Look here for news of mine safety issues.
Tell it on the mountain
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| Rick Handshoe |
The movement to end mountaintop removal mining is featured this week in a cover story of the LEO, a free weekly newspaper in Louisville. The article, written by Jonathan Meador, can be found here.
The story features Floyd County KFTC member Rick Handshoe.
“I go down in (that valley) to hunt, and there’s nothing there,” says Handshoe, adding that because of the contaminated runoff generated by local mountaintop removal mining operations, the water line had to be dismantled, and water is now piped in from elsewhere at a greater overall cost. “Some of the people here, they call people from Louisville and Lexington ‘outsiders,’” he says. “But you’ve got a stake in this too. You guys are drinking the water that’s coming from here."
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| Citizens marching to the Capitol in support of the Stream Saver Bill |
It also focuses on the close relationship that Rep. Jim Gooch, chairperson of the House Natural Resources Committee, has to the coal industry, and places responsibility for inaction on the Stream Saver Bill at the feet of Governor Beshear.
"If you wonder why someone in Gooch’s position is allowed to repeatedly kill the routinely unsuccessful Stream Saver Bill — which would significantly reduce the toxic pollution created by surface mining — every time the bill lands in his committee, you don’t have to look much farther than the governor’s mansion."
State Senator Kathy Stein, a key sponsor of the Stream Saver Bill (SB 139), is also quoted:
“They (coalfield legislators) continue to support the coal industry and everything that they say — that coal’s so good for the economy — but if you look at the poverty rates in some of these counties with coal producers, you find it’s not the case. If you’re so damn good for eastern Kentucky, then why does eastern Kentucky end up perpetually one of the poorest regions in the nation?”
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| Rep. Yarmuth meeting with coalfield resident and member McKinley Sumner |
And the story gives a nod to U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a primary co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act. He refers to a recent study by Downstream Strategies which notes that coal production in central Appalachia is expected to "decrease by as much as 50% over the next decade while becoming increasingly expensive to mine."
“The report kind of validates what a lot of us have already known,” says U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3. “What peripheral evidence has shown is that coal is something any economy cannot depend on. A third of the number of people in coal mining are employed now (compared to) the peak of production.”
To answer your question directly
Zero.
Is that clear enough?
Sorry, I should ve phrased my question
Where any members from KFTC present, whom receive some sort of financial compensation from the organization? Am I wrong in saying that some members of KFTC receive money to organize rallies and to show up at events?
No, apparently its not clear enough. Im having a problem distinguishing the difference from a paying a miner to be there and actual salaried individuals showing up to do there job. Both parties are there to support their jobs.
Your friend firmly perched in the middle,
Todd
I think
If im wrong I apologize
Read through the comments and with the Subject "Benefits" posted by Colette. Apparently KFTC has 28 staff members who are paid. I should've stated "Staff Members". How many Staff Members where present @ the meeting? Whats the difference in a company paying a miner to be there and KFTC having a paid "Staff" member there?
Todd
Response
Sure, Todd. We have some staff members. Just look on this website and you can see that their names are all public.
But you won't see them speaking out on TV or testifying in committee or acting as spokespeople in any way.
None of them testified that day or any other day.
Because if staff were our spokespeople, one might start to imagine that they were saying what they were saying because someone paid them to.
But no. Our spokespeople and decision-makers are people like me - totally unpaid volunteers.
Does that make sense?
See what Happens when one Assumes?
I learned something new today and for what its worth, KFTC gained a little bit of respect from me. You are exactly right, Im the type of person that is more apt to listen to someone who does not receive any financial contribution based on their comments.
Another question, which staff members are paid? I cant find anyway to distinguish whom is paid and not paid. I remember seeing a few of those listed in the Steering Committee & Staff @ the hearing in Pikeville.
Many thanks,
Todd
Just Staff are paid
On that page you're referring to with Steering Committee and Staff profiles (http://www.kftc.org/about-kftc/steering-committee), the only people who are employed and paid by KFTC are the ones at the bottom under Staff. Folks at the top are volunteer members who have taken on leadership roles, one of those roles being to serve on the Steering Committee. Leaders may occasionally get help with gas reimbursements, but none of them are paid. I used to be on KFTC's steering committee (the page says I still am, but it just hasn't been updated), and it was a really great experience. :)
How to save the mountains
People (especially those that are not dependent on coal jobs)who object on moral grounds to the arrogant and wanton trashing of the mountains simply because this is the most profitable method of mining. Corporations have no conscience and no moral values to inhibit the reckless pursuit of profits--their reason for being.
I would argue that working people, born and raised in the mountains, would join the opposition in the twinkling of an eye if there were viable employment alternatives available. Look at the demographics. For decades, young people have been leaving the rural coal-counties as soon as they are able--in pursuit of more attractive economic altenratives.
For over a hundred years, the people of the mountains have been wrenching black diamonds from the earth for subsistance wages. The real wealth has been hauled away by the proverbial (and actual) Mr. Peabody's coal train.
By almost any metric you want to use, the coal economy has beeen anything but good for the people who live and work in coal-counties. As you probably are well aware, the coal counties of Appalachian Kentucky are clustered at the bottom of the "lists." The coulties with the most people living in poverty; the counties with the poorest health conditions; the counties with least educated people; counties that are increasingly dependent on handouts from the coal severence fund to pay for essential community services and infrastructure.
The real challente is how to diversify the economies of these counties so that workers are not chained to coal jobs and entrapped in negative consequences.
And some of the energy of concerned organizations should be directed to the real agenda--more economic alternatives for the people of the mountains, which of necessity includes putting a stop to the destruction of their homeland.
Shift the dialogue to the most important issues. Until non-coal job alternatives are available to coal miners, they will cling to the jobs they can get from King Coal, even if it means removing the tops from the mountains.
Paid Miners Vs. Paid Members of KFTC
Yours truly,
Todd