Voices on the Wind

Why Not Now?

In Kentucky, we trumpet our low-cost electricity, cheapest in the nation, but hardly ever mention that we’re also a leader in wasting electricity. And we sure can’t brag about the quality of our air or the mercury in our lakes.

Any sensible energy policy will emphasize conservation and energy alternatives, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric.

It’s true we can’t switch overnight to renewable energy, though we could do a lot more than we are…
The planet has a finite supply of oil, coal and gas. Sooner or later, we have to develop alternatives to fossil fuels and smarter energy technology.

Why not now?

Lexington KY Herald Leader,
Aug. 2, 2006.

What Would Don Quixote Tilt?

[There is] … an inconsistency of those who oppose wind turbines…

Here in central Appalachia, the ridgelines already are riddled with tall metal towers, strung together with high-voltage power lines to carry electricity generated by burning coal to the west. If we’re worried that wind energy turbines will ruin the view for tourists and kill migrating birds and raptors, what about our reliance on and acceptance of coal burning, which far more efficiently causes the demise of trees and wildlife habitat?

Even Don Quixote would chuckle at our shortsightedness. If he could have tilted at high-voltage power towers, perhaps our energy questions might have a different cast.

Andy Kegley
Wytheville, Va.
Originally published in the Washington Post, April 28, 2006

The Walls of the Wells

Michelle Kaiser

Tragedy in the mountains
Not an explosion
But a series of rumblings destroying lives
Death and destruction
Slip through the cracks of the walls of the wells
Destroyed by the blasts
Can you hear the cries?
The cries of the earth? Of the fish?
The reflection of death in the streams
The collection of graves in the holding ponds
Towns below disappearing
Under the thumb of the same destroyer
That left the hills and the people there naked
Years ago