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:

  

  

  

  

     

The proposed coal-burning Smith plant is refusing to die.

Your voice is needed to end it once and for all!

The coal-burning Smith plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative is the living dead. 

It's taken hit after hit in recent weeks from the work of KFTC and our allies – we've had some good success. For example, EKPC has temporarily pulled its request for financing approval, a major audit said the plant is the "biggest risk" EKPC will face in many years, and the U.S. EPA has objections to the state-issued air permit .... yet, EKPC is marching on, seeking a permit to put millions of tons of coal ash from the plant into Kentucky's streams. It's time to tell EKPC and state officials to pull the plug and stop wasting taxpayer money. It's time for good, local, clean energy jobs instead.

You can help stop this coal zombie:

Attend the public hearing held by the Army Corps of Engineers next week, Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. in Winchester. Stand with folks from all over the state to demand a clean alternative to the Smith plant. Help say it's time to end this toxic project once and for all. 

Click here if you're considering attending the hearing.

Background

This hearing is our time to make a public demonstration of our opposition to a federal permit that would allow EKPC to impact 14 miles of waterways, burying about half of them under hazardous coal ash. And, it's time to stand up once again in support of the clean and less-costly alternative of energy efficiency, weatherization and renewable energy. All Kentuckians, whether you receive your power from EKPC or not, are stakeholders in this process as the plant would contaminate the air we all breathe and the water we drink. Already, every waterway in Kentucky is already under a fish advisory warning due to mercury contamination from coal burning power plants. Click here to download a flyer with more information about the hearing and the impacts of the permit.

Now is the time to say, “Enough is enough!” The solution is simple and clear. Energy saving and renewable energy programs won’t need a permit because they won’t pollute our water. We must use this opportunity to speak out, letting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EKPC know that this clean energy solution is the just and healthy choice, not only for EKPC ratepayers, but for all Kentuckians.

Share our Facebook event about the hearing.  If you are on Facebook you can invite your friends to the event.

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.

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.

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

You might remember seeing a Jefferson County action alert about a Section 404 permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a 5.7 million cubic yard coal ash site about a month ago. The Army Corps received well over 100 public comments – a higher number than the Army Corps is used to seeing for this type of project! But our work is not over!  E.ON has to obtain several different permits for this project and they have now applied for a 401 Water Quality Certification permit through the Kentucky Division of Water to add a 60-acre coal combustion waste (CCW) landfill adjacent to the power plant. The public comment period for this is now open and ends THIS Friday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. 

The current CCW pond on-site at the Cane Run Power Station is one of 44 classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “high hazard” – meaning that a spill would result in significant damage or loss of life.

CCW is the solid waste left over from burning coal. CCW is a combination of waste from the coal plant’s air filters and the residue from coal boilers. The ashy part of the waste, called coal ash, contains concentrated pollutants, including many toxins known to cause cancer in humans.

 The proposed permit would:

• allow 5.7 million cubic yards of CCW, which contains toxins known to be hazardous to human health, to be dumped on site. The U.S. EPA states that 1 in 50 adults and 1 in 100 children that live near CCW storage sites are at risk of developing cancer
• allow more than 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetland areas to be filled
• allow use of an inferior containment liner that deteriorate over time, likely resulting in toxic chemicals leaching into groundwater
• ignore restoration requirements for 5 of the wetlands and require only minimal restoration for the other 3
• allow this waste to be dumped on land located at the end of the Ohio River floodwall, clearly in the river’s flood plain putting residents downstream at risk

---Find out more about the impacts coal ash can have on your community and health here.

---The 401 permit through the KY Division of Water agency interest #2121 is available for viewing here.

---The Courier-Journal recently published a front page article on the proposed coal-combustion waste expansion.

Solution

Let the Kentucky Division of Water know that you oppose this permit!

 **Please take action by April 16, 2010 deadline**

Send an email requesting that the Kentucky Division of Water to deny this permit to:

 jesse.robinson@ky.gov

 Put the Water Quality Certification agency interest # 2121 as the subject. Provide your physical mailing address and telephone number with your signature.

