rapidly through, and legislators applauded themselves. How unwise to hold hostage real and necessary proposals to shady deals.

Richards certainly is working diligently to keep us a "coal dependent region." He uses the word hallowed in reference to the planet, but it appears that he and his cohorts do not find sacred the preservation of our environment or our communities.

Their most hallowed task is to please corporate coal. For this, they're willing to lay out big money and jeopardize our future.

Thanks again to the 11 who stood tall. Shame upon the rest of them.

Suzanne Dansereau
Manchester

(link)

We've pulled together a fact sheet on the  proposed stream buffer zone rule change that you can download.  It includes information about the issue and action steps you can take to help fight it.  Click here to download it. 

Listen to the podcast here.

The most recent podcast on the Community Correspondents Corps blog discusses the recent nationwide poll on mountaintop removal mining released by the Civil Society Institute in response to the stream buffer zone rule change.  It is an informative piece and it is definitely worth checking out. 

If, after listening to it you feel compelled to act, please take a moment to visit 700mountains.org and send a message to the Office of Surface Mining opposing this loosening of restrictions on mining.

Last month, during the KY General Assembly's special session to pass subsidies for energy companies looking to build coal conversion plants in KY, KFTC members Carl Shoupe, Truman Hurt, and Teri Blanton gave some incredible testimony about life in the coal fields and how the increased mining promised by this bill would be devastating to the people and communities of Eastern Kentucky.

The first video is of Carl and Truman:

This is a video of Teri's testimony:

(The video we received from the LRC cuts off during questioning, so some of the question/answer portion is missing)

Earlier today, an estimated 1,000 people gathered in Louisville from all across the state in celebration of Recovery - Recovery from addiction in their lives that takes many forms for different people.  The event was co-sponsored by People Advocating Recovery (PAR), and Addiction Recovery Advocates of Kentuckiana. 

"It's a miracle... to see so many people with light in their eyes and hope in their hearts here today. It makes a big difference," said Mitch Ford, a PAR and KFTC member from Louisville and former felon spokesperson. 

"This is awesome turnout," added event organizer and PAR president Mike Barry.  "Great turnout of people in recovery, family and friends. Every year, we get a little bigger and stronger - and we're talking about a lot of important issues in addition to recovery like Health Care and Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons."

One of the most powerful things about the gathering was hearing so many personal stories of substance abuse and recovery - so many people who have managed to turn their lives around and want to help others do the same. 

To the end of raising awareness of Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons amongst this key constituency, KFTC members from the Central KY Chapter traveled to Louisville for the Recovery Rally to set up an information table about the issue.  They managed to get over 250 people to sign postcards to David Williams, encouraging him to support restoration.  We also registered voters, recruited a handful of new members, and invited people to come to the next Jefferson County KFTC meeting at our new office.

Of particular note amongst the many speakers at the event was Republican Senate Leader Dan Kelly who spoke of the importance of recovery, but did not mention voting rights.

"Of all of the punishments I received, losing the right to vote is by far the most difficult for me," said Betsy West, another PAR and KFTC Member.  "I deserved a lot of my punishment, but not this.  Especially as a woman, I treasure my political rights and I truly wish I could vote today.  I keep a stack of voter registration cards in my car and drive people to the polls on Election Day.  If I can't vote, I can still help those who can."

"I think all people should have the right to vote, no matter what their troubles in the past," added Mitch Ford.  "At least give them the chance to do the right thing."

"It's been a beautiful day to celebrate a beautiful thing - recovery," said Charlotte Wethingston, summing up the day. " It's important to put this positive face and voice on recovery.  It's a real demonstration of hope and it's a great thing to be a part of."

Check back to this website in a few days to learn about a similar Recovery Rally in Northern Kentucky next weekend that we hope will go just as well as this one. 

A big thank-you to the organizers of this event - People Advocating Recovery and Addiction Recovery Advocates of Kentuckiana.

With a folksy charisma and a deep connection to nature, the land and rural culture not unfamiliar to KFTC members, "Walkin" Jim Stoltz will tell you about the time that he and a friend were charged by a Caribou... or when  he watched a  Grizzly Bear take a lazy mud bath on a hot day.  These stories are a window into Jim's mind and values, showing the connections between man and nature, and as Jim says, so many of us have similar stories of wonder that connect us to nature and to each other. 

Jim has been touring with his folk style, multimedia show, Forever Wild, since 1986. The show combines his live music and poetry with beautiful slides taken on his long wilderness treks, weaving and fading into each other in a powerful dance of images.

Walkin Jim made a trip to Lexington, Kentucky today to perform at a show sponsored by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Mountain Justice Summer, the Sierra Club, UK Greenthumb, and Kentucky Heartwood.

Jim's outlook on the world is through a positive and hopeful frame, emphasizing the good in the world that's worth saving.  He also places a strong emphasis on the power of people coming together and finding their voices and contacting their legislators to make an impact on things they care about. 

