KFTC Blog

A group of KFTC members, along with about 35 fellow Appalachians, made their voices heard in the fight against mountaintop removal mining at the 8th annual Week in Washington.

PBS is running a dynamic, interesting, and accessible series about the US Constitution entitled Constitution USA. with new episodes in the series every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. central).  Locally, the program is on KET.

Coming up on May 21st, their episode will include a focus on voting rights for former felons and will include footage from one our last year's Singing For Democracy Gospel Festivals and interviews with KFTC leader Tayna Fogle and others. 

We're excited to see this story reaching a national audience. 

We've not yet gotten to see any footage of the episode, but we encourage you all to tune in on May 21st!

The Appalachia’s Bright Future conference, held in Harlan, KY April 19-22, brought together more than 200 people for conversations about shaping a just transition in eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia.

KFTC is pleased to now make available a large number of videos, presentations, notes, media coverage about the event, suggested next steps, and other documents that were shared or created during the weekend.

The collected information can be found here.

We appreciate all of the speakers, workshop presenters, artists and conference participants who shared stories and provided important information and perspectives. Even a brief review of the conference web pages makes it clear that this was a pretty extraordinary gathering and conversation.

As KFTC chairperson Sue Tallichet said during her opening remarks, “…it is difficult to envision more than a coal-based economy in our region. But I believe we have the opportunity, today, to build a diverse and healthy economy here in the mountains. Eastern Kentucky has many assets. We have a rich culture, an abundance of natural resources, and innovative, serious-minded, hard working people. Those things give us a foundation on which we can build.”

Justin Maxson, president of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, underscored the point. “…if you take anything away from what I say here today, I hope it is this: We know a lot more than we think we know. We have many more assets to build from than we often believe. And despite our many challenges, including rapid changes to our local and regional economy, there are innovative people providing hopeful examples all around us. What we need now is to knit these pieces together with a vision for Appalachian renewal and help grow them to scale.”

KFTC members and many of our allies in the region are spending time this month reflecting on the conference and developing key next steps. We encourage all KFTC members to bring your ideas and questions to the next chapter meeting in your area. You may also leave comments and questions on the conference web pages. And conference participants are invited to join a phone call on May 30th to discuss ways forward.

Together we can build Appalachia’s Bright Future.

KFTC members were part of a multi-state delegation that formally petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin a rule-making process to limit conductivity in the nation’s streams.

The petition was delivered to EPA officials in Washington, DC on Monday. The delegation was in the nation’s capital city as part of the annual Week in Washington, coordinated by the Alliance for Appalachia.

A formal petition was used because the EPA is required to respond. Central Appalachia residents have been asking EPA to begin the rule-making process since a federal court ruled last year that the agency’s conductivity “guidance” was not enforceable.