Our newest chapter, located in the most northern part of our state, had an interesting  weekend last week, decided to take an opportunity to table at a music festival in northern Kentucky. The festival is located at the longest continuing operating drag strip in the country, and is a diverse collection of self-described beardos.

Many, due to the nature of the festival, the feel of the music, and the sense of community, have dubbed the festival a yearly "Woodstock in Morningview", although members felt that perhaps "Bluegrass Bonnaroo" was a more appropriate nick name for the Whispering Beard Festival. Regardless though, this was a curious crowd that brought in people from all over the state.

The Northern Kentucky chapter used this event as a chance to let people the destruction of Mountain Top Removal, giving away buttons that said I Love Mountains and Stop Mountaintop Removal, selling KFTC t-shirts, books about the destructive practice, and cds.

All weekend members were talking to beardos (some familiar with our work, some not), and running into members from all over the state. There were members from Whitesburg set up talking about their music and art, and directing their customers to our booth about some of the issues facing Eastern Kentucky. There were other members who came up by chance and picked up unscheduled shifts at the booth, and directed as many of their friends over as possible.

Each member had their own approach. Some waited as people came by to look at the signs asking people to stop mountain top removal, some stopped people to hand them buttons, some pointed people to a map detailing the overlap between poverty and strip mining, and still some stopped any willing to show  the photographs showing the destruction of paradise. As member Scott Goebel told many prospective members, "Are you familiar with the John Denver song 'Almost Heaven, West Virginia?' Well, here's a picture of a home where people thought they had Almost Heaven, and ended up with Almost Level."

By the end of the weekend the Northern Kentucky chapter recruited 25 new members, raised over $250, and put over 90 people in touch with our great organization. Here, surrounded by good bands, friendly faces, and a number of beards, the Northern Kentucky chapter found fertile ground to begin growing new power.

Check out this article by KFTC’s own Sara Pennington and Randy Wilson (pictured below) in the latest issue of the journal Solutions, which focuses on the future of Appalachia. 

Pennington is a KFTC organizer, and Wilson is a long-time KFTC member and fifth-generation Appalachian who lives in Clay County.

Read about a plan called Renew East Kentucky that would create thousands of jobs and help the region transition to a more diverse economy.

Renew East Kentucky would be a five-year energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative to retool and expand the local workforce, build up local initiatives already in place, and more aggressively implement solutions to address the region’s infrastructure and economic challenges.

Why does Wilson think Renew East Kentucky is a good idea? “We need options in energy, and we need options in work,” he said.

Wilson is doing an oral history project in coal-producing communities, and he’s finding that lots of folks are ready for change. Like John Craft, who mined coal in Eastern Kentucky for 20 years. As the article describes, Craft sees coal production declining and envisions a sustainable economy built on clean energy like wind, solar and micro-hydro.

Renew East Kentucky is a chance to use the infrastructure we already have – rural electric cooperatives – to transition to a clean energy economy and create thousands of new jobs. Because the co-ops are member-run, real people at the local level would lead this transition and the new jobs would be the kind we need – clean and sustainable.

“The word is power,” Wilson said. “Giving people power to make choices.”

Our goal was to explore the connections between the impacts of the coal industry in Kentucky and Colombia. An important part of the exchange and the high point for many was a celebration of culture and an exchange of the things that people in both places love about where they are from.

A delegation of 5 from Kentucky - including 3 KFTC members and 2 staff - participated in this Witness for Peace trip, which was focused on "The People Behind the Coal in Appalachia and Colombia." The exchange began with a tour of mountain communities impacted by coal mining in Eastern Kentucky. From July 19th to July 26th, the group traveled on to Colombia. We spent the week learning about the impacts of the coal industry on Colombian communities in a northern coastal region called Cesar.

In a village called Tamaquito, we sat under a cool canopy of trees in mud huts with palm thatched roofs. KFTC member Randy Wilson took a moment of space to do some pickin' for the villagers. People were immediately at ease, and the space filled with laughter and song.

Randy Wilson's Banjo in Tamaquito, Colombia from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

The villagers then performed a dance for us where the women, covered from head to ankle in flaming red capes, circled the open ground to the sound of a drum. Then one woman was joined by one man and they twirled together in an intense circle, rounding one another and bumping shoulders. 