"I'm so glad that we as a people have recognized the need to preserve so many creatures and species by passing laws like the Endangered Species Act," said Stoltz, "...which is why we still have wonders in this world like  Grizzly bears, Condors, and Bald Eagles.  Sometimes, it seems so abstract to win legislation that protects the environment, but the results are so real generations later... it's really worth every bit of the effort."

"But now," Stoltz continues "the Endangered Species Act is itself endangered."

Stoltz went on to encourage everyone to write letters to their Senators about protecting endangered species, water quality, and fighting Mountaintop Removal Mining.  If you'd like to participate, below is contact information for Kentucky's two senators.

 
Senator Mitch McConnell
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1702

Senator Jim Bunning
316 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1703

 For more information about Walkin Jim Stoltz, visit his website.

Dana Beasley Brown

Earlier this year our ally and partner in the Kentucky Economic Justice Alliance (KEJA), Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) published a report entitled "The High Cost of Being Poor in Kentucky" which outlined all the ways poor people in Kentucky end up paying more than wealthier people for essential goods and services in their daily lives.  Out of this a number of working groups were formed of community members to try to come up with policy options to solve these problems. 

KFTC member, Dana Beasley Brown, participated in one of these working groups and was interviewed yesterday by WTVQ about the difficulties faced by low-income people in Kentucky.  She does a great job and represents KFTC really well.  You can watch the piece online here.

A significant majority of people in the United States oppose mountaintop removal, especially when environmental safeguards are rolled back, a new national survey revealed.

Released September 13 by the Civil Society Institute, the poll found that 88 percent of respondents believe that the U.S. "should first make sure that coal mines and coal mining practices are safe for miners, nearby communities and the environment" before new mining takes place.

Only 26 percent said they support the practice of mountaintop removal. However, after learning that mountaintop removal could result in the leveling of 700 additional mountains in the next decade, half of these people (45 percent) withdrew their support.

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) opposed the Bush administration plan "to ease environmental regulations to permit wider use of mountaintop removal."

In addition, the respondents overwhelmingly (77 percent) support policies that focus first on energy conservation to reduce energy waste before resorting to more mountaintop removal coal mining.

The poll was based on interviews with 1,001 adults living in the continental U.S. between August 30 and September 2. It was conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation.

The poll results were released during a national tele-press conference. Detailed poll results and a replay of the press conference can be found on the web at www.700Mountains.org (the replay is available after 6 p.m. EDT on September 13).

You can also send comments from this site to members of Congress and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining concerning the Bush administration's proposal to weaken stream protections.

The Jefferson County Chapter is doing a lot of celebrating.

For starters, KFTC has a new office in Louisville after the old one, on Oak Street, became too small to accommodate the needs of the local chapter and statewide activities based there.

After scouring Louisville’s centrally located neighborhoods, staff and members found the new home in the Butchertown area, just east of downtown. The office, on the corner of Campbell and Franklin Streets and just two blocks north of Main Street, is a beautiful storefront space that was once a corner bar and most recently an apartment.

The office will be the base for organizer Jessica George, communications director Jerry Hardt, new intern Colette Henderson and three temporary electoral workers (more reasons to celebrate).

It will also be the location for the monthly chapter meetings every second Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Chapter members are encouraged to stop by and check out the new space.

The relocation to the Butchertown area will be celebrated by the neighborhood on the afternoon of October 20, from 12 to 4 p.m. when the Butchertown residents and allies will sponsor a block party for KFTC.

The chapter is on track to get a permit to block the street, have local artists vend their art, have farmers sell some produce, have some local bluegrass music and have food prepared by the chefs at the Salvation Army.

Members of the neighborhood association also volunteered to send out a KFTC membership appeal to the entire neighborhood and do some turnout for the open house. They were also interested in attending our chapter meetings.

At a meeting of the association, Emily Boone praised KFTC for being "the only ones in Frankfort with a spine."

For more information, to express interest in being involved in the planning of the Jefferson County Open House or to get better directions to the new office, please contact Jessica George at 502-500-8082 or jessica@kftc.org.

The new address is:

KFTC
901 Franklin Street
Louisville, Ky. 40206
502-589-3188
502-587-0054 (fax)

Environmentalists have mobilized opposition to the University of Kentucky's plan to commercially log up to 1,000 acres of a nearly 15,000-acre research forest it owns in Eastern Kentucky.

At least four environmental groups have started lobbying trustees and UK President Lee Todd to reconsider the plan, which the board of trustees approved in 2004.

Kentucky poet Wendell Berry and Tracy Farmer, a philanthropist, horse breeder and banker, have joined the fight, which has intensified in its urgency since the school announced logging could begin within 12 months at the site north of Hazard

You can read the complete story here.