Some Pictures from different recent events.  Click any picture to visit our flickr photo site and see hundreds more pictures of our work.

 Louisville Voter Registration and Restoration work
in Louisville with Carl and Tayna near the Token Club. 

Roots and Heritage Festival tabling in Lexington

  

Voter work in Old Louisville with Doante.

  

KFTC's Steering Committee meeting in Eastern Kentucky this weekend

  

In case you haven't noticed, we've begun taking registrations for our 2008 Annual Membership Meeting on October 10th--12th.  We encourage all members to attend this meeting.  It is a great opportunity to meet with members from around the state and to discuss the future of the organization.  If you wish to attend, please sign up online here.

2007 Annual Membership Meeting

  Jefferson County members attended the governor's town hall meeting in Shepherdsville, KY on Tuesday August 5th. Members Cherise Williams and Margaret Stewart were able to speak about mountaintop removal (MTR) mining and coal issues in front of a roomful of Bullitt and Jefferson County residents, state representatives, and cabinet members. Beshear was challenged to address the issues surrounding the lack of law enforcement around MTR practices, water quality, reclamation land, and pollution.

   Beshear responded that yes, there were plans to enforce the law against coal companies but defended MTR for providing flat lands to eastern Kentucky residents. KFTC member Margaret Stewart countered that eastern Kentucky has enough flattened mountains to build several cities and it was time for a change.

  The meeting was followed up with interesting conversation between KFTC members and Len Peters, secretary of the new Energy and Environment Cabinet. Cherise and Margaret pushed the discussion about renewables and MTR. Peters commented on what the cabinet is possibly thinking in terms of a new energy plan. Peter stated that the best-case scenario is that Kentucky could generate maximum 25% of electricity needs from combination of renewables, efficiency, conservation, etc. over the next 20 years; therefore they are focused on more and more coal.

   He shared that there is a test carbon sequestration well drilled in Hancock County and that carbon capture and storage/use will add $20 - $50 per ton of coal. He also expressed support for nuclear power. KFTC members reinforced the importance of improving significant investment in research on renewable energy and reducing our dependence on coal.

“Make it pay to save” was the phrase of the night Thursday when more than 50 people came to a public hearing with the Berea City Council on proposed electricity and water rate changes. Under a recent proposal, the base-rate, which is paid by all customers regardless of how much they use, for electricity would increase by 70 percent. The base-rate for water would increase 34 percent. Also under this proposal is a declining per unit rate for water used by commercial and industrial customers, which means that unit rate would decrease after they use more than 1,800 cubic feet of water.

The proposed changes stem from a consultant group report released this May, examining Berea Municipal Utilities. KFTC members in Berea have taken the position that the proposed changes not only harm fixed-income households, but they also discourage conservation by rewarding people who use more.

 
Bill Stolte has led the charge for the Madison County KFTC chapter in learning more about the proposal and sharing his research. Giving a presentation at the hearing, Stolte displayed a chart showing that residential customers who use the least amount of water and electricity will have the steepest rate increase with the largest users experiencing a declining rate.

Thirty-six percent of all water users pay only the minimum. These are the people who will take the biggest hit,” said Stolte. “Base rates should be kept to a minimum. Unit rates should be adjusted to promote conservation. It should pay to save for commercial and industrial users just as it should for residential users.

Among the many concerns addressed by citizens at the hearing was the impact that our dependence on coal-fired power has on the environment.

I feel it is important that we as a community do everything to conserve because we are blowing up our homeland and destroying communities that are paying the real price for our so-called cheap energy. -Teri Blanton

 
The hearing went on for more than two hours, and by its end, more than a dozen community members had addressed the Council. Mayor Steve Connelly said that a vote on the proposal is not expected before June 17^th.

 
Citizens have another chance to voice their concerns with the proposal at a follow-up public hearing, scheduled for this upcoming Monday, June 2^nd, at 6 p.m. in the Berea Municipal Building.

For more information about the hearing, check out this article in today’s Richmond Register.