balancing the scales - July 2010

balancing the scales Volume 29 Number 5

July 28, 2010

Senator Thayer still a target for voting rights reform Story on page 18

Inside...

Sunken Future: Charles Howard watches as his house sinks Federal bill would help governments make up for lost jobs Corps suspends use of rubber-stamped valley fill permits Agencies listen to members’ concerns about the Smith plant On-bill financing for energy efficiency upgrades important to Kentucky KFTC’s new organizing strategy: New Power Leader Program

Page

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Table of Contents

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Letters to the Editor Long-time KFTC member Daisy Luster dies, leaves strong legacy Dave Cooper reflects on meeting Daisy Luster Mine safety is always important Member Profile: Caroline Martin, Floyd County

page 3 page 3 page 4 page 4

Local Updates Sunken Future: Charles Howard watches as his house sinks

Harlan County mining permits in question by KFTC

Movement building happens at the U.S. Social Forum Candidates hear from Madison members

Coal ash dump not welcome in Louisville neighborhoods

Teges residents have seen disaster, want no more

page 5 page 6 page 7 page 7 page 8 page 9

Economic Justice Update Federal bill would help governments make up for lost jobs

page 10

Canary Project Update Kentucky water permits fail to protect from selenium

Corps suspends use of rubber-stamped valley fill permits

Mountain Justice Summer Camp a huge success

page 11 page 12 page 12

Rural Electric Cooperative Update Owen Electric Co-op pushed toward democracy, openness Agencies listen to members’ concerns about the Smith plant

page 13 page 13

KFTC membership dues are $15 to $50 per year, based on ability to pay. No one is denied membership because of inability to pay.

Membership is open to anyone who is committed to equality, democracy and nonviolent change.

High Road Initiative Update On-bill financing for energy efficiency upgrades important to Kentucky

page 16

KFTC Steering Committee

Voter Empowerment Ways KFTC members can participate in the electoral process Senator Thayer still a target for voting rights reform

page 17 page 18

KFTC News KFTC’s new organizing strategy: New Power Leader Program Officer nominations, platform review start annual process

Nominations for officers and committees

KFTC’s 2010 General Assembly legislation summary

page 14 page 19 page 20 page 21

is a statewide grassroots social justice orga­­ni­ zation working for a new balance of power and a just society. KFTC uses direct-action organizing to accomplish the following goals: • foster democratic values • change unjust institutions • empower individuals • overcome racism and other discrimination • communicate a message of what is possible • build the organization • help people participate • win issues that affect the common welfare • have fun

K.A. Owens, Chairperson Steve Boyce, Vice-Chairperson Pam Maggard, Secretary-Treasurer Doug Doerrfeld, Immediate Past Chair Susan Williams, At-Large Member

Chapter Representatives

Dana Beasley-Brown (Bowling Green) Jerry Moody (Central Kentucky) Rick Handshoe (Floyd) Carl Shoupe (Harlan) Becki Winchel (Jefferson) Cari Moore (Knott) Patty Amburgey (Letcher) Becca Parrish (Madison) Scott Goebel (Northern Kentucky) Randy Moon (Perry) Vanessa Hall (Pike) Sue Tallichet (Rowan) Rosanne Klarer (Scott) Alternates: Donna Aros, Matt Heil, Bev May, Stanley Sturgill, Martha Flack, Bobby Hicks, Jeff Chapman Crane, Ray Arnold, Truman Hurt, Erica Urias, Ted Withrow, Matt Doolin, Antonio Mazzaro.

Thank You Ashbourne Farms KFTC thanks Ashbourne Farms for hosting an amazing barn party on Friday, July 16, as well as those who attended. With the help of many people KFTC is promoting a new energy economy in eastern Kentucky, stopping the most egregious mining practices, organizing and turning out more voters than ever before and building a better Kentucky.

On the cover: Tanya Fogle and members rally outside of a fundraiser hosted by Sen. Damon Thayer.

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth P.O. Box 1450 London, Kentucky 40743-1450 606-878-2161 Fax: 606-878-5714 info@kftc.org www.kftc.org balancing the scales is published by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and mailed third class from Lexington, Kentucky.

Reader contri­butions and letters to the editor should be sent to 250 Southland Drive Suite #4, Lexington, KY. 40503 or tim@kftc.org.

Subscriptions are $20 per year.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page

Letters to the Editor

Long-time KFTC member Daisy Luster dies, leaves strong legacy

Daisy Luster, a KFTC member who helped resist the complete destruction of her community in Perry County, died on June 7. She was 68.

Daisy and her neighbors in Ary lived in the shadows of a massive mountaintop removal operation – one that caused significant damage to their homes, drinking water, roads and quality of life.

On many occasions, Daisy and her neighbors were forced – at the threat of bodily harm – from their homes for the convenience of coal companies. In an August 2005 interview, Daisy described some of the abuse she and her neighbors were subject to:

The mine was right on top of the hill from me.

They’d come down here and put signs all the way up the road past my house saying “blasting zone.”

They did a lot of damage. They broke mirrors. They broke things just sitting on the coffee table. They even broke dishes in the china cabinet. And windows. Cracked concrete in our driveway, around my store building. There’s cracks all the way up on our foundations. You wouldn’t believe it, all the damage they done.

And they didn’t seem to care that they’d done it, either.

“We’d have to leave our homes and go down to the top of the hill and stay until they let the blast off.

They’d block the road on both ends and make us go to one end, and wouldn’t let anyone through.

They destroyed our water. It destroyed everybody’s water. Mine was just like mud, murky looking.

When they told you to go, you had to get out right then. Everybody that lives here had to go to somewhere else.

They do anything they want.

We called the state and federal inspectors. They’d come out but do nothing.

It happened every day. This went on for a long time, a real long time.

We sure went through a bad time back then. You can’t believe it unless you go through it yourself.”

Dave Cooper reflects on meeting Daisy Luster Dear editor,

I read recently in the Herald-Leader obituaries that Daisy Luster of Ary, Kentucky had passed away.

I remember meeting Daisy sometime around 1998, when KFTC Organizer Ingrid Alt was taking people to see mountaintop removal sites around Perry County.

We also met Pauline Stacy and a man named Buster that day. Patty Draus and I rode in the back of a pickup through the woods and up a creek bed to get to the Starfire Mine, and then we saw MTR up close for the first time. I still have pictures from that day of Patty standing next to the tire of a gigantic rock truck. It was a memorable experience.

And I guess it was formative for Patty and [me], because we plunged into the Black Mountain campaign and we haven’t stopped working on the MTR issue since then - and that’s almost 12 years ago. It’s too bad we never got to thank Daisy and Pauline for their time that day, but I would like to take this opportunity now to thank all the residents of the eastern Kentucky and West Virginia coalfields who have opened up their homes to outsiders and city folk like me, and who have told us their stories. It’s important that this work continue.

Rest in peace, Daisy Luster.

Dave Cooper Lexington, Kentucky

In 1999, KFTC awarded Luster and her neighbors Pauline Stacy and Betty Woods the Joe Begley and Everett Akers Award – presented to members who go to jail, lose a job, or face some other major adversity because of their work for social justice.

This came after the women successfully challenged the coal company’s illegal use of an unpermitted coal haul road – where coal trucks were tracking mud onto the public road causing health and driving hazards.

The coal company sent its workers to picket in front of the women’s houses.

KFTC Offices and Staff MAIN OFFICE Morgan Brown, Robin Daugherty & Burt Lauderdale P.O. Box 1450 London, Kentucky 40743 606-878-2161 Fax: 606-878-5714 info@kftc.org

FIELD OFFICES Louisville

Central Kentucky

Jessica George, Jerry Hardt, Colette Henderson, Shameka Parrish-Wright and Nancy Reinhart 901 Franklin Street Louisville, Ky 40206 502-589-3188

Tim Buckingham, Jessica Hays Lucas, Erik Hungerbuhler, Brittany Hunsaker, Heather Roe Mahoney, Dave Newton and Ondine Quinn 250 Plaza Drive, Suite #4 Lexington, Ky 40503 859-276-0563

Bowling Green Patty Tarquino 606-335-0806

Berea Lisa Abbott, Amy Hogg, Carissa Lenfert, Sara Pennington Kevin Pentz, and Martin Richards 435-R Chestnut St, #2 Berea, Kentucky 40403 859-986-1277

Berea Daisy Luster pictured above (speaking) circa 1998, at rally in front of the office of Addington Resources.

Stay up to date at www.KFTC.org/blog

Teri Blanton 118 Baugh Street Berea, Ky. 40403 859-986-1648

Northern Kentucky Joe Gallenstein 859-380-6103

Whitesburg Willa Johnson, Tanya Turner, and Colleen Unroe P.O. Box 463 Whitesburg, Ky 41858 606-632-0051

Floyd County Brittany Combs Floyd County, Ky. 606-422-0100

e-mail any staff member at firstname@kftc.org except for Jessica Hays Lucas use jessicabreen@kftc.org and Brittany Hunsaker use brittanyh@kftc.org

Page 4

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Member Profile: Caroline Martin, Floyd County ful. In fact, when I think back about organizing and how it applied to my life, I think about when the workers that my dad worked with decided to strike and go union. They would have to vote a union in.

I remember going with my dad to stand on picket lines and also marching in parades with signs that said “Vote Yes.” The company tried its best to pit workers against one another, even though at the same time the company was trying to pretty well diminish health coverage for its employees.

I remember going with my dad to stand on My dad taught picket lines and also marching in parades my sister and me at an early age to with signs that said “Vote Yes.” The comstand up for what pany tried its best to pit workers against we believed in. I one another, even though at the same time have tried to apply that to every situathe company was trying to pretty well dition in my life. The minish health coverage for its employees. organizing efforts paid off for my dad Caroline Martin, Floyd County and the company he worked for – the union was voted in. families are one of the things that I beShortly after that I began to see lieve make us Appalachians unique. how organizing could really creGrowing up as the daughter of a ate change. My eighth grade year of deep miner I remember many nights middle school, the principal said it was when I would sit and worry if my dad not in the school’s budget to give the would return home from work the next eighth grade class a formal cap and morning. Although I knew the nature gown graduation ceremony. I and a of the work, it seemed like the fear few of my classmates did not feel that never seemed to cease. this was fair, considering every previMy dad did not raise us to be fearI live in Wayland. I was born and raised in eastern Kentucky and have lived here my whole life. I am a mother of two children, Alex and Kennedy. I feel fortunate to have been raised in a place like eastern Kentucky. This is my heritage, and this is where all of my family is from.

Growing up close to my grandmother I was able to hear the stories about how life in the mountains used to be. She taught me to sew and had an instrumental role in teaching me values that I hold very dear. Close-knit

The Central Kentucky chapter is saying goodbye to Susan Williams (second from left), who is moving to Tennessee at the beginning of August. Chapter members already are saying she’ll be sorely missed. Williams has worked tirelessly for KFTC for many years, including as a current member of the Executive Commitee.

Williams’ work for social justice will continue as she becomes involved with SOCM (Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment) in Tennessee.

ous graduating class had gotten a formal ceremony.

I decided to organize my eighth grade class around the issue. We all met up and drew out a strategy around how we would approach the issue.

After meeting with the principal and asking, he still gave us a “no.”

We decided to push back even more and do a walk out. The day we did the walk out, I and about 15 other students went in front of the school

and sat down, legs crossed, for over three hours until the principal came outside and agreed to give our class the graduation.

It is evident that through working together you can create change that will last and make a difference. That is why I am so glad that I made the choice to be a KFTC member. My family values, along with my personal dedication to see others be treated with fairness, can be achieved through working with KFTC.

Martin testified at the East Kentucky Power Co-op (EKPC) Smith I power plant water permit hearing on June 8 at the Clark County Extension Office.

Letter to the Editor

Mine safety is always important Dear editor, Yesterday afternoon [June 16] we lost an underground miner, Jim Carmack, age 42, in a tragic mining accident. Please keep his family in your heart and thoughts.

A beam that dislodged when a roof support was pushed loose by falling debris struck Mr. Carmack. He worked at the Lone Mountain mine in Clover Fork where my friend’s husband is also an underground miner who has also been hurt on a number of occasions at the same mine.

Far too often these men’s lives are treated as an expendable resource with a surplus of others waiting in the wing.

These tragedies are downplayed and more often than not, the families will have to fight for any compensation. Of course, they cannot truly be compensated when left widowed with children who now must face life without their fathers.

Most of us in coal country are not against underground mining; we just ask that these men (and now I think one woman) be given safer conditions in which to earn a living. Whenever you see the newspaper ads, bumper stickers, etc. that tout “Coal keeps the lights on,” remember that it’s a real man, most often with a family, that truly keeps the lights on.

Please think of them each time you flip the switch, turn on your dryer, buy scores of prepackaged foods, fail to recycle or make irresponsible purchases.

We all must take a small role in defending these men against such blatant injustices. Much like a soldier, they put their lives on the line every single day for the benefit of their nation. We owe them so much.

