KFTC Blog

We know that young Kentuckians care deeply about our mountains and mountain communities. This year, we wanted to make sure their voices were heard loud and clear at Kentuckians For The Commonwealth’s 5th Annual Louisville Loves Mountains Festival on Friday, May 17, 2013. We asked young people to share their written thoughts and ideas for a brighter future for our mountains. Dozens of youth from across Louisville wrote essays on the topic, “Why we need to protect our mountains and mountain communities." 

The three winning essays were displayed during Louisville Loves Mountains Festival. The young authors were also recognized during the festivities and presented with prizes by essay contest judge Carol Besse, co-owner of Carmichael's Bookstore. Heine Brother’s Coffee and Carmichael's Bookstore donated prizes and the winners also received a Louisville Loves Mountains Festival t-shirt. The winning essays are featured below.  

Continuing their campaign to make sure Kentucky's water is safe for everyone, KFTC and allies have challenged plans by the Beshear administration to let Frasure Creek Mining "off the hook" for repeated violations of the Clean Water Act.

Appalachian Voices, Waterkeeper Alliance, Kentucky Riverkeeper, KFTC and several individuals (the petitioners) asked the Franklin Circuit Court Thursday to vacate an Agreed Order signed in April by Environment and Energy Cabinet Secretary Len Peters that claims to resolve all recent water quality violations by the company.

Ray Tucker, a Pulaski County farmer, KFTC member and former statewide chairperson, recently ran for the board of his rural electric co-op, the South Kentucky RECC. He has written this reflection on his campaign and the role of KFTC in building a stronger democracy.

My run for the South Kentucky RECC board started at a public hearing I spoke at last fall.  

The hearing was held in response to a group that was circulating a petition to dissolve our local library board. This petition, if successful, would have closed all public libraries in Pulaski County.

At the hearing I said we needed to work together as a community. And a long dormant spark awakened in me that helped frame the question, how do we build community together?

Thanks to everyone who took quick action in response to our action alert Monday about anti-clean water amendments in the U.S. Senate. We're happy to report that many of the worst amendments - including one by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul that would have gutted the Clean Water Act, and two by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin that would have crippled EPA's efforts to protect the public from the worst effects of mountaintop removal - were not voted on. This went down to the final minutes as Senate leaders negotiated which amendments would receive a vote.