As part of this year’s “I Love Mountains” day, more than 20 KFTC young people – all between the ages of 5 and 25 – met with five members of Governor Beshear’s staff.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss concerns about the harm that mountaintop removal coal mining creates as well as talk about creating a transition towards a clean and sustainable energy economy.  The KFTC meeting was entirely youth-planned and youth-led.

Six-year old Makayla Urias from Pike County shared what it is like living next to a mountaintop removal operation.  She talked about her polluted water, being scared from the large blasting noises, and having to cover her face when going outside because of the dust pollution.  She even brought some of her dirty water to share with the Governor’s office. 

The young KFTC members presented scientific information about the pollution and destruction created by mountaintop removal coal mining.  They also presented information about the economic benefits and jobs that could be created in Eastern Kentucky and the rest of the state if Kentucky chose to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives.

The group used a large board to list the questions they asked the administration with a space to mark answers they received as a “yes”, “no”, or “waffle.”  By the end of the meeting, the group received a commitment to meeting with Governor Beshear within a month.  The youth delegation is excited to begin preparing to meet with Governor Beshear.  They are even talking about having their next planning meeting over waffles! 

Below is a complete summary of their questions and responses received.

1.) Will Governor Beshear support S.B. 139 and H.B. 416, the Stream Saver Bill?
    Answer:  Waffle

2.) Will the Governor create and announce a plan to end mountaintop removal and valley fills coal mining?
    Answer:  No

3.) Will Governor Beshear support H.B. 408, the Clean-Energy bill?
   Answer:  ? (Will get back to us soon once they study the bill – stay tuned for their response.)

4.) Will the Governor begin working vigorously to create new, green jobs and a new clean energy economy in Kentucky, especially for coal-producing areas and workers?
    Answer:  Yes

5.) Will Governor Beshear meet with KFTC – within a month – to talk about mountaintop removal and Kentucky’s clean energy future?
    Answer:  Yes

Here is a 7-minute video summary of their meeting.  Click on the video to watch it.

KFTC youth-led "I Love Mountains" meeting with Governor Beshear from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

Here is a 2-minute video summary of just the discussion around renewable energy possibilities in Kentucky.

"Renewable is Doable" KFTC youth meeting with Beshear Administration from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

Former KFTC chairperson and Jessamine County farmer Henry Riekert has a strong piece in today's Lexington Herald Leader. You can find his full commentary here. (The following summary is also cross-posted on website of the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance.) 

Riekert writes:

"Every 45 minutes enough sunlight strikes the Earth to power every home and building in the world for a full year. The U.S. Department of Energy has determined that enough energy could be produced by offshore wind farms alone to power the entire country. Incredible, isn't it? All that clean, renewable energy readily available and we're still burning oil and coal...."

And he wonders:

"Why can't the USA do what other countries are doing? As my German grandparents always said, there isn't anything America can't do.Of course, that was then and this is now. We live in an America where corporations are people and money is free speech. Where oil and coal corporations spend millions of dollars every year to kill legislation that threatens their industry and to discredit scientists who sound the alarm. It's an America where members of Congress earmark public money to fossil fuel industries whose profits are measured in billions. Where industry executives tell elected officials which regulators to hire and fire. We've become an America where industry spends millions more every year spreading misinformation and outright lies."

Meanwhile, here in Kentucky, legislation is currently moving forward to a) remove the current ban on nuclear energy in Kentucky, b) create a caucus of legislators whose purpose is to promote the interests of Kentucky's coal, oil and natural gas industries, c) allow utility companies to condemn private lands in order to build pipelines to transport carbon dioxide captured from coal plants, and d) call upon Congress to prohibit the US EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.  

 Anyone looking for a good source of information about these and other energy bills pending before the Kentucky General Assembly should visit the website of the Kentucky Resources Council. Look on the left side for a link to "bills we are watching." KFTC also maintains a helpful bill tracker with summaries and status updates on the bills we've taken a position on. 

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!

KFTC has teamed up with several dozen ally groups and businesses to launch the Kentucky Sustainable Energy Alliance (KySEA) and promote clean energy solutions for Kentucky.

