Elaine Tanner — Appalachian Roots

Sunday Service — 10:30 a.m.

Leader — Bambi Gordon

Speaker — Elaine Tanner

Title — “Appalachian Roots” grow strong when the time comes to step up and find a way to support these impacted mountain communities.

Topic — On the morning of July 28th , 2022, a foot of rain was dumped in our mountain streams in just a few short hours. We will talk about the days that followed showing how people stepped up to help when we needed them most. Our priority was to make sure everyone was accounted for. Next, we had to make sure everyone had access to food and water. We housed and fed support teams that came to help dig out those hit hardest by the storm. We will look at where we are today and what the next steps will be as we rebuild from the ground up in many places.

“We were the fortunate ones living up in a holler where the water did rise 6 feet in the creek as it filled with stone and silt leaving the water little choice but to rise. It was 2 o’clock in the morning when the power went out. It was two days before we could get off the mountain to see the damage done. We are used to good rainfall in these mountains, but we are not used to 12-14 inches of rain in a few short hours followed by another rainfall the following day. This rain dumped on an entire region running off all our hollers at the same time. It took two weeks to clear some of the roads. People lost bridges and lost access to food and water. Others floated away in their sleep. The count rose to 41 dead today when the last missing body was discovered. The first few days the Appalachian Roots grew deep, and people connected to the community brought in water and supplies. Next came the environmental Friends and. org’s bringing in generators, tools and cleaning supplies. Then came the Churches and our Mighty Muckers came to the rescue. Finally the government came with the relief programs and helped to access the damage. We are in a remote holler and are on a long list to have our road and culverts repaired…still.”

Bio — Elaine Tanner, Friends For Environmental Justice founding now program director comes to you telling of the stories that plague our Appalachian mountain mining communities. Up until three years ago I lived and worked in the Ashland Richland area addressing environmental issues taking place around oil and gas storage and production locally and on a regional level around water quality and addressing policy that would improve the current conditions. In 2019 we relocated to Southeastern Kentucky challenging mining operations taking place in the Cumberland mountains of Appalachia. My roots run deep and wide in the Appalachian Mountains. My mother was from the coal fields of West Virginia and my father was from the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. As a child I saw the best and then I saw the ways industry disregarded the people and the environment. Today I live with my partner in SE Kentucky on a property that has been in his family for 6 generations. Some 20 years ago he purchased his 245-acre family homestead at auction. We planned to retire and enjoy the life on the mountains we remembered as a child. The plan was spoiled when it was discovered legacy mining had plagued the area having been stripped, gutted and fracked. We found the water was only fit to flush toilets and filed a Safe Drinking Water Petition and got water for 97 families in our community. By this time, we discovered the state of Kentucky inadvertently approved mining permits that were created under fraudulent conditions. This started a 20-year road to activism. Three years ago, we finally moved to the mountain. The conditions here have been challenging to say the least. Post and Pre Law mining have left us living under old mines that fill up with water and on several events since we have been here have caused mud and rockslides to come within feet of our backdoor. We are challenging this action through an administrative rule case we filed back in 2008. We appealed the cabinet’s ruling in circuit court and the judge ruled in our favor. The cabinet challenged the court’s decision, and we are preparing to take this to the next level, the Kentucky Supreme court

Fellowship has returned. Join us downstairs after service for coffee and conversation.

*Masks are requested in the building*