Kentucky leaders should...

New energy – wind, solar and efficiency – is a huge opportunity for eastern Kentucky right now. That is, if our leaders are willing to take advantage of it. Energy will be a hot topic during the Kentucky General Assembly, which is now getting into full swing. That’s...
Local support for POWER+ Plan growing like wildfire

Local support for POWER...

Support for the POWER+ Plan is picking up steam in Central Appalachia, as several localities have now passed resolutions in support of the plan. The Norton, Va., City Council became the first in the nation to pass a resolution supporting the POWER+ Plan in July. They were joined shortly...
MACED’s statement about the U.S. Department of the Interior’s new stream protection rule

MACED’s statement...

The U.S. Department of the Interior released new rules for the protection of streams from the impact of surface mining – rules which haven’t been updated in three decades. We’re happy about this update because we know that in order to have economically thriving and...
Eastern Kentucky ‘will not thrive without significant and smarter investment’

Eastern Kentucky ‘...

A central theme is woven through all of MACED’s new strategy briefs, and it is crucial to the success of any of the other strategies: increased investment. Why is investment so important to eastern Kentucky? MACED explains in its final new strategy brief, “Ensure Meaningful...
Energy Efficiency has big potential to create jobs, decrease electricity demand

Energy Efficiency has b...

MACED’s second strategy brief, “Energy Efficiency,” is out today. It’s a strategy that’s been gaining steam recently across eastern Kentucky, and one that MACED has touted for years through its How$martKY and Energy Efficient Enterprises programs. Among all...
MACED releases five new strategy briefs

MACED releases five new...

Thanks to the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative, there are more ideas than ever surfacing about how best to advance eastern Kentucky’s economy forward. Some of those ideas have real potential to make a lasting and broad-based impact for a high number of people. Some...
Appalachian Transition movement should employ participatory budgeting

Appalachian Transition ...

City governments across the country (and world) are trying a new system of budgeting that seems to be working well for them and their citizens. Participatory budgeting is a process of decision-making in which non-elected community members decide how a portion of their local government...
There’s Precedent for the Transition Assistance Eastern Kentucky Needs

There’s Precedent...

The new power plant rules proposed this week will make coal less competitive in the coming decades. It’s just one factor pointing toward continued decline in eastern Kentucky coal production, the main causes of which are the rising cost of Central Appalachian coal as the dwindling...