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A draft of Louisville’s comprehensive sustainability plan is finished.

Louisville Director of Sustainability Maria Koetter was placed in charge of the plan when she began her job in January. The draft hasn’t been released to the media or public yet, but it’s been submitted to Mayor Greg Fischer for his review.

Mayor’s spokesman Chris Poynter says the final plan will include measures big and small the city can undertake to improve sustainability.

A national environmental group is proposing a plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants across the country.

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s proposal is one the group says the federal government could implement under the existing Clean Air Act—and thus, wouldn’t need Congressional action. It advocates for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.

If you want to look at sandhill cranes--or just shoot them--opportunities abound this season.

Federal prosecutors in West Virginia are moving further up Massey Energy’s chain of command in their investigation into a 2010 mine disaster that killed 29 coal miners.

Another Massey Energy executive has been charged in connection with the federal criminal investigation into the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine. David Hughart didn’t work at the mine, but last week agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to violate federal mine safety laws.

That deal to export Kentucky coal to India still hasn't been scheduled.

The deal was announced in August—an agreement to send up to nine million tons of Appalachian coal to India every year for 25 years. The first shipment was supposed to leave the U.S. in September, but the company responsible for facilitating the transportation says it still hasn’t been scheduled.

Louisville Gas and Electric has broken ground on nearly a billion dollars worth of new pollution controls at the company’s Mill Creek Power Plant in southwest Louisville. It’s a two-year process that the company estimates could create up to 700 new construction jobs.

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship tells the Wall Street Journal that despite incorporating several companies in Kentucky, he doesn't have plans to return to the coal business.

The federal government has given four mines—including one in Kentucky—a warning that if they don’t make strides in health and safety, they could be put on a “pattern of violations” status.

Once a mine is marked as having a pattern of violations, any significant and substantial violations that are found by regulators would require that section of the mine to be temporarily shut down.

Anyone who watched television footage of Lexington during last year’s Final Four knows that if you try hard enough, couches can burn. But because of a California state law requiring the inclusion of flame retardants, most are made with some chemicals designed to slow burning down. And a new analysis of couch cushions from around the country shows that several toxic or carcinogenic chemicals are still common ingredients in most couches.

Southern Coal is recalling several hundred laid off workers and plans to hire 650 more, thanks to a new contract from American Electric Power.

From the Williamson (WV) Daily News: