For those of  you who have been trying to follow the twists and turns of the saga that has been the rule making of the changes to the Stream Buffer Zone rule, the good news is that so far the Bush administration has not changed the rule. As you will remember in the earlier blog post  there was an informal commenting period on the proposed new rule change up until November 23. Apparently part of the hold up is that the EPA needs to sign off on the proposed rule change and so far they have not made that move.

The thinking early on was that the rule change needed to be adopted 60 days before the next administration takes over, however after further research we now believe that since the rule change will likely cost less than 100 million dollars a year to implement then the rule only needs to be approved 30 days before the next administration takes over.

If you are trying to follow this issue there was a good article written in the Washington Post today that helps to diagram the situation for all of the new rule changes, not simply the Stream Buffer Zone rule change.

We are all paying close attention to see what actions the Bush administration will take in these final days.

The Kentucky State Office of Administrative Hearings yesterday sided with Sierra Club and state regulators in rejecting a coal plant proposed by Kentucky Mountain Power (KMP). KMP was attempting to build a coal plant in Knott County, Kentucky with an outdated and expired permit that failed to require modern pollution controls. The ruling affirms a similar, earlier decision by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.
 
“This is a victory for clean air and clean energy,” said Wallace McMullen, Energy Chair of the Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter.  “We can all breathe a little easier and get to work building the clean energy future that will put us on the path to a good economy in the 21st century.”
 
Studies done in other parts of Kentucky show that a combination of energy efficiency and clean energy could meet customers’ energy needs at half the cost of a new coal plant. Investing in these clean solutions can also create jobs, boost the economy, and provide energy security for future generations.  

“American ingenuity has developed clean and affordable ways to power our homes and our economy,” said Leslie Barras of the Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter . “It’s time we start working to repower, refuel, and rebuild America right here in Kentucky. This decision is a step in the right direction.”    

The ruling comes on the heels of three other coal plant proposals that have been turned back within the last month, including plants in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Utah.  Nationally, over 70 proposed coal plants have been defeated or abandoned, and more than sixty projects are currently being opposed by Sierra Club and its allies.

*Taken from a Sierra Club press release today – KFTC is working closely with Sierra Club in Clarke County to stop two proposed coal-fire power plants from being built by Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC).

There will be another election in Georgia in just seven days (Tuesday, December 2nd) including the key US Senate race between Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D).  The vote was so close on November 4th that no candidate received the necessary 50% of the vote to win outright (there was a third candidate) and Georgia election law stipulates that in this case, a runoff election decides the outcome.

Although KFTC rarely has the opportunity to mobilize our members to vote outside of our state, this special timing gives us the opportunity to mobilize our 50 KFTC members who currently live in Georgia to vote and to otherwise do some small part to encourage a larger turnout in the election.

If you know anyone in Georgia, please take a moment to call them and remind them to vote on December 2nd.  Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

People unsure of their voting locations can find them on Georgia's Secretary of State page Here and can find advance voting locations Here. 

Here are some pictures from last night's Madison County Chapter meeting in Berea.  Twenty KFTC members gathered to discuss economic justice work, landlord-tenet relations, lobbying in Frankfort in the coming year, the tail end of our the fall fundraising campaign, and more. 

                     

Long waits, lost wages a new poll tax
From yeterday's Lexington Herald-Leader
By Ron Formisano

If your feet still ache from standing in line for three hours to vote, now might be the time to contact your state representative or County Clerk Don Blevins. But do not expect much help from Blevins, whose recent comments and inaction in office suggest he is not interested in making voting easier in Fayette County.

The problem is not just Fayette's, however, since Kentucky is among the worst states in allowing its citizens access to the polls. Kentucky is one of only three states to close its polls early, at 6 p.m., but one of those is Indiana, where Election Day is a holiday. Twenty states keep polls open until 8 p.m. and most of them allow 13 hours rather than 12 for voting.

But many states do not yet provide adequate facilities for voters. In some states across the nation waits to vote reached six hours and more. This is a national scandal, but it just happens to be worse in Kentucky because this state is among those making it more difficult for citizens to vote...

Click here for the complete Herald-Leader Op-ed

Check out the article here in the Williamson Daily News

Here are some quotes from the article:

This first quote reminds me of the 2007 hearing in Frankfort about Global Warming Chaired by Representative Gooch.