OR write to:

Mr. Jesse Robinson

Kentucky Division of Water

Water Quality Certification

200 Fair Oaks Lane

Frankfort, KY 40601

A SAMPLE LETTER/ EMAIL

Please deny E.ON’s request for a permit to expand Cane Run Power Station’s CCW landfill

Mr. Jesse Robinson

Kentucky Division of Water

Water Quality Certification

200 Fair Oaks Lane

April 16, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

 Please support clean air and the health of Kentuckians by denying E.ON’s permit request to expand the Cane Run Power Station’s coal combustion waste landfill. Coal ash exposure puts our health at risk. The EPA estimates that up to 1 in 50 nearby residents could get cancer from exposure to contaminants in poorly stored coal ash. Other health effects may include damage to vital organs and the central nervous system, especially in children.

 This permit is problematic for several reasons:

·      The dump will not be properly contained, putting nearby residents and families at risk of health hazards and death.

·      The permit allows over 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetlands to be filled with 5.7 million cubic yards of coal combustion waste.

·      Minimal restoration requirements for destroyed wetlands.

·      The land selected for this expansion is not an extension of the existing landfill and is right outside the end of the Ohio River floodwall in the flood plain putting residents downstream at risk. 

The Cane Run plant’s current coal ash pond already puts nearby residents at risk of death and serious health impacts. Enough is enough. Help Louisville lead the way toward better environmental standards. E.ON can invest in energy efficiency, weatherization, and renewable energies to reduce and eliminate the need for hazardous expansions like this permit request.

Sincerely, 

Last week in Washington, D.C., a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and Representatives introduced a bill that would help rural electric co-ops provide "on-bill" financing for energy saving programs.

The Rural Energy Savings Program Act would provide rural utilities, including the rural electric co-ops, with the means to help folks with the up-front costs of financing energy efficient upgrades to their homes; these utility customers would pay back the utilities on their bill with part of their savings.

Representative Ed Whitfield of western Kentucky is an original co-sponsor of the Act. "[I]t is essential we explore ways to improve energy efficiency and, in turn, better manage the demand for electricity,” Whitfield said. “Increasing our energy efficiency is one of the best proven ways to free up energy on our electricity grid. This bill is a win for American consumers and a win for improving energy efficiency across the country.”

Whitfield is joined by members of Congress from throughout the U.S. and both political parties, as well as by the rural electric cooperatives themselves. Whitfield deserves thanks for stepping out in front on this issue that could be so beneficial to rural electric co-op members across the state. In addition to stopping the proposed coal burning Smith plant, the East Kentucky Power Cooperative could help its members even more with the loans for energy efficiency provided by this bill. It will help their customers save energy, save money, and help prevent further pollution, protecting the public health of Kentucky. If you live in Whitfield's district, you can email him (using the form at this link), or anyone can leave a message for him at his office in D.C. by calling (202) 225-3115. Let him know you appreciate his leadership on the Rural Energy Savings Program Act. 

According to the think tank, The Third Way, "This federal program, run through the Rural Utilities Service, [could] provide low-interest loans to 1.4 million rural households to make energy efficiency improvements, creating 25,000-35,000 jobs each year for the next ten years."

More information on what the Act would do:

Home weatherization improvements create jobs, lower emissions, and save money for consumers. But for most families, the upfront costs are too big and the payoff takes too long. This proposal would eliminate these barriers at a tiny cost to the federal government by providing rural homeowners low-interest loans through rural electric co-operatives. Homeowners would then repay the loans through their utility bills with the cost of the loan fully off-set by energy savings. And if they move, both the loan and the energy savings could be passed on to the next homeowner.

Even the rural electric co-ops, often resistant to progressive energy policy, is backing the bill. According to Hoosier Ag Today:

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Glenn English said, “This gives us an opportunity to keep the electric bills as low as we possibly can…it gives us the opportunity to avoid building power plants…which will be extremely expensive and have the potential of increasing electric bill costs to our membership.” [...] Typical loans will run between $1500 and $7000, and cover sealing, insulation, heat pumps, heating and ventilation, boilers, and roofs.

