Time-sensitive information
and calls to action.

Mountaintop Removal Forum Listserv

Our Chapter has a very active Mountaintop Removal (MTR) task force working hard on this issue in Kentucky - and we need all the help and involvement of our members that we can get.
 
If you would like to learn more about MTR, ask questions, participate in the MTR discussion, get involved in some of the activities with which we need assistance, or simply listen in as a way of staying up to date on what's happening around this issue - we'd like to invite you to join our Cumberland Chapter MTR Forum listserv.

Click the tab below for instructions on how to subscribe:

Sierra Club “Cool Cities” Campaign:
Solving Global Warming One City at a Time

Mayors of the Kentucky cities of Louisville, Lexington, Villa Hills, and Owensboro have signed the "U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement," joining hundreds of mayors across the nation in a pledge to reduce global warming carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution in their cities to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012!

Go to our Cool Cities page to find out how you can help your city become a Cool City.

Position papers and documents available
for viewing and download.

2009 Cumberland Chapter Handbook
Handbook and Outings Guide of the Kentucky Sierra Club. This publication contains information on outings and events for 2007 as well as important contact and organizational information for your Kentucky Chapter and its Groups, Executive Committee members, officers, staff and more.

Download our Kentucky Sierra Club Handbook & Recreational Outings Guide (PDF 2.00 MB).

Highlights of a few of our upcoming chapter events. For a full list, visit our EVENTS page.

Ongoing - 2009
Mountain Top Removal Roadshow
Engagements nation wide

To help educate Americans about the tragedy of mountaintop removal, the Cumberland Chapter is sponsoring The Mountaintop Removal Roadshow. This travelling presentation, developed and led by Chapter member Dave Cooper, teaches people about the true costs of our nation's addiction to "cheap energy" from coal-fired power plants. Visit our Mountain Top Removal page to learn more about this issue, book a presentation in your community, or view Dave's roadshow calendar.

Cumberland Chapter Leadership Retreat
December 4-6, 2009
Mt. St. Joseph Conference & Retreat Center
8001 Cummings Road
Maple Mount, Kentucky 42356
(270) 229-0200

The Cumberland Chapter is holding a leadership retreat this year to work on our strategic plan, transition new leaders, and involve other members interested in getting involved in chapter leadership.

This retreat will incorporate our regular December Chapter Executive Committee meeting in with the additional strategic planning and other activities planned for the retreat. If you are interested in joining us, we'd love to have your participation!

There will be a small registration fee ($40) to help us mitigate the expense of food and lodging. To register, contact:

Joey Shadowen, 859-252-3422 or

Alice Howell, 859-420-8092

Cumberland Chapter Activist Weekend
January 29-31, 2010
Kentucky Leadership Center
17500 Highway 196 Jabez, Kentucky 42544
270-866-4215

It's time to register for Activist Weekend 2010!

Join us for a weekend of training, issue education, and fun organized by our Chapter. This year there will be a heavier focus on outings - fun, educational, and activist.

Great music, dancing, delicious food, inspiring speakers, entertainment, outdoor activities, and more are in the works. Details and updates will be posted to our Events Page.

General news and information.

October 29, 2009
Coal-Burning Power Plant Proposed by East Kentucky Power Cooperative Not Needed
Co-op members and groups ask the Kentucky Public Service Commission to protect ratepayers from unnecessary financial burden

Lexington, KY – On Wednesday three individual rural electric co-op members and three public interest groups have petitioned the Kentucky Public Service Commission, asking it to review and revoke the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the coal-burning Smith 1 power plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

“The purpose of an electric cooperative is to provide electricity for its members at the cheapest cost, not to make money for them by selling electricity to others,” said Clark Energy member Father John Rausch, a Glenmary priest and plaintiff in the case.

“The substance of our complaint is that, as things presently stand, nobody can be fully assured that this project makes sense,” said noted Kentucky author Wendell Berry, a Shelby Energy co-op member and a plaintiff.

Read the full press release.

View the plaintiff's petition to the PSC

Lobbyist Jack Bonner of Bonner & Associates and Steve Miller, CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), are among those scheduled to testify today before a Congressional investigative committee. Both groups are at the center of a widening scandal involving forged letters and lobby spending discrepancies. The letters, purported to come from veterans, senior, minority and women’s groups, wrongly urged members of Congress to vote against clean energy legislation.

Read the full press release