“How many times have the people in this room heard, at the US Chamber of Commerce or at the National Mining Asso-ciation, ‘I don’t believe in climate change, but I’m afraid to say that because it is a political reality.’ The greeniacs are taking over the world.

“Jimmy Carter understood that there was a risk if we increased our dependence on foreign oil,” Blankenship said. “But did it not sound similar to Obama? Turn down your thermostats? Buy a smaller car? Conserve? I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia and China, and that’s the first stage. You go from having your own car to carpooling to riding the bus to mass transit. You eventually get to where you’re walking. You go from your own apartment and bathroom to sharing kitchens with four families. That’s what socialism and the elimination of capitalism and free enterprise is all about.”

“It is as great a pleasure for me to be criticized by the communists and the atheists of the Charleston Gazette as to be applauded by my best friends,” he said. “Because I know they are wrong. People are cowering away from being criticized by people that are our enemies. Would we be upset if Osama Bin Laden was critical of us?” he asked.

 

If anyone feels moved by Mr. Blankenship's comments you could always send him an email with your thoughts. I'm not certain, but I believe his email address is Don.blankenship@masseyenergyco.com, I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

“As the current financial crisis unfolds, governments around the world are seeking to protect their citizens and their economies. According to a report issued by the McKinsey Global Institute Oct. 30, "Fueling Sustainable Development: The Energy Productivity Solution," our situation could lead both governments and corporations to invest more in saving energy.

We should not sit back and watch while others take the initiative. Kentucky needs an economic stimulus plan of its own, one that will not just help us get through these hard times, but will also help establish the basis for a new and brighter future.

Can we afford to think about the future now? Yes, we can and we must. Before you say, "We can't afford it," hold on. The current situation is certainly complicated. However, some things are clear.

One clear fact is that many of us are still very wasteful in our use of energy. Putting compact fluorescent bulbs in your most frequently used lighting fixtures will save energy and pay for itself within a matter of months. But turning off lights you are not using, turning down the heat when you leave home, and driving less will save you money today. Companies and governments can do similar things. It's time to look again at our habits. In many cases, we need to think about them for the first time.

But housing insulation, solar hot water heaters and many other things that could help save money and avoid the large increases in electric and gas rates do cost money.

Peter Meyer of the University of Louisville Center for Environmental Policy and Management, shows in his study, "Protecting Kentuckians' Economic Well-Being in the Face of Energy Cost Increases," that the state must play a key roll in helping citizens and companies protect themselves against the rising cost of coal-based electricity and other fossil fuels.

It is true that many Kentuckians cannot afford to pay to have their houses or mobile homes adequately insulated. It is true that many renters are not in a position to insulate their rooms beyond putting plastic sheeting over the windows. All of this was true three months ago, long before the current financial crisis began, and without action it will be true after the current crisis has passed.

If there were a way to help people get the insulation, the solar water heaters, thermal heat pumps and compact fluorescent bulbs they need to help themselves save money, if there were a way to do this now and create new jobs even in the midst of our economic difficulties, it would help countless individuals and families and boost the economy. We would also be starting to deal with the real and on-going threat of global warming (or "global weirding," as Thomas Friedman calls it in his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded).

According to Meyer, we can do this. Here's the key: Good energy efficiency projects pay for themselves (and more) in energy savings. As Meyer says:

"Such a program could easily be financed by state bonds, with the debt service from the very first year financed 100 percent from the savings in energy costs. The faster the energy costs rose, the greater the payoff to Kentuckians as homeowners and taxpayers over time."

It is logical for the state to finance energy efficiency programs in this manner, and Meyer shows in detail how state government could have a real impact in saving its citizens and companies' money while helping to create jobs. He shows as well how the legislature could tweak House Bill 2, passed last spring, to make the funds allocated there go much farther.

But help does not have to all come from Frankfort. Some electric and gas companies have programs that pay for the cost of getting a customer's house adequately insulated, or for the cost of purchasing and installing a solar water heater, and get back their cost plus a profit by splitting the energy savings created over time with their customer. That way, everyone wins. And so does the environment, because energy efficiency means less coal burned and, therefore, lower levels of greenhouse gases emitted.