Stay tuned to this blog for more information on the bill and what other actions you might be able to take to help move the legislation forward.

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Links for more information:

• Grist: "How to provide relief to rural Americans, create jobs, and lower emissions ... all at once!"
• Press release from Senator Jeff Merkley, sponsor of the bill in the Senate.
  
• A good article in the Charleston (SC) Post & Courier on the bill: "Energy initiative to expand"
  
• The text of the bill from the Thomas Register.

While the Kentucky legislature has generally ignored the economic and environmental consequences of coal, it did get a few minutes today to consider the effects on human health when the House Committee on Health and Welfare gave KFTC 20 minutes on its agenda.

Our three panelists made those 20 minutes count, focusing on the dangers not only to coal miners but to the health of whole communities in the coalfields.

KFTC member Beverly May, a nurse practitioner who works in Perry County, said she sees miners who have contracted lung diseases from exposure to coal dust and silica dust. “At home in Floyd County, I have friends in Hueysville, David and Allen that are plagued by dust from both nearby strip mines and from coal trucks passing by their homes. This is the same sandstone dust which causes silicosis in the workers, so I have to wonder, what does it do to children with asthma or elders or anyone who breathes it every day?”

She described the headwaters of Raccoon Creek, which are now polluted from nearby mining. “So I have to wonder, is the public water supply safe?”

Beverly May

Dr. Michael Hendryx

“The coal industry isn’t answering these questions because they don’t have to,” said May. “This body and the federal government have not held them fully accountable.”

Dr. Michael Hendryx, director of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center and an associate professor at West Virginia University, said his research has revealed higher rates of chronic heart, chronic lung and renal failure mortality rates in coal-producing areas than in the rest of Appalachia or the nation, even after the rates have been adjusted for other factors such as smoking, age and education.

“We have some evidence that the effects become stronger as the level of mining increases,” Dr. Hendryx said. He attributed this to “significant impairment of air and water quality near mines.”  He also noted that poverty and economic disadvantage are major predictors of public health and that mining areas have the highest poverty rates.

A couple of Dr. Hendryx's reports can be found here and here.

Nancy Reinhart read a statement from Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Among other findings, Epstein stated that 19 of the known chemicals used and generated in processing coal are known cancer-causing agents, 24 are linked to lung and heart damage, and several remain untested as to their health effects.

The oral testimony was supplemented with dozens of pages of documentation and medical research given to committee members.

Bill Bissett, president of Kentucky Coal Association, asked to rebut and was given a couple of minutes. He did not say burning coal or dumping toxic mining wastes in streams improved anyone’s health or offer any refuting evidence, but did say the coal industry offers some scholarships to eastern Kentucky students to go to medical school.

Here's a video of the 21-minute hearing.

KFTC members have joined other rural electric co-op customers across the state in signing a letter to the Inspector General of the USDA questioning approval of risky financing for the proposed Smith power plant in Clark County.

The letter was submitted today, and KFTC members Steve Wilkins and Barb Bailey spoke to the media on a telephone conference this morning.

The Rural Utility Service, an arm of the USDA, normally provides loans to electric co-ops, but in 2008 the RUS put a moratorium on loans for financially risky coal and nuclear plants. To go ahead with the Smith plant construction, East Kentucky Power Cooperative needed approval from the RUS to seek $921 million from Wall Street banks.

Not only did RUS grant this permission but it also said EKPC could pay back its private loans before paying the billions it already owes the federal government. That means if EKPC defaults on its loans or goes belly-up, ratepayers will foot the bill.

From the letter:

The decision to proceed with financing and building this unnecessary coal plant will force EKPC to seek approval for electric rate increases at a time when many Kentucky families and businesses are already struggling to pay utility bills. This could eventually lead EKPC, which is already financially unstable, to default on its debt obligations. By subordinating its existing mortgage to other financial interests, RUS is placing in jeopardy the billions of taxpayer dollars it has loaned or provided loan guarantees to EKPC, and effectively guaranteeing that our electric rates will substantially increase.