Elaine Conradi Benham, Kentucky

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page

Local Updates

Sunken Future: Charles Howard watches as his house sinks

by Ivy Brashear Reprinted from the Hazard Herald

VIPER – Charles Howard dreads the rain. He doesn’t want to see it moving in because it means yet another sleepless night for him.

He stays awake all night while his wife and two daughters sleep. There’s a flashlight kept in a convenient spot and periodically, Howard steps out into the rain to check on his yard.

He’s making sure it’s not shifting, that the cracks that run under the front right corner of this house aren’t growing in width.

In these heavy, stationary, nighttime rains, he fears for the stability of his house and the safety of his children.

“I’ve got my family in there,” Howard said. “My house could instantly start sinking in.”

Howard fears this because, according to mine maps he’s acquired, his house on Destiny Lane in the Middle Fork of Maces Creek in Viper is sitting directly on top of an old mine shaft, and his yard is chock-full of subsidence cracks.

These cracks, Howard claims, have

Diamond Coal was the owner when the mine was closed and sealed. Finally, ownership now lies with James River Coal Company out of Richmond, Va.

Howard said James River is still mining the same coal seam once found under his house in Leatherwood.

“They’re still picking pieces,” Howard said. “They’ll pick until we’re all in the ground.”

The sinking begins

In December 2009 on a Wednesday, Howard and his family heard a deep rumble in the earth surrounding their home.

On Friday of that same week, Howard was attending a meeting and received a phone call from his wife, Nancy.

“She said, ‘Have you noticed that crack in the yard?’” Howard said. Of course he had noticed the crack made after that Wednesday’s rumble, he told her. But this, Nancy told him, was different; this crack was deep and wide and very noticeable.

“You literally had to step down about four feet [into the crack],” Howard said.

By the next weekend, the crack in the Howard’s yard had “You literally had to step down about four grown into a 10 foot feet [into the crack],” Howard said. By the deep mini-canyon.

To date, the deepnext weekend, the crack in the Howard’s est section of the yard had grown into a 10 foot deep mini150 foot long crack canyon. To date, the deepest section of measures 14 feet.

“And it just the 150 foot long crack measures 14 feet. keeps going and going,” Howard appeared because an abandoned undersaid. ground mine directly beneath his house

At first, the 14 foot chasm was the has begun to collapse. The roof bolts that only crack that Howard had to worry once supported the mine were removed about. But, over the seven months since when the mine was sealed in 2005. that crack first appeared in December,

Howard has been noticing subsidseveral other fissures have appeared, ence cracks on his property for years. and these are encroaching ever closer to They first started to appear in his back Howard’s house. yard when the hillside behind his house

The ground under one of the posts began to sink. supporting his porch is beginning to re “All of this back here [behind the cede, giving the post the look of coming house] actually had sunk down right at out of the ground on its own accord. eight feet,” Howard said.

The same cracks that are causing

He blames several coal companies the earth to fall away from his porch for his troubles, saying ownership of the post have also brought the ground unmine has been transferred several times. derneath Howard’s heat pump with When the mining started, the mine was them. He’s had to re-prop it because owned by Leeco Coal Company. Blue heat pumps won’t work properly if they

aren’t on a level surface.

The 14-inch thick concrete floor in his basement has started to crumble, and the roof and floor inside his house are buckling. Inspectors have told him this is all because his house isn’t simply sinking into the earth; it’s slowly twisting on its foundation under its own weight as a result of the constantly shifting earth surrounding it.

It’s not only the cracks in his yard that Howard has to worry about anymore. Water is seeping up through the cracks and onto the surface of his yard. Howard had this water tested, and said the results of those tests indicated the water is what Howard calls, “mine acid water.” This translates to mean the water is coming directly from a coal mine.

“It is high in conductivity – it is high in all of it,” Howard said. “… The largest crack in Howard’s yard began collapsing they (the inspectors) said in December 2009. He said inspectors told him this it is so unusual to find was just a slide; but Howard notes the way the bushes mine water this high [in and trees in the sunken part of the crack lean back the ground].” toward his house, indicating that they are sinking into

Howard is convinced, the hillside, not slipping down the hill. and said he’s been told by Photo provided by Ivy Brashear, Hazard Herald several Office of Surface said. “And one guy wants to stand up Mining inspectors, that his property is and say, ‘I just can’t make the decislowly sinking into an abandoned mine sion.’” shaft and that the cracks in his yard are

When contacted about this story, in fact subsidence cracks.

DeRossett said he preferred to have

“Every one of them, except the one questions from the press be answered inspector, is saying this is mine-related,” by the director of the Kentucky Office Howard said. “There’s no question.” of Surface Mining Reclamation and En Howard said that one inspector is forcement, Jim Dickinson.

Clyde DeRossett, and he has to agree

Dickinson said Howard’s insurance with the majority opinion in order for claim was still pending, and he couldn’t Howard’s case to be settled. If he doesn’t speak about specifics of the claim. Howagree, the case will not move forward. ever, he did say OSM would make a

He said DeRossett came to his house decision about his claim by the end of to complete an inspection, but Howard this week and notify Howard of that said DeRossett would not allow him to decision through a letter. be outside while he was conducting the

Dickenson said OSM has been invesinspection. tigating Howard’s claims of subsidence

“It’s amazing that they (the inspecsince 2003 by sending inspectors and tors) can look at this, and all of them say the same thing: mine-related,” Howard (continued on next page)

Page

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Local Updates

Harlan County mining permits in question by KFTC

by Nola Sizemore

In an effort to save the water reservoirs and historical sites in Benham and Lynch, Stanley Sturgill, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, presented a petition to members of the Lynch City Council at a meeting recently. The petition questions surface mining permits submitted to the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources.

“A lot of people don’t seem to realize it’s very possible we could lose our water eventually because of mining all around us – over top and underneath our water reservoirs,” said Sturgill.

“We’re very concerned about how proposed mining will affect the Benham and Lynch reservoirs. In this petition, we’re asking the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources to please take a very close look when evaluating these permit requests.”

Sturgill said Harlan Development/A&G, Nally & Haydon, Meadow Branch Coal LLC/Massey Energy and Harlan Reclamation/Massey Energy were wanting to mine under Benham, Lynch and near Looney Creek and Gap Branch.

“They want to destroy streams that feed our reservoirs and the mountain above Benham and Lynch,” said

Sturgill. “We’re concerned about the Portal 31 Exhibition Coal Mine, Lynch Depot, Benham Coal Miners Memorial Theater, the School House Inn and the Coal Museum. They are all part of our history and heritage. The National Trust for Historical Preservation has listed Black Mountain as one of the 11 most endangered historic places. There has been $30 million spent on Portal 31.

It’ll all be lost if they mine under these places.”

Sturgill said plans were being made to restore the old restaurant and fire station in Lynch, near Portal 31. Sturgill said tourism could not be built if these facilities were not protected.

“Most of all, we want our miners to be safe,” said Sturgill. “Some coal companies insist on profits over the coal miners’ safety. We don’t want our mountains destroyed by any type of surface mining. If the coal companies compromise our water or our heritage, we can’t move forward. Black Mountain has a great potential for wind power. We could create many new jobs for our young people through this potential. Our future and our children and grandchildren’s future depends on the right decisions. Please don’t let our precious drinking water or our beautiful mountains be destroyed.”

Sturgill said he wasn’t against coal mining. He said he had worked as a coal miner for 41 years. He said this coal could be mined, but “mined right” underground.

“By stripping off the mountaintops, the water would be gone and once the water is gone we don’t have anything left. We’re not asking for the coal com-

panies not to mine underground, but to mine with a bumper zone around our water systems.”

A copy of the petition will be available to be signed at Lynch City Hall.

because the money it would take to fix it was too much to spend on one house.

Howard said this is why he’s asking for the insurance settlement: so he can relocate his family to a safer residence.

“I can’t live here another winter,” Howard said. “The wintertime is going to make it (the house) go completely.”

Through Howard’s struggle to win his settlement, he has noticed the problem of subsidence is not only affecting him and his family. Several of his neighbors have begun to notice cracks and sink-holes in their yards.

One of his neighbors had to rebuild the entire front of his house because it was starting to sink. Howard said the front of his neighbor’s house has already started to sink again.

Another of his neighbors had to have two new water wells drilled on his property because they kept becoming

contaminated by methane gas from the mine shaft underneath his house. Howard said his neighbor was able to light a piece of paper on fire, drop it into one of his old wells and the paper would cause a small fireball to shoot back out of the well because of the gas.

A neighbor who is facing similar problems told Howard he didn’t know what to do to remedy his situation because “you can’t beat the coal company.”

Howard said he doesn’t believe in that mentality.

“If you stand up long enough, you can tag them a little bit,” Howard said.

“It’s better than letting them destroy your property and take everything away from you.”

As for Howard and his family, they have begun to pack up their belongings and store them elsewhere until the settlement is made and they can move.

“I’m going to make a stand, and if I have to sleep outside in my truck… I’ll do that, because I have to,” Howard said.

“I have no other means of anything.”

He said he built his house with all intentions to leave it to his children someday, and now, he said this dream will never come to fruition.

“Literally, they’ve stolen a way of life from me,” Howard said. “And I think they need to bring it back and give it back.”

He said he wants to be compensated for this loss, even if it takes longer than expected.

“It was brought up to me that I don’t have much money in this place,” Howard said. “I’ve got time, I’ve got blood, I’ve got sweat… I’ve got the aggravation now from what they’ve done to me and what they took and made me go through, and it’s worth it to me [to fight].”

Looney Creek in Harlan County is one of the water sources that is threatened by pending coal mining permits.

This article originally appeared in the Harlan Daily Enterprise and can be found at www.harlandaily.com. Search for KFTC.

Sunken Future: Charles Howard watches as his house sinks (continued on previous page) geologists to investigate his property.

“They were looking for a way to associate the slide with mining,” Dickenson said. He would not state, though, whether or not OSM had determined that Howard’s problem was caused by subsidence. He said this was a “perplexing situation” and that because OSM had not yet made a final decision about Howard’s claim, he would not elaborate about the case.

Rising to the challenge

Howard said he is worried about the fate of his house, which inspectors have told him will probably collapse within six months to a year.

He has asked OSM inspectors what could be done to save his house. They told him they could not save his house

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page

Local Updates

Movement building happens at the U.S. Social Forum

For a week in late June, two-dozen KFTC members with dozens of Kentucky allies (from Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Women In Transition and other groups) teamed up with tens of thousands of activists from across the U.S. (and across the globe) in Detroit for the U.S. Social Forum.

“It was overwhelming in a wonderful way to be here with so many kindhearted people struggling for what’s best,” said Becki Winchel of Louisville.

There were more than 1,000 workshops focusing on a broad range of topics including environmental justice, anti-racism, immigration reform, lobbying, gay rights, anti-war, economic justice, nonviolent civil disobedience, and much more. Building upon that, there were also plenary sessions, actions, social events and other activities to help learn new organizing skills and to network with allies.

“I’m an old radical and I’ve never been around this many other radical people – including lots of young people in leadership roles,” said Jack Norris, a Jefferson County chapter member. “It was an opportunity to kind of pass the torch to the next generation.”

KFTC members hosted two powerful workshops: “The Struggle For Justice in the Coalfields of Central Appalachia and Colombia” and “A Discussion About the Life and Example of Anne Braden.” More than 60 participants attended the workshops.

The engaged participants asked good questions and seemed to get a lot out of the experience.

The Alliance For Appalachia (including KFTC members) set up a booth

Vanessa Hall of the Pike County chapter.

KFTC members are beginning to digest and analyze their experience and are getting a sense of what they brought back to Kentucky with them.

throughout the Social Forum to talk to people about mountaintop removal coal mining and other damages inflicted on communities by the coal industry.

“No matter how isolated we feel sometimes, we are part of this broader, bigger, energetic movement – and it’s good to be reminded of that,” commented

“This week has re-instilled my faith that America is a place for everyone … regardless of gender, physical ability, financial status, race, etc. Some people forget that we are supposed to have inalienable rights. But here, it felt real,” described Howard Owens of the Jefferson County chapter.

Since the primary election in May, Madison County KFTC members have been busy meeting with all the local candidates running in the 2010 general election for state house and senate seats. The chapter organized “candidate issue briefings” with the candidates, which were designed to be an educational opportunity for candidates to learn more about KFTC’s state legislative agenda.

“The candidates have been receptive to hearing our positions, especially those ‘new to the game,’” said Berea member Steve Wilkins. “It is really important to get KFTC’s name, actions and goals out to the candidates before they begin campaigning in earnest.”

The issue briefings covered fair and comprehensive tax reform, voting rights, clean energy solutions, and protecting Kentucky’s rivers and streams from mountaintop removal valley fills.

To date, the chapter has held five candidate issue briefings and are in the process of scheduling the last one.

These issue briefings have been especially important in Madison County this election cycle because two state legislative seats are “open” seats (there is no incumbent running for re-election for either seat).

Berea KFTC member Carey Hanson agreed. “These issue briefings let us put our platforms out there with the candidates running for the first time. It

also lets us continue our dialogue with sitting legislators running for re-election.”

