Big Sandy | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Chapter: Big Sandy

If you want to find new ways to strengthen the economy, hold elected officials accountable, and be a part of a great community of folks, then we invite you to join the Big Sandy Chapter of KFTC. The Big Sandy chapter includes Floyd, Pike, Johnson, Martin, and Magoffin counties.

Our members have a vision for the Big Sandy area where the economy, democracy, people and land are healthy. To bring about this vision, we organize an annual day of workshops around sustainable agriculture, forestry, efficiency and renewable energy solutions called Growing Appalachia and offer mini-workshops throughout the year. We are also involved in protecting our land and water resources by raising awareness about water quality in Eastern Kentucky. We also work to educate the community on issues of economic justice and voter empowerment.

We hope you will join us at our next chapter meeting and share some of your ideas on how we can work together to bring about our vision of a healthier Kentucky!

Recent Activities

Celebrating 40 years of action for justice.

KFTC Staff on August 17, 2021 in Coal and Water, Economic Justice, New Energy and Transition, Voting Rights, Racial Justice, Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Energy Democracy, , Former Felon Voices, , Just Transition, , Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, , Restore your right to vote, , Sustainable Energy, , Tax Reform, Big Sandy, , Central Kentucky, , Cumberland, , Jefferson County, , Madison County, , Northern Kentucky, , Kentucky River, , Rolling Bluegrass, , Rowan County, , Shelby County, , Southern Kentucky, , Wilderness Trace, Climate Justice, , Empower Kentucky, , Health Care, , I Love Mountains Day, , Leadership Development, , OCI, , Racial Justice, , Voter Empowerment, , We Are Kentuckians

 It’s an important time for the organization.

KY Public Service Commission establishes a fair process for calculating compensation credits for rooftop solar

KFTC Staff on July 19, 2021 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Sustainable Energy, Big Sandy, , Cumberland, , Kentucky River, , Rowan County

The grassroots campaign to protect rooftop solar in Kentucky and prevent electric utilities from rigging the rules against locally-owned distributed solar generation won a major victory in May, ending (for now) a multi-year dispute between solar advocates and monopoly utility companies over the value of fed-back rooftop solar energy.

On May 14, 2021 the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a ruling rejecting Kentucky Power Company’s proposal to slash by seventy-five percent the value of the credit that new solar customers would receive for electric power from their panels that is fed back to the grid. Importantly, the PSC order established a methodology to determine a fair value of that fed-back distributed solar energy. The Commissioners then applied that new framework to calculate that, for Kentucky Power customers, the value for that credit is just twelve percent below what it would have been under the old policy.  

Despite challenges, Kentuckians make an impact in Frankfort

KFTC Staff on March 31, 2021 in Coal and Water, Economic Justice, New Energy and Transition, Voting Rights, Racial Justice, Campaign For Our CommonWealth, , Energy Democracy, , Just Transition, , Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, , Sustainable Energy, , Tax Reform, Big Sandy, , Central Kentucky, , Cumberland, , Jefferson County, , Madison County, , Northern Kentucky, , Kentucky River, , Rolling Bluegrass, , Rowan County, , Shelby County, , Southern Kentucky, , Wilderness Trace, General Assembly

You’ve made an impact during the 2021 General Assembly. Some of these impacts have been on legislation – a key meeting with a legislator that changes the course of a bill, or a push of calls and tweets that makes the will of the people more visible and harder to ignore. We also set a goal this session to continue to build the power we need. So many impacts have been in our own communities, talking with neighbors and networks about the bills that impact us, and the work of our legislators. 

Eastern Kentucky members meet with Senator Turner

KFTC Staff on February 10, 2021 in Coal and Water, New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, Big Sandy, General Assembly

EKY members meeting with Sen. TurnerIn February, members of the Big Sandy Chapter and KFTC members in nearby counties met with Sen. Johnnie Turner to begin to build a relationship and urge his support for a few important issues. Participants included Kathy Curtis, Erik Fields, and John and Jean Rosenberg from Floyd County, Dayjha Hogg and Jacob Mack-Boll from Letcher County, Carl Shoupe from Harlan County, and Lisa Abbott from Madison County.

RECLAIM Act and AML pass the House as part of The Moving Forward Act

KFTC Staff on July 3, 2020 in Coal and Water, New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, Big Sandy, , Cumberland, , Kentucky River, , Rowan County, Congress, , RECLAIM Act

Kentucky will have a better chance at seeing its $400 million backlog of mine reclamation projects move forward thanks to legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 1.

Both the RECLAIM Act and reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Lands Program were included in the INVEST in America Act (a.k.a The Moving Forward Act), a broad bill addressing the country’s infrastructure needs.

"I am overjoyed that Congress is finally helping to clean up abandoned mines and polluted waterways," said Joanne Hill, a retired nurse originally from Harlan County now living in Pulaski County. "For too long, Kentuckians have been pleading for action with no response.”

Page

Chapter Feature:

Growing Appalachia

Growing Appalachia
 
Growing Appalachia is a day of workshops about small-scale farming, energy efficiency, and renewables. We hope to provide promising, sustainable ideas people can use to save/earn money or even start a small business! This conference open to anyone looking to broaden their skills. Learn more about the 2015 conference here.

Regular Meetings:

Prestonsburg Office
152 North Lake Drive
United States
Prestonsburg, KY 41653
Monthly chapter meeting

Join us on the 1st Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. for the Big Sandy chapter meeting.

Chapter meetings are a great time to plan local work, discuss local and state-wide work, meet new people, and much more. Everyone is welcome and invited to attend! Hope to see you there!

Chapter Organizer:

152 North Lake Drive
Prestonsburg, KY 41653
606-263-4982

Other Pages