On the press call today, KFTC member Barb Bailey questioned why EKPC needs a new coal-burning plant, when it hasn’t shown a real need and when renewable energy sources are less risky, cheaper and readily available.

“The fact that EKPC doesn’t even really need this plant, and their finances are so shaky – those should have been a deal-breaker for the RUS,” Bailey said. “EKPC could meet their energy needs at a lower cost with energy saving programs and renewable energy.”

To learn more about the entire EKPC campaign, click here.

This week the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA, pronounced: "en-REEK-uh") is holding its annual meeting in Atlanta. Active co-op members across the country took the opportunity to highlight some of the best and worst co-op practices with a national press conference. KFTC member Steve Wilkins participated by phone.

A bit of background on the nation's electric co-ops and the issue of co-op reform from the press release for the teleconference:

Today, 900 co-ops still provide power to 42 million Americans in 47 states, but often these associations look more like big private corporations than the democratically-managed cooperatives of earlier days. These days, co-op members are asking a host of questions about the governance and energy decisions of their co-ops, and what they are doing to move toward democratic transparency and encourage energy efficiency and clean alternative energy production.

Some of the cooperatives represented at the [NRECA] conference, such as Texas’ Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), have had a change in direction and now aim to embrace 21st century energy planning by developing aggressive, cost-effective efficiency programs and integrating renewable energy into their generation portfolios. This mode of operation represents a seismic shift from Pedernales’ previous approach. Board member Dr. Patrick Cox is excited about the co-op’s transparency, democratic board elections and adherence to business planning. He addressed the NRECA conference to spotlight changes at PEC. “I believe advocacy for member rights, ethical leadership, environmental accountability and responsible investment has resulted in and will continue to provide positive changes in PEC’s effectiveness and its relationship to its membership.”

The press conference also highlighted best practices of other co-ops in the country:

The public electric association that stands out as a champion for democratic process and for successful implementation of cost effective renewable energy is Colorado’s San Miguel Power Association (SMPA).  Board leaders have worked to make SMPA a rural electric association that is a true American institution and a model of clearly articulated democratic principles that give members a voice at every board meeting.

In addition to lifting up some of the best practices of the most open and democratic co-ops, the press conference highlighted many of the most regressive policies and decisions of co-ops across the country. KFTC member Steve Wilkins spoke of some of the problems that co-op members in Kentucky face.

In Kentucky, Steve Wilkins, a ratepayer/member of Blue Grass Energy Cooperative, which is one of 16 co-ops that distribute power generated by East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), says that from what he can see “democracy has been lacking in EKPC where directors are almost universally handpicked by the co-ops and elected without opposition due to a lack of encouragement for open elections.” Given that EKPC “is in a relatively weak financial position because of its large debt, members are baffled that financially safe energy investments such as energy efficiency and renewables are not being pursued instead of building a financially risky coal plant, which is what EKPC is currently committed to doing.”

However, Steve didn't just tell the nation what EKPC members are up against, but also spoke about the solutions that co-op members here in the commonwealth are seeking: the plans for new power that members are sharing with EKPC and the local distribution co-ops, a strategy that would create thousands of new jobs throughout the state in energy efficiency and renewable energy while helping EKPC avoid the further financial risk of a coal burning power plant.

The work that members, including Steve, are doing here in Kentucky would bring EKPC on par with co-ops in other parts of the nation, if EKPC would pay heed:

In Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, member-owners of electric cooperatives have implemented changes to ensure open meetings, voting and election safeguards, and to guarantee other fundamental rights.

And the reforms that other co-op members are working toward, mirror similar options for reform proposed by co-op members here in Kentucky:

Former Georgia Congressman Fletcher Thompson, a Cobb EMC member, believes that adopting a “bill of rights” for the co-op will help..."We want our electric co-op to welcome input from members. We believe that sound business practices go hand-in-hand with sound energy investments.”

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!