By Mia Frederick, production assistance, Lora Smith
December 5, 2007 - On a cold windy December morning members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Appropriations and Revenue Committee came to eastern Kentucky on
a fact finding tour, in part in response to testimony they heard during the recent special session of the legislature. During that session they passed a bill that included massive tax subsidies for Peabody Coal’s proposed coal gasification plant to be built in western Kentucky. Committee Chair Representative Harry Moberly told those assembled at the Hazard Airport that the testimony by members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth had moved him to come on the tour. The windy weather prevented the legislators from taking to the skies for an aerial tour of mountain top removal, so instead they were treated to a virtual tour via Google Earth (which has recently added a mountain top removal feature to the popular service). Dr. Alice Jones from Eastern Kentucky University made a presentation that offered scientifically supported data regarding the impact of resource extraction or mining on the headwaters region of eastern Kentucky. After lunch the tour caravaned to Montgomery Creek a few miles south of Hazard and drove up a narrow one-lane road to look at a valley fill. John Roark of Montgomery was there to give them a sense of what its like to live below a huge valley fill like the one they could see below.
John Roark Kodak Church Valley Fill Sam Gilbert
All photographs courtesy of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
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