Coal Industry

Real faces of coal? Something rang a bell with me as I read the letter to the editor by John Enyart. “FACES of Coal” sounded so familiar. Oh, yes, “The Rachel Maddow Show” had recently accused the organization “FACES of Coal” of buying stock photos of individuals on the Internet and then passing the people off as regular Americans who supported the coal industry. She showed example after example of their duplicity. I wonder how many of those newly elected representatives Mr. Enyart spoke of as going to Washington (and elsewhere)

Republican challenger for the Sixth District Congressional seat Andy Barr faced state auditor Adam Edelen, standing in for incumbent Ben Chandler. Candidates fielded questions submitted by the audience on state and national issues, including the economy, health care and the coal industry. “Our country faces enormous challenges right now - unemployment, national debt. The answer … is to return power back to the American people,” Barr said in his opening statement. It was a sentiment echoed by Edelen, speaking on behalf of Chandler.

Sixth District U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler wrote an op-ed this week titled "Protect our Signature Industries. " I eagerly began reading his piece, hoping for a mea culpa of sorts for his vote in favor of cap-and-trade legislation that would cripple Kentucky's coal industry. I thought perhaps he had changed his mind and would now seek to redeem himself with regard to one of Kentucky's most important exports. No such luck. Chandler's vote in favor of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade legislation categorically disqualifies him from commenting on Kentucky's other signature industries.

Dear Editor, I want to respond to Leland Conway's recent comments about global climate change. This issue has become such a threat, I think, to people such as Mr. Conway not because they doubt the science that suggests that climate change is underway, but because the action necessary to confront it may be challenging to the economic status quo. I have no doubt that Leland Conway has sincere concern over the economic and political issues...

FRANKFORT — To hear Kentucky politicians of both parties tell it, the Environmental Protection Agency should be renamed the Economic Destruction Agency. But their recent rhetoric has gone far beyond reality and obscured it. At issue are the EPA’s tougher enforcement of the Clean Water Act against strip mines, particularly those on Eastern Kentucky mountaintops, and its new regulations under the Clean Air Act, which will force utilities to rely less on coal and charge more for electricity.

Dear Editor, We should all join the three rural electric co-op members and three public interest groups who are asking the Kentucky Public Service Commission to revoke the certificate for the proposed Smith 1 coal-burning power plant in Kentucky. Efficiency and conservation measures can save our energy dollar, provide jobs, and eliminate the need for new power plants as proven around the country. Don't believe the coal industry when they say that coal is good for Kentucky jobs.

Last week, one of Kentucky's largest newspapers made an absurd declaration, claiming that Kentuckians must cut back on energy usage because we waste too much of it. Some survey put together by environmentalist groups with an anti-growth agenda found that we use 70 percent more energy than the average American in other states. I am dubious of the study's findings, but even more skeptical when the mainstream media continues its efforts to convince us all that the world will soon end because of man-made global warming.

The overall employment rate in Boyle County increased by nearly 3 percent between June and September 2012, according to reports compiled by the Boyle County Industrial Foundation and the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership. The rate of both industrial and non-industrial employment also is increasing, according to the reports. Jody Lassiter, EDP president, said the statistics are a good representation of steadily increasing employment trends but are not an exact science.

Republican challenger for the Sixth District Congressional seat Andy Barr faced state auditor Adam Edelen, standing in for incumbent Ben Chandler. Candidates fielded questions submitted by the audience on state and national issues, including the economy, health care and the coal industry. “Our country faces enormous challenges right now - unemployment, national debt. The answer … is to return power back to the American people,” Barr said in his opening statement. It was a sentiment echoed by Edelen, speaking on behalf of Chandler.

Repaving leaves nearby street a mess Dear editor, My letter today is to determine how the city of Winchester can be proud to use the Allen Company for repaving of streets. They may do a good job on the upper scale neighborhoods' streets and roads but when it comes to the east side streets they are pathetic. If you want to see a example you need to drive down Baldwin Avenue. When you get to Baldwin you will notice the deplorable mess they left from Oct. 19. They left big black oil stains and roadway debris everywhere and made my street - which was clean and in good shape - end up looking like the blacktop facility where all the blacktop is made and loaded.

“Fairness” is a term getting thrown around during the current campaign season more than a football at a Cards vs. Cats game.  President Obama has even made it the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, using rhetoric filled with talk of “fairness” but nothing about “freedom.” One of his standard lines pines for “an economy where everyone gets a fair shot” and “everyone does their fair share.” But the question I...

The recent announcement from Arch Coal that it will be laying off hundreds of Kentucky workers has reignited a favorite strawman of wealthy business interests: regulation. While corporations and supposedly free-market capitalists love to demonize regulations as always bad for business, in reality most of them actually support and benefit from many regulations themselves. Kentucky opthalmologists have fought tooth and nail to try and keep regulations that prevented optometrists from performing certain eye procedures.

Have you heard the one about the analysts who were bullied by a powerful president to change their findings that a proposed clean water regulation by the federal government would cost 7,000 American coal miners their jobs? The punch line: The firms employing the analysts who refused to “soften” their numbers have been told “the contract would not be renewed,” according to testimony offered during a congressional hearing in Washington by Steve Gardner, president of ECSI, a Kentucky consulting firm and one of the project's subcontractors.

“Big Coal makes us sick.” That was the message printed on bright orange signs held by activists at a rally on the banks of the Kentucky River in Clark County Saturday morning. The signs had a double meaning. Just days after the media reported results of a study linking pollutants from mountaintop removal mining to a higher incidence of birth defects, members of the Sierra Club and other groups called on Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration to do a better job of enforcing the federal Clean Water Act. They also demanded that politicians clean up their act with regard to coal company influence.

FRANKFORT — To hear Kentucky politicians of both parties tell it, the Environmental Protection Agency should be renamed the Economic Destruction Agency. But their recent rhetoric has gone far beyond reality and obscured it. At issue are the EPA’s tougher enforcement of the Clean Water Act against strip mines, particularly those on Eastern Kentucky mountaintops, and its new regulations under the Clean Air Act, which will force utilities to rely less on coal and charge more for electricity.