This past Thursday, over a dozen folks gathered at two locations near a proposed Leeco mountaintop removal permit area, stretching across two east Kentucky counties, to talk with their Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From one location in Perry County and one in Knott County, local residents gathered to share their stories and concerns with the Region 4 EPA on a one-hour conference call.  

Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, Region 4 administrator, was expected to join us and several members of her staff for only the first few minutes of the call but surprised us all by staying til the very end.

People living all around the 849 acres, six valley fills, and over 4 miles of streams included in the proposed mine permit showed up to tell Gwendolyn and her staff why this mine does not belong in their community and insist she come see for herself.

Several long time members from the area converged at both locations with local neighbors and friends.   Many were new to KFTC and new to organizing, but all were experts in their community needs and visions.  Sharing their stories on the call were local nurse practitioners, retired miners and service workers, teachers, young journalists, students, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and great grandchildren (of the brave widow, Ollie Combs).  These amazing people came from and represented families from the head of Stacys Branch in Perry County all the way to the far reaches of Lotts Creek in Knott County.   

This letter, written by Pam Maggard of Sassafras, read in her absence from the call, touches on the spectrum of issues weighing heavy on hearts and minds:

Ms. Fleming,

Please accept the invitation of Cordia, Stacy's Branch, and Sassafras residents to visit our area. You will see first hand the life we are trying to protect. I am very concerned about damage from blasting near my home (approx. 1 mile). Potential flooding is another concern. I am confident the EPA will want to continue their new commitment to putting clean water and health above mining profits

I understand the EPA asked Leeco to make some changes to its permit, to reduce anticipated water quality impacts and monitor stream quality and Leeco refused. This is typical of what we must deal with in the area. Profits before people. That is how we are treated - "Oh, they're not rich, they don't matter. We did it before, let's get the rest of the coal." We do matter. My neighbors and I are tax paying, modest income to poor people. I have worked hard to own a home. The coal trucks from the last mining in the area have wreaked havoc on our roads and water lines. We can't take much more

I implore you to at least come and see for yourself. Pictures and letters cannot even begin to tell the story. Come and visit with us - see it with your own eyes - then help us stop Leeco - for our water, homes, and health!