George Eklund, Becki Winchel and Russell Oliver were among the KFTC members who attended the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit.

Candidates hear from Madison members

Members reflect on the life of Grace Lee Boggs

While at the U.S. Social forum in June, many KFTC members had the privilege to see Grace Lee Boggs and Immanuel Wallerstein speak about movement building and the challenges that face us.

At 95 years old Grace Lee Boggs is a long time activist in Detroit. Member Jack Norris compared her legacy to that of Ann Braden, “Grace Lee Boggs is important because in the 60s her and her husband were the advisors to the Black Panther Party in Detroit. She is an activist and feminist and was instrumental in bringing peace between the Panthers and the police.”

“I think it’s important for everybody to see the folks who helped pave the way for organizations like KFTC. The thought process was laid down by people like Grace Lee Boggs and Anne Braden.“

“Her whole story is really powerful to me,” reflected Norris. ”I’ve been following her for years. She was one of those brilliant people who has it figured out and is straight up and down to earth about it. At 95 she could still speak about it like she did when she was 20, and that’s amazing.”

“Grace Lee Boggs with her academic background could have stayed safely in the halls of academe or found a comfortable spot in elite society,” added K.A. Owens. “Instead she has dedicated her life to creating a better life for all people.”

Candidate Issue Briefings in your area Want to hold candidate issue briefings in your area?

There are a few guidelines to follow when holding candidate issue briefings to ensure they are nonpartisan and are fair to all candidates running for office. You will want to talk to a KFTC staff person before scheduling an issue briefing. If you are interested in holding candidate issue briefings in your area, contact KFTC organizer Carissa Lenfert at 859-893-1147 or Carissa@kftc.org for more information.

Page

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Local Updates

Coal ash dump not welcome in Louisville neighborhoods

This summer, KFTC members in Jefferson County have ramped up their work to protect the health of local residents by stopping LG&E (Louisville Gas & Electric) from building a new 60-acre coal ash landfill.

The proposed facility at LG&E’s Cane Run Road coal-burning power plant in southwest Louisville would hold 5.7 million cubic yards of coal ash and reach a height of 14 stories. It would store large amounts of toxic waste near residential areas.

Last month at the Americana Community Center’s World Fest, members had the opportunity to talk to south Louisville residents. Armed with handouts on Louisville’s connection to coal and coal ash in Kentucky, they spoke to festival-goers about the proposed landfill and collected signatures on petitions.

A map was used to show how close the community center, which serves many refugees and immigrants, is to the proposed fill: roughly six miles.

“It felt like I was undeniably on the right side of history,” Curtis Morrison, a festival volunteer for KFTC, said of the experience. “I was able to talk to people about issues that will negatively affect them that they were not even aware of.

It feels good to empower people with knowledge like that.”

Community members were able to take action against the proposed fill by

submitting comments to the Kentucky Division of Waste Management. The waste discharge permit has yet to be released, so this was an important opportunity for concerned residents to give their input and potentially influence some of the conditions of the permit.

In a matter of just a few days, more than 300 people submitted comments through an online KFTC action alert.

Organizing to stop the new LG&E coal ash landfill has served as a way for members to more directly connect Jefferson County to KFTC’s work to end mountaintop removal and to promote sustainable, renewable energy in Kentucky.

“Not only does this affect a large community right here in river city, but it opens the door for us to reiterate what we have been saying for such a long time: we all live downstream,” said Becki Winchel, a member who lives in south Louisville.

Members have also seen how KFTC’s work on coal ash also connects members with people working on chemical and safety issues in Louisville.

Rubbertown, a part of Louisville that has a high concentration of industrial and chemical plants, is just a few miles down the road from the Cane Run plant. Residents in nearby neighborhoods not only face the pollution from LG&E, but also the pollution from Rubbertown plants.

On June 20, several KFTC members joined with Rubbertown Emergency Ac-

The dots represent the schools, churches and community centers located within a two-mile and five-mile radius of the proposed Cane Run Road coal ash pond.

The Cane Run Road coal-burning plant is located in southern Louisville. tion (REACT) to rally for toxic chemical reform and for full disclosure and notification of residents during chemical leaks.

The rally took place one week after residents were urged to “shelter in place” after a Dow chemical leak.

Morrison was one of the members at the rally. “I’ve only lived in Louisville for half a decade but I can’t remember how many times chemical leaks have been treated casually in our community.

Friends of mine that live in the area didn’t find out about the leak that they were supposed to be indoors until they read Facebook statuses later in the day.”

Just as Rubbertown residents fear for their health and safety, so do Louisvillians worry about the environmental and public health impacts that come from being exposed to toxins found in coal ash, including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and selenium.

According to a 2007 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report, people living near coal ash impoundments face up to a 1 in 50 risk of getting cancer and risk liver, kidney and lung damage.

Jessica Deis and her family live about six miles from the Cane Run power plant.

“I am personally interested in this issue not only for my own health and wellbeing, but more so for my children, my friends’ children, and so on. I hate to think that this earth will be in even worse

condition than it currently is when they’re my age. Anything I can do to prevent that from happening, I’m willing to do.”

Deis and her family recently stopped by the Cane Run Road plant to see the exiting coal ash fill. “It was surreal. It was like a really bad dream,” she described.

“The conveyer constantly pumping fresh steamy ash, the irony of the cemetery situated directly in front of it. The sheer size was overwhelming.”

Deis and other Jefferson County members are coming together to hash out principles and strategies for stopping the coal ash landfill.

On top of talking to community members and generating public comments, KFTC members were instrumental in bringing this issue to the attention of the Louisville Metro Council’s Energy & Environment Committee. This committee held a special meeting to learn more about the proposed coal ash fill and heard presentations from LG&E and from Kentucky Waterways Alliance.

Some next steps for the local campaign are to host informational community meetings and to organize a canvassing effort in neighborhoods within five miles of the Cane Run Road plant.

To get involved in this new campaign, contact Beth Bissmeyer at beth@kftc.org or 502-5893188.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page

Local Updates

Teges residents have seen disaster, want no more

In recent weeks another community

At the informal permit conference in the mountains of eastern Kentucky several people who live in Teges raised has begun organizing to try to protect questions about the proposed permit. the local streams and their peaceful One, Marti Allen, lives right on Teges community.

Creek and is very concerned about the

This community is located in Clay potential for flooding.

County along the South Fork of the Ken “Is the coal company going to be tucky River in the community of Teges responsible for damage to my land?” not far from Oneida.

Allen asked. She went on to say that the

The people in Teges became concommunity of Teges “is home. It’s my cerned when Anne and Edmund Shelby heart.” and their neigh Other residents bors noticed an anraised concerns nouncement in the about the potential “In 1983 a gas well blew up local paper for a for blasting damand Teges was on the national proposed coal mine age to their homes news. Well, we don’t want

by Blue Mountain and the dust and Teges to make the national news mud from coal Mining. The probecause of another disaster.” posed site is betrucks making the tween the upper twisting country Jessie Lynne Keltner roads even more and lower branches of Teges Creek dangerous. that flows into the J e s s i e Ly n n e South Fork of the Kentucky River.

Keltner talked about recently seeing the

The Shelbys and their neighbors return of some fresh water mussels to the quickly requested an informal permit creeks. Many of the creeks had been polconference and then began to reach luted by oil and gas drilling in the 1980s out to friends and neighbors to better and they are just beginning to show understand what kind of mining was signs of recovering from the damage. being proposed. As it turns out there

“In 1983 a gas well blew up and are several mines being proposed in and Teges was on the national news. Well, around Teges and Crane Creek. we don’t want Teges to make the nation-

al news because of another disaster,” said Keltner.

Now residents fear they may lose the beauty of their creeks for good once they fill up with sediment from the mining.

The community had hoped that the Kentucky Division of Water would recognize the importance of keeping Upper and Lower Teges Creeks and the South Fork of the Kentucky River as an outstanding water resource and require Blue Mountain Mining Inc. to get an individual 402 Kentucky Pollution Discharge Elimination System (KPDES) permit.

However, the Kentucky Division of Water just recently allowed all of the coal company’s pollution discharges to fall under the General KPDES.

The community is drafting a letter and asking friends and neighbors to sign in support of requesting the Kentucky Division of Water and the governor to reconsider the use of the 402 General KPDES permit.

Take Action!

The next community meeting for the people in Teges will be August 12 at 7 p.m. at Anne and Edmund Shelby’s home. All friends and neighbors are welcome to attend.

For more information call Kevin Pentz at 606-335-0764 or email kevin@kftc.org.

When was your last gift to KFTC? Check the front cover under your name to find out.

Recruit One New Member and Help KFTC Grow To Be 25,000 Strong!

I want to help KFTC build power!

Name: Address:

Who asked you to join KFTC? Suggested membership dues are $15-$50 annually. ____ One-time Gift: Amount $_____________ ____ Pledger: I will contribute $___ every (check one):

__ Month __ 6 Months __Quarterly __Annually

City, State Zip:

Phone:

Authorized Signature: ___________________________ Date: _____________

Email:

Card # __ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __

I wish to make my donation to the following organization (check one): ____ KFTC (not tax-deductible) ____ Kentucky Coalition (tax-deductible)

Circle one: Mastercard

Visa American Express

Discover

Expiration date: ___ ___ / ___ ___ Cardholder’s name (as it appears on the card): _____________________________ Date: ____________

Bank Withdrawal/Credit Card Payment Authorization: I authorize KFTC/KY Coalition & Vanco Services, LLS to debit my account or charge my credit card in accordance with the information provided. I understand that this authority will remain in effect until cancelled or changed by reasonable notification to KFTC/KY Coalition.

For bank drafts, return this form with a voided check from the account you wish to have the withdrawal made. For checks, please make payable to KFTC or the Kentucky Coalition and mail to: KFTC • P.O. Box 1450 • London, Ky. 407431450.

Page 10

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Economic Justice Update Local Jobs for America Act

Federal bill would help governments make up for lost jobs

One in every 10 would-be working Kentuckians are looking for a job. Many more are looking for a full-time job, or one with more adequate pay.

Janet Tucker, former KFTC chairperson, has been fighting for decent wages and good jobs for decades. Today, she sees a renewed urgency. “I think fighting for jobs right now is probably one of the most crucial things we can do.”

“With 10 percent of people unemployed … and a tremendous number of people who are underemployed or working for minimum wage, jobs are a crucial issue for the basic well-being in our country.”

KFTC recently endorsed the federal Jobs Act, which would invest nearly $100 billion in saving or creating jobs that serve the public interest through government and community-based organizations.

Much of the aid is in direct response to the states’ need for help getting through the recession. About half of the funding from HR 4812 would keep people from losing their jobs because of state budget shortfalls.

Twenty-five percent would enable state and local governments to create new jobs, and 25 percent would go to community organizations to hire new employees.

Kentucky is one of the states that is in urgent need of revenue. The recession exacerbated Kentucky’s already antiquated tax structure.

In passing Kentucky’s two-year budget in May, state legislators were looking for assistance from the federal government to fill in some of the funding gaps created by their inability to raise adequate revenue to meet the state’s needs.

The Jobs Act serves as one avenue for help.

“The jobs bill speaks to pulling states out of this horrible financial crisis.

In Kentucky, it doesn’t take the place of state tax reform, but we can’t keep having so many people out of work,” Tucker explained. “This bill is meeting people’s needs and boosting the economy, and we need that right now.

We have to put people back to work.

Bottom line.”

Heeten Kalan (above left) is a program officer with the New World Foundation which has provided important support for KFTC in recent years. Kalan has visited Kentucky numerous times, viewing mountaintop removal up close and talking with members who are directly impacted by coal issues. Recently, Christy Brown coordinated efforts to ship “Missing Mountains” and “Plundering Appalachia” to Heeten in Cape Town, South Africa where he personally delivered the books to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s office.

Above, Heeten is pictured delivering the books to Ayanda Bala-Diego in the Archbishop’s office. While there, Heeten also invited the Archbishop to come to eastern Kentucky next spring , a visit that Tutu is considering. A big thanks to Heeten and Christy for making this important exchange happen.

Take Action

Supporters of the legislation estimate that one million jobs would be saved or created. The Jobs Act is in the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the Committee on Education and Labor.

U.S. Rep George Miller is the chief sponsor, with 163 cosponsors.

Only one of those cosponsors is from Kentucky – Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville. Kentucky Rep. Brett Guthrie is on the full Education and Labor Committee though not on this particular subcommittee.

ACTION: Call your U.S. representative and ask them to become a co-sponsor to the Jobs Act. (If Rep. Yarmuth represents you, call to thank him!)

