Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

January 2007

Personal Testimony from KFTC member McKinley Sumner.

ICG had approached my siblings and I about selling or leasing them our land that is about 63 acres. I told them a number of times that we did not want to sell to them because I wanted to live out my days here on the land I grew up on. This company did me dirty on George’s Branch, and I didn’t trust them so every so often I would go up the ridge to make sure they weren’t getting on my property.

Back in August, I was out in the yard one day and I heard this awful commotion. It didn’t sound right to me, so I decided to go to the top of the mountain. I put on my boots to keep the copperheads and rattlesnakes away and headed up. When I got back there, I saw this monster bulldozer. At about the time I got to the top, a truck pulled up. I went up to the person in the truck who was apparently the foreman, and asked him if he realized they were on private property.

He said, “No, I don’t think so.’

I responded by saying, ‘Yes, I do think so!’ I talked to him for a minute and then I started on down the ridge to see what all they had done.

I started down the ridge, and he said, ‘You can’t go down the ridge.’

I said, ‘I can go anywhere I want to on our own property, so you don’t tell me where I can go and where I can’t go. Furthermore, when I go down the ridge and see what all you’ve done, you don’t be here when I get back.�?

A few evenings after this happened a representative from ICG coal company called me. They said it was a mistake, and that they would make it good.

I don’t think it was a mistake. I think the company wanted to see how far they could push me. They couldn’t say that it was a mistake because my property lines were well marked, and there was a big white oak tree that was well-marked by the surveyor where the property lines were. I had talked with them a number of times before and told them that they weren’t to get on my property.

After the company realized that I had contacted a lawyer, they took it upon themselves to contact the state.

When I talked to Susan Bush [Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources], she knew about the problem, and ICG said they had gotten off permit by mistake. The state gave them a citation back in August, but they still have not issued ICG a fine. It makes me think that the state does more for the companies then they do for the property owners of Kentucky.

This whole situation has caused me a lot of aggravation and stress. I have had to put out a lot of money, about $7,000 in total, from my own pocket to make sure I knew where the property lines were and that the lines were well marked. The pegs and flags were removed on other part of the ridge, which cost money to have the property line remarked. I don’t know who else would do that but the coal company.

I am 74-years-old, and I hike up to the ridgeline three times a week to make sure the company is not trying to come on my property again. I just want them to know that I’m still here and I’m watching. I just don’t think that this should be happening in the United States.

Text courtesy of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

Coal companies have been mining in the Montgomery Creek area of Perry County Kentucky ever since the 1920’s. Most of this mining has been underground or deep mining. In 1999, Leslie Resources Coal Company started strip mining coal on the ridge tops above Montgomery Creek and the hundred or more families that live in the Montgomery Creek hollow. Leslie Resources Coal Company eventually sold to the Addington Brothers who then went bankrupt and eventually the mining operation ended up in the hands of Wilbur Ross Jr. and the International Coal Group (ICG). According to local resident John Roark, they have been using mountaintop removal strip mining for about the last five years on Montgomery Creek.

Members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KFTC) who live on Montgomery Creek attempted to file a Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition when ICG tried to add more acreage to their mining permit which would bring them even closer to the homes of people. The Kentucky Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement responded by saying the resident’s attempts to protect their families and property was “frivolous.�?

ICG’s original permit showed that they would be mining right up to the property line of one KFTC member’s land. In order to make sure ICG stay off of his property, Mckinley Sumner, had is property surveyed with bright orange markers. When ICG decided they wanted to mine some of Mckinley’s property they not only removed the markers, but they also removed the line tree used to indicate the property line. One lawyer said it’s hard to get them (ICG) for trespassing on his property, because there is no property their any more. It’s just a straight drop-off now. They didn’t just trespass on his property they stole it.

Links:
Learn More about Montgomery Creek
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/montgomery-creek
KFTC’s Canary Project
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project