Last night dozens of KFTC members, joined with our great allies from all over the state, spoke up for clean air and public health at a hearing in Winchester, KY.  The hearing was sponsored by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality and was in regards to an air permit application for a proposed coal-burning power plant in Clark County.  The plant is being proposed to be built by East Kentucky Power Cooperative and would provide power to 16 rural electric co-ops around the state.

"I am a ratepayer/member of Bluegrass Energy, which gets its power from EKPC...As my co-op's power producer, I fear that EKPC is putting me and other members at dire financial risk by pursuing a coal-fired power plant design that is certain to result in higher additional environmental costs versus any other power generation choice it might make," said Madison County KFTC member Steve Wilkins during the public comments section of the hearing.

41 KFTC members and allies spoke out against the dirty air permit application.  Each of the speakers talked about why they believe in clean air, their vision for the future of Kentucky, and the good local jobs that will be possible if EKPC chooses to go down an alternative path of clean, renewable energy.

When asked why she came out, Jefferson County KFTC member Martha Flack said before the hearing, "I think it is really important that we start looking at alternative sources of energy so that we can do a better job protecting the environment and our health... I just dont want to see another coal-fire power plant go up."

Thanks to everyone who traveled far and wide -- especially our great KFTC members in the Eastern part of the sate -- to stand up for clean air, public health, and a better vision for Kentucky!

If you haven't yet sent in comments, there is still time to do so.  Please visit this link to send your comments to the Division of Air Quality.  The more Kentuckians speaking out for a cleaner, better way -- the more powerful we are! 

Here are a few links to some of the news stories about the hearing and our work!

• KY Public News Service
  
• Channel 36
  
• WEKU
  

We will be posting more videos and pictures soon.  Stay tuned!

There's an important story being reported today by the folks at Labor Network for Sustainability.

Three significant unions have taken a position in favor of the science-based reductions in greenhouse gas emissions recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The unions involved are the Transport Workers Union (TWU),  Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).

The full story is packed with insights and well worth reading!

Together these major labor organizations have called for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40% from their 1990 levels. This target for addressing the global climate crisis is far stronger than positions advocated by President Obama or Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. It is also a significant departure from positions taken by most other U.S. labor organizations, which have tended to support job creation and green economic development without endorsing specific reductions in greenhouse gas pollution.

According to the joint statement issued by SEIU and LIUNA,

A clear science-based target will drive a massive increase in the generation of green jobs, pubic mass transit, renewable energy, green manufacturing, energy-efficient construction and building retrofits, as well as in other sectors.

The statement from the Transport Workers Union added,

With the US suffering over 10 percent unemployment and falling living standards, we need to fulfill the promise of green jobs sooner, not later.

Both statements called for a "just transition" to the green economy to provide full protections for workers negatively impacted by climate policies, including "workers in energy intensive industries." 

It's encouraging to see that major U.S. labor organizations have taken up the call for a rigorous approach to the climate crisis. Organized labor support helps strengthen the push for sustainable energy policies that can also renew our economy and improve the conditions our homes, businesses and communities.

Click here to watch the animated video, The Story of Cap and Trade.

The Governor's Conference on Energy and the Environment will take place at the Lexington Convention Center on Wednesday, September 30th and Thursday, October 1st.  There is a charge for attending, but scholarships are still available (see the link below). 

According to the information page, this year's agenda will address the following topics:

• How do we achieve energy security in a carbon-constrained world?
• How do we develop our biomass resources?
• What opportunities do we have to increase our renewable energy portfolio?
• How can smart grid technologies help us achieve our energy efficiency objectives?
• How are actions at the federal level going to affect Kentucky's energy landscape?

The agenda includes a session presented by state and federal elected officials about Kentucky's energy landscape and a session that will discuss "new opportunities" in that landscape for our state.  The decisions our state must make around questions of energy and the environment at this critical moment will steer the use of taxpayer money well into the future. 

