Kentucky Energy Equation - Bluegrass Institute participates in ALEC's Spring Task Force

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This past week, the Bluegrass Institute was pleased to participate in the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC's) spring meeting on the Energy, Environmental, and Agricultural Task Force in Charlotte, NC.

There, representatives from the Bluegrass Institute met with numerous state legislators and corporate executives to discuss the Intrastate Coal and Use Act, a bill that would reiterate a state's 10th Amendment rights to regulate its own internal commerce. Specifically, the bill would allow Kentuckians - not the unelected bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency - to weigh the costs and benefits of Kentucky coal when the coal is mined, sold, and used exclusively within the borders of the Commonwealth.

Among the crowd of around 150 dignitaries in the Energy, Environmental, and Agricultural Task Force were Duke Energy, which serves a portion of northeastern Kentucky, as well as State Rep. Tom Lockhart of Wyoming, the state with the most recoverable coal reserves in the nation.

The Bluegrass Institute had the unenviable privilege of informing the task force of the dangers the EPA poses to Kentucky and the Appalachian region in general if its out-of-control mandates continue to cost Kentuckians jobs and industry.

The Institute's participation in the ALEC Task Force Meeting is a testament to the growing influence the Institute is having in the energy policy debate, and a sign that Kentuckians are passionate about state sovereignty over their energy sector.