State dignitaries came to Inez last Thursday bearing gifts. Before a select group of invited luminaries from the state and local government, they announced money “they” would bestow upon Martin County.
Not a single coal company formed in Kentucky within the past five years has posted a bond required by state law to protect miner’s wages if their employer suddenly shuts down, according to records obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader. In addition, officials in Gov. Mat Bevin’s administration urged lawmakers last year to pass a bill that would have eliminated the requirement.
The Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) is a water pollution control agency established in 1948 among eight states that border the Ohio River. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia celebrated the 70th anniversary of ORSANCO in 2018.
Across Appalachia, thousands of coal miners have suffered from black lung disease. In the 1960s, miners organized a movement to end the chronic condition. They convinced Congress to pass new laws that were supposed to make black lung a thing of the past. Today, conditions underground have changed, and the disease has come roaring back.
KFTC members and residents of many other coal producing states and regions have followed the activities of Revelation Energy, LLC with increasing alarm in recent years.
They watched closely as the company went a buying spree, acquiring hundreds of mine permits and hundreds of thousands of acres of mines in Kentucky alone from 2014 to 2018. They tracked notices of dozens of safety, health and environmental violations and overdue taxes charged against Revelation Energy, many of which remain outstanding. (According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Revelation Energy has been the top violator of reclamation and environmental rules in each of the last three years.)
And throughout this year, KFTC members actively organized against proposed mining permits and permit amendments sought by Revelation Energy that threaten water quality and community well-being in Harlan and Pulaski counties.
Twenty-three years ago, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, began traveling the world conducting World Peace and Prayer Day. It takes place every annual summer solstice due to it’s sacredness among all cultures, to unite people of all faiths and nations to join hands in a day of prayer dedicated towards Mother Earth.
On June 6, the current standards set by the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) for monitoring water quality in the Ohio River became voluntary. Only two of the commissioners representing eight member states and the federal government voted against the measure.
An enthusiastic and diverse crowd turned out on May 11 at an event in Frankfort in support of a Just Transition to a clean energy economy and a Green New Deal for workers and communities.
The main event, a stop on a eight-city tour organized by the Sunrise Movement, was planned in partnership with KFTC and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ. The event featured State Rep. Attica Scott, KFTC members Kevin Short, Cassia Herron and Scott Shoupe, Sunrise Louisville Hub member Jenny Bencomo Suarez, Sunrise Executive Director Varshini Prakash, Erin Bridges, who plays a leading role in the Sunrise Louisville Hub and on the national Sunrise Steering Committee; and music by Appalatin.
After reintroduction in April, the bipartisan RECLAIM Act was debated and voted on during the May 1 House Natural Resources Committee markup, where the bill was passed out of committee on a bipartisan basis.
At the end of March, several KFTC members and staff traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to represent KFTC at the 2019 Member Convening of the Climate Justice Alliance.
CJA is a diverse yet aligned coalition of communities on the frontline of the climate crisis from across the country and world working for a Just Transition.
The member convening was a similar to KFTC's annual membership meeting – combining voting on key proposals and plans for CJA's work by CJA member organizations, with valuable moments of collective learning, relationship building and deepening alignment.
