KFTC responds to coal politicians' false controversy over EPA visit

This week we've been reporting to you on the Environmental Justice Listening Tour that KFTC members hosted for the Environmental Protection Agency. You've read the comments of members in Clay County, at the Cordia School, in Whitesburg, and in Harlan County here; and you've witnessed regular Kentuckians speaking directly to the EPA here and here.

Today we bring you one more inspiring voice from eastern Kentucky and a report on the false controversy that paid coal industry spokespeople and coal politicians have tried to cook up.

Ada Smith is a KFTC member from Letcher County. She spoke to EPA administrators during the community meeting held at the Appalshop theater in Whitesburg last Thursday. First Ada shared her concerns that that those living near mountaintop removal coal mines "can't turn their faucet on and get a drink of water, that they can't take a bath without being scared that there's arsenic in their water...There's been stories all this week of people's well water being on fire under the ground." Then, as if sensing the political backlash that had just taken place early in the day in Frankfort, Ada told the EPA: "My state is not going to respond to the concerns I have around coal mining." She said, "What I know is that...our state people are not going to do the job, but [the EPA] can."

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Earlier that day, in an Interim Subcommittee on Energy of the General Assembly meeting at the Capitol in Frankfort, politicians railed against the EPA's visit and the fact that the Agency had the opportunity to hear regular Kentuckians voice their hopes and concerns without being drowned out by the noise of coal industry. Media outlets who reported on the EPA's listening tour, and on the comments of residents, also picked up the story of the false controversy created by industry spokespeople and legislators--often without a response from KFTC or local residents.

Read some of the comments by the politicians that put the interests of the coal industry and elected officals before those of the regular Kentuckians dealing everyday with the impacts of the industry at the bottom of this blog post. Those politicians who blasted the EPA, who discounted the voices of the Kentuckians addressing the EPA during the tour, and who spoke up to protect the industry include: Rep. Leslie Combs, Rep. Tim Crouch, Rep. Myron Dossett, Rep. Rocky Adkins, Rep. Lonnie Napier, Rep. Fitz Steele, Sen. Robert Stivers, and U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers, among others.

KFTC couldn't let such irresponsible comments go unacknowledged or unchallenged and promptly issued a statement, highlighting the importance of the listening tour and the opportunity that Kentuckians had to speak directly to the agency charged with protecting them, as well as calling out the politicians for their silence when the deadly impacts of the industry are made known. WYMT printed this statement in full.

On Thursday and Friday of this past week, more than 150 eastern Kentucky residents participated in a tour with leaders of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At stops in Manchester, Vicco, Whitesburg and Lynch, the residents over and over asked the federal officials to enforce the law and help us create safe and healthy communities. Concerned mothers, teachers, students, retired coal miners, nurses, entrepreneurs, the unemployed and many others spoke directly to the EPA officials.

• We expressed our vision for a prosperous eastern Kentucky and shared our hope that by working together we could create economic opportunities so that our children won’t have to leave the region to find meaningful work.

• We expressed hope that those jobs would not put workers in danger, and would not do damage to our land and water.

• We asked for assurances that our drinking water not make us sick, and that those companies that are poisoning our water be stopped and held accountable.

• The mayor and residents of one small town asked that mining not be allowed to destroy the town’s drinking water source and future economic potential.

• One family asked that someone stop the dust and water pollution from a coal processing plant that a doctor told them is making their daughter sick.

• And we let it be known that one of the biggest obstacles to safe workplaces and healthy communities is systematic non-enforcement of the laws designed to protect our health and safety and inaction by the state and federal agencies.

As Kentuckians and members of KFTC, we thank and commend the EPA officials for coming to listen to the people most impacted by the decisions that they make regarding the issuing of permits and enforcing the law.

