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Appendix A Text of the Petition Letter Circulated by Coal Companies against the Stream Saver Bill This letter was handed out at gas stations, churches, and even in school parking lots in the days before the coal miners’ rally in Frankfort, Kentucky, on March 13, 2008. It was also circulated by e-mail. Most of the statistics in the letter are incorrect, according to reports from the coal industry itself; others are seriously misleading. The text was most likely written by Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association; almost all of it is directly quoted from a column he published in the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Courier-Journal on January 7, 2008. TO: Honorable members of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate House Bill 164, the Stream Saver Bill, will seriously impact surface and underground mining in Kentucky by not allowing excess rock to be placed in streams that only flow when it is raining .1 Why focus only on coal? Our fills are no different than those needed for highway construction, real estate development, commercial development, other mineral extraction, and farming. People living in the flatlands take level land for granted. There is no level land outside the floodplain in Appalachia that hasn’t been created by man. We need this land for our future economy. Only a small percentage, 7%, of the Appalachian coal fields will be impacted by surface mining. You cannot surface mine without the surface owner’s per- • • APPEnDIx A  mission. The surface owner must agree on the post-mining reclamation. There are only eight active mountaintop removal permits in Kentucky. Only two mountaintop removal permits have been issued since 2005. In the 24 eastern Kentucky coal-producing counties: • 6,055 surface miners mine 45.5 million tons of coal • $354,629,000 is paid in direct wages • 23,000 trickle down or extra jobs • $1.9 billion in gross sales of coal (79.5% is exported out of Kentucky) • $1.5 billion brought back to eastern Kentucky where 85 cents on each dollar stays and circulates • $87 million paid in severance taxes ($43 million back to 24 coal counties) Coal provides high paying jobs and delivers cheap, dependable electricity. Kentucky has the 4th lowest electrical rate in the U.S., which is critical not only for attracting businesses like aluminum plants and auto manufacturing plants but also for our low income and elderly residents. The elimination of surface mining will end future farms, airports , housing subdivisions, industrial parks, recreational areas, commercial sites, golf courses, and a host of other actual uses of reclaimed coal mine lands. Don’t let your common sense be swayed by broad-brush, emotional statements. This is about the future of eastern Kentucky , not about remembrances of the past. [Signature] • • ...

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