Environment

In an opinion piece published in the Richmond Register this week, Bluegrass Institute acting president Jim Waters heaps praise on the legislation recently introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to force the Environmental Protection Agency’s hand in approving or denying coal mine permits.

McConnell’s office tweeted a link to the op-ed twice (today and yesterday), which makes sense because it’s an article about the legislation the GOP leader introduced to expedite the EPA’s regulatory timeline. But it’s also an article attacking environmental attorney Tom FitzGerald, who has said he’s flirting with the idea of challenging McConnell as a Democrat in next year’s election.

For the second time in two weeks, fish have been found dead in an eastern Kentucky creek, and state regulators aren’t sure what factors are to blame for the fish kill.

This time, hundreds of dead fish were found in Catrons Creek, in Harlan County. The dead fish range from more than a foot long to minnows.

But no one knows what caused the fish kill yet. People living near the creek reported seeing black water, and the culprit could be some kind of discharge of chemicals upstream from a coal mine or other industry.

It's only been a little more than a week since I was down at Mill Creek, watching several fluffy white peregrine falcon chicks being banded. But already, visible on the live webcam, you can see that those fluffy feathers are nearly gone and the chicks are getting ready to learn to fly.

Tax credits for renewable energy are set to expire, but a new study shows that current energy policies, if they're kept in place, would reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the next thirty years.

The Energy Information Administration is an arm of the federal government, but is policy neutral. This means they don’t advocate for certain policies; they just crunch the numbers.

About 24,000 gallons of untreated sewage was released this morning into the South Fork of Beargrass Creek.

The Metropolitan Sewer District reported a blockage in the sewer line around 11:00am. The waste would normally been diverted to the treatment plant, but the obstruction allowed the sewage to back up and rise over the dam around where Beargrass Creek crosses Lexington Road and Baxter Avenue.

The problem was fixed after about an hour and a half, but it’s recommended that the public avoid contact with the water for the next 48 hours.