Welcome Lauren McGrath- Associate Regional Representative

The National Sierra Club recently hired a new Associate Regional Representative to work on coal and mountain top removal issues in Kentucky. Lauren will be responsible for recruiting, training and involvingvolunteers on public education campaigns to develop strong community-based committees and presence in Kentucky. She has moved to the Bluegrass region, so Welcome Lauren!

Kentucky Students Rock Powershift '09

Approximately 150 Kentucky students (see above) packed the room at PowerShift 2009, a gathering of young environmentalists from around the nation, held Feb. 27-March 1 in Washington DC. Bluegrass region students from UK Greenthumb and Transy were out in force, as well as students from Murray, U of L, EKU and more....over 10,000 young people attended the event. See more at www.powershift09.org

Group Chair Dave Cooper Reports from Tennessee Sludge Spill

Bluegrass Group Chair Dave Cooper has been hitting the airwaves with his first-hand accouts of the disasterous coal ash spill in Tennessee, about a three-hour drive from the Bluegrass region. Check out Dave's blog on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-cooper/a-first-hand-account-of-t_b_153828.html And follow the story on Twitter: feed://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=%23coalash

Sierra Club National Links to the story:

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/23/143848/36/732/676608

Help the Hemlocks in Kentucky!

We finally have a website!!! Here is the link: www.kyhemlocks.org. If
you click on the Store button (home page, bottom left side), you can
see our t-shirts, bumper stickers and art prints. If you click on
"what we are doing" (home page, top center) and then click on "past
events" (top center) you can see photos from the Tsuga Art & Music
Show. If anyone wants to donate or make a donation in someone's name,
click the Adopt-A-Hemlock button on the home page. The Adopt-A-
Hemlock button can be placed on other websites, so let me know if you
want it on your website. - Alice Mandt, alice.mandt@ky.gov

National Sierra Club President visits the Bluegrass Group!

October, 2008: Allison Chin, President for the National Sierra Club, came to visit the Bluegrass Group and other regional Club leaders during a personal visit to Lexington. Allison was elected in May of 2008 and has made it a priority to visit with local Chapters and Groups to learn more about their work firsthand.

Bluegrass members Robert Ukeily, Lane Boldman, win National Club Awards

September, 2008: Lane won the Club's Susan E. Miller award for service to Chapters, Groups, and Regional entities. Robert won the David Brower award for outstanding Legal work.

Berea attorney Robert Ukeily received the William O. Douglas Award, which recognizes those who have made outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals. Former Club President and attorney Phillip Berry presented the award. ?Robert has litigated numerous cases for the Sierra Club over the years, most of it on a pro bono basis. Prior to 2005 Robert, worked at the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest where he litigated extensively on behalf of the Georgia Chapter.

Bluegrass Group member Lane Boldman received the Susan E. Miller award, which is given for outstanding administrative contributions to Chapters, Groups and regional entities. During the awards ceremony, Club President Allison Chin stated: “Lane has held a variety of positions too numerous to mention in the Sierra Club since 1993, including serving as Chair of the Cumberland Chapter as well as the Bluegrass Group; serving the national organization as a member of the Communications and Education Governance Committee and as Chair of the Council of Sierra Club Leaders. She has worked to protect the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, and the Big South Fork National Recreational Area in Kentucky and Tennessee. Along with her husband Joey, Lane has been active in the Inner City Outings Program, and has been involved in the campaign to stop Mountaintop Removal mining. She had overseen the Cumberland Chapter’s successful challenge to Peabody Coal’s Thoroughbred power plant. Lane is held in the highest regard by people at all levels of the Club for her intelligence, fairness, and tireless work ethic.”

Club 'Salon' Tests Tresses at Kentucky Fair

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/scrapbook/2008/08/club-salon-test.html

"The Sierra Club wants a hank of your hair. Especially if you are a woman of child-bearing age. And eat a lot of fish."

So read the lead paragraph in an August 13 article in the Lexington Herald-Leader, promoting the local Sierra Club's mercury-testing event at the Woodland Art Fair the following weekend. The two-day festival is one of the highlights of the summer in Lexington, Kentucky, drawing thousands of attendees, and every year the Bluegrass Group of the Sierra Club mans a booth there, with items such as apparel recycled into tote bags and hand-made recycled greeting cards, created and donated by Bluegrass Group members.

This year the Group set two hours aside for a mercury hair-testing event, with test kits provided by the Club's National Coal Campaign. "The advance story in the Herald-Leader created a surge of interest and people were lined up well before the 'hair salon' was open for business," says Bluegrass Group volunteer Lane Boldman. "The fact that the event was a bit out of the norm, nestled among craft booths and ice cream stands, made it stand out and got the curiosity of the crowd." Bluegrass member and hair stylist Frankie Barker (above and in top photo) and a team of five support volunteers whipped through 30 haircuts in just two hours.

