Last week, we had a strong voting rights presentation at the UK Law School with over 80 students coming out to participate. Tayna Fogle and Tyler Birdwhistle spoke to the crowd who asked great questions and were very supportive.  We were also sure to let everyone there know how to use the legislative message hotline and to otherwise support HB 70. 

Tyler, John Ghaelian and others at this meeting are now circulating a petition to UK Law students in favor of restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.  They're planning on delivering the petitions to key Kentucky senators in the coming weeks.

The Northern KY KFTC group had it's second meeting last week, and got a good start on planning local actions. 

The group broke into functional issue workteams focusing on tax justice, voting rights, and mining issues, planning local events including a letter-writing day and a Budget Bake Sale on NKU's campus. 

Since the meeting, the group held its first fundraiser at Joe Gallenstein's home - a Euchre for Justice tournament.  That same day, they held their first Chapter Development Workteam meeting to plan out next month's big meeting and to better spread out leadership roles in the organization.

Nine KFTC members sat in a semicircle with a four-foot scroll in front of them. They had come to Frankfort Thursday to declare the need for real political leadership.

One by one, they read paragraphs from “The Unified Declaration of Members in Good Standing of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.” Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, the statement included the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident …” and went on to state:

We believe that embedded within these rights that have defined our nation are additional rights to be respected and preserved, that among these are the right to breathe clean air and drink safe water, the opportunity of a basic education for our children and safe employment. We believe everyone should enjoy the opportunity to worship freely and the right to speak openly without fearing for their jobs or attack from their neighbor.

The Declaration included specific grievances about the legislature’s dominance by the coal industry and its eagerness to please powerful energy interests while ignoring the needs of its constituents. Members called on Governor Steve Beshear and House leaders Greg Stumbo and Rocky Adkins to:

• Invite a genuine, open conversation among all stakeholders leading to a new vision and ideas for a more prosperous, healthy and sustainable economy in Kentucky, and especially in our Appalachian counties.
• Call for an immediate end to extreme and sometimes violent speech that is being aimed at citizens who are working to protect Kentucky’s land, air and water.
• Oppose legislation that puts the interest of the coal industry ahead of the public interest.
• And vigorously support clean energy legislation and the Stream Saver Bill.

Members also asked that a new chair and members of the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee, who are not among the legislature’s strongest pro-coal and anti-environment members, be appointed.

“It is not an accident that the committee has a preponderance of coal interests on it,” said Doug Doerrfeld. “All that we are asking is that they be representative of all the people.”

In written documentation of the grievances, they cited a remark by committee vice-chair Rep. Keith Hall, sponsor of numerous pro-coal/anti-people bills, regarding his appointment by House leaders as co-chair of an interim energy committee: “I don’t think I got that position by accident.”

Kentucky author Wendell Berry and retired miner Carl Shoupe

Following the reading, members answered questions from the press. That included explaining the difference between supporting coal miners and supporting the coal industry. They provided oral and written examples of how miners are disrespected and harassed, by legislators and the industry, just as those fighting against mountaintop removal are.

KFTC and people in eastern Kentucky are not supporting “coal, the industry, but coal, the worker, which is different than supporting everything the industry perpetuates on a community,” explained Beverly May.

Asked about electing better leaders, Patty Wallace replied: “We’d love to send somebody else, but our hands are tied by the coal industry.”

Member Carl Shoupe agreed. “Coal has such a stranglehold in Eastern Kentucky. People dislike mountaintop removal. People dislike strip mining.”  But he explained that almost no family in his community is not tied to coal in some way, through a direct or indirect job of family member – and they feel that threat.

While the Kentucky legislature has generally ignored the economic and environmental consequences of coal, it did get a few minutes today to consider the effects on human health when the House Committee on Health and Welfare gave KFTC 20 minutes on its agenda.

Our three panelists made those 20 minutes count, focusing on the dangers not only to coal miners but to the health of whole communities in the coalfields.

KFTC member Beverly May, a nurse practitioner who works in Perry County, said she sees miners who have contracted lung diseases from exposure to coal dust and silica dust. “At home in Floyd County, I have friends in Hueysville, David and Allen that are plagued by dust from both nearby strip mines and from coal trucks passing by their homes. This is the same sandstone dust which causes silicosis in the workers, so I have to wonder, what does it do to children with asthma or elders or anyone who breathes it every day?”

She described the headwaters of Raccoon Creek, which are now polluted from nearby mining. “So I have to wonder, is the public water supply safe?”

Beverly May

Dr. Michael Hendryx

“The coal industry isn’t answering these questions because they don’t have to,” said May. “This body and the federal government have not held them fully accountable.”

Dr. Michael Hendryx, director of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center and an associate professor at West Virginia University, said his research has revealed higher rates of chronic heart, chronic lung and renal failure mortality rates in coal-producing areas than in the rest of Appalachia or the nation, even after the rates have been adjusted for other factors such as smoking, age and education.