Rep. Ben Chandler: Lexington: 859-219-1366 D.C.: 202-225-4706

Rep. Hal Rogers Hazard: (606) 439-0794 D.C.: (202) 225-4601

Rep. Geoff Davis Fort Mitchell: 859-426-0080 D.C.: 202-225-3465

Rep. Ed Whitfield D.C.: 202-225-3115 or 800-328-5629

Rep. Brett Guthrie: Bowling Green: 270-842-9896 D.C.: 202-225-3501

Rep. John Yarmuth Louisville: 502-582-5129 D.C.: 202-225-5401

HomeGrown HideAways presents the 2nd annual Holler in the Holler Music Festival, August 20-22. This coalfree art and music event takes place on a 100 acre farm in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Music includes everything from bluegrass & folk to rock & jazz, plus fire dancing, spoken word performances, hula hooping, henna, yoga, drum circles, bonfire, local food, grassroots tables, & much, much more. Advance tickets are only $25 for the whole weekend, including camping, or $35 at the gate.

Visitwww.HomeGrownHideAways.org for more details.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page 11

Canary Project Update Kentucky water permits fail to protect from selenium

The failure to timely release the results of selenium tests in streams below coal mining operations illustrates one of the many problems with the commitment of Kentucky officials to enforce water quality laws.

Most coal mines are required to obtain a “402” permit (named after the section in the Clean Water Act) in order to release pollutants into streams. This is distinct from the “404” permit some may also need in order to fill streams with mining wastes (valley fills).

Polluters may get either a “general” 402 permit, which is lumped together with other similar type facilities, or an “individual” 402 permit, which separately examines and controls each discharge. Both are issued under the Kentucky Pollution Discharge Elimination System (KPDES) program.

General 402 permits cover point source water discharges from coal mines for five years. Once a new general permit is issued then any coal company that has a sediment pond may apply to be covered under that five-year life of the general permit. Kentucky last re-issued its general 402 permit a year ago.

It is widely believed that the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection, that oversees the Kentucky Division of Water, buried studies on selenium levels in eastern Kentucky streams until after the 2009 general permit was re-issued. State officials have denied this charge.

Environmental groups such as the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, the Sierra Club and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment

had tried to find out the results of Kentucky’s selenium tests for two years through Freedom of Information Act requests. But Kentucky officials did not release the information until after the deadline for comments on Kentucky’s re-issuance of the 402 general permit last year. This meant that groups could cite specific data in pushing the state to protect the public from elevated selenium levels.

As a result, neither the Kentucky individual or the general 402 permits adequately measure for selenium, a naturally occurring heavy metal linked to birth defects in fish.

According to Ken Ward Jr.’s Coal Tattoo blog, “the new general permit in Kentucky requires for selenium only a one-site sampling sometime during the five-year life of a permit authorization.

It sets no limits on selenium discharges.”

Kentucky issued 2,133 KPDES 402 permits in 2009, all but 100 of those permits fell under the general permit.

Kentucky has not classified surface coal mines as “major” KPDES facilities.

Kentucky’s KPDES permitting also falls short in monitoring streams for conductivity levels (a general measure of stream pollution) and for whole effluent toxicity, though this is required by federal law.

For these and other reasons, KFTC and other groups have petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw Kentucky’s authority to enforce the KPDES program, asking that federal agency to take responsibility for doing so.

State’s Failure

The General Assembly’s failure to adequately fund environmental protection programs has a lot to do with Kentucky’s inability to protect the public from water pollution.

According to a review by the U.S. EPA, Kentucky had the equivalent of just one full-time worker for the 2,133 KPDES permits issued in 2009.

And by issuing general permits rather than individual permits for 2,033 of these mines, Kentucky lost more than $4 million in permitting fees — more than enough to allow the Kentucky Division of Water to hire adequate staff to review permits.

EPA notes needed improvements in Kentucky’s KPDES program According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s review of the 402 permitting program, Kentucky can improve in a few areas through: 1. Better collection of background information on the streams where the polluted water will be discharged. This would help to determine the correct levels of certain pollutants that could be discharged without reaching critical in-stream levels. Also needed is better coordination of information collected for 402, 404 and coal mining permits.

2. Better Anti-degradation Analysis. If a stream is determined to be polluted then Kentucky is supposed to come up with a plan to allow only limited discharges of that pollutant in order to reduce pollution levels in the stream over time and bring it back into safe limits. However, with regards to coal mining, a coal company just has to show on a questionnaire that the mining will have a beneficial economic impact on the area. Then they are allowed to add more pollution to the streams. KFTC members have seen many situations where coal companies will lie on these questionnaires, such as one company in Clay County that said 90 percent of the coal severance tax would come back to Clay County, and on another in Floyd County where the company said 40 families from the local community were employed by the mine. Neither was true.

3. Improved permit documentation. Kentucky has concentration levels for some pollutants in streams, but according to our allies at the Kentucky Waterways Alliance, it is impossible to get the calculations from the Kentucky Division of Water to determine how much of any one pollutant a coal mine can discharge so they are not adding too much additional pollution to the stream.

4. More communication between all of the different agencies working on 404, 402, 401 and coal mining permits. EPA concluded that the communication that is happening is too informal to be effective. One area where KFTC and environmental groups have concern is that while the Kentucky Division of Water is authorized to enforce the Clean Water Act in Kentucky, it is the Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE) that is collecting the discharge monitoring reports from coal companies. There is an “agreement” between the Division of Water and the DMRE that if DMRE sees a violation they will “be sure” to let the Division of Water know so they can issue a violation 5. Full funding. EPA says that all of the central Appalachian coal-producing states dedicate too little money to the branches of government that are issuing 402 permits. As stated in the EPA report, “Kentucky has the largest number of surface coal mine permits and the fewest dedicated full time employees. This appears to be one reason Kentucky has chosen to use a general permit for coal mines.”

Page 12

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Canary Project Update

Corps suspends use of rubber-stamped valley fill permits

In a major step toward protecting water resources in Appalachian communities, on June 17 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended the use of the Nationwide Permit 21 (NWP 21) for surface coal mines.

“It’s just about time somebody did the right thing instead of people just doing what is easy. It makes me believe that what we do can and does make a difference – and it can make a difference quick,” said Letcher County member Vanessa Hall.

Ending NWP 21 valley fill permits – which for years had been rubberstamped by the Corps and routinely overlooked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – means that coal companies can no longer use streams as a dump for their mining wastes without going through a more rigorous permitting process to protect the public.

The change also will allow citizens more voice on mountaintop removal

permits in their community as coal companies instead go through an individual permitting process for each mine.

This individual permitting process requires more scrutiny from government agencies to make sure permits are following the law and using good science.

This step forward won’t stop mountaintop removal coal mining – but it will slow it down and further enforce rules and laws that have already been enacted but not adhered to.

KFTC members have pushed for this change, including at a public hearing in Pikeville last October during which they were booed and harassed by many. Though greatly outnumbered, many stayed late into the night to give testimony in support of clean water and enforcing the law.

“I’ve been harassed by people at work and neighbors over my testimony and it is disheartening to keep saying the same message and have nothing

happen,” said Hall, who testified at the public hearing in Pikeville

The most recent Corps action signals a step forward on an agreement signed last year by the EPA, the Department of Interior and the Corps of Engineers with a goal to minimize the overall impacts of surface mining. On the basis of sound scientific studies, the EPA made it clear that the NWP 21 process was not appropriate for coal mining valley fills and suggested that the Corps suspend the practice.

NWP 21 permits were general mining permits that lasted for five years and did not require coal companies to submit individual environmental impact evaluations for each mine. In theory, they only were supposed to be issued when the intended mining had minimal adverse environmental impacts. In practice, coal companies filled valleys, streams and violated the law while operating under these permits.

Mountain Justice Summer Camp a huge success

by Dave Cooper

More than 250 people came to Letcher County, in the heart of the Kentucky coalfields, for sun-drenched Mountain Justice Summer Camp 2010.

This was the largest Mountain Justice camp to date and most ambitious: totally off the grid, with power supplied by a gigantic mobile Greenpeace solar truck, and a 1500-square foot outdoor pavilion and stage built entirely by Mountain Justice volunteers and community members for the event.

The camp was atop beautiful Pine Mountain at Wiley’s Last Resort and had a good view of an active mountaintop removal mine site nearby on Black Mountain, plus plenty of opportunities to meet local residents fighting the mine.

Mountain Justice Camp 2010 offered nine days of workshops on Appalachian issues including mountaintop removal, plus mountain music, bonfires, dancing, hiking, mountain biking and great speakers like Wendell Berry, Silas House and “Mountain Keeper”

Larry Gibson.

Attendees came from as far away as California and Massachusetts. Weather was great and volunteers kept everyone fed and happy. The solar showers and composting toilets worked very well.

Mountain Justice hopes to hold its next camp at the same location in May 2011 and they’d love to have KFTC members join them!

To learn more about Kentucky Mountain Justice visit www.mountainjustice.org.

One-third of all mountaintop removal permits were approved through this process.

Daymon Morgan Receives Berea College Lifetime Service Award

KFTC member Daymon Morgan received a 2010 Berea College Service Award, given to recognize people who have rendered outstanding service to society in achieving the ideals of Berea College’s Great Commitments. This includes emphasizing the Christian ethic of service to others, asserting the kinship of all people, creating a democratic community dedicated to equality, and promoting a way of life characterized by plain living, pride in labor well done, zest for learning, high personal standards and concern for the welfare of others.

Morgan has been fighting strip mining and mountaintop removal for several decades.

After retiring from his job in the north he returned home to Leslie County, and soon learned that his sibling had sold mineral rights for some of the family homestead to a coal company, which had begun mining using mountaintop removal. Morgan was incensed and immediately joined KFTC to try to save his family home place and to fight to preserve the land. He was instrumental in the successful 1988 broad form deed constitutional amendment campaign, and served two years as KFTC’s chair beginning in 1990.

Pat Wear and former West Virginia Congressman and environmental activist Dr. Ken Hechler also received the awards along with Morgan. You can view a video story about Daymon by visiting: www.kftc.org/daymon.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page 13

Rural Electric Cooperative Update

Owen Electric Co-op pushed toward democracy, openness

This summer KFTC members Tona Barkley of Owen County and Dallas Ratliff of Scott County ran for the Owen Electric Cooperative’s board of directors.

They both ran on a platform of openness and democracy, affordable energy, and good, local jobs.

After gathering signatures in order to get on the ballot, Barkley (District 1) and Ratliff (District 3) along with friends and volunteers and support from KFTC talked with many Owen Electric co-op members. They planted themselves in busy parking lots and went door-todoor to have conversations with members in areas served by Owen Electric.

“I started small, with a small, motivated group of people from my community,” Barkley reflected on the campaign experience. “I’ve been amazed at what a few of us working together could accomplish.”

Barkley decided to try to get on her co-op board because last year she learned that board meetings were closed to members. She put a request before the board, asking them to open their meetings. Board members voted to keep them closed.

So the conversations Barkley, Ratliff and campaign volunteers had with coop members focused largely on making

Owen Electric more open to its members. They asked folks to sign a petition calling for a Members’ Bill of Rights that would ensure open meetings, open records, and fair and safe elections.

This message resonated with nearly everyone they met.

“There was a general sense that everyone agreed that the board meetings should be open,” said Ratliff. “I was shocked at how many who came to vote actually agreed with what we were saying.”

In the end, approximately 400 co-op members signed the Members’ Bill of Rights petition.

Yet, even with such a strong message that resonated with so many folks, neither Barkley nor Ratliff was elected to the board on June 25.

The voting took place only in-person at the co-op’s annual meeting of members and was at-large, meaning anyone in any district of the co-op could vote for the candidates in the two districts up for election.

KFTC’s analysis is that this method of voting is not the most democratic and worked against Barkley and Ratliff.

KFTC’s platform of co-op reforms calls for mail-in ballots and in-district voting.

With this method of voting, folks would

cast ballots for board directors who will directly represent them, and those who are unable to attend the annual meeting will still be able to participate democratically in the co-op.

Even though Barkley and Ratliff aren’t yet on the co-op board, they both feel there is good momentum going forward, and further opportunities for working to open the co-op and convince the board to make better energy choices.

KFTC members and allies continue to push regulatory agencies to bring an end to the proposed coal-burning Smith plant in order to move Kentucky’s rural electric cooperatives toward a clean and just energy future. At least one of those agencies appears to be listening.

Last month, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) announced it is launching a full investigation into the need for the coal-burning Smith plant that East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) plans to build in Clark County near the Kentucky River.

The PSC decided to open the investigation after responding to a complaint that KFTC and allies filed last October.

KFTC and co-op members are pleased the PSC is taking a good, hard look at the need for the Smith plant.

Given the large expense and financial burden it would be for ratepayers, and

the potential for more affordable, cleaner energy options, a closer examination of the Smith plant is a logical step for the PSC.

The PSC investigation centers around the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the plant that the PSC granted in 2007. Costs, electricity demand, technology and EKPC’s financial stability have since changed significantly, undercutting EKPC’s arguments that it still needs the plant.

The PSC has the power to stop the proposed Smith plant and help move EKPC in the direction of more affordable and cleaner energy options. As part of its investigation, the PSC will hold a hearing later this year that will be open to the public.

KFTC members are also working to encourage other permitting agencies to question the need for the Smith plant

and to protect the public by denying the required environmental permits.