KySEA's website features an informative new blog found at www.kysea.org/blog. The site has timely stories about proposed energy policies and their impact on Kentucky, examples of clean energy solutions that are already working in our state, and opportunities to take action. Recent stories include:

* Messaging that works for climate and energy issues

* Kentucky Power proposes to raise rates by 35%

* Council appointed to develop a climate action plan for Kentucky

* Indiana legislator introduces a "feed-in tariff" bill to ramp up renewable energy production statewide

Take a moment to bookmark the KySEA site. And please let us know if you have an important story or idea we should be covering. We'll cross-post many important stories here on the KFTC blog as well.

Also, be on the lookout for an upcoming announcement about energy legislation that is expected to be introduced soon in the Kentucky General Assembly.

You can find links to watch the debate live here or you can listen to it live on WV Public Radio.

The Canary Project will also try to do some live streaming video interviews with members of the audience. You will be able to watch these interviews by clicking this Ustream link.

If you have suggested questions you would like asked please post them in the comment section for this blog post.

Downstream Strategies, an environmental consulting firm, recently released a report that urges Appalachian states to invest in developing their renewable energy infrastructure. According to an ABC News story the report:

predicts production in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee will fall nearly 50 percent within a decade and urges those states to adopt laws, low-interest loan programs and other measures to support the development of renewable energy sources.

The report goes on to say that this decline will be in part due to competition from cleaner burning natural gas but it also points to a dramatic decrease in easy to recover coal and increasing environmental controls.

Studies have shown that local ownership of renewable energy projects generates greater jobs and local revenues than corporate-owned projects. Therefore, support for local ownership of energy development will help to maximize the potential economic benefit of developing renewables.

Improvements and investment in energy efficiency can also generate new jobs and revenue, while saving businesses and residents money on energy consumption. Supporting measures include: energy efficiency resource standards, expanded demand response initiatives, building energy codes, low-income efficiency programs, and research and development support.

Finally, policy attention must be focused on developing workforce programs that will provide the skills and knowledge required for emerging and potential renewable energy industries, and should be coupled with energy-and investment-related policies aimed at spurring project development. 

According the the Energy Information Administration web site, power plants reduced their coal consumption by ten percent last year and the projections are for demand to continue to be low in 2010.

As Senator Byrd said late last year, "West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it, or resist and be overrun by it. The time has arrived for the people of the Mountain State to think long and hard about which course they want to choose." (Byrd, 2009)

You can download the report here. And a link to the ABC News story about the release of the report is here.

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.

202-224-3954

(The following text is an opinion piece U.S. Senator Robert Byrd issued on Thursday.  It appears below in its entirety.) Click here if you want to list to the audio version from Senator Byrd.

For more than 100 years, coal has been the backbone of the Appalachian economy. Even today, the economies of more than 20 states depend to some degree on the mining of coal. About half of all the electricity generated in America and about one quarter of all the energy consumed globally is generated by coal.

Change is no stranger to the coal industry.  Think of the huge changes which came with the onset of the Machine Age in the late 1800’s.  Mechanization has increased coal production and revenues, but also has eliminated jobs, hurting the economies of coal communities. In 1979, there were 62,500 coal miners in the Mountain State. Today there are about 22,000. In recent years, West Virginia has seen record high coal production and record low coal employment.

And change is undeniably upon the coal industry again.  The increased use of mountaintop removal mining means that fewer miners are needed to meet company production goals. Meanwhile the Central Appalachian coal seams that remain to be mined are becoming thinner and more costly to mine. Mountaintop removal mining, a declining national demand for energy, rising mining costs and erratic spot market prices all add up to fewer jobs in the coal fields. 

These are real problems. They affect real people. And West Virginia’s elected officials are rightly concerned about jobs and the economic impact on local communities.  I share those concerns.  But the time has come to have an open and honest dialogue about coal’s future in West Virginia.

Let’s speak the truth. The most important factor in maintaining coal-related jobs is demand for coal. Scapegoating and stoking fear among workers over the permitting process is counter-productive.

Coal companies want a large stockpile of permits in their back pockets because that implies stability to potential investors. But when coal industry representatives stir up public anger toward federal regulatory agencies, it can damage the state’s ability to work with those agencies to West Virginia’s benefit. This, in turn, may create the perception of ineffectiveness within the industry, which can drive potential investors away.

Let’s speak a little more truth here. No deliberate effort to do away with the coal industry could ever succeed in Washington because there is no available alternative energy supply that could immediately supplant the use of coal for base load power generation in America. That is a stubborn fact that vexes some in the environmental community, but it is reality.

