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Coal and Water News

Black Lung Disease Back and Worse Than Before

August 23, 2019
Inside Appalachia

Across Appalachia, thousands of coal miners have suffered from black lung disease. In the 1960s, miners organized a movement to end the chronic condition. They convinced Congress to pass new laws that were supposed to make black lung a thing of the past. Today, conditions underground have changed, and the disease has come roaring back.

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Many affected as Revelation Energy files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

July 9, 2019 at 04:24pm
Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Big Sandy, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Cumberland, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Harlan County, Community Science & Public Health, , Enforcement, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Perry County

KFTC members and residents of many other coal producing states and regions have followed the activities of Revelation Energy, LLC with increasing alarm in recent years.

They watched closely as the company went a buying spree, acquiring hundreds of mine permits and hundreds of thousands of acres of mines in Kentucky alone from 2014 to 2018. They tracked notices of dozens of safety, health and environmental violations and overdue taxes charged against Revelation Energy, many of which remain outstanding. (According to the Lexington Herald Leader, Revelation Energy has been the top violator of reclamation and environmental rules in each of the last three years.)

And throughout this year, KFTC members actively organized against proposed mining permits and permit amendments sought by Revelation Energy that threaten water quality and community well-being in Harlan and Pulaski counties.

Enterprise Coal Co. "Big Branch" mountaintop removal mine Knott County KY

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Water connects us all – World Peace and Prayer Day 2019

June 25, 2019 at 12:17pm
Northern Kentucky

Twenty-three years ago, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, began traveling the world conducting World Peace and Prayer Day. It takes place every annual summer solstice due to it’s sacredness among all cultures, to unite people of all faiths and nations to join hands in a day of prayer dedicated towards Mother Earth.

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ORSANCO Makes Standards Voluntary

June 17, 2019 at 11:05am
Jefferson County, Northern Kentucky, Western Kentucky

On June 6, the current standards set by the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) for monitoring water quality in the Ohio River became voluntary. Only two of the commissioners representing eight member states and the federal government voted against the measure.

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Kentuckians are ready for a Just Transition and Green New Deal

May 13, 2019 at 10:54am

An enthusiastic and diverse crowd turned out on May 11 at an event in Frankfort in support of a Just Transition to a clean energy economy and a Green New Deal for workers and communities. 

Rep. Attica Scott and Cassia Herron

The main event, a stop on a eight-city tour organized by the Sunrise Movement, was planned in partnership with KFTC and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ. The event featured State Rep. Attica Scott, KFTC members Kevin Short, Cassia Herron and Scott Shoupe, Sunrise Louisville Hub member Jenny Bencomo Suarez, Sunrise Executive Director Varshini Prakash, Erin Bridges, who plays a leading role in the Sunrise Louisville Hub and on the national Sunrise Steering Committee; and music by Appalatin.

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RECLAIM Act is approved by U.S. House committee

May 2, 2019 at 07:55pm
Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Big Sandy, Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Cumberland, Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Harlan County, Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Perry County, Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Western Kentucky

After reintroduction in April, the bipartisan RECLAIM Act was debated and voted on during the May 1 House Natural Resources Committee markup, where the bill was passed out of committee on a bipartisan basis.

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KFTC building movement with Climate Justice alliance

May 2, 2019 at 01:40am

At the end of March, several KFTC members and staff traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to represent KFTC at the 2019 Member Convening of the Climate Justice Alliance.

CJA is a diverse yet aligned coalition of communities on the frontline of the climate crisis from across the country and world working for a Just Transition. 

The member convening was a similar to KFTC's annual membership meeting – combining voting on key proposals and plans for CJA's work by CJA member organizations, with valuable moments of collective learning, relationship building and deepening alignment. 

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Coal Community Residents Ask Congress for Health Study of Mountaintop Removal

April 10, 2019
89.3 WFPL
Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Big Sandy, Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Cumberland, Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Harlan County, Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Perry County, Communities Taking Action, , Community Science & Public Health, , Just Transition, , Mountaintop Removal and Strip Mining, Rowan County
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ORSANCO hearing in Erlanger

April 10, 2019 at 02:37pm
Northern Kentucky, Western Kentucky

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) held the last of three hearings on Monday, April 8, to gather public input on its latest proposal to change its mandate to monitor and enforce clean water standards on the river. The previous two had been in Pittsburgh on April 1, and Evansville, IN on April 4.

Monitoring would continue under the new proposal, but states could decide whether or not to adopt or enforce the standards. This opened a new front in the fight to protect water in the Ohio River that provides drinking water for more than five million people. Over 75 people gathered at the meeting in Erlanger to voice opposition to the organization’s proposal. KFTC members attended the public hearing along with a broad coalition of individuals, environmental, social justice, religious, public health and civic groups.

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ORSANCO work continues, hearings in early April

March 29, 2019 at 10:07am
Big Sandy, Jefferson County, Northern Kentucky, Rolling Bluegrass, Rowan County, Western Kentucky

For more than a year, KFTC has worked with allies to protect the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s (ORSANCO) mission to clean and protect the Ohio River through monitoring and enforcement. This commission, made up of representatives of the federal government and 8 members states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois) of ORSANCO maintains pollution control standards that are higher than the EPA or state enforcement agencies.

While these standards have not solved the Ohio River’s pollution issues, it has made considerable progress since the founding in 1948. Yet some political appointees in ORSANCO want to make these essential standards optional for states to enforce, giving states the ability to ignore damage to our water systems that disproportionately impacts lower income people and people of color across the region.

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