On June 8, about 125 people attended a public hearing held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about a proposed permit that would allow EKPC to impact Kentucky waterways and wetlands with coal ash. Of the 32 people who took the microphone, 31 opposed EKPC’s plan to build a new coal-burning power plant in Clark County.

This “dredge and fill” permit – also called a 404 permit – would allow EKPC to impact more than 14 miles of streams including 210 stream channels and nearly 5 acres of wetlands, burying about half of these waterways that feed into the Kentucky River under toxic coal ash.

Many speakers focused on the dangers of mercury in the coal ash and other potential long-term effects. The Corps of Engineers will consider the comments in

“I didn’t win, but I hope I helped create some momentum in a new direction,” Barkley said. “I ran because I’m tired of people blocking progress. I want to be part of developing new solutions, to begin a transition to new energy, new power.”

Ratliff agreed. “I look forward to keep pressing the board for more openness and honesty. There are a lot of folks that now know that [an election] is possible.”

Dallas Ratliff (left), Tona Barkley (right) and friends campaigned at the Owen Electric annual meeting.

Agencies listen to members’ concerns about the Smith plant

deciding whether to grant the permit.

John Patterson, who owns land adjoining the site, said he worries about his family and how the plant will affect future generations. “This is something that, quite frankly, is scaring me to death.”

Patterson said Kentucky has an opportunity to be a leader in innovative energy technology. “The eyes of the nation really are upon us,” he said.

KFTC member Miranda Brown, also a Clark County resident, worries about her drinking water. “Ninety-four percent of my drinking water comes from the Kentucky River,” she said. Brown gets her water from Winchester Municipal Utilities, which has intakes near the site where coal ash will be dumped.

The public comment period for the permit ended in June, and now it is up to the Army Corps to decide whether to issue the final permit.

Page 14

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

KFTC’s new organizing strategy: New Power Leader Program The KFTC Steering Committee retreat on July 10 was especially energetic and inspiring because it focused on New Power Leaders, KFTC’s new organizing strategy. Participants moved through the day in a series of exercises and role plays that gave them a feel for getting started as New Power Leaders.

What is the New Power Leader Program?

In 2008, KFTC launched the New Power Initiative to grow the organization, build power, elevate our skills, and win our campaigns. We’re tired of old power in which a few politicians and wealthy industries hold all the cards. Our members are ready for new political power, new economic power, and new energy power that give ordinary people a voice. We will have 25,000 members within five years and achieve new power to influence the direction of our state.

The New Power Leader (NPL) program is how we’ll get there. Each New Power Leader will lead a cluster of 5 to 50 people and stay in regular contact with each person on KFTC issues. Some New Power Leaders will be experienced KFTC leaders, and others will be newer to the work. We’re not looking for super hero leaders – just ordinary folks having conversations that help build our power. We hope to recruit 250 New Power Leaders this year and 1,000 within five years.

“The NPL program is about members informing other members,” said KFTC member Cari Moore. “Then we can all be more active. This gives momentum and motivation. Folks will want to do more because their fellow members are asking them.”

What is the role of a New Power Leader?

Each New Power Leader will have five primary responsibilities: • Help form a cluster of five or more others and activate them through regular communication • Become an informed KFTC leader • Learn new organizing and leadership skills • Become a sustaining giver by contributing (at any level) on a monthly or quarterly basis, and encourage others to contribute as they can • Channel your best ideas and biggest frustrations – and those of your cluster – back into KFTC

New Power Leaders are expected to have four to six conversations per year with members of their cluster. But NPLs can also be creative and go beyond this baseline by encouraging cluster members to participate in KFTC activities such as rallies and workshops, organizing cluster activities such as letter writing parties or lobby trips, and contributing stories and information about their clusters back to KFTC through balancing the scales or one of the KFTC blogs.

Martin Mudd practiced his “elevator speech” about KFTC during the New Power Leader Steering Committee Retreat.

Steps in the New Power Leader Process Get asked to be a New Power Leader.

Some have already been asked to be a New Power Leader because of your experience with KFTC, your interest in an issue, or your potential to help others get a little more involved in KFTC. Others of you will probably be asked soon. Or you can contact KFTC staff if you’re interested.

Who should serve as New Power Leaders? Certainly KFTC’s active leaders (Steering Committee members, chapter leaders and issue leaders) will make great NPLs because they’re already having conversations with others about the work. But other KFTC members – such as at-large members who don’t have chapters but want to connect more with other members or folks who aren’t ready to be super leaders but have time to spread the work to a few more folks – would also make great New Power Leaders.

KFTC member Homer White considers himself more of a follower than a leader, but he says the NPL program offers him a way to bring others on board: “My weak point is bringing others into the process – and yet KFTC is as much about empowering our brothers and sisters as it is about winning on issues that we have a passion for. The New Power Leader program gives me the opportunity to work at creating moments of empowerment for others, through sustained personal encounters.”

Say yes! You’re a New Power Leader!

K.A. Owens and Becki Winchel worked together during the New Power Leader Steering Committee Retreat.

Once you’ve agreed to become a New Power Leader, KFTC will equip you with tools and resources to help you fulfill the five baseline responsibilities. You’ll get a New Power Leader Handbook and access to the NPL web pages, where you can find materials and learn from other New Power Leaders. You’ll also have a staff contact person who’ll check in with you and provide support as you grow into this new role.

Once you’re ready, start preparing your “elevator speech” about KFTC so you feel confident talking to others about becoming members of your cluster.

What’s an elevator speech? It’s a way of saying briefly what KFTC means to you and why you became a member. As New Power Leader Greg Capillo says, “We want to make people understand in a minute and a half how good it feels to be a KFTC member.” (continued on next page)

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page 15

KFTC’s new organizing strategy: New Power Leader Program (continued from previous page)

What are some goals of an elevator speech?

• Presents a clear and short picture of KFTC • Is inspiring and conveys excitement • Provides clear next steps for getting involved

• Is personal • Is respectful of others’ ideas

The content of your elevator speech will depend on you and your interests as well as the interests of the person you’re talking with. Develop a speech that feels comfortable to you and emphasizes information you’re familiar with. KFTC member Marty Mudd describes it this way: “People won’t remember a bunch of statistics and information. They’ll remember a story. Craft a good story.”

Here are a few short elevator speeches. Yours could be slightly longer or shorter, depending on the circumstances.

I got involved with KFTC because I was worried about mountaintop removal.

KFTC is working with local folks in Eastern Kentucky who are affected by this practice. KFTC also works on lots of other issues in response to the needs of members – like tax reform and voting rights, for example. With KFTC, I get to lobby in Frankfort and talk with legislators about my concerns. KFTC gives me a voice on issues I care about.

I got involved with KFTC because I was worried about Kentucky’s budget problems and their impact on Kentucky schools. KFTC has developed a tax reform package that is more fair and sustainable. KFTC also works on lots of other issues in response to the needs of members – like mountaintop removal and voting rights, for example. With KFTC, my voice is combined with thousands more so we can have a bigger impact.

Identify your cluster.

The first big step for a New Power Leader is developing a list of potential cluster members. Your staff person can help you think about who might be good to ask. It can be people you know in your local chapter or neighborhood, or even KFTC members you don’t know. It might also be friends or colleagues who aren’t yet KFTC members but share an interest in the kind of work KFTC does or care about the issues KFTC works on. Your staff person can help you get contact info for your cluster members.

Ask folks to join your cluster.

Once you have a list, think about the best way to get in touch with each person.

In person or by phone is probably best, but other possibilities are email, Facebook message, or getting a group together for dessert.

You might want to practice your ask before trying it out on a potential cluster member. In addition to your KFTC elevator speech, explain that you’ll want to get in touch on a regular basis (at least 4-6 times per year) and talk about KFTC issues and ways the person can support the work.

Get and stay connected!

With your cluster…

The key to the New Power Leaders program – and KFTC’s future – is building relationships. In building relationships, we build power for the change we seek. As we talk with others, we deepen their knowledge and engagement of issues, leading them to take action. And when KFTC members are more informed and active, our influence on policy makers will increase.

“We want to make every KFTC member more informed about issues than the average bear,” said Capillo. “When we have thousands of informed, concerned folks talking to each other and impacting their communities, then elected officials will pay attention.”

Once your cluster is formed, you’ll touch base with these folks at least four to six times a year. You’ll have your own ideas for these conversations, but KFTC will also help by providing “conversation sparks” on the New Power Leader web pages. A “conversation spark” is simply a topic for a possible conversation a NPL might have with cluster members. The spark will include some background information and some ideas about how to engage cluster members on that topic.

One conversation should be asking your cluster member to join KFTC or renew his/her membership. Another conversation should be asking your cluster members to vote. These conversations help ensure that KFTC’s work is sustained by our grassroots members and that those members are voting and encouraging others to vote as part of the healthy democracy KFTC is working to create.

Other conversations will involve sharing a victory, asking for input, or inviting the cluster member to take action. These conversations will engage cluster members more deeply in KFTC’s work and offer them opportunities to get involved by making a phone call, signing on to comments, or coming to an event.

“People like to know that something can be fixed,” said Sue Tallichet “It’s our job as New Power Leaders to let them know that they can be part of a solution.”

A Share a Victory conversation could mean letting someone know of a positive step in an issue they care about, such as a good move by the EPA on mountaintop removal.

An Ask for Input conversation might invite the cluster member to suggest topics for a meeting or provide feedback on an event they just attended such as the KFTC Annual Meeting.

A Take an Action conversation might be as simple as inviting someone to a chapter meeting. Or it could be more issue-oriented, such as encouraging the person to call the legislative message line to voice an opinion on an issue, sign on to comments about proposed rules, attend a rally, or write a letter to Congress about a particular piece of legislation.

Where will you find information to share with your cluster members?

• Through conversations with your staff person and other New Power Leaders • Through “conversation sparks” on the NPL web pages (npl.kftc.org) • From the KFTC web site, especially the blog www.kftc.org/blog With other New Power Leaders & KFTC…

Once you become a New Power Leader, you’ll be invited to join the NPL web pages, where you’ll find “conversation sparks,” discussion forums to chat with other NPLs, and resources for your cluster. In addition to providing you with information, the NPL web pages and your staff person are important avenues for you to feed information about the NPL program back to KFTC.

Where can NPLs take us?

When fully realized, the New Power Leader program will help us achieve the Kentucky we all want. Clusters across the state will take action. Clusters will renew their membership and support the work. Clusters will vote and encourage others to vote, strengthening our democracy and adding new voices. And new clusters will emerge, building our power.

“When people told me about KFTC growing to 25,000 members, I was skeptical,” Capillo says. “But now, after learning more about the New Power Leader program, it seems totally possible. It’s going to be a great five years.”

Excited?

Intrigued?

Inspired?

If you’re ready to become a New Power Leader or just want to learn more, contact your organizer or Carissa Lenfert at Carissa@kftc.org or 859-986-1277, ext. 224.

Page 16

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

High Road Initiative Update

On-bill financing for energy efficiency upgrades important to Kentucky

Recently KFTC endorsed the federal Rural Energy Savings Program Act, described in the June 2010 issue of balancing the scales, which would create an energy efficiency improvement loan program for Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECC).

Under the Rural Energy Savings Program Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) would create a $4.9 billion loan program available to cooperatives with a zero percent interest rate. Cooperatives in turn will make this money available to consumer members in the form of micro-loans with an interest rate of no more than 3 percent, which can be paid back primarily through savings on their electric bills.

This type of loan program is called “onbill financing” because the loan payments would be made right on the utility bill. Another key component is that the loan would stay with the real property (i.e. the electric meter) rather than with the utility customer.

Why On-Bill Financing is Important

Kentuckians use a lot of electricity. Nationally, Kentucky as a whole is ranked third in energy intensity (kilowatt hours per customer), about 55 percent higher than the national average.

Additionally, Kentucky has attracted industries that use even more electricity. Kentucky’s industrial sector energy intensity is 427 percent higher

than the national average. Kentucky is an energy intensive state because of the use of coal, historically cheap in dollars and cents, for more than 90 percent of the state’s electricity.

Kentucky uses a lot of electricity because with energy so cheap, there has been little incentive to conserve energy or to invest in energy efficiency.

Low Prices, High Bills

High-energy usage, despite low electric prices, results in relatively high electric bills for Kentucky’s customers.

Kentucky households spent an average of $720 annually on heating and cooling systems combined, about double the national average. Kentuckians apply 51 percent of total energy expenditures to heating and cooling costs, while the average U.S. resident spends about 26 percent of total energy costs in these two areas.

Low electric prices and high energy use result in relatively high electric bills for Kentucky’s customers. Kentucky’s electricity prices are 15 percent lower than Indiana’s, yet Kentucky residents paid only 2 percent less on their electric bills.

Kentucky’s average residential electric price is 33 percent less than the national average but the average residential bill is only 16 percent below the national average.

On July 10th KFTC members from Floyd, Harlan and Letcher Counties took a field trip to Abingdon, VA to check out the work around organic cooperative farming and successful farmer’s markets that have been going on there for the past several years. After visiting the Abingdon Farmers’ Market, members had lunch at The Harvest Table, a restaurant started by author Barbara Kingsolver and finally visited the farm of Anthony and Laurie Flaccavento.

