KY More Vulnerable Than Most States To Climate Collapse, But Its Leaders Still Lie, Deny, Delay

[hatrack]

EDIT

Nine of the 10 states that emit the most heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution per person helped block the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have been the largest effort by the U.S. government to limit climate change. Four of those states, including Kentucky, were among those most often hit by disasters in the past 10 years — generally powerful storms, which science shows are worsening as the planet warms.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it sent nearly $2 billion in taxpayer aid to those four states over the same period to clean up and prepare for future hits. That accounts for two of FEMA’s major programs, just part of the disaster aid flowing to states. Kentucky alone received more than $530 million from 2009 to 2018. Severe storms and floods accounted for most of its 16 federally declared major disasters. Half of those battered Pike County, home to a quarter of the state’s active coal mines in 2018 and to Bentley’s neighborhood.

EDIT

n some parts of Kentucky, residents say they believe the state’s treatment of coal has increased the risk of disasters in yet another way. Consider the Harless Creek flood that threatened Bentley’s life. Water rushing down the hills from mines — including one the state had allowed to operate on an expired permit — intensified damage from the pounding rain, according to an engineering study prepared for a lawsuit. Afterward, the state cited two companies for violating laws intended to protect people living nearby. The Kentucky governor’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. John Mura, a spokesman for the state’s mine regulator, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, wrote in an email that the agency concluded the mines above Harless Creek did not contribute to flood damage. But both the agency and the companies settled lawsuits filed by people living along the creek.

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In September, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin stepped up to the lectern in a historic downtown Louisville hotel to deliver the keynote speech at an energy conference for leaders from southern states. Days before, dozens of countries and businesses committed to swift action to stem the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Demonstrators turned out in cities around the world, including Louisville, to demand that elected officials do better. But at the Louisville conference, sponsored by oil, gas, coal and electric-utility interests, speakers suggested that the causes of global warming are uncertain. Bevin called people pushing for climate action irrational. His message: Leave fossil fuels alone. “We are prematurely abandoning our [fossil fuel] assets for what I feel — and I think it’s probably shared by others — may be misguided reasons,” said Bevin, a Republican whose state is the country’s fifth-largest coal producer.

EDIT

https://publicintegrity.org/environment/one-disaster-away/a-dangerous-disconnect-disaster-prone-states/

[get the red out]

1. 2019 Summer

Record-breaking heat during 'uncharted' Kentucky drought
By CAROLINE EGGERS [e-mail] Oct 1, 2019


[link:https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/record-breaking-heat-during-uncharted-kentucky-drought/article_0e331813-b7f4-53e6-83d0-5f0cdc0224b3.html|]

Louisville and Lexington broke overall heat records, respective records for the most 90-plus degree days and dryness records – with just 0.04 inch of rain in Louisville and no measurable rainfall in Lexington this past month.

“We’ve never had that combination of unusually hot weather with extreme dryness,” Foster said. “We’re in somewhat uncharted territory.”

Nothing to see here, move right along...............

[Bayard]

2. Here in Southern Kentucky,

We had no rain at all for the entire month of August. That's unheard of here. Hardly any color in the trees now because of it. Leaves mostly turning brown then falling off.

Bevin is a tool. Really hoping Andy Beshear takes him out next month.

https://andybeshear.com/