Now is the time to be as smart as we can be about dealing with the problems of our present in ways that also increase the stability and attractiveness of our future.”

This entry was posted by Madison County Chapter co-chair and Berea College student Beth Bissmeyer and written with Floyd County native and Berea College student Nathan Hall.

With the December 1^st hearing date for the Wilson Creek Lands Unsuitable for Mining petition just weeks away, efforts to organize and build awareness around this issue are growing. Nathan Hall, a Floyd County native currently enrolled at Berea College, organized an opportunity for fellow students to sign KFTC’s online petition in support of the Lands Unsuitable petition as a joint effort with student-group Bereans For Appalachia. Nathan and other students tabled in the Campus Post Office during the lunch hour on Friday, when the building gets the most traffic. At the table, students could also learn general information about Mountaintop Removal mining and the situation on Wilson Creek through KFTC materials and the website.

Later that evening, Berea College was host to the premiere of the new documentary Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People which provides a 500 million year history of the region and will air as a four-part series on PBS in April. Nathan set up a similar table for the filmgoers to sign onto the petition and learn about the background of the issue. All in all, more than two dozen people signed onto the petition, and many more assured Nathan that they had received one of the campus-wide emails he had organized and that they either had signed the petition already or would sign it very shortly from their own computers.

Bereans For Appalachia (BFA) is also organizing another tabling event on the day of the hearing. Several members have also expressed interest in going to the Lands Unsuitable hearing to show their support for the Wilson Creek community fighting to protect their community. Saxon Brown, a Berea College freshman and BFA member from Missouri, is one of a handful of students who has recently become aware of the issue and is now planning to travel to Floyd County for the hearing—and she’s bringing her mom before she heads back to Missouri!

While the ultimate decision to be made by the Kentucky Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will not be known for some time, they will undoubtedly know that there is widespread support for this community’s right to determine their own future that is free of destructive surface mining.

If you haven't already done so, please sign onto our letter of comment to the Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition!

A group of students, mostly from UK and including 15-20 KFTC members took part in a national organizing training called Campus Camp Wellstone this weekend. 

"I think it gave me great strategic tools. I also think it helped me understand grassroots organizing from a 'macro' view and see ALL the methods a group like KFTC should use, and in KFTC's case, uses. I felt more educated about the inner workings of grassroots organizing. It also made me examine what kind of leader I am and want to be. Also, from a UK campus standpoint, it was a great networking opportunity to build the relationships that help build a sustainable progressive coalition with allied organizations. As a matter of fact, during one of the exercises, I was able to work with a leader from Greenthumb and WRFL on strategies in an enviromental campaign on UK's campus."

                                                             - Danny Cotton

We'll get more of a report-back from them later, but for now, here are some pictures. 

The Kentucky Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons bill (know in past years as House Bill 70) was prefiled a few days ago, by Representative Jesse Crenshaw in preparation for our lobbying efforts in Frankfort early in the coming year. 

Known temporarily as "BR 289," bill supporters hope it again retains it's number (HB 70) from previous General Assemblies so we can more easily pick up where we left off. 

BR 289 - Representative Jesse Crenshaw (11/20/08)

AN ACT proposing an amendment to Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to persons entitled to vote.
Propose to amend Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky to exclude a convicted felon from the right to vote only until expiration of probation, final discharge from parole, or maximum expiration of sentence; submit to the voters for ratification or rejection.

 
AN ACT proposing an amendment to Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to persons entitled to vote.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

Section 1.     It is proposed that Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky be amended to read as follows:

  Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which he offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a voter in said precinct and not elsewhere but the following persons are excepted and shall not have the right to vote.

      1.  Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or any felony which includes as an element of the offense the intentional killing of a human being not done under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there exists a reasonable explanation or excuse, sexual contact with a minor, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse, or bribery in an election, or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon. Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of any other felony shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage until expiration of probation or final discharge from parole or maximum expiration of sentence, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights earlier by executive pardon.

(...)

Section 2.   This amendment shall be submitted to the voters of the Commonwealth for their ratification or rejection at the time and in the manner provided for under Sections 256 and 257 of the Constitution and under KRS 118.415