After the dance, the villagers fed us a rich meal of marinated rice and goat meat. We talked as much as we could with them and played with the children who ran all around us. It started to rain and we quieted, sitting under the shade and listening to the sounds of the drops in this beautiful little village. With only one solar panel in the village, no one went inside their homes during this pleasant afternoon rain, but sat watching, experiencing it instead.

When we asked the villagers what they loved about the place they call home, several of them smiled. One said, “When the sun sets and night falls it is dark, we know where we are. We are not lost. Once, we lived in peace here.”

Tamaquito is being forcibly displaced from their land by a coal mining company. We're losing communities and cultures like them around the world at a rapid clip, due to our driving demand to consume. As Randy Wilson said, "The very people who know how to live sustainably, who figured this out long, long ago, are being displaced by a society whose principles and policy don’t have a clue."

The hope we can find is in communities standing together to learn from one another and to protect the values, the culture and the possibilities of transition that still remain here in Kentucky and abroad.

To learn more about the issues and the trip, plan to attend KFTC’s Annual Meeting and participate in a multi-media presentation about the trip.

Join KFTC's delegation to a conference and day of action focused on transition and the future of Appalachia. The events aim to advance the dialogue about current energy extraction practices, with a specific focus on ending mountaintop removal coal mining, and advocate for a renewable energy future for Appalachia on a national stage

"We envision a vibrant weekend during which thousands will learn about the challenges Appalachia faces and ways to build a movement to end the destruction and plant the seeds of a sustainable and prosperous Appalachia," said the organizers of the events.

The conference, entitled Voices from the Mountains, will be held on September 25-26, 2010. Organizers of the Voices from the Mountain conference are planning a space for regional participants to grow and connect through strategy sessions, workshops, learning, and cultural events. Topics will include both exploration of the issues facing the region and ways to move forward.

The day following the conference, September 27th, many people from the Appalachian region will gather with conference attendees for a day of mobilization and rallying on Capitol Hill. 2000 people, including movement leaders from the region, celebrities such as Ashley Judd and Silas House, and many Appalachian residents are expected to gather.

Click here to sign up or learn more.

UPDATE: At Tuesday's public hearing (see more below) the Army Corps of Engineers announced they have extended the deadline and are accepting written comments on the Smith plant's dredge & fill permit until June 18. Comments may be be submitted to the Corps via email: lrl.regulatorypubliccomment@usace.army.mil 

Click here for information to help you compose your comment.

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More good news on the Stop Smith campaign. Tuesday night, about 125 people attended a public hearing on a proposed permit that would allow East Kentucky Power Cooperative to impact Kentucky waterways and wetlands with coal ash. Of the 32 people who took the microphone, 31 opposed EKPC's plan to build a new coal-burning power plant in Clark County.

This "dredge and fill" permit - also called a 404 permit - would allow EKPC to impact more than 14 miles of streams including 210 stream channels and nearly 5 acres of wetlands, burying about half of these waterways that feed into the Kentucky River under toxic coal ash.

Many speakers focused on the dangers of mercury in the coal ash and other potential long-term effects. The Army Corps of Engineers will consider the comments in deciding whether to grant the permit.

John Patterson, who owns land adjoining the site, said he worries about his family and how the plant will affect future generations. "This is something that, quite frankly, is scaring me to death."

Patterson said Kentucky has an opportunity to be a leader in innovative energy technology. "The eyes of the nation really are upon us," he said.

Miranda Brown, also a Clark County resident, worries about her drinking water. "94 percent of my drinking water comes from the Kentucky River," she said. Brown gets her water from Winchester Municipal Utilities, which has intakes near the site where coal ash will be dumped.

"The people of Clark County know better than to defecate in our own water. Can we trust the Army Corps of Engineers to do the same?" Brown asked.

Only one speaker, William Quisenberry of Winchester, expressed support for the plant, saying it would bring good jobs and that he trusted EKPC and the state to keep the plant safe. But many other speakers disagreed, saying energy efficiency and renewable energy would produce many more jobs. They also cited the recent Gulf oil spill and the Kingston coal ash spill as examples of industry and government not doing their jobs to ensure safety.

