protecting ourselves from our government

kentucky has a long history of being taken advantage of.  whether it's mineral rights from the land of the poor and unsuspecting or coal, coal, coal - with massive profit and great benefit for a few corporations and folks that live far away.  this industry has flourished at great cost to residents of the state and the environment here in kentucky.  under recent administrations, government watch dog agencies like the e.p.a. not only look the other way, but actually offer protection and regulation that serves corporate interests.  many in our community have seen the grave injustices of the business of coal extraction first hand while visiting our eastern kentucky neighbors or flying over the devastated landscape that once were mountain tops. 

in recent years, the catastrophic practice of mountain top removal has left vast regions of kentucky, west virginia and virginia looking like lifeless, flat moonscapes.  one of the many detrimental and unjust side effects of this greedy retrieval of coal is that residents of these rural counties are left without potable drinking water.  apparently the starting place and source of much of the water throughout the southeastern u.s. are these tiny streams in the eastern part of our state.  right now, president bush is proposing to weaken restrictions that prohibit dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams.  thank goodness our governor (beshear) and our congressman (ben chandler - an honest and just representative who happens to apply his christian faith to his politics) oppose this.  see this link -http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/596998.html