Published: July 13, 2008 07:45 am      

Mountaintop removal trip sabotaged?

For an audio clip, see link at right

HAZARD — Two U.S. Congressman were “very annoyed” when they were left sitting on a Department of Interior plane with a dead battery near Washington, D.C., killing their scheduled trip to eastern Kentucky where they were to view the effects of mountaintop removal.

A department plane scheduled to fly U.S. Congressmen Ben Chandler, D-Ky., and Norm Dicks, D-Wash., from Washington, D.C., to Hazard would not start Saturday morning after a master switch was “inadvertently” left on over night. That left some opponents of mountaintop removal, waiting at the Hazard airport for the plane, to suspect the trip was deliberately sabotaged.

Chandler and Dicks were seated on the plane at the Manassas, Va., airport when the Interior Department pilot informed them the plane had a dead battery because he “had inadvertently left the master switch on last night,” according to Chandler, a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior chaired by Dicks. That committee reviews and approves funding for the Department of Interior and its Office of Surface Mining.

The snafu came one day after the director of the OSM canceled plans to accompany Chandler and Dicks to Kentucky.

“I don’t really know what happened,” said Elmer Lloyd of Cumberland, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and an opponent of mountaintop removal. “But I know if OSM didn’t want them to come, they’d fix it. Somebody up in Washington didn’t want them to talk to us.”

“It has that feel to it, doesn’t it?” said Doug Doerrfeld, KFTC chairman. “They’ll put as many roadblocks in the way as they can to try to stop people from seeing what’s going on.”

Chandler, interviewed by phone, wouldn’t go that far, but he was angry and said all the delay accomplished was to “redouble the resolve of the chairman (Dicks) to reschedule the trip.”

“It is what it is and the facts are what they are,” said Chandler when asked if he suspected the switch may have been left on deliberately.

He said the pilot’s explanation “begs the question: why didn’t he get up early in the morning to make sure the plane’s working? I don’t know whether to be suspicious or not and I’m not going to speculate about why it happened. But I’ve never had anything like this happen before – I can tell you that.”

Chandler and Dicks – at Chandler’s invitation – were to fly over several mountaintop removal sites and meet with about 40 people who live near some of the sites or are members of the KFTC. Originally, they were to visit a site near Vicco, about 15 miles southeast of Hazard, but that portion of the schedule was canceled Friday – apparently by OSM, according to KFTC members.

Chandler said he and Dicks gave up their weekends – Chandler stayed in Washington to accompany Dicks to Hazard Saturday rather than coming home to Versailles on Thursday night.

“In theory, the department (of Interior) should’ve have given us a plane and a pilot that could have gotten us there.” He said Dicks was “very annoyed” and there will likely be some unpleasant phone calls to the department on Monday. Attempts to contact the Department of Interior seeking comment Saturday were unsuccessful.

Chandler said he and Dicks have a responsibility to educate the public on what is happening in the Appalachian Mountains because their committee is responsible for reviewing and approving funding requests by the Department of Interior and OSM.

Kentucky state Rep. Don Pasley, D-Winchester, who has sponsored state legislation which would regulate dumping of mining refuse into streams and valleys near mountaintop removal sites, was on hand Saturday and said mountaintop mining “has an impact not only on eastern Kentucky but on central Kentucky. There are 800,000 people in central Kentucky who get their drinking water from the Kentucky River.”

Opponents of mountaintop mining contend it destroys small streams and valley fills and pollutes the major streams and endangers wildlife and water quality.

Chandler represents the central Kentucky Sixth Congressional District, but he said his constituents are affected by mining practices in eastern Kentucky and he has a responsibility as well to all of Kentucky.

“We’re coming to make sure the public knows what is going on,” Chandler said. “The Appalachian Mountains are a national treasure. They don’t belong to one individual and they certainly don’t belong to one industry.

“My district happens to be downstream and what happens in the mountains affects my constituents,” Chandler continued. “And a lot of the coal companies don’t come from that district either.” He said as a member of the subcommittee which appropriates money for OSM and Interior, “I have a responsibility for this area.”

Several opponents of mountaintop removal and KFTC members said Saturday it is unfair and inaccurate to characterize them as anti-coal.

“We’re not against coal,” said Truman Hurt of Kodak, near Vicco, “but I think we can have coal without destroying all the mountains. We did it for 50 years before – why can’t we do it now?”

Carl Shoupe of Benham, in Harlan County, said the mixup Saturday may have some benefit.

“This should show the public what we’re up against here in the mountains of eastern Kentucky,” he said.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.