NATIONAL PBS BROADCAST/ INDEPENDENT LENS

We've just learned that Deep Down, funded by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), has been selected for the 2010-2011 slate of Independent Lens, a national Emmy-award winning PBS documentary series, whose episodes average ONE MILLION VIEWERS weekly. The show airs nationally Tuesday nights at 10:00pm on PBS. We 'll send another update when an actual air date has been set, which should be in July. The series runs from October through June each year, so we know it'll be at some point during that window.

Deep Down's broadcast premiere will be on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day at 10:00pm on April 22nd on Kentucky Educational Television (KET). Founded in 1951, KET has broadcast media throughout Appalachia for 60 years on PBS. Typical viewership is 20,000 households in the state at this time, so we hope Deep Down will reach many households where it can make a difference. Receiving such a prime spot during PBS' Earth Day programming is a great honor, a huge vote confidence for the film for the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and a major step towards opening up the dialogue around mountaintop removal in Kentucky and beyond.

LOUISVILLE SCREENING

This Friday, March 19, the Jefferson County Chapter will host a Kentucky Premier of "DEEP DOWN: A Story From The Heart Of Coal Country." There will be a panel discussion following the film. Included in the panel will be Beverly May from the film, filmmaker Sally Rubin, and Kentucky author Silas House.

When: Friday, March 19th, 2010
Where: Clifton Center
Time: 7:30pm
Cost: $5.00

For more information about Deep Down, please visit www.deepdownfilm.org

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.

___________________________

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.

Now that the House budget proposal has been out for a few days, we’re starting to see the extent to which the House contorted numbers and ideas to avoid having to support real reforms.

The budget does a couple of things that are not bad. It puts some much needed money into community health centers and services like Meals on Wheels, and starts to fund the Boni Bill, a bill that passed in 2007 to increase the protections of social service workers.  This funding is good and necessary.  But in addition to the cuts to higher ed, adult education, the school year and teacher pay, and services that we need, the budget does many things that show a lack of leadership by playing with our future instead of solving our problems of today.

The budget includes $74 million dollars that is the result of moving the one paycheck for state workers back one day, from June 30, 2012 to July 1, 2012.  This way, the $74 million dollars is technically part of the 2012-2014 budget cycle.  This little nugget was slipped in to the 238^th page of the House budget proposal.  It didn’t make any headlines, but was embedded in a Herald-Leader article about the House’s proposal to halve the salary of Economic Development Secretary Larry Hayes. 

It’s an important little nugget, though, because it shows the acrobatics that legislators were willing to perform to avoid taking up real solutions.  A budget that’s “balanced” because it pays state workers the day after the budget cycle?  It doesn’t inspire confidence, does it?

This shell game is also exactly the kind of game that jeopardizes Kentucky’s credit rating.  Kentucky is already on the watch list of some of these credit rating agencies, both because of our policy makers’ failure to pass sustainable revenue reforms, and because of our dependence on a manufacturing economy.  Moody’s is one such agency.  When their analysts look at Kentucky, they don’t see a credible borrower.  According to a memo from the Legislative Research Commission in September of  2009, Kentucky's leadership should be very concerned about what credit ranking agencies are seeing when they look at Kentucky. Here are the pieces of evidence they see:

Our lack of leadership predates the recession.  The LRC ehoes credit agencies' concern that Kentucky depends on one-shot, nonrecurring revenue sources to fund services and programs that we rely on every year.  Eventually, the smoke and mirrors aren’t going to be able to hide the ever-worsening real-world gap between the revenue the state brings in and the cost of the services that we need.

Kentucky is still bending over backwards to bring in manufacturing, which is not as good of an investment as it was fifty years ago, as we move toward a technology and knowledge-based economy.  This dependence, according to credit agencies, jeopardizes our standing as a worthwhile investment. 

Credit agencies and analysts maintain that states should evince some good faith effort toward keeping themselves financially secure.  Part of that effort is having a Rainy Day Fund, money reserved for emergencies.  Here, too, Kentucky falls short.  Leaders haven't adequately funded our Rainy Day Fund since 2001.  Our Rainy Day Fund is supposed to be between 3 and 5 percent of our General Fund revenue.  Kentucky’s is 0%.  We have no Rainy Day Fund.

