Environment

A judge has ruled that Patriot Coal can cut health care and pension benefits that were promised to coal miners through collective bargaining agreements with the union.

Unfortunately, sewer overflows aren’t really anything out of the ordinary in Louisville. There were 400 times in 2010 and 2011 when untreated waste flowed illegally into area waterways: more than 100 million gallons of sewage. Now the Metropolitan Sewer District has been fined $161,000 by state and federal environmental regulators.

When we talk about exporting energy sources to other countries, the conversation tends to center on fossil fuels. Here in Kentucky, it's all about coal, and even as the nation cuts back on coal burning, many mines are hoping that burgeoning economies in Asia will help fill in the economic gaps.

But the BBC Newshour had an interesting story this morning about another fuel that America is exporting: wood. Trees that are grown in the Southeast are being sent to Europe to fuel biomass boilers, and there's a debate about whether that process actually helps the European Union further its stated goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts has revised its plans for the building’s green roof.

Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant is getting recognition for a green infrastructure project the company completed last year.

The plant has a lot of paved surfaces…the employee parking lot alone is about 20 acres. And all of that pavement means when it rains, gallons of water and pollution runoff into nearby streams.