High and Going Higher

A Simple Solution in Kentucky

With upward pressure on price and strong demand, electric bills for Kentucky customers have increased.

Between 2000 and 2006 average electric bills for the residential sector increased by 32 percent, for the commercial sector by 37 percent and for the industrial sector by 93 percent.

Another reason Kentucky’s electricity prices have been low is that the average coal-burning power plant in Kentucky is 43 years old and the capital costs have already been paid. Many of these plants are past their prime and are in need of being replaced. Replacing existing generation capacity and the need for new electricity generating capacity in future years will mean new capital costs that will raise electricity prices, whether the new capacity is for coal or other energy sources.

According to The White House’s Recovery Through Retrofit Report, access to financing is one of the three main barriers for the 130 million homes in this country to take advantage of existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting to reduce home energy use by up to 40 percent per home and lower associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons annually by the year 2020.

One of the most promising solutions to this financing dilemma, especially for low and fixed income households, is “pay as you save” or on-bill financing.

Though Congress recently introduced the Rural Energy Savings Program Act as a major step to creating resources for Rural Electric Cooperatives for on-bill financing, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) is already partnering with the Grayson, Fleming-Mason, Jackson Energy, Big Sandy RECCs and their generating cooperative East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) on an on-bill financing pilot project.

The pilot project is modeled after a program of Midwest Energy, a customer-owned electric and natural gas utility located in central and western Kansas serving 35,000 electric and 43,000 natural gas customers.

Given the high percentage of lowand fixed-income people in the EKPC service area, the Kentucky project will be unique, and potentially a model itself, in that it is attempting to create 100 percent financing without conventional loan qualifications.

According to Eli Hopson, MACED’s On Bill Project Manager, “On-bill financing helps eliminate the uncertainty of affording the up-front costs, or whether you will stay in your home long enough to benefit from the improvements. It’s an easier decision to make when you begin to save money from day one.”

“The problem is not finding projects that are deserving,” said Hopson. “The challenge is setting up the programs, getting the regulatory systems in place, training the contractors while working with the utilities.”

MACED and the co-ops are currently working with the Kentucky Pub(continued on next page)

Opportunity is Knocking

Kentucky’s relatively high consumption means that there is a great opportunity to capture savings. Kentuckians can effectively reduce energy use and their energy bills through energy efficiency.

The Governor’s Office of Energy Policy concluded in a 2007 report that, “Overall, the savings potential from energy efficiency in Kentucky is large, achievable and significant – it has the promise of supplying the energy needs that will fuel Kentucky’s growth and prosperity over the next decade.”

A 2006 study by the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance found that Kentucky’s technical potential for energy efficiency is 30 percent higher than any of the other Midwestern states in the study.

At 70 percent, Kentucky has one of the higher homeownership rates; however, a large percentage of these homeowners live in older energy inefficient homes. About 25 percent of the Appalachia Kentucky stock is pre-1976 manufactured housing.

According to Dave Kreher, executive director of Peoples’ Self Help Housing in Vanceburg, “Affordable housing is no longer just about the mortgage payment. People also have to be able to afford the utility bills.”

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page 17

Voter Empowerment Update

Ways KFTC members can participate in the electoral process

KFTC does a good job of asking candidates where they stand on issues leading up to election day, compiling their answers and getting them out to members through printed Voter Guides and www.KentuckyElection.org.

However, more importantly, members should be encouraged to contact candidates and tell them where they stand on issues.

Email or call the campaigns to let them know where you stand on one or more issues.

Here is contact information for the two candidates for the U.S. Senate race: Rand Paul 866-232-9747 www.randpaul2010.com 1332 Andrea Street Bowling Green, Kentucky 42104 Jack Conway 502-632-1820 www.jackconway.org PO Box 6168 Louisville, Kentucky 40206

There are hundreds of candidates for other races in the state, too. You can use the Secretary of State’s web site www.sos.ky.gov or call your local County Clerk to find out who’s running in your area, then look them up.

You can also go to where the candidates are and talk to them … at meet and greets, campaign stump speeches, etc. Candidates have to get out and meet a lot of people to run a good cam-

paign and democracy works best when those people tell the candidates what stances they ought to have on important issues. You could even join a delegation of KFTC folks who are attending Fancy Farm Picnic in early August. There are plenty of opportunities to meet candidates right in your own community.

Fancy Farm

On the first Saturday in August every year, hundreds of politically-minded people (most associated with either the Republican or Democratic parties), along with many candidates and public officials, come to a tiny town in far western Kentucky for a rigorous day of stump speeches and barbecue that often set the tone for the three months leading to election day in November.

This year, the Fancy Farm Festivities fall on Saturday, August 7.

For the last few years, KFTC sent between 6 and 15 members to witness the spectacle of the event, hand out stickers and copies of balancing the scales, engage the crowd and politicians on deeper issues and to build support for KFTC’s campaigns.

Members are committed to make the KFTC mobilization this year much bigger, with support from the Bowling Green and Jefferson County chapters that are closest to Fancy Farm.

If you’re interested in participating, please contact your local organizer or Dave Newton at Dave@kftc.org for more information. The carpool will likely leave on Friday, August 6 and

return home late on Saturday, August 7. Plans are still being finalized. If you happen to have a van or RV, please contact Dave to help with the carpool.

Organize a Meeting

Contact your local KFTC organizer to put together a meeting with candidates in your community. Candidate meetings are good opportunities to inform candidates about issues that

KFTC works on. If you meet with one candidate for a given office, please do your best to schedule meetings with their opponent as well.

If many concerned citizens take some time to contact candidates about issues they care about, it can make a real difference in the candidates’ campaigns – it’s much easier to convince a candidate to change their mind on an important issue than it is to change the mind of a sitting legislator.

On-bill financing of energy efficiency upgrades important to Kentucky … (continued from previous page) lic Service Commission (PSC) and the Attorney General to answer questions and provide necessary supporting data.

“We are optimistic. We’re hoping to invest $2 million in these co-ops over two years that can be in turn loaned to co-op customers,” said Hopson.

On-bill financing also would potentially help existing Kentucky energy efficient housing and retrofit providers such as the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises (FAHE) and its member groups such as Frontier Housing and Peoples’ Self Help Housing.

FAHE, a network of organizations

delivering housing in the Appalachian region, deployed around $40 million, reaching 4,000 families. This volume of direct financing is quadruple that of just five years ago.

Frontier Housing is working not only on retrofits through its Green Solutions but also on Energy Star manufactured housing.

Peoples’ Self Help Housing recently completed the first LEED gold-rated house in Kentucky.

Saving Money and Creating Jobs

Besides the cost-saving benefits to homeowners and renters, on-bill financ-

ing is a way to create new jobs in energy efficiency. According to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), these programs support nearly 25,000 direct and indirect jobs within related industries, and create 52 new jobs (direct and indirect) for every $1 million of funds invested.

A recent study released by the Appalachian Regional Commission noted that, while electric and natural gas utilities employ four or five workers for every $1 million of spending, the same level of investment in energy efficiency would create 8 to 13 jobs.

For example, EKPC services 519,081

Kentucky homes. By investing $100 million a year in energy efficiency it could reach 15,000 homes with an average upgrade of $6,500. At that rate it would take 34 years to upgrade the entire EKPC service area, creating significant, long-term jobs.

As the Governor ’s Energy Plan concludes, “Most would agree that the era of cheap energy is over. The choice we face is to take no action and see large price increases with limited economic security, or to take prudent actions now and realize a better chance for smaller price increases as well as increased economic security.”

Page 18

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Voting Rights Update

Senator Thayer still a target for voting rights reform

In late June more than 30 former felons and KFTC members gathered in Georgetown to speak out in favor of restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

The demonstration of KFTC members and friends took place outside of the Canewood Golf Course during a fundraiser hosted by Senator Damon Thayer, the person most directly responsible for holding up legislation that would enfranchise most former felons.

The Georgetown News-Graphic covered the event with an especially strong story. All of the people in the neighborhood who stopped to talk were supportive – including one woman who lived in the neighborhood who had a brother who is a former felon.

KFTC member Rosanne Klarer told the reporter on the scene that she was there partially to speak out on behalf of her son, Devon, who was given back his voting rights through a partial pardon after a long and challenging process.

Without his college education, connections and unwavering desire to get his right to vote back, it might not have been possible. “It’s a discriminating process and it’s not fair to everyone,” said Klarer.

Senator Thayer used the story as an opportunity to defend the existing

process of requesting a pardon from the governor as the only means of restoring voting rights – a process that has left over 186,000 Kentuckians, or 1 in 17, without the right to vote.

In the Georgetown News-Graphic story, Thayer pointed to the demonstration as a reason to increase the majority of his political party’s control of the Kentucky Senate, despite the fact that a strong majority of legislators of both parties have said that they favor the restoration of voting rights to most former felons once they’ve served their debt to society.

KFTC members in both the Scott County and Northern Kentucky chapters are energized to continue to put pressure on Senator Thayer to allow House Bill 70 to come to a vote until he does the right thing.

Members have scheduled a series of community events and are organizing a sizable Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest in Georgetown on July 31 that will bring together Scott County churches to rally for voting rights. Expect a report back from this event in the next issue of balancing the scales.

There is a lot that members in the rest of Kentucky can be doing in their own communities this summer to make a big impact on this issue during the 2011 General Assembly.

Heine Brothers’ Coffee in Louisville has partnered with Hound Dog Press to produce a beautiful letter pressed coffee bag to help raise money for KFTC.

For every bag purchased of Mountain Dream Blend, KFTC will receive $5!

“We want to raise $25,000 this year for KFTC and we will do this because we do good by doing right!”

Mike Mays, Heine Brothers’ Coffee

Visit heinebroscoffee.com to purchase your bag today! (or stop by one of their 7 Louisville locations)

Members gathered at Canewood Golf Course during a fundraiser hosted by Sen. Damon Thayer to pressure him to help restore voting rights to former felons.

Three things to do this summer to support voting rights for former felons 1. Organize community tabling, events, and other opportunities for public education and outreach. There are a lot of festivals and community events across the state this summer and members are trying to talk to many people about the issue to build support. Additionally, KFTC members are helping former felons individually through the process to get a partial pardon from the governor so that they can vote in the 2010 election.

2. Schedule meetings with legislators. KFTC members did a good job last year of using the summer months to continue to lobby legislators in small meetings in their home towns. It can be done again this year to get a head start before the legislature comes back into session in early 2011.

Contact your local KFTC organizer to organize a meeting with your senator or representative, along with other KFTC members.

3. Schedule a video showing. In a project with the Highlander Center, the final touches are being put on a video that tells the stories of former felons from across the state. Please schedule a series of video showings to educate people about restoration of voting rights! Watch www.kftc. org/blog for new updates. The video should be ready in early August.

There have already been some strong voting rights outreach events this summer, including a big tabling at Super Sunday in Lexington, a radio interview on Key Connections headed up by Rev. Joseph Jackson and Tayna Fogle, outreach at basketball games in Lexington and Georgetown, a series of presentations in Louisville, and many other events.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Officer nominations, platform review start annual process KFTC’s annual process for setting its platform for the coming year and selecting local and statewide officers gets into full swing in August.

KFTC chapters hold their annual meetings in August. At these meetings, chapter members decide if they wish to continue as a chapter and, if so, select officers, provide input to the KFTC platform and set local priorities and goals.

Chapters are expected to select a Steering Committee representative and alternate, and chapter coordinators for membership, fundraising and publicity.

They agree to raise at least $500 for the statewide organization.

In return, chapters get a seat on the Steering Committee and receive staff time and organizational resources to assist in their work.

Nominations for statewide officers and committee members are submitted to the Leadership Development Committee, which will recommend a slate of officers to the Steering Committee at its September 11 meeting.

In September, the committee also will review input from chapters and atlarge members and develop a draft platform. The platform serves as a guideline for focusing KFTC’s resources and staff.

It also serves as a public statement of KFTC’s values, goals and priority issues.

This activity all leads up to the Annual Membership Meeting, October 8-10, at the Kentucky Leadership Center. During the business portion of the meeting, members will consider

Are you a member of a KFTC chapter? If so, please consider accepting a position as a chapter officer for the coming year, starting this fall.

Chapter officers are: Steering Committee rep Steering Committee alternate Fundraising coordinator Membership coordinator Publicity coordinator All are important roles for which you will receive training and support. The responsibilities can be shared with others. If interested, please contact your chapter organizer for more information.

the proposed platform, elect statewide officers and accept new or renewing chapters for the coming year.

Members who are not part of a chapter or who are unable to attend their chapter meeting are encouraged to send their ideas for the platform to KFTC Chairperson K.A. Owens at KFTC, P.O. Box 1450, London, Ky. 40743.

Members may use the nomination form (next page) to nominate themselves or others for a statewide officer. A person must be a member in good standing

(dues paid up-to-date) to make a nomination or be considered.