“We have some evidence that the effects become stronger as the level of mining increases,” Dr. Hendryx said. He attributed this to “significant impairment of air and water quality near mines.”  He also noted that poverty and economic disadvantage are major predictors of public health and that mining areas have the highest poverty rates.

A couple of Dr. Hendryx's reports can be found here and here.

Nancy Reinhart read a statement from Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Among other findings, Epstein stated that 19 of the known chemicals used and generated in processing coal are known cancer-causing agents, 24 are linked to lung and heart damage, and several remain untested as to their health effects.

The oral testimony was supplemented with dozens of pages of documentation and medical research given to committee members.

Bill Bissett, president of Kentucky Coal Association, asked to rebut and was given a couple of minutes. He did not say burning coal or dumping toxic mining wastes in streams improved anyone’s health or offer any refuting evidence, but did say the coal industry offers some scholarships to eastern Kentucky students to go to medical school.

Here's a video of the 21-minute hearing.

Hay bales were placed in the creek to help "clean" it

This morning KFTC member Mickey McCoy, a resident of Martin County, discovered that a stream near his home, the Coldwater Fork, was running gray and black from a slurry spill at a coal processing facility owned by Massey Energy.  These types of spills threaten the health of nearby residents and wildlife populations and are all too frequently a fact of life for people who live downstream from slurry impoundments.

After investigating the spill for himself, Mickey spoke with an Appalshop filmmaker on the phone about the spill.  You can listen to an edited version of their conversation here.

This spill is nowhere near the scale of the Martin Co. coal sludge flood of 2000, but it is a continuation of an ongoing pattern of clean water violations by Massey Energy despite Massey's $20 million settlement with the EPA for Clean Water Act violations two years ago.  Ken Ward Jr. reported last month on his blog, the Coal Tatoo:

Between April 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, Massey violated its effluent limits at its various operations at least 971 times, and accrued 12,977 days of violation during that 12-month period. The U.S. government’s lawsuit against Massey, which resulted in the $20 million settlement, alleged more than 60,000 days of violations over a six-year period, or about 10,000 days of violations per year.

What is it going to take to get Massey to obey the law?  Why are they allowed to continue operating when they show a consistent disregard for the health and safety of the communities they reside in?

KFTC members have joined other rural electric co-op customers across the state in signing a letter to the Inspector General of the USDA questioning approval of risky financing for the proposed Smith power plant in Clark County.

The letter was submitted today, and KFTC members Steve Wilkins and Barb Bailey spoke to the media on a telephone conference this morning.

The Rural Utility Service, an arm of the USDA, normally provides loans to electric co-ops, but in 2008 the RUS put a moratorium on loans for financially risky coal and nuclear plants. To go ahead with the Smith plant construction, East Kentucky Power Cooperative needed approval from the RUS to seek $921 million from Wall Street banks.

Not only did RUS grant this permission but it also said EKPC could pay back its private loans before paying the billions it already owes the federal government. That means if EKPC defaults on its loans or goes belly-up, ratepayers will foot the bill.

From the letter:

The decision to proceed with financing and building this unnecessary coal plant will force EKPC to seek approval for electric rate increases at a time when many Kentucky families and businesses are already struggling to pay utility bills. This could eventually lead EKPC, which is already financially unstable, to default on its debt obligations. By subordinating its existing mortgage to other financial interests, RUS is placing in jeopardy the billions of taxpayer dollars it has loaned or provided loan guarantees to EKPC, and effectively guaranteeing that our electric rates will substantially increase.

On the press call today, KFTC member Barb Bailey questioned why EKPC needs a new coal-burning plant, when it hasn’t shown a real need and when renewable energy sources are less risky, cheaper and readily available.

“The fact that EKPC doesn’t even really need this plant, and their finances are so shaky – those should have been a deal-breaker for the RUS,” Bailey said. “EKPC could meet their energy needs at a lower cost with energy saving programs and renewable energy.”

To learn more about the entire EKPC campaign, click here.

Momentum is on our side!  We've convinced a lot of key senators to support our Voting Rights bill in the last few days, in part because of your calls and other actions.

Our ally organizations across the state are all encouraging their members to call in today, so we're hoping to generate a thousand or more calls!  Even if you've called before, please call again today. 


Take Action:

Take just three minutes to continue the push to restore voting rights for 186,000 former felons in Kentucky once they've served their debt to society.

Call the Legislative Message Line (1-800-372-7181) as soon as you can, and ask to leave a message for "Senate Leadership, Senate State and Local Government Committee," and your own Senator.

The line is open until 11pm.

Message: "Please vote yes on House Bill 70."


PS - KFTC and our voting rights allies will be hosting a Voting Rights Rally and Lobby Day on March 4th.  We hope you can join us

We also have a great Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest in Louisville this weekend.

The Louisville Courier Journal has a stunning story by James Carroll today detailing how the coal industry in Kentucky and around the country appears to be systematically challenging federal safety violations in order to avoid or delay paying fines for serious violations.

A hearing will be held today in the US House Education and Labor Committee, whose chairman Rep. George Miller was quoted in the article saying, "These appeals are clogging the system and putting miners in danger."

