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Big Sandy chapter hosts seventh annual Growing Appalachia conference

Posted by: Jessie Skaggs on April 7, 2016


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On Saturday March 5, folks from around eastern Kentucky came out to the Jenny Wiley Convention Center near Prestonsburg for the seventh annual Growing Appalachia conference, which is a day of workshops about small-scale farming, energy efficiency and renewables.

Jefferson County Chapter hosts 3rd Annual We Are Kentuckians event

Posted by: Staff on March 29, 2016

This March the Jefferson County Chapter of KFTC hosted the 3rd Annual We Are Kentuckians: Celebrating Our Common Heritage, a celebration of African American women’s heritage thr

Look what KFTC members did in 2015

Posted by: KFTC Staff on March 29, 2016

KFTC members did some amazing work in 2015.

We took our climate justice work to the world stage at the COP21 climate talks in Paris, helped pass a minimum wage increase in Lexington, and moved the needle on voting rights. And in communities across Kentucky, we raised our voices for renters’ rights, environmental protection, racial justice and more.

We’re pleased to share with you the 2015 KFTC Annual Report.

You’ll see lots of faces and some important wins. And you’ll see the New Power we’re building together to achieve the Kentucky we envision.

Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your part in making 2015 great.

Donate your "change" to KFTC. It's easy!

Posted by: KFTC Staff on March 18, 2016

KFTC is part of a new fundraising opportunity called MyChange.

MyChange was started by four former organizers who wanted to level the playing field for progressive causes that were consistently being out-raised and out-spent by large political organizations. Here’s an article with more information about how MyChange got started.

"We started MyChange to transform how progressive work gets funded in America,” said Eli Il Yong Lee, one of the co-founders. “With large corporate interests trying to hijack our democracy, MyChange is our way of fighting back. MyChange is only for progressive organizations and candidates. Like KFTC has done for decades, we want to bring the power of democracy back to the people."

The idea is simple. Folks who sign up for MyChange are able to “round up” their credit card purchases to the nearest dollar, and the “change” goes to their favorite progressive organizations. They can also set a cap on how much they’ll donate in a month.

MyChange was launched in January 2016, and KFTC is trying it out. If you’d like to sign up and start giving more to KFTC any time you use your credit card, click here. And let us know what you think by emailing the Development Team at amy@kftc.org or ebeth@kftc.org.

Jefferson County hosts Tax Justice Meet and Greet with legislators

Posted by: KFTF Staff on March 10, 2016

There hasn’t been a week that’s gone by this legislative session without our deeply underfunded state budget making the news.

Community conversations will help shape Empower Ky. Plan

Posted by: KFTC staff on March 1, 2016

Kentuckians will have the opportunity this spring to help shape a new Empower Kentucky Plan to map out an energy future for Kentucky that grows jobs, benefits health and addresses racial and economic inequality while doing our part to reduce the risks of climate change.

The Empower Kentucky Plan will be informed by diverse public input, including ideas generated at a series of “A Seat at the Table” community conversations hosted by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth in April and May.

Upcoming public meetings: Berea wholesale electric power decision

Posted by: Steve Wilkins on February 20, 2016

Berea Municipal Utilities (BMU) does not generate its own electricity. It buys its wholesale electric power from Kentucky Utilities (KU). KU provided Berea and ten other cities with new terms for contract renewals that were considered too restrictive. Consultants who have negotiated with KU on behalf of this coalition of cities for more than 30 years advised that the cities should evaluate options besides continuing with KU. This led to an expansion of this long-term city collaboration to create a new agency so that this collective could formally negotiate power contracts for the groups and spread administrative costs among the group. This agency is the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KyMEA). It was assumed that Berea would sign on to participate, but various issues prompted Berea’s city council to explore other options in addition to either continuing with KU, going with KyMEA, or going with some other provider. The city council is now in the process of considering options before it makes a choice. 

Have you renewed your KFTC membership?

Posted by: KFTC Staff on February 16, 2016

 

Building our power so we can use our power is one way we often describe KFTC’s work. We used our power to win in 2015 on minimum wage, voting rights and litigation against coal companies. Those wins were possible because we built our power through grassroots organizing, leadership development, and membership.

Membership takes many forms: attending chapter meetings, lobbying during the General Assembly, registering voters, learning about issues, developing leadership skills, bringing new people into the work, and supporting KFTC financially.

What’s next after U.S. Supreme Court delays Clean Power Plan?

