As much as humanity believes the ideology that we are invincible, that is obviously not the case. We have met our match, in fact our greatest horror, that will easily destroy us all if we do not act now. The Youth is sharing this message with the rest of the world, as demonstrated during the Global Climate Strike.
Join Kentuckians For The Commonwealth this Saturday, September 21, for our first ever Sustainability Tour around the heart of Covington! We will be visiting key places around town that are using sustainable practices in their business and strategies that could be used all around to make a eco-friendlier community. Environmental policies will also be a point of discussion, such as how SNAP and double dollars can be used to promote local agriculture, on-bill financing of energy improvements, increase access to local foods, public transit, clean energy and opportunity act, and more – come learn with us! The tour will end with a hike on the Licking River Greenway Trails, a chance to appreciate our Mother Earth and recapture on all that was discussed earlier in the day.
The energy industry experiences constant fluctuations in demand, technology and structure. In the past three years, electricity has remained inexpensive in our state. Even with access to inexpensive electricity, high energy bills remain a burden to Kentuckians due to addressable inefficiencies in an economy that doesn’t allow people to thrive.
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.
Solar energy had already been gaining ground in coal communities, with the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham turning on its panels in 2017. Now a combination of factors has spurred a rush among groups in the region already looking to renewable energy to protect against future utility cost increases.
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.
The Solar Celebration at West 6th Farm on April 28 near Frankfort was a bittersweet event. Following the passage of the anti-net metering bill, SB 100, in the 2019 General Assemnbly, it seemed a bit strange to be celebrating.
After rate hikes in 2015 and 2017, Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU) hit their customers with another rate hike a few weeks ago. While they didn’t get everything they asked for from the Kentucky’s Public Service Commission, they did get sizable increases in their gas and electric rates.
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.
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.
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.