Allies KFTC, Kentucky Environmental Foundation and the Sierra Club offered free mercury testing at the hearing to call attention to the already high mercury levels in Kentucky waterways.

If you missed the hearing, you can replay KFTC's live blog of the event, and watch video clips from the hearing at this link: http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2010/06/08/live-blogging-smith-404-permit-hearing

For more information about the hearing, follow these links:

Winchester Sun article: http://www.winchestersun.com/stories/2010/06/09/loc.105845.sto

Lexington Herald Leader article: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/06/08/1298302/dozens-oppose-proposed-power-plant.html

WKYT video clip: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/95923954.html

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More photos from the hearing:

  

  

  

  

     

This post was written by Jefferson County KFTC member and intern Beth Bissmeyer.

Hearing the stories of the devastation caused by Mountaintop Removal coal mining is what first got me involved in KFTC. A few years later, I continue to be outraged by what my friends in Eastern Kentucky deal with daily, but I now also find myself enthralled by what is happening in my hometown, Louisville, with coal ash.

Over the past few months, I've learned more about my connections to the cycle of coal beyond extraction through learning about coal ash, which is the stuff that's leftover in smokestacks and furnaces after coal is burned in power plants. In February, I first learned of E.ON's plans to add a 60-acre coal-combustion waste (CCW) landfill adjacent to their Cane Run Rd. power plant in South Louisville, five miles away from the neighborhood I grew up in and from where I now live. Coal ash is a new issue to me and to many folks, but one thing's for sure, it's not the kind of stuff you want in your neighborhood or next to your city's water source. Coal ash contains concentrated amounts of heavy metals and other pollutants that have been found to cause cancer and other health problems in humans. A 2007 EPA report found that those living near coal ash dumps have a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer. There is already a coal ash impoundment at the Cane Run Rd. site that the EPA considers “high hazard,” meaning that a dam break is likely to cause significant damage, including loss of life.

Jefferson County KFTC members have started organizing on this issue, mobilizing people to submit comments on E.ON's Section 404 permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on the 401 Water Quality Certification Permit through the Kentucky Division of Water. Members made the permits viral through email and Facebook, and some also phone-banked and made fliers. Even though there was a short window of time to organize, members helped generate more than 100 letters and emails on the 404 permit.

Last Tuesday, concerned citizens were given the opportunity to speak out at a public hearing held by the Kentucky Division of Waste Management. More than 125 people filed into the cafeteria at Conway Middle School, and while some were KFTC members, most of the people there were residents who live next to the proposed coal ash landfill site who organized on their own.

Several people who spoke at the hearing told of health problems they and their neighbors have ranging from high instances of asthma, learning disabilities, kidney disease, and multiple forms of cancer. Some noted that the area is polluted enough with not only the Cane Run Rd. power station, but also multiple chemical companies and an old toxic chemical dump. Monica Burkhead, a resident of Riverside Gardens who organized people in her neighborhood to come to the hearing by putting up fliers and going door-to-door, said of the already-standing coal ash landfill,

“You've got black soot everywhere; you buy a new car and within two years, your car's paint job is shot. You've got kids that have learning disabilities. There's excessive amounts of ADHD. There's excessive amounts of cancer, kidney disease. People are sick there constantly. They're dying. I'm just sick and tired of it. I've lived there for 35 years and all I do is watch people die.”

Terri Humphrey gave comment while she and Monica held photos of the proposed site and of the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill. She spoke to the dangers of coal ash and to the frustration of finding discrepancies in information on the proposed landfill from different agencies who have a say in the process. Many residents didn't even find out about the hearing until a day or two before.

One older woman who's lived in Riverside Gardens for decades, Rose Wilson, fought back tears as she told the room that she's raised so many kids, her own and the neighborhood's, and is so tired of seeing them all get sick.

While the room was filled with people who are justifiably upset about this proposal, there was also a strong sense of community and need to act. A second hearing was promised by the Kentucky Department of Waste Management official who moderated the hearing, and Metro Council representative Judy Green said she and neighboring council representative Rick Blackwell will introduce a resolution to try to halt the application process until the EPA makes a decision on how to regulate coal ash. Still, the greatest sense of urgency came from community members.

