KFTC Members Voice Concerns to Beshear in Hazard

"Miners deserve as safe an environment as possible.  We deserve the best safety as possible." 

KFTC members from Perry, Knott and Letcher counties came out to voice their concerns to Governer Steve Beshear and Lt. Governor Mongiardo at last night's Town Hall Meeting in Hazard, KY. 

KFTC members Lyle Snyder, Truman Hurt and Tricia Watts were able to ask the Governor questions pertaining to mine safety, state spending on "coal education",  and health care.

Perry County member Lyle Snyder addressed Gov. Beshear about a recently released Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) report on mental health and substance abuse issues in the mountains. 

The report, An Analysis of Mental Health  and Substance Abuse Disparities & Access to Treatment Services in the Appalachian Region , shows that coal producing counties have higher rates of substance abuse and mental illness than non-coal producing counties and counties outside of the Appalachian region. 

According to the study released by ARC to Beshear at a meeting on Monday in London, KY: 

 

There appears to be a higher prevalence of mental health disorders in the Appalachian region as compared to the rest of the nation, with proportionately more Appalachian adults reporting serious psychological distress and major depressive disorder.

. . .

 Mental health problems are not equally distributed across the region, with higher rates of serious psychological stress and major depressive episodes in central, as compared to northern and southern, Appalachia.

. . .

      The percentage of people in the Appalachian region admitted to treatment for the primary abuse of other opiates or synthetics is significantly higher than in other regions of the United States. Within the Appalachian region, rates are highest in the central part of the Region and in coal mining areas.

 

Snyder called for the need to understand the correlation between these serious health issues impacting people in the mountains and the mining of coal.  Snyder also spoke out about mine fatalities telling the Governor that miners and their families deserve better protection and treatment.  The audience and Beshear were receptive and supportive of Snyder's comments with Beshear promising to do more for mine safety.

The Governor's address to the Hazard crowd focused on energy independence through liquid coal and Adventure Tourism as two ways his administration will create economic opportunities in Eastern Kentucky. 

 

Adventure Tourism initiatives were promoted by Mongiardo and Beshear as the "next big thing" for Eastern Kentucky, but the details of what their plan would include  went unmentioned.  Recent news articles in the region have reported ATV trails atop mountaintop removal sites and elk viewing and hunting as the two main components of the Governor's  Adventure Tourism plan.