"Our water is worth more than that coal!” Bennie Massey said to the Kentucky Department of Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (DMRE) at Wednesday's hearing on the proposed strip mine for Benham & Lynch, Harlan County. Bennie, Lynch's longest running city council member, joined 20 of his neighbors and friends in Middlesboro at the DMRE to speak out against the 500-acre strip mine that will threaten the community's drinking water. 

Allies from around the state supported these brave communities by answering a KFTC call to action made last week to contact KY Dept. of Natural Resources Commissioner Carl Campbell, telling him that enough is enough, respect the plans and concerns of local residents and give priority to protecting the communities' assets. Upon request from several residents at the hearing, the deadline for these comments has been extended. Click here to take action.

Along with water, residents of Benham and Lynch expressed several other fears about the proposed mine. “Mountains can't be destroyed and then expected to hold back water,” one woman explained after reading aloud an article about Pike County residents of Harless Creek suing a coal company for extreme flooding damage. “I have flood insurance right now and I live up on a mountain.”

 Stanley Sturgill (below) added, "I don't wanna be blasted out of bed every morning by those machines."