Adonna Williams, a resident of Riverside Gardens, said, “Everybody, they get upset and they want to slack off, but you've got to stand there, you've got to fight the fight. If you don't fight the fight, if you don't keep on, if you don't keep going, then they'll always win.”

Let's keep fighting the fight.

Take Action!

Stand with Adonna, Monica, and other residents of South Louisville and speak out against this proposed coal ash landfill. Comments may be submitted in writing by the close of business on June 18^th to:

Ronald D. Gruzesky, P.E.

Division of Waste Management

200 Fair Oaks

Frankfort, KY 40601-1190

Please reference AI # 2121 and Application APE200100001 on any correspondence.

Some media coverage of the hearing:

• WAVE 3
• FOX 41
• WHAS 11
• Courier-Journal

To learn more about this issue and how you can get involved, please contact beth@kftc.org.

KFTC member Lora Smith is currently working with the filmmakers of Deep Down: A story from the heart of coal country to organize screenings of the film across the region and the nation.  Lora took a few minutes to be interviewed at the Reel Engagement for the Energy & Natural Resource Revolution Retreat/Conference to answer the question "What sustains you and your work?"

Yesterday, Saturday, May 15 was a pretty unremarkable day in most respects.  For us, collectively as Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, there wasn't anything singularly huge on the calendar, but we decided to try to compile quick stories about a lot of little things that happened throughout the day and present them as this - A Day in the Life of KFTC. 

At 7 a.m. KFTC members in northern Kentucky came together outside of Ockerman Middle School in Florence to start setting up tables for the big Relay for Life yard sale.  Alex Searles organized the KFTC table, but eight members participated in all, selling items that they donated to the  cause and passing out information about KFTC.  They also invited those interested to the big NKY KFTC Chapter Formation meeting on Tuesday.  By the end of the event at 4 p.m., they brought in $150 and made a lot of key contacts with new people.  Members also left with KFTC Voter Guides to hand out over the next few days.

At 10 a.m. the KFTC booth at the Butchertown Art Fair in Louisville got rolling.  Many of the candidates for mayor were there and most of them dropped by the KFTC table to say hello.  The event was in a neighborhood where KFTC does a lot of work, so many people at the festival  recognized us, and cheered for KFTC.  It gave a lot of our members who don't volunteer with us every month a chance to drop by and plug into our work.  A few people said they'd been meaning to join KFTC and took membership envelopes or joined on the spot.  Others asked about voting locations and we made lists of people to call back on Monday with that information.   Nine hours later, at 7 p.m., we packed up and headed home. 

At 10:30 a.m. a workshop started at the Pine Mountain Sustainability Symposium on "Steps Towards Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" the workshop was facilitated by KFTC leaders Carl Shoupe and Roy Silver, among others.  This was just one of many events our members participated in throughout the powerful three-day conference designed to bring together specialists, practitioners, educators, and organizers to share their experiences and learn about model projects throughout southeastern Kentucky.  The symposium included hands-on trainings, workshops, woodland hikes, and garden tours with local and regional experts working on food, energy, and forest issues.

At noon, Tyler Birdwhistell and Bethany Baxter met in downtown Georgetown to go door-to-door in the Scroggin Park Housing Authority neighborhood - passing out KFTC Voter Guides and letting people know where their voting location is.   After about two hours, they had covered half of the neighborhood, which was enough for a couple of us to come back the next day and finish it up in an hour and a half. 

"I ran into one woman who is a former felon - so she'd had her right to vote taken away from her when she was much younger.  She told me the she worked for years to get her right to vote back and that she almost gave up a few times.  But she got them back during the Patton administration and has voted ever since." - Tyler Birdwhistell

At 3 p.m. a small group of KFTC folks visited the Peace and Global Citizenship Fair at Bluegrass Community Technical College in Lexington.  It was a great event organized by BCTC’s Students for Peace and Earth Justice.  For our part, we canvassed the crowd with a big stack of KFTC Voter Guides, asking people to cast an informed vote on Tuesday.  Kudos to BCTC’s Students for Peace and Earth Justice for putting together a great event that is getting a bit bigger every year. 