These pieces of evidence aren’t good, and they've caused Kentucky's rating to slip from stable to negative. It's true that many states are in uncertain times.  But it's also true that thirty-three states have done something to raise the revenue they need to pull themselves through.  Oregon, for example, just passed a tax increase on income above $125,000. 

Kentucky, on the other hand, is going in the wrong direction.  The House budget would make Kentucky even more vulnerable.  If the debt in that budget passes—the debt that replaces the real revenue reforms that Kentucky needs—the credit rating agencies will also see these pieces of evidence:

• Kentucky will have taken on $2380 in debt for every man, woman, and child in our commonwealth, according to the Legislative Research Commission.
  
• According to the LRC, Kentucky’s debt as a percentage of our revenue will shoot up to 7.43%.  It’s supposed to stay below 6%.  When it gets too high, it sends another message to credit agencies that we’re not putting forth a “good faith effort” to generate revenue.
  

Why does this matter? 

Because when Kentucky doesn’t look credible to lenders, we pay higher interest rates. Those higher rates cost taxpayer dollars, dollars that most folks would rather see put toward smaller class sizes and clean water.  Kentucky's budget has had nine rounds of budget cuts since early 2008 for most public services, and these on top of chronic underfunding of these services and programs. 

We can't afford the borrowing in the House budget, but we can't afford the cuts, either.  Cutting school days from the calendar and adult education resources doesn't put Kentucky in a position to move forward. 

The House had a choice.  It could have chosen to invest in Kentucky's people by sending money back to the pockets of working families who are struggling with a state EITC, and by raising the revenue that we need.  Instead, it chose to play games with our future.

Take Action

• Write a letter to the editor supporting tax and revenue reforms that fix our broken system.  You'll find helpful tips and links to lots of local papers here, on an earlier blog entry. Writing these letters is valuable and easy!  Feel free to post your letter in the comments section so others can see your letter here.

• Call House and Senate Leadership, Senator Leeper, and your legislators and leave a message in support of a budget with fair and adequate reforms.

  Call the Legislative Message Line, 1-800-372-7181 (7am-11pm M-F of this week) and ask to leave a message for House and Senate Leadership and your own legislators (if you don't know their names, the operator can look them up for you). Leave a simple message like "This budget process is taking Kentucky in the wrong direction.  I support the fair and adequate tax reforms in HB 13 as solutions that will move Kentucky forward.”

• Contact Governor Beshear in support of a budget with fair and adequate reforms. Call him at (502) 564-2611, or email him through this link.  You can use the same message: "This budget process is taking Kentucky in the wrong direction.  I support the fair and adequate tax reforms in HB 13 as solutions that will move Kentucky forward.”

And feel free to share your thoughts about the House budget below!

Members from KFTC and other member groups in the Alliance for Appalachia lobbying in DC this week

We need your help to bring an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Join us today as part of a national day of action to end mountaintop removal coal mining.

This week, nearly 200 citizens from Appalachia and across the US are gathering in our nation's capital as part of the 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington – and hundreds more will show support by making a simple phone call.

Mountaintop removal coal mining is one of the most egregious environmental and social justice disasters in America today -- more than 500 mountains and 1.5 million acres of land have already been destroyed by this practice. Residents and supporters from across the US are asking for an end to mountaintop removal and an investment in sustainable economic alternatives for Appalachia.

This issue is urgent and the coal industry is working overtime to block the passage of this bill. That's why we need people like you to take a stand for the mountains.

Please take a moment to visit www.ilovemountains.org/call-your-rep -- we have a special call-in tool there that will allow you to make a phone call to your Representative - if you've never called your Congressperson before - this is the easiest way to do it! We'll walk you through the steps and help you know exactly what to say.

Thanks for taking action - because of people like you, we're as close as we ever have been to ending mountaintop removal.

