Chapter: Harlan County

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.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today invalidated the 2007 version of the nationwide permit used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the dumping of coal mining wastes into hundreds of miles of Appalachian headwater streams.

The Corps had justified the using the National Permit (NWP 21) based on the "irrational" claim that burying streams with toxic mining wastes had no significant environmental impact.

“I’m thrilled they overturned this decision; it’s a victory for people in eastern Kentucky," said KFTC member Rick Handshoe, a party in the case whose family land in Floyd County is surrounded by mining. "People who live in eastern Kentucky deal with both the immediate and long-term cumulative impacts of mining everyday. Even when the mining is stopped and the coal company is long gone, we deal with the poisoned water and devastated land for decades afterwards.”