At 4 p.m. the Madison County KFTC members kicked off their Spring Friendraiser, with more than 70 people enjoying a potluck, cornhole and games, a great silent auction, live music by Mudpi, a short program about the awesome work of KFTC, and apparently a game that involved more than a little rolling around in the mud.  Members brought in $700 in donations and had a lot of fun before winds picked up and a hailstorm heralded an early end to the event.  We'll likely have a separate blog entry on this exciting event in the next few days, so stay tuned.  

In addition to all of that, members ran voter mobilization phone banks throughout the day in Bowling Green, Louisville, and in at-large (non-chapter) areas of the state, to name a few places, and members passed out KFTC Voter Guides or handbills about the election at events and in their neighborhoods throughout the commonwealth.  

No doubt, our 6,000+ members across the state accomplished an awful lot in the name of social justice on Saturday that will never make it to this blog - conversations with neighbors, writing letters to elected officials, etc.

It's a lot of little things, but this was just one day.  And day after day in community after community, it adds up.  So keep at it folks. 

What can we do tomorrow?

On April 30th, the central Kentucky chapter of KFTC held a chili-cook off friendraiser. What's a friendraiser you ask? Well it's an opportunity to raise money for the organization but with a focus on giving members a chance to hang out with one another, celebrate all of our hard work, and just have a darn good time.

The event was held at the Lexington Friends meeting house on Price street. Six folks entered chili into the contest and nearly forty people came out to partake in the deliciousness.

The chili was fantastic, and incredibly diverse. There were chilis w/ sirloin, turkey and chicken, as well as two vegan options. One chili even had cornbread baked right into it!

I'm not surprised that folks put such effort into their entries considering the prize for first place! The winner of the event took home a copy of the beautiful hard covered book about mountain top removal mining plundering appalachia, a gift certificate for a one-hour massage, and a dinner for two from Stella's Kentucky deli.

Our three wonderful judges that evening are each KFTC members with a keen sense of what makes a good chili. Member Chris Oaks who hails from the Cincinatti area explained to the contestants that what he looks for in a chili is "depth,"while Danielle Boucher who is a newer member and a UK undergraduate explained that she looks for "kick." Our third judge, Marty Mudd who is active on KFTC's land reform committee and also a member of Kentucky mountain justice informed us that he would be looking for a chili w/ "many layers."  

Our winner that evening was long time KFTC member Teresa McReynolds with her sirloin chili. However, in my opinion everyone was a winner considering there wasn't a drop of chili left by the end of the night! In addition to the cook off we also held a raffle. Tickets were $1 and raffle items were donated by several local businesses including Stella's Kentucky Deli, The Morris Book Shop, Woodland Computers, and Charmed Life Tattoo. We also had two professional massages donated by Nishaan Sandhu and Phil Robinson.

It was a rockin' good time and we ended up raising almost $280. Thanks to everyone who came out, to all the businesses and individuals who donated raffle items, to everyone who entered chili, and a special thanks to our intern Jordan Panning for coming up with the idea and organizing the event. We'll be sure to do it again next year!

A quick and short note out to all our blog readers. A breaking story in the Lexington Herald Leader announces a success in our campaign to halt the proposed coal-burning Smith plant and bring energy efficiency and renewable energy programs instead to Kentucky's rural electric co-ops:

East Kentucky Power Delays Coal Plant

Read all about it at the Herald Leader.

The withdrawal of the request for financing approval is a major victory for environmental groups ... that have hammered the cooperative in recent years for embracing a project that they said was dangerous for Kentuckians because of the health effects of burning coal for electricity...

The groups, including Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and the Sierra Club, have taken actions including commissioning studies showing that the proposed plant would be a major drain on finances and also filing suits to stop the construction process.

And it's great that the article mentions our work toward a solution:

Environmental groups have argued the cooperative would be better off spending money to educate customers about consuming less electricity and to also utilize more renewable sources of energy.

We'll have more soon. But now, time to celebrate that we can go full force on working to bring clean energy to eastern Kentucky's co-ops.