Campaigns
For twenty-five years KFTC has helped people organize and take action to hold the coal industry and regulatory agencies accountable. We have built a track record as an organization that gets things done. We work at the local level to protect land, water and people from harm at the hands of an outlaw industry. We have also organized successful statewide campaigns and contributed to national campaigns to strengthen mining laws and regulations.
We help people and communities build issue campaigns to solve critical problems. An issue campaign has a goal (what do we want), a target (who is the person who can make the decision) and a strategy with an action plan (what are we going to do). Some KFTC campaigns are straightforward and quickly resolved. Others involve multiple stakeholders and decision-makers and may last a decade or more. KFTC campaigns may include legal action, lobbying, media, demonstrations, voter education, and negotiation to win necessary decisions and agreements. They always include educating and involving people who are directly affected by the problem to make their voices heard.
Over the years, KFTC has won many issue victories related to coal and mining. These include campaigns like the successful effort in 1988 to ban the use of “broad form deeds” to strip-mine land without permission. KFTC’s first campaign resulted in a judge’s decision that the state must tax unmined coal at its fair market value. We were part of a national effort to change federal law and hold coal companies responsible when they damage underground drinking water. And in 2004 we helped to pass legislation that promotes the use of solar energy by homeowners statewide.
Many KFTC victories are not well known, yet meaningful. We’ve organized scores of communities to secure funding for water lines when their own drinking water is contaminated by mining. We’ve helped organize groups to address blasting and dust concerns, stop unsafe truck traffic, and protect important natural and cultural lands from mining. When communities experience problems with drinking water, mudslides, fly-rock, flooding, acid mine drainage and other hazards caused by reckless mining, we help turn those problems into organized campaigns. And we help people win concrete changes to protect and restore their quality of life.
The goals of KFTC’s Canary Project include: 1) win enforcement of and compliance with existing mining laws, 2) pass stronger laws when existing policies fail to protect human health and the environment, 3) develop sustainable economic alternatives to mining, and 4) promote renewable energy sources.
To advance those long-term goals, our members have developed and prioritized a number of issue campaigns. We work hard to help everyone involved understand how these campaigns are linked together, and how each of us is affected by Kentucky’s dependence on coal and destructive mining. To learn more about KFTC’s current Canary Project campaigns, click on the links below:
- Stop mountaintop removal and the destruction of headwater streams by valley fills
- Prevent the state from giving out incentives to coal-to-liquid companies
- Pass coal truck legislation for safer roads and better jobs for truckers
- Win local campaigns to improve and protect land, water and people. Click below to learn about three examples of current local campaigns:
Island Creek/Grapevine in Pike County
All of us in Kentucky are affected by mining, not just those living directly below the mine site. Whether you live in Louisville or Hazard, Maysville or Grapevine, we encourage your participation. Your involvement and support in these campaigns can make a real difference in the future of Kentucky. Be sure to visit the Take Action pages and learn more ways to get involved