Read all about KFTC and I Heart Mountains Day on www.kftc.org…

On Feb. 14th, members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, coal field residents, college students, grannies, babies, engineers, doctors, 5th graders and of course Wendell Berry converged at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, KY to express their support for HB 164 — the Stream Saver Bill–which would end Mountain Top Removal Mining in Kentucky.

We gathered in the snow for a historic rally, quite likely the largest rally ever against Mountain Top Removal and definitely the largest ever in Frankfort, and shook the windows with the chant, “Whose Mountains? Our Mountains! Whose Streams! Our Streams! Whose Future? Our Future!” and were led by brilliant community members, old time music, and the fabulous author Wendell Berry, who called for Direct Action to end coal industry abuse. We’ve been patient and polite for 40 years, he pointed out. Maybe it’s time we realized patient and polite aren’t going to work.

After the rally, we lined the hallway that legislators take between sessions, with hundreds of people chanting, singing, holding signs and home-made quilts for the mountains. They had no choice but to read our signs and listen to the 5th Graders. Local 5th grade classes had learned about MTR in class, and forced their parents to let them skip class and lobby. They led the crowd chanting, in their little 5th grade voices, “164–On the floor!” They were asking legislators to bring the HB 164 –the Stream Saver–out of committee and to a vote.

If 5th graders can do it, so can you!

Visit www.mjsb.org to figure out how to plug in and pull the plug on Mountain Top Removal Mining this March at Mountain Justice Spring Break and beyond. Visit www.kftc.org or click here to send letters and calls to legislators.