Update on Wilson Creek and a request for help

Bev May and KY author Silas House at the Lands Unsuitable for Mining hearing for Wilson Creek

Five years ago this month my neighbors on Wilson Creek and I learned that a coal company was planning to start mountaintop removal strip mining on both sides of Wilson Creek. On top of this, the coal company planned to haul the coal out the curvy one-lane road on Wilson Creek, which would have been dangerous for the people on Wilson Creek, the coal truck drivers and the school bus that travels the road every day.

We knew that would mean years of blasting damaging our homes, dust and mud covering our roads and yards, and even worse flooding. We truly believe this would have meant the end of our community.

With help from KFTC we organized our community and used a Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition as a way of asking the state regulatory agencies to protect our community from the worst abuses of strip mining.

Though the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet did not fully declare the Wilson Creek watershed unsuitable to be mined, they did impose some protections for our community. The Cabinet ruled that mountaintop removal mining methods could not be used, if the land was mined the coal company had to replant native hardwood trees, the coal company could not use the Wilson Creek road to haul coal, and additional ponds needed to be constructed to prevent slides and washouts.

We really felt like the state was fair handed throughout this process. They took our petition seriously. They provided an opportunity for all sides to be heard and then issued a reasonable compromise. Yet now, for a third time, the coal companies (Laurel Mountain Resources, which is owned by James River Coal) have appealed this decision. This tells me that the coal companies have no intention of mining in a way that is respectful of the people who live on Wilson Creek.

What is at stake here is the right of communities to determine their own future and the state's ability to support communities that are trying to protect themselves.

I have to work that day, but my nephew, Alex, is planning to attend the hearing and it would be wonderful if a group of KFTC members wearing green or red KFTC T-shirts could be there to support him and everything we all worked so hard to achieve. We want to show the judges that the citizens of Kentucky are paying attention to this case.

This will be a test to see if the citizens of Kentucky can be heard and treated justly.

Thanks,
Bev May