The questions covered on the agenda point to even bigger questions for KFTC. What do we want Kentucky's energy landscape to look like in the coming years?  What direction will we head as a state in terms of both energy reliance and our economic future?  How can we facilitate a clean, sustainable, just transition in our communities?  This conference is a chance to hear the answers the Governor and policymakers are offering to these important questions and to voice your feedback about those suggestions.

  Click here to link to the state information page about the conference, which includes registration and scholarship information.

Even though the General Assembly isn’t in session, you can still call your Kentucky Senator and Representative and leave a message to let them know what you think about issues like Coal, Tax Justice, Economic Development, and Voting Rights.

Call 1-800-372-7181 to leave a message for your legislators.  The message line is open 8am to 4:30pm Monday – Friday.

If you don’t know who your representative and senator are, just ask and the operator will tell you.

Also, you can write a letter or email to your senator and/or representative.  Find their contact information online at www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm

Finally, if you'd like to schedule a meeting with your legislator, along with other KFTC members in your district, just contact your local KFTC Organizer and we'll work with you to set up a meeting. 

“Well, once the coal goes away, I just don’t see what you do to keep the show going.”             Gov. Paul Patton

Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Blog Post:

University of Kentucky historian Ron Eller, author of the recent Appalachian history Uneven Ground, argues that tourism and other industries could replace coal mining and lead to greater prosperity. But former Gov. Paul Patton of Pikeville, now back in the mining business, says the region cannot support its current population without coal.

Eller is among those who want to wean Appalachia from its historical dependence on coal. “We have to do two things,” he said when asked about the future of the Appalachian economy: “Look for other alternatives [to coal mining] and stop limiting those alternatives by destroying the terrain.” In order to ready the region for transition to tourism, Eller urges the state to “stop giving out permits to surface mines above 2,000 feet” above sea level — an act that would end most Eastern Kentucky strip mining.

The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, based in Berea, says promotion of entrepreneurship and “micro-businesses” with five or fewer employees is the key to the region’s economic future. MACED President Justin Maxson argues, “If you add just one job at 10 percent of the micro-businesses in Kentucky, that's 5,800 new jobs in the state ,” and current economic-development strategies “ overlook an important swath of entrepreneurship in the mountains.” 

For decades, the best-known entrepreneurs in the Appalachian coalfield were coal operators. Paul Patton, right, was one. Eight years in Kentucky’s highest office has made him less optimistic – or as he puts it, more realistic – about a non-coal economy. Patton was never a strip miner, but says surface mining isn’t an obstacle to economic diversification. “It’s a tradeoff,” he says, holding up his hands like a pair of scales. “You can’t have a modern society and a pristine environment. You can’t say you want all the benefits [of development] and then ban something every time human life is affected. You just can’t.” Asked about his own administration’s progress on Appalachian development, he sat back in his chair for a moment. “Well,” he smiled, “it’s a lot harder than I expected. I didn’t really get the results I wanted.” Pressed to say what happens when the coal runs out, he was frank. “Virginia City,” he said, naming the Nevada boom town that became a ghost town when its silver ran out.“Well, once the coal goes away, I just don’t see what you do to keep the show goin’.”

See the Rural Blog for more

There were three strong energy/coal related Op-eds in the Lexington Herald-Leader today.  If you missed them, check them out online.

Costly King Coal, by Mick McCoy

Solar payback in Kentucky, by Matthew Partymiller

A renewed source of renewable energy, by Greg Kocher

A financial report released yesterday shows that the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) should avoid the high capital costs of a new coal fired power plant, or its already weak financial position will worsen.  EKPC is a generating and transmission cooperative utility with 16 member distribution co-ops, serving customers in 87 Kentucky counties, which plans to build and operate a 287-megawatt coal-fired power plant called Smith #1 in Clark County, Kentucky. 

EKPC's plan to build a new coal fired power plant is both expensive and bad, as it ignores the reality that carbon dioxide will soon be regulated and taxed in some way.  The already burdened people of south eastern Kentucky should not be asked to pay for taking what is obviously the wrong fork in the road to our energy future," said KFTC member and Clay County resident Susan Dansereau.

