Coal and Water News | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Coal and Water News

Ohio Valley Residents Among Millions In U.S Lacking Access To Clean Water, Sanitation

November 19, 2019
Ohio Valley ResSource
Big Sandy, Cumberland, Harlan County, Perry County

Communities across the Ohio Valley are among an estimated 2 million people in the U.S. who do not have consistent access to clean drinking water and basic indoor plumbing, according to a report by two nonprofits, DigDeep and the US Water Alliance.

Read more

Disastrous Disconnect: Coal, climate and catastrophe In Kentucky

October 29, 2019
WEKU-FM
Enforcement, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Big Sandy, Enforcement, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Cumberland, Enforcement, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Harlan County, Enforcement, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Perry County

Flash floods have troubled Kentucky for decades. Now, extreme rainstorms are worsening with climate change, increasing the odds of more disasters like the one Bentley’s community endured. For Kentucky’s poorest residents, the people living in flood-prone hollows with surface mines nearby, that means an ever-present threat to both life and hard-won possessions.

Read more

We Need a Just Transition—Because We Should Abandon Coal, Not Coal Workers

October 28, 2019
On Earth
Just Transition, Big Sandy, Just Transition, Cumberland, Just Transition, Harlan County, Just Transition, Perry County, Just Transition, Western Kentucky

Taking care of those communities distressed by the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is an economic and ethical imperative.

The coal industry is dying. But we can’t allow the communities that have been dependent on coal to die along with it.

Read more

Love the Lake: Wilderness Trace chapter members celebrate Herrington Lake

September 18, 2019 at 06:21am
Wilderness Trace

The Wilderness Trace KFTC Chapter hosted a celebration of Herrington Lake on September 14. Community members ate hot dogs and learned about a variety of community resources for protecting the water quality of Herrington Lake while listening to Conrad Shiba and Joel Klepac play Bluegrass music. Electricity for the celebration was provided by Wilderness Trace Solar.

Read more

Corporate welfare leads to widespread injustice in Martin County, over and over again

September 13, 2019
Lexington Herald-Leader
Big Sandy

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.

Read more

No Kentucky coal company has complied with a law designed to protect miner wages

August 29, 2019
Lexington Herald-Leader

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.

Read more

Who is in office matters for protecting our water quality

August 26, 2019 at 01:00pm
Northern Kentucky

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.

Read more

Black Lung Disease Back and Worse Than Before

August 23, 2019
Inside Appalachia

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.

Read more

Many affected as Revelation Energy files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

July 9, 2019 at 04:24pm
Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Big Sandy, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Cumberland, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Harlan County, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Perry County

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.

Enterprise Coal Co. "Big Branch" mountaintop removal mine Knott County KY

Read more

Water connects us all – World Peace and Prayer Day 2019

June 25, 2019 at 12:17pm
Northern Kentucky

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.

Read more

Page