In seeking state money, Pike County flexes environmental muscles

Lexington Herald-Leader ^ | 10/9/2009 | Dori Hjalmarson

[BlackjackPershing]

PIKEVILLE — Touting Pike County as a leader in not only coal but greener energy technology, businessmen and local officials made presentations to the General Assembly's joint committee on energy Wednesday.

The county seeks state money to develop an ethanol plant on its landfill site, county leaders have attended national meetings about wind power, and officials pushed to ensure the courthouse being built in Pikeville will be the state's first to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said.

[BlackjackPershing]

Pike County is the state's largest coal producing county. It ranks 10th in coal production nation-wide as a single county.

Now, you have a County Judge/Executive who says this:

"Legislators should help the region diversify its energy resources and protect the atmosphere from carbon spewed by coal, Rutherford said — a departure from earlier speeches by officials who urged protectionism of surface mines and low electricity prices."

Rutherford is delusional about his place in the political debate and he is attacking the very industry that provides over $10 million per year in coal tax revenue, along with nearly 15,000 direct mining jobs and billions of dollars in commercial industry.

Pike County needs to dump Rutherford the next time he runs in 2010 because Pike County can't afford a County Judge/Executive who blasts the coal industry to appease liberals and socialists. Clearly, he is spouting the socialist-globalist line of Al Gore and Barck Obama.