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June 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Hundreds of coal miners were making their way to Frankfort, Ky. on Tuesday to protest the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s hold on 36 mine permits that they say would help keep them working in a fragile economy.
Environmentalists planned a simultaneous demonstration to press the EPA to stand its ground because they believe the proposed mining operations would pollute streams.
The issue has produced heated rhetoric in Kentucky for two years. U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell added to it Tuesday in Washington, charging in a floor speech that his coalfield constituents are under siege by the EPA.
“Like most of the country, Kentucky is suffering from very difficult economic times,” McConnell said. “Far too many Kentuckians are unemployed and the prospect for future employment remains daunting. That’s why it is especially irritating that this administration has blindly followed ideological policies that eliminate jobs in our communities. The people of Kentucky are amongst the hardest-working people on the planet but how can we be expected to compete if our own government is working against us?”
The EPA is holding a hearing at the Frankfort Convention Center at 7 p.m. EDT to get public comments from Kentuckians on the permits, which have already been approved by state officials. The EPA is holding them up because of concerns about water pollution.
Environmentalists support the EPA’s objections.
Alex Desha, an organizer for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said the EPA “is rightfully stepping in where the state has consistently failed to act.”
Haven King, a former Hazard coal miner who now is the Perry County clerk, said he expects as many as 2,000 coal miners and their supporters to take part in a demonstration before the public hearing.
King said the miners are angry that the EPA is blocking jobs that are badly needed in Appalachia, an impoverished region where about one person in 10 remains unemployed.
“I don’t think that people realize how important coal jobs are in Kentucky,” he said.
McConnell said 18,000 Kentuckians work in the coal industry and nearly 200,000 others rely indirectly on the coal industry for their jobs. They account for more than $1 billion in wages each year, he said.
“Attacking an industry so important to Kentucky will only succeed in putting people out of work, impeding future job growth, and increasing energy prices,” McConnell said.
Deborah Payne, an activist with the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, said in a statement the EPA should continue to guard against pollution from mining operations.
“Our citizens are our most valuable resource. Kentucky legislators need to start acknowledging mine related health impacts and look for ways to mitigate them, not deny them,” she said. “Allowing the EPA to do their job, preventing the pollution that contaminates our watersheds, ultimately damaging human health is a good first step.”
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