Environment
Lawmakers want answers on damage and costs linked to idled ‘zombie’ coal mines
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.? Lawmakers, including Kentucky’s lone Democrat in Congress, are asking for a federal investigation into the full extent of environmental damage caused by what are […]
More than 600 ‘orphan’ oil and gas wells plugged in Kentucky with federal funds
The director of the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas told state lawmakers Thursday that 627 so-called “orphan” oil and gas wells have been plugged thanks to recent federal funding, though thousands of such abandoned wells remain across the state.? Dennis Hatfield, the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas director, said the state officials estimate […]
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife plans prescribed burns on nearly 2,100 acres of public lands this fall
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has announced plans for controlled burns on portions of five Kentucky public land areas “to improve forest and grassland health and enhance habitats preferred by native wildlife.” According to a news release, Fish and Wildlife officials and partnering agencies are scheduling prescribed burns on 2,096 total acres of the Clay, Grayson […]
Rock slide at abandoned quarry in Frankfort closes road
A rock slide at an old limestone quarry in Frankfort Friday closed a road and made for some dramatic drone photography and video by University of Kentucky assistant professor David Stephenson. Stephenson was in town leading students from UK and Kentucky State University in a four-day photojournalism and multimedia workshop called “Picture Kentucky.” Frankfort Police […]
Wolfe judge-exec says noise barrier planned for suspected crypto ‘mine’
Wolfe County Judge-Executive Raymond Banks says a Houston company running a new data center — suspected to be a cryptocurrency mining facility — in his Eastern Kentucky county plans to erect a barrier to dampen its constant noise which has drawn complaints from neighbors for weeks. But Banks says he opposes calls for the county […]
Lack of oversight on transmission spending leads to higher electric bills, consumer advocate says
Electric customers have fallen into a “regulatory gap” that’s allowed billions of dollars of transmission construction to happen without oversight of need, prudence or cost effectiveness, according to a complaint filed with federal regulators by the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. And though the complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was made on […]
In a rural Kentucky community, the roar of a suspected crypto ‘mine’ never ends
WOLFE COUNTY — She couldn’t see it through the trees on a recent late September morning, but she’s felt its presence for weeks on end.? Up the hill across from her home along the Wolfe-Lee county line, 76-year-old Brenda Campbell can hear through the leaves a constant, high-pitched whirring that rivals the cicada screeches in […]
How a looming government shutdown could hit national parks
National parks and nearby communities could forego millions of dollars per day during a partial government shutdown that could start this weekend. Would-be visitors will likely see restrictions on park access, though the extent of those restrictions was still unclear just days before a potential lapse in federal appropriations set to begin Sunday. Parks would […]
Wildlife officials downgrade protection status of West Kentucky fish to ‘threatened’
A small fish native to a stream system in West Kentucky is having its federal protection status under the Endangered Species Act downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” in large part due to decades of conservation efforts.? The relict darter, native to the Bayou de Chien stream system that runs through West Kentucky into the Mississippi […]
Crowding led to catfish deaths in some pay lakes cited by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife
Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has cited 28 catfish pay lakes for violations after a three-year investigation sparked by concerns raised by members of the public, the department announced Thursday.? The investigation “produced a victory for conservation and sustainable public fishing opportunities,” Commissioner Rich Storm said in a news release. Violations included operating pay […]
Pike County crypto mining operation approved for electricity discounts with conditions
Kentucky’s utility regulator approved last week more than $2.5 million in electricity discounts over several years from utility Kentucky Power to a cryptocurrency mining operation in Pike County.? As? part of its approval, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) is requiring Kentucky Power follow several conditions to make sure the costs of the discounts given […]
In Kentucky’s rivers, researchers try to understand where the mussels have gone
PENDLETON COUNTY — Wendell Haag wades through the cool, moving water of the Licking River, his eyes scanning across the silty bed for the distinctive shells he’s studied for decades.? The river is seemingly paved with the shells of freshwater mussels featuring various sizes, colors and species, buried into the sediment amongst the rocks, crayfish […]