As if on cue, by Friday afternoon, the airwaves and the internet were filled with howls of protest from paid coal industry spokespeople (who had turned down a meeting with the EPA officials) and state and federal politicians, complaining that ordinary Kentuckians had the chance to have their concerns heard by the EPA. They claimed the EPA had no right to come to Kentucky to see and hear for themselves the dangerous and deadly impacts of the modern coal industry. They expressed outrage that EPA got an opportunity to hear, and the chance to value, the opinions and concerns of the people who bear the consequences of an industry that has no respect for the law – a reality these politicians won’t acknowledge.

But not one of these politicians expressed any concern about the families who are without safe drinking water; about the children who are sick because of the pollution in their neighborhood; about the damage to the homes and drinking water wells of families who live near mining operations, or our youth who must leave the region to find meaningful jobs while they do little to help create new job opportunities.

While these officials were howling against the one federal agency that has shown some inclination to enforce the law, their past silence is also of note:

When a study was released recently showing that people who live near mountaintop removal mines have an increased risk of cancer, we didn’t hear one word of concern for the people who are sick, only attacks on the scientists.

When a study was released recently documenting that children born in communities near mountaintop removal mines have a 26% higher incidence of birth defects, we heard not one word of concern or compassion from these same political leaders.

When it was demonstrated that specific coal companies had been filing fraudulent water monitoring reports and poisoning streams below their mine sites (violations the companies have acknowledged), we heard not one word of disappointment from these same politicians.

But when a federal agency – charged by Congress with enforcing the laws that protect our health, our water, our air and land – comes to talk with real people affected by these issues, Kentucky’s political leaders are beside themselves with fury over the very notion that an enforcement agency might actually make coal companies obey the law.

Have these politicians no shame, whatsoever?

In Kentucky, we still have a chance to help lead the nation toward a new power, clean energy economy with more and better jobs, healthier communities, and more affordable energy. But we have to stop the destruction being caused today by our old power coal industry and old power ways of thinking. And that requires leaders with vision, compassion, and political courage. The ones squawking about the EPA doing its job have shown, again, that they are not these leaders.

If your state legislator or Congressperson is one of the politicians listed below, please consider writing a letter directly to him or her. Also, send a letter to the editor of your local paper, especially if they've run a story about the EPA visit or the false controversy. You're encouraged to use points in KFTC's statement above, putting the voices of regular Kentuckians before the coal industry and its politicians.

There are tips on writing a letter to the editor here.

And you can locate your legislator here.

Let us know if you send in a letter by calling your local KFTC organizer or emailing [email protected].

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Here are some of the comments by legislators and industry spokespeople, with a link to the news source for each comment:

• Rep. Rocky Adkins: "My problem with the federal EPA is that I think they have an agenda and I think they are tied to groups that have an agenda and I think that is flat wrong for a federal agency to have a drawn opinion without hearing a cross-section of views and opinions come from everyone.â€
• Rep. Lonnie Napier: "I just want my fellow legislators from Eastern Kentucky and those in the coal industry to know that many of us have and will continue to support any efforts to protect our coal industry."
• Rep. Myron Dossett: "I pledge to...stand with my fellow legislators in Eastern Kentucky to fight any Federal restrictions on the coal industry."
• Rep. Fitz Steele: "[A] federal agency coming to our communities to conduct the people’s business in private? That does (not) pass the smell test.â€
• Rep. Leslie Combs: "I continue to be disappointed by the EPA and their actions toward Kentucky’s coal industry...[T]o stage meetings and site visits with people sympathetic to only one side of this issue is mind boggling to me. It’s bad enough that the elected officials weren’t invited – to snub our people is just terrible. I do feel that in my position I have worked cooperatively to engage the coal industry with other businesses and industry across the state to meet common ground. This stunt of the EPA is a slap in the face to me, my constituents and all of Kentucky.â€
• Sen. Robert Stivers: "I was shocked to have to read in the paper that the EPA was visiting my hometown. If they truly wanted to hear the impact that mining has produced, they could have, as a courtesy, invited legislators and other elected officials.