Capitol Sit-In Growing

by Rachel Harrod

Inspired by last February’s weekend occupation of the governor’s office by 14 Kentuckians determined to hold the Beshear administration accountable for its complicity with the coal industry, long-time KFTC member and Kentucky Heartwood founding member Chris Schimmoeller wanted to do something to keep the pressure on the governor.

She began talking to friends about a weekly protest outside the governor’s office. A number of Chris’s friends enthusiastically embraced the idea, and on Earth Day 2011 they kicked off the Sit-In for the Mountains.

Since then, protestors have visited the Capitol one day a week to sit in or just outside the governor’s office with signs urging Gov. Beshear to protect the mountains, streams and communities by ending mountaintop removal mining. More than a hundred people have participated, including coalfield residents, former miners, Kentuckians with strong ties to Appalachia, and others concerned about air and water quality.

While most have sat quietly with their signs, engaging passersby in conversation when possible, some have serenaded the governor’s staff with mournful coal songs or lain corpse-like beneath fake tombstones to symbolize the death and destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining. Other protestors have shared school projects about mercury pollution, made sculptures, conducted a survey, or dressed up like Santa to deliver lumps of coal to Gov. Beshear and legislators on the "naughtyâ€ list for their unquestioning support of destructive mining practices.

Jeri Howell of the Frankfort High School Earth Club, who carried her message to the governor through song, explained why she got involved with the sit-in: "My friend in Hindman can't drink the water. He says it upsets his stomach, gets him sick. My friend in Whitesburg can't seem to quit writing songs about the hardships of a coal miner and the devastating impacts it has on families … Call me crazy, blame me for wanting to ruin Kentucky's economy, bash me for being a ‘dirty tree hugger,’ but I won't stand for the governor and legislature of Kentucky supporting this Hell we are creating in Appalachia.â€

Caroline Taylor-Webb, a state government retiree who now devotes most of her time to civic pursuits, fell in love with the mountains at age 11 while spending a summer with her father in the Red River Gorge. "From then on, I considered myself an environmentalist,â€ she said. In 1988 and ’89, she teamed up with friend Dr. Louise Chawla to conduct an oral history project on Kentucky conservationists.

The project took them through Appalachia, where they interviewed, among others, author Harry Caudill and Mary Rogers of Pine Mountain Settlement School. While working for the Department of Natural Resources, she got to visit some "reclaimedâ€ strip mine sites, but they were "a joke,â€ she said. Strip mining was bad enough, but with the expansion of mountaintop removal, surface mining became even more destructive. Caroline knew she had to do something. She now coordinates scheduling all of the shifts for the sit-in and is excited about maintaining an increased presence at the Capitol through the legislative session.