Community engagement is key
Once you’ve seen coal mining’s damage to our mountains and communities, you can never forget. Imagine living with this legacy of pollution every day. By using electricity, you and I are complicit in this environmental degradation.
The RECLAIM Act uses money from the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund for reclamation of sites and waterways damaged by mining.
As originally proposed, RECLAIM was also intended to spur needed economic development through economic diversification and community engagement. The latest version of this bill takes all that away. These shortsighted changes rob Eastern Kentuckians of the hope of lifting their coal communities out of dire straits. So many people are unemployed and driven into deep poverty. We must hear their cries.
The RECLAIM Act is being debated in Congress so now is a good time to call or write your representative and senators to ask them to support the RECLAIM Act with the restored economic diversification (long-term jobs) and local community engagement to all areas receiving these funds.
This revised act would go a long way in giving hope and jobs to struggling Eastern Kentucky communities.
Rosanne F. Klarer
Georgetown
This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Community engagement is key."