Copyrighted Material     Posted: May 16, 2002
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

The Mill     Posted: June 25, 2007
Some pictures of an old sawmill I am rebuilding.

NB: This site is not affiliated with any agency, committee, Federal, State, or Local Government.

House Bill 1 Poster Campaign 2000     Posted: July 24, 2006
There have been many efforts to pass a bottle bill in the state of Kentucky-generally the National Bottling industry sends a horde of lobbyists to defeat the effort. These are some of the posters I made for a Gallery presentation in the Capitol Annex Tunnel. It turns out that one cannot name the particular bill in presentations like mine, so I had to remove many of the posters immediately.

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Letter re: Trapp, 2002     Posted: July 23, 2006
To the Editor: I am writing to criticize the state's decision to permit burning up to 4000 tons/day of East Coast trash for power in Clark County. It doesn't make sense for Kentucky to import garbage to replace coal.

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Library of documents related to IGCC type Power Plants     Posted: July 23, 2006
In 2002 and 2003, the East Kentucky Power Co-op engaged with Kentucky Pioneer to design and construct a garbage fueled power plant in Trapp Kentucky.They failed to do their homework or heed the reasoned voices that counseled them to not import waste to Kentucky for fuel. There was a lawsuit. It wasn't a fair fight-they only had a huge revenue stream, vast legal and engineering resources, and the past president of the Kentucky Coal Association...we had Tom FitzGerald and the Kentucky Resources Council ( KRC website ). Ultimately they were denied a permit because they refused to manage the waste stream they'd sought to import as required by Kentucky law. The files here are a short introduction to the library, a listing of the files in the library, and the Entire Library in a zip file. You'll want a fast internet connection to get the zip file. Click here to see the Trapp files. Click on the 00README.html file for more info. You can download the zip file from there.

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Comments on UST Contaminated Soil Landfarm Permit Request     Posted: July 23, 2006
Lee County Kentucky invited the owner of a chain of gas stations to construct a contaminated soil dump above Walker Creek, an immediate tributary to the North Fork of the Kentucky River. Thanks to Tom FitzGerald's excaliber work in the construction of the county's Solid Waste ordinance, the permit needed to be approved locally as well as by the state. After a clear understanding of the liablility protections required by the ordinance, the initiative to import contaminated soil was dropped. This is the text of my talk at the local permit hearing.

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Trus-Joist MacMillan Air Quality Permit Hearing (mid '90s)     Posted: July 23, 2006
I wrote this for an air quality permit hearing. A (mostly) Canadian firm (MacMillian-Bloedel) subsidiary (TJM) was building a chip mill in Hazard Kentucky. The sister facility in Brainerd Minnesotta had severe problems with workplace exposure to sensitizing aerisols (MDI), crippling employees. The late senator from Minnesotta, Paul Wellstone, had tackled these issues in his home state, but Kentucky had just layed down with the dogs, and payed c. $60 million in incentives to invite TJM to Hazard. My goal was to have the facility re-designed to better aerate the workplace and reduce the risk of MDI injury. TJM did improve the design, and compared to Brainerd, the incidence of injury is lower.

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WAIT & the Medwaste Incinerator     Posted: July 22, 2006
In 1989, The Wolfe County Fiscal Court voted to contract with and invite Waste Energy of Kentucky to place the world's largest medical waste incinerator in the western end of the county. They made that choice without any public dialog.

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Assorted Docs on Child Services in Florida     Posted: January 1, 2006
This is a small library of information about Child Services in Florida. Click Here

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HUD's Renewal Community Program (This is Not an official HUD site)     Posted: January 1, 2006
The RC and Round III Empowerment Zone initiatives represent a new approach to advancing economic prosperity in the Nation's poorest communities. Communities that receive RC or EZ designation will be able to use a revitalizing business tax incentive package valued at $22 billion nationwide. HUD has designated a total of 40 rural and urban RCs. The designated period will be from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2009.Information about HUD's Renewal Communities Program.Categories include general information on Renewal Communities, Tax Advantages and Issues, the CoRA: Managing the RC program, Renaissence Communities and Renewal Communities on Main Street, and information specific to the Eastern Kentucky RC. Click here to read about Renewal Communities.

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Tax Advantages and Issues in Renewal Communities     Posted: January 1, 2006
Communities that receive RC or EZ designation will be able to use a revitalizing business tax incentive package valued at $22 billion nationwide. HUD will designate a total of 40 rural and urban RCs. The designation period will be from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2009.On December 21, 2000, the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000 was signed into law. The law provides for $15 billion in tax incentives under the New Markets Tax Credit Program to help spur economic growth in new markets in urban and rural communities across the country. By making an equity investment in an eligible 'community development entity' (CDE), individual and corporate investors can receive a New Markets Tax Credit worth more than 30 percent of the amount invested over the life of the credit, in present value terms. Click here to read more about RC tax advantages and issues.

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HUD's CoRA-the Committee of Responsible Authority     Posted: January 1, 2006
The CoRA: Overseeing the Implementation of a Renewal CommunityThe governing board of a Renewal Community is known as the CoRA, an acronym for the Coordinating Responsible Authority. The design of a CoRA is left to the state government hosting the RC. Click here http://www.appal.org/rc_cora/ to read the CORA pages.

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The Eastern Kentucky Renewal Community: Breathitt, Owsley, Wolfe, & Lee Counties     Posted: January 1, 2006
Four southeast Kentucky counties have come together to participate in the federal government’s Renewal Community program. Over the course of the next eight years they will attempt to expand their combined economic base by capturing tax dollars and using them to revitalize their communities. Click here: http://www.appal.org/rc_bowl/ to read the BOWL RC pages.

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Renaissence Communities, Main Street Programs and Renewal Communities     Posted: January 1, 2006
Articles first appearing in the "Three Forks Tradition" newspaper By: Larrey Riddle Renaissance KentuckyThere is a lot to celebrate in small towns in Eastern Kentucky. Small towns are a comfortable place to live and work. Click here: for more information on Rennaisense Kentucky and Beattyville Kentucky's Main Street Program

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Brief Introduction To The Website     Posted: June 4, 2001
What follows is a menu by menu description of the website Home Page: The main page has the most current postings on the website. The layout is like a newspaper, with the recent news "above the fold". The top of the page has the Main Menus to the left and the right of the Appal.org logo. The Leftmost column starts with links to the 50 most recent postings shown as headlines. The bottom of the page has a small menu of less-used features and a search tool that lets you find any information on this site by keying in a word or phrase to look up.

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