Leading foe of Keystone pipeline and oil-sands mining keynotes Ky. mountaintop-removal protest

The seventh annual "I Love Mountains Day" to fight mountaintop-removal coal mining was hosted by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth in Kentucky's capital of Frankfort yesterday. The social-justice group usually has speakers from the Central Appalachian coalfield, but to show KFTC's networking efforts with other groups that try to protect rural land and people, this year's main speaker traveled from Alberta to speak about the fight against oil-sands mining and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo (photo by Milan Ilnyckyj) of the Cree First Nation in Alberta told the crowd that coal mining in Appalachia is very similar to the mining of oil sands, reports Kayla Phelps of the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky's student newspaper. "Mountains are sacred," the speaker said. "People go to them for peace and understanding." She has been a "key leader" in the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands oil to the Gulf of Mexico, Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, adding, "As the rally unfolded, large trucks with signs touting the coal industry circled the Capitol." The Courier-Journal of Louisville also covered the event.