Member Reflection: Taking the Mountains to The Hill

My name is Cindy Shepherd and I live on a small organic farm in Clay County with my husband and 5 year-old son. We have been members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth for 10 years. Recently I have started to become more active with KFTC as strip mining has started to affect my community. I am also a Jackson Energy cooperative member and was first introduced to KFTC's work in the rural electric co-ops through Randy Wilson's campaign for the Jackson Energy board a couple years ago.

My son loves our farm and the woods and the mountains surrounding us. He says he wants to stay right here and be a farmer himself someday. And so I know: we have to work hard for solutions that will transition Appalachia to a more sustainable economy with good local jobs and opportunities, and we have to protect our mountains and streams for ourselves and for future generations.

So, on April 26 – 29 I was able to make an incredible first visit to Washington, D.C. to speak with decision-makers about the importance of KFTC's work and our vision for the future. With organizer Sara Pennington by my side, we made new friends, contacts, support, and waves.

The general purpose for our visit was to attend an Environmental Justice conference hosted by federal agencies such as the EPA, Department of Energy, and others. Before the conference, though, we spent the day attending lobby meetings with staff from the offices of Congressmen Ed Whitfield, Ben Chandler and Hal Rogers.

We asked the legislators for their support in reintroducing the Rural Star Bill, which is legislation that would allow the federal government to give monies to the rural electric cooperatives who would then use that money to perform energy audits and money-saving upgrades on customers’ homes. The customer would slowly pay back the money to the co-op with the savings from the upgrades as a service on their bill, and the co-op would then give the money back to the government. New jobs would be created, customers would save money, and energy consumption would decrease. In the last Congress, Rural Star passed the house, but did not move in the Senate.

While we gathered verbal support for the bill in the current Congress, we also reminded everyone we talked to that the creation of jobs for eastern Kentucky is important, but in order to ensure a future for the region, the destruction of our mountains and streams through the practice of mountaintop removal mining must be stopped.

Another highlight of the trip is that we met with administrators and staff of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).  As I introduced myself and told the agencies about my home and the love and connection my son has to it and the joy he finds in playing in the creeks and hiking the mountains, it was impossible for me to hold back the tears. The thought that my son's home place, a place that we all hold so dear, could one day be destroyed, was too much for a mother to fathom.

And so we told the agencies how important it is for them to invest in coal-impacted communities and about our overall plan to Renew East Kentucky—that the rural electric co-ops of eastern Kentucky should make aggressive investments in energy efficiency, weatherization and local renewable energy in order to create local jobs and to help those who need it most to save energy on their bills. A big part of the plan is to finance this work the way that the Rural Star bill proposes. We also told them how we need a concentrated effort in job training so local folks will be the ones getting the jobs created by this plan. We developed good initial relationships and will have to opportunity to carry on this conversation with the agencies in the coming months.

The next day we attended the Environmental Justice conference itself. Though many of the presentations did not necessarily apply directly to our situation or work, the true power came with the ability for me to look people with incredible power in this country in the eyes and tell them my story and to demand environmental justice for Appalachia. The general response to my plight was that there was money available for rural projects, where I would have to remind them again that all the programs and money in the world will only make a difference in our communities if we stop the destruction.

One of the most memorable and inspiring parts of the conference was when I stood before the Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group and told them that we needed them to stand with Appalachia and enforce protection of our mountains and waterways. The response was that they needed community members to come up with the solutions for their area. Right there on the spot, we were able to walk up to the committee sitting behind the podium and give them all a copy of the article that KFTC had published last summer in the Solutions Journal about KFTC's Renew East Kentucky plan. And the committee sat there and started reading it! Every one of them! And then made a point to have personal conversations with us at the end of the conference.  We were given an amazing opportunity to show the human connection to mountaintop removal and to show our vision for a renewed Appalachia.

What a powerful feeling comes from fighting for your community, children and future in Washington, D.C. I'm hooked. I'm addicted. I've got the D.C. bug, and I want to thank the Alliance of Appalachia for their support and KFTC for putting their faith in me and giving me this amazing opportunity. I hope that I have served you all well and I can't wait to do it again!