It is also a reality that the practice of mountaintop removal mining has a diminishing constituency in Washington. It is not a widespread method of mining, with its use confined to only three states.  Most members of Congress, like most Americans, oppose the practice, and we may not yet fully understand the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the health of our citizens. West Virginians may demonstrate anger toward the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over mountaintop removal mining, but we risk the very probable consequence of shouting ourselves out of any productive dialogue with EPA and our adversaries in the Congress.

Some have even suggested that coal state representatives in Washington should block any advancement of national health care reform legislation until the coal industry’s demands are met by the EPA. I believe that the notion of holding the health care of over 300 million Americans hostage in exchange for a handful of coal permits is beyond foolish; it is morally indefensible.  It is a non-starter, and puts the entire state of West Virginia and the coal industry in a terrible light.

To be part of any solution, one must first acknowledge a problem. To deny the mounting science of climate change is to stick our heads in the sand and say “deal me out.” West Virginia would be much smarter to stay at the table.

 The 20 coal-producing states together hold some powerful political cards. We can have a part in shaping energy policy, but we must be honest brokers if we have any prayer of influencing coal policy on looming issues important to the future of coal like hazardous air pollutants, climate change, and federal dollars for investments in clean coal technology.

Most people understand that America cannot meet its current energy needs without coal, but there is strong bi-partisan opposition in Congress to the mountaintop removal method of mining it. We have our work cut out for us in finding a prudent and profitable middle ground – but we will not reach it by using fear mongering, grandstanding and outrage as a strategy. As your United States Senator, I must represent the opinions and the best interests of the entire Mountain State, not just those of coal operators and southern coalfield residents who may be strident supporters of mountaintop removal mining.

I have spent the past six months working with a group of coal state Democrats in the Senate, led by West Virginia native Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), drafting provisions to assist the coal industry in more easily transitioning to a lower-carbon economy. These include increasing funding for clean coal projects and easing emission standards and timelines, setting aside billions of dollars for coal plants that install new technology and continue using coal. These are among the achievable ways coal can continue its major role in our national energy portfolio. It is the best way to step up to the challenge and help lead change.

The truth is that some form of climate legislation will likely become public policy because most American voters want a healthier environment.  Major coal-fired power plants and coal operators operating in West Virginia have wisely already embraced this reality, and are making significant investments to prepare.

The future of coal and indeed of our total energy picture lies in change and innovation. In fact, the future of American industrial power and our economic ability to compete globally depends on our ability to advance energy technology.

The greatest threats to the future of coal do not come from possible constraints on mountaintop removal mining or other environmental regulations, but rather from rigid mindsets, depleting coal reserves, and the declining demand for coal as more power plants begin shifting to biomass and natural gas as a way to reduce emissions.

Fortunately, West Virginia has a running head-start as an innovator. Low-carbon and renewable energy projects are already under development in West Virginia, including:  America’s first integrated carbon capture and sequestration project on a conventional coal-fired power plant in Mason County; the largest wind power facility in the eastern United States; a bio-fuel refinery in Nitro; three large wood pellet plants in Fayette, Randolph, and Gilmer Counties; and major dams capable of generating substantial electricity.

Change has been a constant throughout the history of our coal industry. West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it, or resist and be overrun by it.  One thing is clear.  The time has arrived for the people of the Mountain State to think long and hard about which course they want to choose.

Today is our opportunity to speak directly to President Obama's team before he heads to the Copenhagen climate negotiations next week! Young leaders from across the movement have gathered in Washington DC, and we will spend the day preparing to tell EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis that we need bold, just and immediate action on climate and energy.

We need your voices in the room. You can join the forum today from 4pm - 7pm EST by watching the LIVE webcast at www.whitehouse.gov/LIVE or by providing comments and questions on the LIVE Facebook Chat at http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive/.  Remember to write blog posts and tweet them to @PowerShift09 with the Youth Clean Energy Forum's official hashtag: #YCEF. You can also watch a live feed of the twitter conversation at www.powershift09.org.

Congratulations on this big day for the youth climate movement and please join us this afternoon!

Whit Jones
Acting Field Director
Energy Action Coalition

Energy Action Coalition is a youth-led coalition of 50 organizations working together to fight for a clean, just and renewable energy future. Join the new Local Community and get your neighborhood involved in the national push for a future powered by clean energy and not by dirty politics.

For a list of Energy Action Coalition partners, please visit our Energy Action Partners page.

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