Kentucky House Environment Committee Chair to Visit Louisville LG&E Plant

What was planned as a protest rally Thursday by environmentalists and residents living near the LG&E Cane Run plant has turned into a celebration of sorts.Sierra Club Representative Thomas Pearce says the demonstrators have been lobbying lawmakers to approve a measure regulating coal ash, which is a toxic byproduct of burning coal."Our goal was just to get the legislators to take house bill 237 seriously" says Pearce, "and to support the EPA and it looks like we’re batting a thousand today."The group found out Thursday that Kentucky House Environment Committee chair Jim Gooch will visit Louisville this summer to study how coal ash has hurt living conditions near the plant."The fact that he has decided to bring his committee down there means that we’ve overcome an insurmountable obstacle," Pearce says.Pearce welcomes Gooch's visit, and he's pleased with recently-announced EPA regulations on mercury. But, Pearce says he still hopes LG&E will abandon its plans to build a 65 acre coal ash landfill at Cane Run.