Less than three months later, the “paramount importance” of mine safety seems to have disappeared. When Beshear unveiled his two-year budget proposal last week, the agency that oversees mine safety was slapped with a 4.2 percent budget cut, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Though the cut is smaller than those faced by other state agencies, the budget for the mine permitting agency, tasked with approving new mining sites (including those used for mountaintop removal), went untouched.

Mine safety, and the enforcement of mine safety regulations, has repeatedly taken a backseat to expanded mining under Beshear, despite repeated accidents in Kentucky mines that had been cited for safety violations. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) cited Armstrong Coal, the operator of the Equality Boot Mine, with 15 safety violations between its 2010 opening and the October deaths. In 16 months preceding a deadly accident at the Dotiki Mine in Providence, Kentucky, MSHA issued 840 safety violations to its operator, Alliance Resource Partners.

Days after the Dotiki Mine disaster, Beshear appeared at the opening of another Alliance-owned mine and made no mention of mine safety. In 2011, Beshear appointed one of Alliance’s top safety officials to the Kentucky Mining Board, even though at least nine miners have died at Alliance-owned mines since 2005.

During his 2011 re-election campaign, Beshear took more than half a million dollars in campaign contributions from the coal industry, begging the question ThinkProgress has asked of his state’s elected officials before: Is Beshear putting the interests of his Big Coal campaign contributors ahead of actual human lives?

Beshear’s assessment of his own budget is, unfortunately, correct. The budget makes $286 million in cuts, including a 6.4 percent cut to a higher education system that has been plagued by funding cuts and rising tuition for years. And though it attempts to preserve K-12 education funding, it will result in less spending on Kentucky’s students and schools, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports:

Although the main funding formula for K-12 schools wouldn’t be cut, population growth means spending per student would decline. Also, education officials say the current year’s population estimate was low, resulting in a cut of more than $50 million to that funding formula.

At the same time, the $43 million tax break Kentucky approved for a Bible-themed amusement park — which will include a 500-foot by 75-foot reproduction of Noah’s Ark — could go into effect for the first time under Beshear’s budget. In addition, the budget includes $11 million to improve a highway interchange near the park. Proponents of the park, Beshear included, have claimed it will boost tourism and create jobs, but those assumptions are based on a report done by the park’s developers.

While Beshear’s budget isn’t guaranteed to pass as proposed, it will likely go through mostly unchanged. Unfortunately, that means lawmakers could jeopardize Kentucky’s substantial gains in K-12 education and ensure ballooning tuition rates at its colleges and universities, all while they preserve tax breaks for what critics have dubbed the “Ark Park.”

In Kentucky, a state where mountaintop removal has destroyed more mountains than in any other state, protesters have staged sit-ins at the governor’s office and the statehouse throughout the year. Those activists visited the office of Gov. Steve Beshear (D) again yesterday, this time hoping to deliver a little holiday cheer and a few gifts for the governor who trumpeted his support for mountaintop removal and opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency during his re-election campaign in 2011, public radio station WFPL reports:

Governor Steve Beshear got an early Christmas gift from anti-mountaintop removal activists today. Protesters spent several hours in the governor’s office waiting for a chance to present him with lumps of coal.

The protest was an extension of a weekly event that’s been going on since February, but this time it had a holiday twist. Lexington teacher Martin Mudd dressed up as Santa Claus, and says he brought gifts for the governor.

“Santa brought the governor some lumps of coal and switches because he’s been a naughty boy in not doing everything that he can to protect the people of eastern Kentucky and our mountains and water,” he said.

Beshear’s support for the coal industry, and mountaintop removal in particular, has often placed him at odds with coal activists. In 2009, he angered activists by firing Ron Mills, the head of Kentucky’s mining permit division, after Mills refused multiple permits for Alliance Resource Partners, a Tulsa-based company with multiple mining sites in Kentucky. Beshear signed the permits over Mills’ objections, and Mills told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Alliance executives had lobbied for his firing.

But his support for mountaintop removal has drawn the most ire, and while yesterday’s protesters weren’t able to reach Beshear — both he and Lieutenant Gov. Jerry Abramson (D) were out of the office — they left a list of demands with their gifts. Among them: end mountaintop removal, employ workers left jobless by the coal industry through environmental reclamation projects, and help Eastern Kentucky build a sustainable economy that isn’t built on a destructive mining process clearly linked to cancer, birth defects, and numerous other chronic illnesses.

