The Kentucky River flowed quietly around a bend Tuesday morning, only a mile away from the state Capitol in Frankfort. The sounds of kids playing and cars motoring came in clear across the water.
On the bank, people gathered to oppose Senate Bill 89, a proposed policy state legislators might soon pass into law. Environmental advocates worry the bill will endanger the quality of rivers like the Kentucky by allowing the pollution of other waters that feed into it.
“Our creeks and rivers, no matter how small, are all connected. We all live downstream,” said Silas House, a lifelong Kentuckian and renowned author. He was part of the morning’s press conference, which was organized by environmental groups to oppose Senate Bill 89.
“As children, we'd spend the entire summer days wading in our creek. We built little dams and bridges, hunted crawdads,” he said. “Our lakes, rivers, creeks and streams are part of who we are as a people, literally and figuratively.”
Senate Bill 89 would exempt many bodies of water from anti-pollution regulations. It would do that by changing how Kentucky law defines the term “waters of the commonwealth.”
Since 1973, the definition has given virtually all Kentucky waters some protection. But the bill would make the definition apply only to what the federal government classifies as “navigable waters.”
House and other environmental advocates warn the bill would open the door to unlimited pollution of groundwater and other sources that supply many Kentuckians’ drinking water.
“Back when I was a little boy growing up in Eastern Kentucky, I learned about the concept of the commons,” House said. “This is an ethical code that refers to shared resources, most often water and air – elements that are accessible to all of us and that the culture has collectively agreed to protect.”
House made it clear Senate Bill 89 would break that code.
The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting recently reviewed state and federal data, interviewed groundwater experts and found rural reaches of the state will be at higher risk of pollution with SB 89’s policy change.
For example, eastern and western Kentucky have significant concentrations of domestic use wells that rely on groundwater, and that water source would lose state protections under the bill.
The Republican-dominated Kentucky Senate already approved SB 89. Next, the proposal has to win over a state House committee.
Several Republican senators who voted for the bill said it will help the coal, construction and agriculture industries. They claim delays on permitting are hurting businesses and the communities that rely on them economically.
“The way it stands now, the heavy hand of government can roll into your farm (or) roll into your construction site at any time and write you up because something went into that puddle or ditch on that site,” Sen. Stephen West of Paris said during a legislative debate. “The Clean Water Act was never meant to cover that sort of thing.”
But Madison Mooney worries the bill will hurt her neighbors’ health and their pocketbooks.
She’s a Martin County resident who sits on the board of a couple water conservation groups. She joined House and other speakers Tuesday, standing before the Kentucky River, to publicly oppose Senate Bill 89.
“Growing up as a child in this region, I've always been taught not to drink the tap water, not to play in the creeks for too long, or not to play in the river. And I always wondered, why was that?” she said.
Today, of course, she knows it was because of water pollution. And if contamination gets worse under this bill, she’s worried about how much more expensive it will be for utilities to ensure their drinking water is safe.
“Water systems in Eastern Kentucky are struggling with aging and out-of-date infrastructure as it is,” Mooney said. “Large-scale pollution, which this bill will allow, doesn't only destroy our creeks. It makes drinking water unaffordable for Kentuckians.”
Gerry James followed Mooney at the microphone. He works for the Sierra Club, and he’s also a cofounder of River Row Boathouse in Frankfort, where the morning press conference against SB 89 was held.
The boathouse gives people a place to store their kayaks and offers an easy spot to get out onto the Kentucky River.
“I've probably paddled somewhere close to, like, over 10,000 miles across this country. … A lot of those miles within this commonwealth,” he said. “And what I've seen all across Kentucky is a passion for our water.”
James said the legislation threatens Kentuckians’ pastimes, from paddling to fly fishing.
“I'm just happy to see everyone out here, you know, advocating against this bill. And I hope our legislature, you know, listens up,” he said. “This is not a partisan issue.”
Senate Bill 89 is expected to get a hearing Thursday in the Kentucky House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. Environmental advocates are urging lawmakers to at least make amendments to the bill.