Current officers are: K.A. Owens, chairperson; Steve Boyce, vice-chairperson; Pam Maggard, secretary-treasurer; and Susan Williams, at-large.

All are serving their first term in their respective positions and are eligible to be renominated to the same position.

“This annual process is very important to the kind of organization we want KFTC to be,” said Teri Blanton, a past chairperson. “We go out of our

Page 19

way to make sure every member has an opportunity to have some say in the issues we work on and who our leaders will be.

“That’s why we want every member to participate in their chapter meeting and/or come to the statewide membership meeting in October. The involvement of our members is what makes KFTC strong.”

Chapter members should expect to receive a mailing giving the time and place of their August annual meeting

KFTC Annual Meeting October 8 - 10, 2010 Kentucky Leadership Center in Jabez Family friendly atmosphere!

Relax, meet new people, visit old friends, learn about KFTC, share stories, dance, listen to music, attend workshops, and have fun!

Page 20

Nominations for officers and committees

KFTC is accepting nominations for statewide officers and members of its governance and issue committees (descriptions below).

Any member who is current in membership dues may nominate him or her self or another member to serve in one of these positions. The form to the right may be used.

All nominations will be considered by the Leadership Development Committee. Officers are elected at the annual meeting in October. New committee assignments will be finalized in November by the Steering Committee.

Personnel Committee — Members may participate in hiring decisions and review annual staff performance evaluations. This committee provides guidance and makes recommendations about personnel policies and issues. Meets as needed.

Finance Committee — Reviews and recommends budget and quarterly financial statements. Reviews and recommends financial policies and practices. Meets periodically in person and by conference call.

Leadership Development Committee — Develops, evaluates and helps implement KFTC’s leadership programs.

Nominates and reviews nominations of people to serve on statewide committees and offices. Meets several times a year as needed.

Land Reform Committee — Coordinates KFTC’s statewide campaigns on issues connected to natural resources.

Meets 3-6 times a year, as needed.

Economic Justice Committee — Develops and coordinates campaigns on economic issues, including tax justice.

Meets 3-6 times a year as needed, often by conference call.

High Road Strategy Team: Develops the strategy for KFTC’s campaign to reform economic development policies and promote local, sustainable economic development.

Voter Empowerment Committee: Develops and evaluates KFTC’s strategies for registering, informing and motivating voters, including our restoration of voting rights campaign.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Call for Nominations

for KFTC Statewide Officers and Committee Members

It’s time again to start thinking about how you would like to be involved in KFTC’s leadership structure, or who else you would like to see involved. Every year, all chapters and the statewide organization select leaders for the coming organizational year. Chapters are selecting their officers at annual chapter meetings this month. Statewide officers are chosen at the annual meeting in October. The Steering Committee appoints members of other governance and issue committees at its leadership retreat in November based on recommendations from the Leadership Development Committee.

KFTC members whose dues are current may nominate themselves or any other member to be considered as a KFTC officer or committee member, as listed below. For each statewide officer nomination, please list the name of the nominee, the office to which that person is being nominated and a brief statement saying why the nominee is qualified. Use a separate sheet of paper if more space is needed. Current officers have each served one year in their current position and are eligible for renomination to the same or another statewide officer position.

The Leadership Development Committee will recommend a slate of candidates for the four statewide officer positions to the Steering Committee for its approval. The candidates will be listed in the September issue of balancing the scales, and presented at the October Annual Business Meeting for election. Nominations also will be accepted from the floor at the October meeting. Officers serve one-year terms, and are limited to two successive terms.

Take a moment to nominate yourself or any other member for KFTC’s Executive Committee and other statewide committees.

This form must be returned by the last day of August.

Person making the nomination:

Phone:

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS Nominees for the Executive will be considered by the Leadership Development Committee, which will recommend a slate of candidates to the Steering Committee. Candidates will be described in the September issue of balancing the scales. A final vote will be held at the October Annual Meeting.

You may nominate as many people as you like for any of the following positions: 1) Chairperson 2) Vice-Chairperson 3) Secretary-Treasurer 4) At-large Representative Nominee:

Office nominated for:

Why? Nominee:

____________

Office nominated for:

Why?

____________

KENTUCKY COALITION BOARD NOMINATIONS Kentucky Coalition is the tax-exempt sister organization of KFTC. There are three elected positions on the KC board.

Nominees for the Kentucky Coalition board will be considered and voted on using the process described above for the Executive Committee. You may nominate as many people as you like for the Kentucky Coalition board.

Nominee:

__________________________________________

Why? Nominee:

____________

__________________________________________

Why?

____________

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP NOMINATIONS KFTC’s statewide committees include: Personnel; Finance; Leadership Development; Land Reform; and Economic Justice; High Road; and Restoration of Voting Rights. You may nominate yourself or anyone else in the organization for these roles.

Nominees for these positions will be reviewed by the Leadership Development Committee and appointed by the new Steering Committee in November.

Nominee: Nominee:

Committee nominated for:______ Committee nominated for:______

Nominations must be submitted in writing no later than the last day of August to: KFTC Leadership Development Committee, 435 R Chestnut Street #2, Berea, KY 40403 or emailed to lisa@kftc.org.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

KFTC’s 2010 General Assembly legislation summary Purpose of Scorecard

KFTC’s General Assembly tally sheet includes bills on issues considered during the 2010 regular session that KFTC members believe are important. Some of these bills KFTC supported, others KFTC opposed. This tally sheet is meant to assist you in learning more about legislative action during the 2010 regular session.

This tally sheet is not a comprehensive evaluation of individual legislators, nor does it reflect every action a legislator took during the session or important bill. It is meant to serve as a guide for having conversations with legislators about the previous session and possible future legislation. KFTC believes democracy works best when all constituents are informed and engaged with their elected leaders.

Summary of legislative session

KFTC members and ally organizations played active and visible roles in this year’s legislative session to promote fair tax reform, restore voting rights, promote clean energy policies, and end the destruction of Kentucky’s mountains and streams. Yet, positive policy outcomes of the 2010 General Assembly regular session were hard to find after legislators left town without considering a number of important bills and without giving final passage to many pieces of legislation, including a new state budget! The legislature went into a special session in May to address the state budget and a few other small items.

Summary of bills listed in scorecard

Not all of the bills that KFTC supported, opposed, or monitored received a vote on the floor of the House or the Senate. In fact, most legislation that we worked on was blocked from consideration. Below is a summary of the handful of bills that did receive a vote. Most of these bills were voted on in only one chamber and never passed the other chamber, which means that they did not become law. The only bill listed below that became law is HB 589.

House Bill 70

Page 21

• KFTC Position: Support • This legislation would restore voting rights to most former felons in Kentucky who have paid their debt to society.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, Rep. Eddie Ballard, Rep. Carolyn Belcher, Rep. Jim Glenn, Rep. Derrick Graham, Rep. Keith Hall, Rep. Charlie Hoffman, Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, Rep. Tom McKee, Rep. Reggie Meeks, Rep. Darryl Owens, Rep. Jody Richards, Rep. Arnold Simpson, Rep. Ron Weston, Rep. Susan Westrom.

House Bill 562 • KFTC Position: Support • This legislation would have encouraged renewable energy generation by establishing a feed-in tariff (requiring that customers who produce renewable energy and put excess energy back on the grid must be paid for that energy) and increasing the amount of allowable renewable energy generation by utility customers.

• The bill passed the House unanimously but died without consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Tanya Pullin, Rep. Steve Riggs, Rep. Brent Yonts House Resolution 132 • KFTC Position: Oppose • This resolution would have urged Congress to adopt legislation postponing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Because this was a simple resolution – which is an expression of the will of the House and is not an enforceable law -- it only had to pass the House.

• HR 132 passed the House on February 23rd by a vote of 76 to 16.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Jim Gooch Jr., Rep. Keith Hall, Rep. Rocky Adkins, Rep. John Arnold Jr., Rep. Eddie Ballard, Rep. Scott Brinkman, Rep. Hubert Collins, Rep. Leslie Combs, Rep. Tim Couch, Rep. Will Coursey, Rep. Ron Crimm, Rep. Jim DeCesare, Rep. Ted Edmonds, Rep. Bill Farmer, Rep. Joe Fischer, Rep. David Floyd, Rep. Danny Ford, Rep. Jim Glenn, Rep. Mike Harmon, Rep. Richard Henderson, Rep. Melvin Henley, Rep. Stan Lee, Rep, Tom McKee, Rep. Charlie Miller, Rep. Brad Montell, Rep. Tim Moore, Rep. Lonnie Napier, Rep. Rick Nelson, Rep. Marie Rader, Rep. Steve Rudy, Rep. Sal Santoro, Rep. Kevin Sinnette, Rep. John Will Stacy, Rep. Fitz Steele, Rep. Jim Stewart III, Rep. Wilson Stone, Rep. Greg Stumbo, Rep. Tommy Thompson, Rep. Ken Upchurch, Rep.

Susan Westrom, Rep. Brent Yonts House Concurrent Resolution 84 • KFTC Position: Oppose • This legislation would have established a “Natural Resources” caucus in the state legislature to promote the interests of the coal, oil, and natural gas industries.

Forming a caucus would have allowed those industries and their lobbyists to skirt the $100 annual spending limit on gifts to individual legislators, since Kentucky’s legislative ethics rules allow unlimited spending on food, drinks, and entertainment for members of a caucus, as long as all members of the caucus are invited to participate.

• HCR 84 was a concurrent resolution, meaning that it needed to pass both chambers in order to be enacted. It passed the House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Tommy Thompson, Rep. John Arnold Jr., Rep. Eddie Ballard, Rep. Mike Cherry, Rep. Hubert Collins, Rep. Leslie Combs, Rep. Robert Damron, Rep. Ted Edmonds, Rep. Jim Gooch Jr., Rep. Jeff Greer, Rep. Keith Hall, Rep. Richard Henderson, Rep. Martha Jane King, Rep. Rick Nelson, Rep. Jody Richards, Rep. Ancel Smith, Rep. Fitz Steele, Rep. Wilson Stone, Rep. John Tilley, Rep. Brent Yonts House Bill 213 • KFTC Position: Oppose • This bill would have allowed companies to take private property using the power of eminent domain in order to build pipelines that would transport carbon dioxide from power plants to locations where it would be pumped underground. The bill also made these projects eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies. The Senate version added an amendment that would have lifted the state’s ban on new nuclear power plants in Kentucky.

• The bill passed the house 91 to 5 (with 1 abstaining and 3 not voting). It then passed the Senate 30 to 8 with the nuclear power plant amendment attached. It then (continued on next page)

Page 22

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

KFTC’s 2010 General Assembly legislation summary (continued from previous page) went back to the House for consideration of the nuclear language, but was never called up for a vote and died.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Rocky Adkins, Rep. Hubert Collins, Rep. Jim Gooch Jr., Rep. Keith Hall, Rep. Martha Jane King, Rep. Jody Richards, Rep. Kevin Sinnette, Rep. Fitz Steele, Rep. Tommy Thompson, Rep. Brent Yonts

the measure. The first name on the list is the actual sponsor of the bill, the person responsible for introducing the legislation and serving as its primary advocate. Legislators can only co-sponsor legislation that originated in the chamber in which they serve. In other words, a Representative cannot co-sponsor legislation that started in the Senate, and vice versa.

House Bill 589

Key bills not listed on scorecard

• KFTC Position: Oppose • This bill opens the door for the state to award lucrative tax incentives to facilities that produce liquid transportation fuels from natural gas. It is an expansion of the tax package for coal-to-liquid fuel facilities that was passed in 2007 in a special session.

• HB 589 passed the House and Senate unanimously.

The Senate capped at 5 the number of facilities that are eligible for tax incentives, and the House agreed. The bill was signed into law by the governor.

• Cosponsors: Rep. Rocky Adkins, Rep. Tom Riner Senate Bill 26 • KFTC Position: Oppose • This legislation would lift the state ban on new nuclear power plants in Kentucky. It would have allowed nuclear power facilities to simply “have a plan for storage of nuclear waste” rather than require them to have a way to permanently dispose of nuclear waste, which the current law requires. Since no such storage solution exists, Kentucky’s current policy effectively bans nuclear power generation in the state.

• SB 26 passed the Senate 27 to 10, but was never called up for a vote in the House.

• Co-sponsors: Senator Bob Leeper and Senator Ken Winters Senate Bill 105 • KFTC Position: Oppose (Senate version)/ Monitor (House version) • This legislation would have established a “Livestock Care Standards Commission.” In the Senate version of the bill, the commission was stacked by agribusiness representatives and lacked proper representation from family farmers. In addition, the Senate version attempted to nullify local ordinances surrounding large-scale corporate livestock operations.

• The legislation passed the Senate unanimously. It was then amended in the House. The House amendment was a slight improvement and KFTC changed our position to “monitor.” It passed the House 89 to 8. The Senate refused to agree with the House changes and the bill stalled.