Posted by: Lisa Abbott on February 11, 2016

In a highly unusual move, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to issue a stay on implementation of the Clean Power Plan. The federal rule, which was issued by the U.S. EPA last summer, aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the U.S. power sector. The court’s order halts the Clean Power Plan from taking effect until a legal challenge to the rule filed by more than two dozen states and many fossil fuel interests is resolved.

Dana Beasley Brown

The decision was an unprecedented procedural ruling – not a determination about the merits or validity of the rule – that temporarily pushes the pause button until the larger legal issues are considered and resolved. In fact, in its one page order, the Court did not provide its reasons for issuing the stay. According to an article in the New York Times, the Supreme Court has never before granted a request to halt a regulation before its review by a federal appeals court. The justices themselves did not take long to consider the details of this complicated case. Final legal briefs from the parties defending the rule were filed on Thursday afternoon; the court’s position was announced the following Tuesday.

The broader legal case about the validity of the Clean Power Plan rule is expected to move forward on an expedited timeline, but even so it could take as long as two years to reach a final resolution. The DC Circuit Court is scheduled to hear the case on June 2, 2016. It will likely issue a ruling by the fall of 2016. Regardless of that outcome, the issue is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court issues another stay and takes the case, it could rule as early as the spring of 2017 or as late as the following spring. Only then could the EPA move forward to enforce the rule, if it is ultimately upheld.

Early reactions news from KFTC members and allies across the country made it clear that people working for a just transition and climate justice are troubled but undaunted by this decision.

“I’m so glad we called this part of KFTC’s work ‘Empower Kentucky,” because that’s exactly what we are doing, and what we continue to do,” reflected KFTC’s chairperson Dana Beasley Brown shortly after the news broke on Tuesday evening.

 “Our work has to go on,” said Lexington KFTC member Chris Woolery. “Energy efficiency and renewable energy are no-regrets solutions that literally pay for themselves. That’s the direction the world is moving. That’s where jobs are booming. And that’s the kind of leadership Kentuckians want. But we can’t wait for our leaders. We have to move on without them.”

The day after the court ruling, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet announced it was suspending plans to hold public hearings this spring about ways Kentucky might comply with the Clean Power Plan. In contrast, KFTC’s public engagement process will ramp up this spring, including public meetings in each congressional district.

 “This gives us more time to build an even better Empower Kentucky plan and keep pushing forward,” reflected Steve Wilkins of Berea. “Unfortunately, some states like Kentucky may take this as an excuse to sit on their hands and do nothing. If so, we’ll just keep falling further and further behind. The gap will just grow wider between us and leading states that are making smart investments in clean energy. It seems nobody in a position of power has a vision for a new Kentucky. With a few exceptions, they are all looking backwards. We deserve better.”

 In many ways, the court ruling doesn’t change the important work in front of us here in Kentucky. KFTC members already knew that making meaningful progress on clean energy will require long-term, creative, and determined organizing to change the conversation and build political will. In fact, that’s what the Empower Kentucky project is all about.

In announcing the project last fall, KFTC member Elizabeth Sanders said, “It won’t be easy to transform the ways we generate and use energy in Kentucky. Our economic, energy and political systems have long been shaped by fossil fuels, especially coal … We will not wait for our politicians to do the right thing … We are Kentuckians. We are our best hope for change. And together we will write a plan ourselves to make our communities more livable, strengthen our economy and support a just transition while meeting or exceeding the Clean Power Plan’s goals for cutting climate pollution.”

 Empower Kentucky will take a major step forward in April, when KFTC will host a series of community conversations in each congressional district. These forums are an opportunity for Kentuckians to learn and share ideas about the energy future we want to see. Public input from those meetings – along with additional ideas gathered through an on-line survey, interviews and listening sessions – will help inform KFTC’s Empower Kentucky plan.

A schedule of the April events, which are open to the public, will be announced soon.

Congressman Rogers hears eastern Kentuckians' call for just transition, introduces RECLAIM Act

Posted by: KFTC Staff on February 3, 2016

A strong grassroots movement toward just transition in eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia, including major federal investment in the region, has resulted in new legislation.

Carl Shoupe sends Congressman Hal Rogers the resolutions that were passed by local governments asking him to support the POWER+ Plan. Carl is a retired coal miner, member of KFTC, and member of the Benham Power Board, which passed a resolution in August 2015.Today U.S. Representative Hal Rogers introduced the RECLAIM Act (Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More). The bipartisan bill aims to accelerate the use of $1 billion in funding in the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Fund to help revitalize coal communities hardest hit by the downturn of the coal industry.

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