Bluegrass member Rick Clewett talks about mtountaintop removal and ATVs in Lexington Herald-Leader, Sept. 1, 2008

http://www.kentucky.com/589/story/509433.html

Mongiardo has wrong vision for Eastern Ky. mountains
By Rick Clewett

Al Fritsch, the founder of Appalachia Science in the Public Interest, published
a book in 2003 titled Ecotourism in Appalachia: Marketing Our Mountains. In it,
he and co-author Kristin Johannsen laid out alternate visions of the region some
years hence.

One vision portrayed a region plagued by cheap, uninteresting and standardized development, unrestrained ATV use that tore up land and endangered people, and unrestrained mining that made the land ugly and ruined the streams.

In the positive vision, the book portrayed a region that was the beneficiary of
small-scale, local economic development well-calculated to draw people to the region
in a way that sustained the value and interest of the region while providing jobs
for its inhabitants and enriching the minds and souls of all concerned.

Fritsch and Paul Gallimore published a sequel in 2007: Healing Appalachia: Sustainable
Living through Appropriate Technology. The Cumberland Sierra Club wholeheartedly
supports this vision of a unique and viable Eastern Kentucky.

Three of us Sierrans recently met with two members of Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo's
staff to share our dream and our fears that irresponsible mining and ATV use will
lead to a much less desirable future for Eastern Kentucky. We received a polite
hearing, but little more.

Unfortunately, it is becoming clear that Mongiardo's dream is a system of ATV
trails covering the state and that he is willing to use his political muscle to
have his way. Herald-Leader reporter Andy Mead broke this story Aug. 21, and the
paper said in its editorial the next day, "The public's interest is in
enforcing the law to protect public and private property, not inviting more destruction."

The editorial went on to say that "a spokesman for Mongiardo refused to rule
out opening sensitive public lands to ATVs," while at the same time insisting
that "there are no plans to do that."

According to the paper, Mongiardo's spokesperson "said he is baffled by
the concerns voiced by sportsmen and environmentalists who fear an administration
push to allow ATVs in protected areas."

Too clearly, this bafflement is a form of stonewalling. The Sierra Club has heard
of a number of complaints by state employees that their agencies are being pressured
in heavy-handed ways to allow ATV and horse trails wherever the administration says
it wants them.

There may be only one thing about which Mongiardo and I agree. As Mongiardo said
in his speech at Pikeville on July 29, Eastern Kentucky is, indeed, full of beautiful
places. What Mongiardo seems to want very much to ignore is that his support for
continued and even increased mountaintop-removal and contour mining and his promotion
of widespread and seemingly unrestricted ATV "tourism" in Eastern Kentucky
threaten the region's economic future and its beauty.

Mongiardo's argument that Eastern Kentucky needs more mountaintop removal to
create more flat land for development ignores the fact that most of the mountaintop
removal has not occurred near roads or population centers. Mountaintop removal has
already created more flat land than the region will ever need for Wal-Marts, fancy
golf courses, hospitals or even ATV recreational areas. If mountaintop-removal sites
were chosen because they are important to create flat land at particular points,
then a few projects might be justified, although I doubt it.

But that is not what our No. 2 man in Frankfort has in mind. No, let's flatten
all the mountains we can and pretend we can get the financial backing to build lots
of coal-to-liquid plants. And let's run ATV trails over it all — not just "reclaimed"
mining sites but over the last protected areas we can find

If the voices of environmentalists sometimes sound a bit shrill, try to remember,
people like the lieutenant governor wield lots of influence. Those of us without
such power have to work very hard to make our concerns heard.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Clewett of Lexington is co-chairman of Cumberland Sierra Club political committee.

Bluegrass Group Expands Mountaintop Removal Campaign
The Bluegrass Group and the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club have made the issue of Mountaintop Removal one of their priority campaigns. We are continuing to sponsor the Mountaintop Removal Roadshow, a presentation designed by Bluegrass Group Chair Dave Cooper. If you are interested in having a presentation of the Roadshow in your area, contact Dave by clicking here. There is also currently an online link for comments to the "Stream Saver Bill" which will affect the practice of mountaintop removal. To add your comments, or to find out more information, click here.

Enlisting More Roadshow Activists- If you are interested in the issue of Mountaintop Removal, we are soliciting for new activists who are willing to help. The Roadshow is now available on disk with accompanying materials so that you can present the program yourself! If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Roadshow, please email us and take the pledge to show the presentation to at least two civic, educational or faith organizations.

Conservation Upcoming Events- Meetings are held the last Wednesday of each month. Visit our calendar page for the next meeting.

Inner City Outings Upcoming Events- Meetings are held the second Monday of each month. The Inner City Outings Program provides outings for local children who have limited opportinities to enjoy the outdoors. For more information, click here.

Upcoming Outings Each month local leaders volunteer their time to lead dayikes, bike outings, backpack trips and other outdoor activities to provide fun and social opportunities to our members. If you are interested in leading an outing, please contact Larry Ridenour, Bluegrass Outings Chair, and also check out our monthly listings.