• Co-sponsors: Sen. David Givens, Sen. David Boswell, Sen. Tom Buford, Sen. Carroll Gibson, Sen. Ernie Harris, Sen. Jimmy Higdon, Sen. Vernie McGaha, Sen. R.J. Palmer II, Sen. Joey Pendleton, Sen. Mike Reynolds, Sen. Jerry Rhoads, Sen. Dorsey Ridley, Sen. John Schickel, Sen. Kathy Stein, Sen. Damon Thayer, Sen. Elizabeth Tori, Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, Sen. Ken Winters, Sen. Ed Worley About Co-sponsors: Co-sponsors are legislators who ask to put their name on a bill as a public sign of support for

KFTC supported several bills that never got called for a vote.

These bills included …

Ones KFTC Supported: • Fair and Comprehensive Tax Reform: H.B. 13 would have directed $100 million to Kentucky’s working poor families and raised needed revenue for essential public services and programs. This legislation was introduced

by Representatives Jim Wayne, Joni Jenkins, Mary Lou Marzian, Reginald Meeks, Mike Cherry, Derrick Graham, Darryl Owens, and Tom Riner.

purpose of storing and transporting carbon dioxide. It received a “discussion only” hearing in the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee but no vote was taken. KFTC member Doug Doerrfeld testified in opposition to the bill.

Scorecard methodology and symbol key Bills or resolutions marked with “*” were supported by KFTC and those with a “-” were opposed by KFTC. The analysis of votes is based on the final floor votes cast on the measures. Yes votes are represented by a “Y” and No votes are represented by a “N”. Legislators not voting, absent, or abstained from voting are denoted by a “*”.

Senate Scorecard

First name

Last Name

Dist.

SB 26-

HB 213-

HB 589-

SB 105-

Walter

Blevins

27

N

Y

Y

Y

David

Boswell

8

N

Y

Y

Y

Tom

Buford

22

Y

Y

*

Y

Julian

Carroll

7

Y

N

Y

Y

Perry

Clark

37

Y

N

Y

Y

Julie

Denton

36

Y

Y

Y

Y

Carroll

Gibson

5

Y

Y

Y

Y

David

Givens

9

Y

Y

Y

Y

Denise

Harper Angel

35

N

Y

Y

Y

Ernie

Harris

26

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jimmy

Higdon

15

Y

Y

Y

Y

Tom

Jensen

21

Y

Y

Y

Y

Ray

Jones II

31

N

N

Y

Y

Alice Forgy

Kerr

12

Y

Y

Y

Y

Robert

Leeper

2

Y

Y

Y

Y

McGaha

McGaha

15

Y

Y

Y

Y

Gerald

Neal

33

N

Y

Y

*

R.J.

Palmer

28

N

Y

Y

Y

Joey

Pendleton

3

Y

Y

Y

Y

Mike

Reynolds

32

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jerry

Rhoads

6

N

Y

Y

Y

Dorsey

Ridley

4

Y

Y

Y

Y

John

Schickel

11

Y

Y

Y

Y

Dan

Seum

38

Y

Y

Y

Y

• Tax break transparency: HB 335 and HB 336 would have required more legislative oversight of economic development programs and automatic review and sun-setting of tax breaks. Neither bill made it out of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

Tim

Shaughnessy

19

Y

Y

Y

Y

Brandon

Smith

30

Y

N

Y

Y

Kathy

Stein

13

*

N

Y

Y

Katie

Stine

24

Y

Y

Y

Y

• Logging notification: HB 598 would have only required commercial loggers to notify a state agency where and when they intend to log an area. This basic requirement was pulled out of a forestry bill in 1998 and twelve years later the House Natural Resources Committee refused to call the bill up for a hearing.

Robert

Stivers

25

Y

Y

*

Y

Gary

Tapp

20

Y

Y

Y

Y

Damon

Thayer

17

Y

Y

Y

Y

Elizabeth

Tori

10

Y

Y

Y

Y

Johnny Ray

Turner

29

N

N

Y

Y

Robin

Webb

18

N

N

Y

Y

Jack

Westwood

23

Y

Y

Y

Y

David

Williams

16

Y

Y

Y

Y

Kenneth

Winters

1

Y

Y

Y

Y

Ed

Worley

34

N

N

Y

Y

• Ending Mountaintop Removal and Valley Fills: S.B. 139, HB 396, and HB 416 would end the dumping of mining waste into headwater streams. Despite the clear, negative environmental impact of this type of mining and the efforts of thousands of citizens, this bill has long been denied a hearing and vote in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee. The chair of the committee, Rep. Jim Gooch (D-Providence), has refused to even present the bill to the committee for discussion.

• Clean Energy: KFTC supported HB 408 this session.

The legislation would have helped all Kentuckians, especially low-income households, save money and energy through energy efficiency and would have required utilities to make greater use of renewable energy sources. However, despite efforts by a broad alliance of organizations, Rep. Jim Gooch, chair of the House Natural Resources and Environment committee where the bill was assigned, did not call the vote up for a hearing. He did have a “discussion only” hearing on a different (and weaker) energy bill, HB 3, that KFTC was monitoring.

However, no public testimony was permitted, and even that bill never got called for a vote.

Ones KFTC Opposed • Land seizure for carbon sequestration: HB 491 would have given the state the power to condemn land for the

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Page 23

KFTC’s 2010 General Assembly legislation summary House Scorecard

First name

Last Name

Dist.

HB 70*

HB 562*

HR 132-

HCR 84-

HB 213-

HB 589-

Royce

Adams

61

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Rocky

Adkins

99

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

John A.

Arnold, J.

7

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Eddie

Ballard

10

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Linda

Belcher, L.

49

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Johnny

Bell

23

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Kevin

Bratcher

29

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Scott

Brinkman

32

Y

Y

Y

Y

*

Y

Thomas

Burch

30

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Dwight

Butler, D.

18

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

John

Carney

51

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Mike

Cherry

4

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Larry

Clark, L.

46

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Hubert

Collins

97

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Leslie

Combs

94

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

James

Comer

53

N

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Tim

Couch

90

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Will

Coursey

6

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jesse

Crenshaw

77

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Rob

Crimm

33

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Robert

Damron

39

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jim

Decesare

21

N

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Mitchel

Denham

70

*

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Bob

Deweese

48

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Myron

Dossett

9

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Ted

Edmonds

91

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

C.B.

Embry

17

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Bill

Farmer

88

Y

Y

Y

Y

*

Y

Tim

Firkins

38

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Fischer

Fischer

68

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Kelly

Flood

75

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

*

David

Floyd

50

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Danny

Ford

80

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jim

Glenn

13

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jim

Gooch

12

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Derrick

Graham

57

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

*

Jeff

Greer

27

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Keith

Hall

93

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Mike

Harmon

54

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Richard

Henderson

74

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Melvin

Henley

5

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Charlie

Hoffman

62

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Jeff

Hoover

83

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Dennis

Horlander

40

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Y

Brent

Housman

3

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Joni

Jenkins

44

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Dennis

Keene

67

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Thomas Robert

Kerr

65

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Martha Jane

King

16

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Adam

Koenig

69

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jimmie

Lee, J.

25

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

*

Stan

Lee, S.

45

N

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Mary Lou

Marzian

34

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

McKee

McKee

78

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Meeks

Meeks

42

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Charles

Miller

28

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Terry

Mills

24

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Harry

Moberly

81

Y

*

N

Y

Y

Y

Brad

Montell

58

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Tim

Moore

26

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Lonnie

Napier

46

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Rick

Nelson

87

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Fred

Nesler

2

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

David

Osborne

59

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Sannie

Overly

72

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Darryl

Owens

43

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Ruth Ann

Palumbo

76

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Don

Pasley

73

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Tanya

Pullin

98

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Marie

Rader

89

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Rick

Rand

47

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jody

Richards

20

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Steven

Riggs

31

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Tom

Riner

41

Y

Y

N

Y

N

Y

Carl

Rollins

56

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Steven

Rudy

1

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Santoro

Santoro

60

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Charles

Siler

82

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Arnold

Simpson

65

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Dottie

Sims

19

Y

Y

*

Y

Y

Y

Kevin

Sinnette

100

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Ancel

Smith

92

Y

Y

Y

Y

*

Y

John Will

Stacy

71

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Fitz

Steele

84

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Kent

Stevens

55

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jim

Stewart

86

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Wilson

Stone

22

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Greg

Stumbo

95

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Tommy

Thompson

14

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

John

Tilley

8

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Tommy

Turner

85

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Upchurch

Upchurch

52

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

David

Watkins

11

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jim

Wayne

35

Y

Y

N

Y

N

Y

Alecia

Webb-Edington

63

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Ron

Weston

37

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Susan

Westrom

79

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Addia Kathryn

Wuchner

66

N

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Brent

Yonts

15

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Jill

York

96

N

Y

Y

Y

*

Y

Page 24

Solutions Journal publishes special issue, The Future of Appalachia

Exploring and furthering the movement to create a brighter future for a region too-long dominated by coal interests, The Solutions Journal has just published a special issue titled The Future of Appalachia.

A group of well-known local community activists, writers, academics and business leaders – many with KFTC connections – contributed to the issue, including Kentucky author Wendell Berry, Herb E. Smith of Appalshop, Jason Bailey of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, Stephen George (formerly of the LEO) and many more.

An article titled A Cooperative Approach to Renewing East Kentucky written by KFTC member Randy Wilson and staff person Sara Pennington challenges East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) to engage in the Renew East Kentucky project to help revitalize the region. They present concrete steps, such as expanding residential efficiency and weatherization programs, installing local renewable energy projects and funding the projects through new, creative on-bill financing with low-interest loans.

Erik Reece contributed an interview with Joe Childers, a founding member of KFTC and he current chair of the Kentucky Mine Safety Review Commission.

Efforts in the Harlan County communities of Benham and Lynch to move beyond a coal economy were in another article that KFTC staff member Amy Hogg contributed to.

The Community Farm Alliance is featured in an article about food systems by KFTC members Dwight Billings and Jenrose Fitzgerald, associated with the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, and Lisa Markowitz with the University of Louisville.

The premise for the special issue, according to Solutions editors, is a recognition of Appalachia as a special place and one of the most biologically diverse and culturally rich regions on the planet. Central Appalachia has the potential to become a national model of the positive transition to a clean energy future.

This July/August special Appalachia issue of Solutions is now available on newsstands and by subscribing (www.thesolutionsjournal.com). A year’s subscription (6 issues) is $29.99. Most of the content also is available online, but KFTC encourages support of this nonprofit venture with a subscription or a donation.

Dear Companion is in stores now! Purchase your copy of this wonderful album to support the work of Appalachian Voices (ilovemountains.org) and to support two masterful Kentucky musicians.

balancing the scales, July 28, 2010

Calendar of Events August 2

Knott County Annual chapter meeting, contact Colleen Unroe for more information. Colleen@kftc.org or 606-632-0051

August 5

Harlan County Annual chapter meeting, contact Colleen Unroe for more information. Colleen@kftc.org or 606-632-0051

August 5

Scott County Annual chapter meeting, 7 p.m., St. John Church, 604 Main St., Georgetown.

August 6-7 KFTC delegation to the Annual Fancy Farm Political Church Picnic. Contact Dave Newton for more details, Dave@kftc.org or call 859-420-8919 August 9

Jefferson County Annual chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the Main Public Library in the Board Room. (301 York Street).

August 9

Floyd County Annual chapter meeting, 7 p.m. at St. Martha Catholic Church near Prestonsburg.

August 14

Annual Floyd County Mountain Music Festival held at Jenny Wiley State Park. Food, Music and good friends! Contact Brittany Combs at Brittany@kftc.org or 606-422-0100 for more information.

August 17

Perry County Annual chapter meeting, 6 p.m., contact Colleen Unroe for more information. Colleen@kftc.org or 606-632-0051

August 17

Northern Kentucky Annual chapter meeting, 7 p.m., Florence City Building, 8100 Ewing Blvd., Florence.

August 19

Central Kentucky Annual chapter meeting, 7 p.m. at the Episcopal Diocese Mission House (on the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and 4th Street) in Lexington.

August 19

Rowan County Annual chapter meeting, 6 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church on 5th Street in Morehead.

August 23

Madison County chapter meeting, 7 p.m. at Child Development Lab on Jefferson St., Berea.

August 24

Bowling Green Annual chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. at ALIVE Center, 1818 31W, contact Jessica for more information, 859-2760563 or Jessicabreen@kftc.org.

August 25

Letcher County Annual chapter meeting, contact Willa Johnson for more details. Willa@kftc.org or 606-632-0051

August 26

Pike County Annual chapter meeting, 7-9 p.m., Harry M. Caudill Library Main Street in Whitesburg. Contact Willa Johnson for more details. Willa@kftc.org or 606-632-0051

Sept. 3

Submission deadline for balancing the scales. Contact Tim Buckingham for more information or to submit an article, photograph, etc. Tim@kftc.org or 859-276-0563

Sept. 11

Steering Committee meeting, contact Heather for time and location.

Heather@kftc.org or 859-276-0563

Sept. 16

Hazard Black Gold Festival, come and table with KFTC members and talk with people and a Just Transitional Economy for EKY.