At this juncture, we’re quite sure we have a little more than 60% support in the Kentucky Senate that we need to pass HB 70 - our proposed constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

We also have nine votes in the Senate State and Local government committee that the bill is presently in.  That’s two more votes than we need in the committee of 12 people.  

But just because we have the votes we need, it doesn’t mean that we’re sure we’ll win.
Incredibly, State and Local Government Committee Chairman Senator Damon Thayer (presumably backed up by Senate President David Williams) will still not allow the bill to come up for a vote. 

The campaign is now focused overwhelmingly on just two targets - convincing Thayer and Williams to allow the vote to be heard.

One of the most-effective things that you can do is to write a letter to the editor today.  It's faster and easier than you think (maybe even just 15 minutes)  and can make a real impact.

For maximum effect, send your letters to the Herald-Leader, the Courier Journal, or the Georgetown News-Graphic (Thayer's hometown newspaper).  Click on the name of the paper to go to a simple online form to send your letter.

Possible points or themes to use, but just pick one and keep it simple:

- Allow the Voting Rights bill to come to a vote in committee.  We have the votes to pass it and it's an obstruction of basic democracy for Thayer to block the vote.  Let the people decide!

- Kentucky is one of just two states that doesn't automatically restore voting rights to any former felons once they've served their time.  Once someone has served their debt, it's only fair.

- Tell a short  personal story about why this issue is important to you.  That's usually the most powerful thing to communicate.

You can also take a moment to contact these two key legislators personally to ask them to allow HB 70 to be heard – or contact your own senator to help put pressure on them.

Senator David Williams

Senate District 16
Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Monroe, Wayne, and Whitley counties

Email Form

Mailing Address
PO Box 666
Burkesville KY 42717

Frankfort Address
702 Capitol Ave
Annex Room 236
Frankfort KY 40601

Phone Numbers
Home: (270) 433-7777
Frankfort: (502) 564-3120

Senator Damon Thayer

Senate District 17
Grant, southern Kenton (southern), Owen, and Scott Counties

Thayer's Email Form

Thayer's Facebook Page

Mailing Address
102 Grayson Way
Georgetown KY 40324

Frankfort Address
702 Capitol Ave
Annex Room 209
Frankfort KY 40601

Phone Numbers
Home: (859) 621-6956
Frankfort: (502) 564-8100 Ext. 644

HB 70, our bill to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society, just passed the House floor 83-16, with strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans voting Yes!

Rep Jesse Crenshaw (D) and Lonnie Napier (R) spoke out strongly on the House floor in favor of the legislation.

Click Here for a PDF list of legislators who voted for HB 70.  Please thank them with a call or an email - particularly if your own Representative is on the list. 

This win closely follows our victory last week in which the same bill passed out of House committee unanimously.

Congratulations to everyone who has helped make this possible!

Now the real challenge begins in the Senate.  Pick up that phone and Call your Senator, write a letter to the editor, and otherwise spread the word, then join us for our major lobby day and rally in Frankfort on March 4th!

We can win this.

Do you have a few minutes to make a call to help pass our Restoration of Voting Rights Bill out of the House?

Last week our bill to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their time (HB 70) passed unanimously out of the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments committee, and we just learned that the bill has been posted for the Orders of the Day on the House floor, meaning it could come up for a vote very soon.

Since this bill is a constitutional amendment, we need a super-majority of votes in both houses of the legislature. We need members from all over the state to contact their legislators to express their support for restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

Take Action

Call the Legislative Message Line (1-800-372-7181) as soon as you can, and ask to leave a message for "House and Senate Leadership, Senate State and Local Government," and your own Representative and Senator.

The line is open until 11pm.

Message: "Please vote yes on House Bill 70."

PS - KFTC and our voting rights allies will be hosting a Voting Rights Rally and Lobby Day on March 4th. Look for more details on this event next week.

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!

