Council To Be Briefed on Cane Run Coal Ash Dump

The Energy & Environment Committee of the Louisville Metro Council will hear information about LG&E's proposed coal ash landfill expansion at Cane Run Rd. this evening. A representative from LG&E will speak for 15 minutes and a representative from the group of organizations working to stop the fill (among them being KFTC, KWA, and Sierra Club) will give a 15 minute presentation.

**This is NOT a public hearing. Council members will NOT be taking public comment at this meeting, but the public is welcome to attend and learn what's being presented. (I would certainly also encourage people, if they're able to, to attend the 6pm general Metro Council meeting. I do not know the full protocol for signing up to speak, but I do know people can call 502-574-1230 to register to address Council).**

LG&E has put forth a proposal to expand their coal waste storage at their Cane Run Rd. coal-fired power plant. This new coal ash landfill would be 60 acres large, have the capacity to hold 5.7 million cubic yards of coal ash, and reach a height of 14 stories. People living near coal ash impoundments face risk up to a 1 in 50 risk of getting cancer and risk liver, kidney, and lung damage from exposure to it. The EPA has categorized the already-standing coal ash pond as “high hazard,” meaning if a breach would likely cause human death.

To learn more about coal ash, check out KFTC's hand-out: http://www.kftc.org/publications/coal_ash_factsheet%20PDF.pdf

To get involved in this local campaign, contact Beth Bissmeyer at beth@kftc.org

Hits and (Mostly) Misses

- A Dollar General Store will open on the site of the former Salvation Army store on Dixie Highway.  The site will share the building with the recently-opened Valley Skate Zone. The store will be, by my count, the 14th Dollar General Store in South/Southwest Louisville, only 4 miles away from the location at E. Orell Road and Dixie Highway. I think that's more than enough, thank you.[The Local Weekly]

- The state will spend nearly $750,000 on new road projects in SW Louisville. Planned improvements include an access road at Farnsley-Moremen and a turning lane at St. Andrews Church Road. [CJ]

- There was a car accident early this morning that resulted in two fatalities on Grade Lane, just north of the Outer Loop. I rarely read the 'comments' posted on the Courier-Journal website but noticed there were nearly 40 of them for this particular news item, so I clicked. The callousness and insensitivity of the people that wrote the comments have hit a new low, and reflect a sense of hostility and carelessness with which I am not familiar. If this attitude reflects the popular opinion, then we are doomed as a society. Mostly, I chalk it up to a small group of unemployed tea-baggers with an axe to grind against the newspaper. But if I am wrong, both the paper and the good people in this community are to blame for not acting to resist this awful foolishness. [CJ]

Southwest Career Fair

If you or someone you know needs a job, please visit the Southwest Career Fair on August 23rd, 2010 @ Sun Valley Community Center, 6505 Bethany Lane. Confirmed employers include: UPS, Insight Communications, Crowne Plaza, Physicians Mutual, Primerica Financial, and many more. Also, many institutions have confirmed including the University of Louisville, Campbellsville University, Bellarmine University, among others.

The event will be sponsored by www.TheLifeSong.org, Louisville Urban League, JOB News, The Office of Employment & Training, and TARC.

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