The report by TR Rose Associates, titled “The Right Decision for Changing Times,” was commissioned by three organizations – Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club, Kentucky Environmental Foundation and Kentuckians For The Commonwealth – concerned with the health, environmental and economic impacts the Smith power plant would have for co-op customers and Kentucky residents.  Its recommendations are based on extensive review of EKPC financial data and its executives’ and experts’ testimony to the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

Also, read some of the news coverage about the new report:

The Kentucky Senate showed how out of touch it is with the best interests of Kentuckians with its revision of House Bill 537 last Friday.

On the last regular day of this year’s session, the Senate took the governor’s poorly written energy bill that would do little good and added support for nuclear power plants and oil/gas drilling in state parks and on university property.

Because the changes were last-minute, the House did not have a chance to consider them and may do so when legislators return for two days, March 26 and 27.

In a press statement KFTC called for the House to soundly reject HB 537.

“Kentuckians are ready to take positive, bold steps in transitioning to a green energy economy. In order to protect our citizens and our economy, we ought to be leading the way toward clean energy and energy efficiency,” the statement read. “HB 537 ends up doing just the opposite of what it should.”

When the day started last Friday, HB 537 was stalled on the House floor. Sen. Bob Leeper had proposed attaching his Senate Bill 13, in support of nuclear power, to the bill. Although the Senate had already passed SB 13 by a 29-6 margin, it appeared to be dead in the House.

Senate leaders, KFTC citizen lobbyists were told last week, didn’t want SB 13 added to the bill because they thought it would also cause HB 537 to die in the House.

So HB 537 was sent back to the Senate Natural Resources & Environment Committee, which adopted a committee substitute late Friday. The new bill keeps almost all of its original provisions. Added to the bill were Senate Bill 13, Senate Bill 138 and Senate Joint Resolution 67. After getting approval from the committee it was sent to the floor and passed 37-1. The only No vote came from Sen. Charlie Borders.

SJR 67 directs the Department for Energy Development and the Kentucky Geological Survey to “quantify the potential oil and natural gas resources on state-owned and university-owned properties.” It also directs the energy agency to develop criteria “for permitting oil and gas operations.” SJR 67 was adopted by the Senate in February, passed the House 90-5 last week and sent to the governor.

SB 138, which had passed the Senate and was still on the House floor, is very similar but takes the oil and gas leasing a step further. It actually authorizes the “Finance and Administration cabinet to lease mineral rights owned by the state and by public universities.”

The late-hour action by the Senate meant the House did not consider the bill. But it will have a chance to do so when legislators return on March 26. KFTC already had a position strongly opposed to HB 537, and that was based on its own lack of merits before the many other provisions were added.

A couple dozen KFTC members and about 170 high school and college students from Kentucky are participating in Power Shift '09 this weekend in Washington, DC, along with about 12,000  mostly young people from around the country. They are coming together to learn, strategize and build a movement that will help move this country away from dirty power and to a clean energy economy.

You can read a Washington Post story about the gathering that includes quotes from Lauralee Crain and Ayesha Siddiqi, students at Transylvania University in Lexington.

The Kentucky delegation will be joined by another 20 or so KFTC members who are traveling to Washington today to participate in the mass demonstration and civil disobedience Monday at the Capitol Power Plant, the coal-burning plant that provides steam heat to the capitol and Congressional and other government office buildings.

Already organizers of the demonstration feel they have gotten results. Earlier this week Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid released a letter (copy attached) sent to the Architect of the Capitol asking that the use of coal at the Capitol Power Plant be stopped.  See that story here. An updated story from the Associated Press published today can be found here.

The Washington Post ran an interesting article in 2007 about how previous Congressional efforts to stop burning coal at that plant were blocked by Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell and West Virginia senator Robert Byrd.  Read that story here.

Tonight will offer the opportunity for an enjoyable evening program with Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Janisse Ray, Kathy Mathea and others at Georgetown University. Details here.