Beshear working to shield companies, block citizens

The Beshear administration will spend public funds to make sure that the same people who provided those tax dollars don't get a say in how well they are used to enforce the law.

On Monday, attorneys for the Kentucky Energy Cabinet informed attorneys for KFTC and other citizens groups that instead of cooperating with an order from Franklin Circuit Judge Phlllip Shepherd, they would instead appeal it. Shepherd's order, released on February 11, allowed KFTC and other groups and individuals to intervene in an enforcement case against Frasure Creek Mining and International Coal Group (ICG).

Energy Cabinet Secretary Len Peters just recently complained that his legal department was understaffed and in chaos. Yet he was quick to join the coal companies in additional and expensive litigation designed to keep citizens from from digging deeper into thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act that went unnoticed by the cabinet.

"This is not about any point of law. This is about the Beshear administration doing anything it can to shield coal companies from accountability," said Patty Wallace of Louisa. "Their actions would be laughable except they show how our state officials are owned by the coal companies."

Reporter Ronnie Ellis explains the latest development in this case and its background in a story in the (Ashland) Daily Independent. Read it here.

Related stories:

• Judge rules for environmentalists (February 11)
• Coal company's corrective plan to use same sample collectors (February 16)