Ashland The Daily Independent
Barbourville Mountain Advocate
Bardstown The Kentucky Standard
Benton Tribune Courier
Bowling Green The Daily News
Corbin Corbin News Journal
Corbin Corbin Times Tribune
Covington The Kentucky Post
Cynthiana Cynthiana Democrat
Danville The Advocate Messenger
Elizabethtown The News-Enterprise
Frankfort State Journal
Georgetown Georgetown News-Graphic
Glasgow Glasgow Daily Times
Greensburg Greensburg Record-Herald
Harlan The Harlan Daily Enterprise
Henderson The Gleaner
Hindman Troublesome Creek Times
Lawrenceburg The Anderson News
Lexington Lexington Herald-Leader
London The Sentinel-Echo
Louisa Big Sandy News
Louisville Eccentric Observer
Louisville The Courier-Journal
Maysville The Ledger-Independent
Morehead The Morehead News
Murray Murray Ledger & Times
Nicholasville The Jessamine Journal
Owensboro Owenboro Messenger-Inquirer
Paducah The Paducah Sun
Paintsville The Paintsville Herald
Pikeville Applachian News Express
Prestonsburg Floyd County Times
Richmond Richmond Register
Russellville News Democrat & Leader
Somerset Commonwealth Journal
Springfield The Springfield Sun
Whitesburg The Mountain Eagle
Williamstown Grant County News
Winchester Winchester Sun

    It's something simple and easy that can reach thousands of Kentuckians and help to educate, organize, and build awareness around the issues that we care about.  Even very short letters can be powerful.

   Letters to the editor are a free, effective way to let decision-makers and the community at-large know how you feel about important issues.

   Now is a great time to write a letter that can have an impact on the General Assembly and one of KFTC's priority legislative campaigns.

   Your letter to the editor should be:
- Brief (250 words or fewer, depending on the paper), easy to read, and to the point.  Some of the best letters are just a couple of sentences long.
- Focused on one issue, and maybe even one angle of a particular issue.
- Supported by key facts.
- Personal. Describe how you are affected or why you care about this issue.
- A call to action. What do you want decision-makers and members of the public to do?

College Campus Newspapers
EKU Eastern Progress
Murray State News
NKU The Northerner
UK Kentucky Kernel
UofL Cardinal
WKU College Heights Herald

By Roy Silver, Harlan County chapter member

"The biggest thing is our water resource.  Our water is really good now. What’s more important the water or the coal?  This is the best place in the world to live. You're not just taking out the coal, you're destroying generations of people who could live here and raise their families here.”  Bennie Massey, Lynch City Council

Harlan Development/A & G wants to strip mine Black Mountain above Lynch.  It would drain into Looney Creek, which feeds the Lynch Reservoir.

The discharge is a violation of the Kentucky Five-Mile Policy.  It “prohibits discharges into a stream within five miles upstream from any public water supply intake. Looney Creek feeds the head waters of the Cumberland River.  The strip mine could also impact downstream communities. 

This strip mine would place 18 new sediment ponds above the community, set off blasts near homes and historic buildings.

It will encroach on the upper elevations of Black Mountain.  Harlan Counties. The Kentucky Resources Council, KFTC and many others protected in 1999.

  To strip mine this area, the company must get a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers US EPA.  It will mine through and create a sediment pond at the headwaters of Long Rock Branch, (Magazine Hollow).  This feeds the Lynch Reservoir.  This strip mine could damage four other headwater streams.  

A&G’s Ison Rock Ridge strip mine in Wise County, Va. has been suspended.   It had history of federal violations.  Owners of Harlan Development Corporation owed over $1.5 million in mine safety violations.  Lynch residents are asking that this permit be denied.  They are also asking for a public hearing from the US Army Corps of Engineers. 

Send an email to the US Army Corps of Engineers and EPA asking officials to respect the concerns of Lynch residents, protect their water and community resources.

Submit comments by 4pm on Monday, February 1st.
Click here to go to the KFTC Action Page to send your letter.

Comments will be accepted after the deadline. For more information, contact colleen@kftc.org.

You can also send a letter by fax to:
Nashville District Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
(Attention: Marty Tyree)
3701 Bell Road, Nashville, TN 37214
Fax 615-369-7501