According to the article:

In Kentucky, 80 percent of 536 high-dollar fines for the “significant and substantial” safety violations — the most serious kind — are being contested by the mine operators, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration records.

The story goes on to point out that mining companies aren't just challenging the most serious cases, but are appealing less serious citations, and they are challenging repeated violations for the same offense at the same mine. While coal operators are supposed to correct violations as soon as they receive a citation, they can avoid paying financial penalties until challenges are resolved. 

The problem has grown much worse in recent years. According to the story, the industry appealed an average of 2,307 cases per year between 2000 and 2005. That number quadrupled to 9,230 last year, contributing to an agency backlog of more than 15,000 unsettled cases.

The spike in challenges to mine safety violations apparently began under the previous administration. The Courier-Journal story quotes from a letter written by Solicitor of Labor under President George Bush, Gregory Jacob, to the National Mining Association in June of 2008. He stated that there is “a concerted effort to impede the statutory enforcement and penalty assessment process.”

The entire article is recommended reading.

by Beth Bissmeyer

Louisville has always been home. I've lived in the South-end of town, in the same neighborhood, all my life, and I've always felt a sense of pride to be living in this city, but I didn't feel truly engaged in a local community until I left Louisville to attend college in Berea. During my time at Berea, I became involved with the local chapter of KFTC and learned how important it is to of in local government by going to City Council meetings and working on local energy and utilities issues. Now that I'm back in Louisville, back in my old neighborhood, I'm working on being an active contributing member of this big-city community, and attending events like the People's Forum is a big part of that.

Organized by ten social-justice groups, the People's Forum, held February 2^nd, provided a space for Louisville's mayoral candidates to speak to the issues community members care about. All mayoral candidates were invited, and nine of the eleven running--Tyler Allen, Burrel Charles Farnsley, Greg Fischer, Jackie Green, Jim King, Connie Marshall, Lisa Moxley, David Tandy and Shannon White--participated in front of a crowd of about 150 community members. The Jefferson County Chapter of KFTC, ACLU of Kentucky, Community Farm Alliance, Fairness Campaign, Hispanic/Latino Coalition, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Kentucky Jobs With Justice, Making Connections, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, and Women in Transition organized the forum and asked questions of the candidates on topics that aren't often considered in such a public space including high energy costs for low-income families, police brutality, local foods, and domestic partner benefits.

George Eklund, a Jefferson County KFTC member, said of the forum, “It was good to bring different social justice issues up in a campaign that will be dominated by economic issues, and it was a good way to show candidates that progressives do exist in the city.”

While some of the candidates' answers were good, I didn't hear everything I would've liked to, but that gives me further reason to stay connected and in the loop about what local candidates are saying and doing. With current Mayor Jerry Abramson not seeking re-election, this is the first time in years that there has been a real opportunity for new leadership in Louisville. Abramson, who many jokingly refer to as 'Mayor for Life' has been mayor of Louisville for all but four years that I've been alive, and this will be my first Louisville mayoral election in which I can vote. I'm excited to learn more about the candidates as the election draws nearer, and I hope that candidates will actively seek out and participate in more important events like this month's People's Forum.

To check out video clips of the People's Forum from Louisville History and Issues, go here: http://www.historyandissues.org/louisville/viewtopic.php?t=1868

The Charleston Gazette ran an AP story today about a bill in the Kentucky General Assembly to "encourage" coal companies to plant nectar and pollen-producing trees and plants on strip-mined mountains.

The hope, according to bee-researcher Tammy Horn, is to reduce the harmful impact of mining on state's honey bees. While KFTC has not taken a formal position on the bill, several individual KFTC members have been vocal about the issue.

Clay County KFTC member (and bee-keeper) Randy Wilson told the House committee yesterday:

"You don't have to blow up mountains to have bees. This bill is just window-dressing for the industry."

The story explained the issue this way:

"In mountaintop removal mining, forests are cleared and rock is blasted apart to get to coal buried underneath. The leftover dirt, rock and rubble is dumped into nearby valleys, sometimes covering streams. The practice has for years been a source of contention between coal operators, who say it is the most effective way to get at the coal, and environmentalists, who say it has irreversibly harmed the mountains and streams. Coal companies usually plant grasses on mined land -- not the native sourwoods, tulip poplars, goldenrods, asters and other blooming trees and plants that bees need."

The bill passed unanimously through the committee after its sponsor, Rep. Fitz Steele (D-Hazard) told members that coal companies would not be required to comply with any new rules.

Harlan County KFTC member Carl Shoupe, was also quoted in the AP story. He told the reporter that coal mining hurts creatures large and small and that the mountains would have ample blooming plants for bees if coal companies didn't destroy them. Shoupe said:

"That's what we've been trying to tell everybody. This mountaintop removal is just devastating the whole ecosystem, and no one wants to listen.''

The whole article, written by AP reporter Roger Alford, is a good read. It's too bad that Kentuckians have to go to West Virginia to find a paper willing to cover the story!