Environment

State government inspectors have been using aerial surveillance to watch coal operators in central Appalachia.

Helicopter flights have cost The Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement more than $477,000 over the past four years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

News of the flyovers surprised mining industry leaders, including Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett, who protested the covert nature of the inspections and questioned their effectiveness.

The Louisville Air Pollution Control District is predicting elevated levels of ozone on Monday, July 16. The Air Quality Index is forecast to be 106, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. 

This is the 19th Air Quality Alert so far this year. The area has exceeded ozone standards 15 times this summer. For hourly air quality updates, call (502) 574-3319.

A Kentucky coal company has been fined nearly $600,000 by the federal government, stemming from violations that directly contributed to the death of a miner last year.

In June 2011, David Partin was killed at the Manalapan Mining Company’s P-1 Mine in Harlan County. A large section of rock fell from the coal mine’s wall, and knocked him into a dolly.

There was no Air Quality Alert in effect yesterday, but ozone levels were unexpectedly high.

High levels of ozone were detected at air monitors at Buckner, Cannons Lane, Watson Lane and New Albany. All the levels detected were in the range that's unhealthy for sensitive groups.

A conference on renewable energy that was scheduled for next month has been pushed back to March 2013.

This year’s Kentucky Statewide Workshop on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency—organized by the Conn Center at the U of L—was supposed to be next month. But Conn Center Assistant Director Andrew Marsh says the center just decided that more academic speakers would be available at a different time of year.