Smokestack

Over the past several months, there have been worries that two big aluminum smelters in western Kentucky will shut down. Rio Tinto-Alcan has a plant in Sebree (Webster County) and Century Aluminum has a plant in Hawesville (Hancock County).

Louisville’s solid waste board is set to vote on the city’s five-year plan at the end of this month. If it passes, residents could see changes in how their trash is handled and recycled.

The plan includes three big ideas: banning plastic bags for use with yard waste, allowing citizens to place food scraps at the curb for composting and setting hard limits on how much trash can be thrown out—and charging extra for more trash.

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities are terminating the company’s contract with coal producer Consol Energy.

This news in and of itself isn’t huge—to put it in perspective, LG&E/KU burns 16 million tons of coal a year, and the company’s contract with Consol was only for 500,000 tons. But it was a good excuse to take a look at how the utility uses coal, and how its usage might change in the future.

Coal's role in this year's presidential election isn't going ignored by national media. Marketplace Morning Report had an interesting story this morning by Adriene Hill about the fuel's prominent role in President Obama and Mitt Romney's Ohio campaign strategies...even though there are less than 3,000 coal miners in the state. As the industry is always quick to point out, that doesn't include jobs that are related to and reliant on the coal industry.

A bicyclist was hit by a car this morning on Bardstown Road, only days before the road is scheduled to be shut down for a few hours to encourage walking and cycling.

The 36th Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment continues today in Louisville. I was there yesterday, as a participant in a panel loosely structured around a conversation on Kentucky’s energy future, and coal’s role in that mix.

Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson says it’s necessary to balance energy production with environmental stewardship. Abramson delivered the keynote address today during the Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment.

During his talk, Abramson touted Governor Steve Beshear’s energy plan, which calls for a quarter of Kentucky’s energy to come from renewable energy and efficiency measures by 2025.

The regulatory body that oversees pollution in the Ohio River is holding its fall meeting in Louisville this week.

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission—or ORSANCO—is made up of representatives from eight states and the federal government. The body meets three times a year.