Stella Harville and fiance Ticha Chikuni

But after outrage from local residents, local religious leaders, and the National Association of Free Will Baptists, current pastor Stacy Stepp told the Appalachian News-Express that he expected state and national Free Will Baptist officials to overturn the ban. He has also called for a new vote on the matter, perhaps as early as this Sunday, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. The ban was instituted in a 9-6 vote of church members Sunday, though much of the 40-member crowd abstained. “We’re going to get it resolved,” Stepp said.

The National Association of Free Will Baptists released a statement Thursday backing that action and clarifying that it did not hold a formal position on interracial marriages because “it has not been an issue in the denomination.” It encouraged local and state church officials, as well as Gulnare’s membership, to “reverse the decision“:

Many interracial couples are members of Free Will Baptist churches. They are loved, accepted, and respected by their congregations. It is unfair and inaccurate to characterize the denomination as racist.

It is our understanding that steps are being taken by the church in question to reverse its decision. We encourage the church to follow through with this action. Leaders from the local conference and state association in Kentucky are working with the church to resolve this matter.

The ban on interracial couples was originally introduced through a resolution by former pastor Melvin Thompson after Stella Harville, a long-time attendee, performed at the church in August alongside her fiance, a native of Zimbabwe.

What a highwall collapse can look like (Courtesy of MineSurveyor.net)

In April, the Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Armstrong Coal for an incident involving the stability of a highwall at the same mine, the Associated Press reported Saturday. Though a company spokesman said that citation was unrelated to last week’s collapse, Armstrong Coal has a history of safety violations at the site. MSHA has cited Armstrong for at least 15 safety violations in the two years it has operated the mine, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports:

Armstrong has operated the Equality mine since December 2008 and has been producing coal there since 2010.

As of the end of September, the mine employed 129 people and had produced 1.5 million tons of coal for the year to date, MSHA records show.

The mine was cited for nine safety violations with $1,531 in penalties in 2010 and 6 violations carrying $1,394 in penalties this year, according to MSHA’s citation database.

Some of the citations were for violations of regulations governing the placement of materials on the tops of pits or highwalls and the operation of mining equipment, the records show.

Armstrong isn’t the only coal company to experience a fatal accident at a mine where it had been repeatedly cited for safety violations. Massey Energy amassed thousands of safety violations at its Upper Big Branch mine near Beckley, West Virginia, before an explosion there killed 29 miners in 2010. Days later, two miners died in a roof collapse at the Dotiki Mine in Providence, Kentucky. Federal inspectors had cited owner and operator Alliance Resource Partners with 840 safety violations in the 16 months preceding the accident.

Still, many of Kentucky’s politicians continue to look the other way when it comes to enforcing and strengthening mine safety laws. After the 2010 accidents, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) and other Kentucky politicians largely avoided questions about the efficacy of the nation’s mine safety laws. Just days after the Dotiki explosion, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) appeared at the opening of another Kentucky mine owned by Alliance but made no mention of mine safety or of Alliance’s shoddy safety history. Before that, Beshear fired Ron Mills, head of Kentucky’s mining permit agency, for refusing dozens of Alliance’s permits, and Beshear also appointed one of Alliance’s top safety officials to the Kentucky Mining Board, despite the fact that at least nine miners have died at Alliance-owned mines since 2005.

Most infamously, Sen. Rand Paul (R) — who issued a statement on the accident Friday — suggested during his 2010 campaign that the coal industry should be able to regulate itself, as ThinkProgress noted at the time:

“The bottom line is: I’m not an expert, so don’t give me the power in Washington to be making rules,” Paul said at a recent campaign stop in response to questions about April’s deadly mining explosion in West Virginia…“You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You’d try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don’t, I’m thinking that no one will apply for those jobs.”

Federal investigators determined that both the Upper Big Branch and Dotiki disasters could have been prevented, and given the recent safety violations, a similar verdict at Equality would not be a surprise. Still, little has emerged from those tragedies to improve mine safety laws, with political leaders instead using industry-wide talking points to decry others of waging a “War on Coal.” It’s enough to beg the question: Are Kentucky’s political leaders putting their Big Coal campaign donors ahead of actual human lives?

David Williams

In Kentucky, where a restrictive abortion bill failed this year, state Senate President and Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams used an odd analogy to make it clear that he opposed abortions even in cases of rape or incest. In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal’s editorial board this week, Williams likened such abortions to his hypothetical desire to seek vengeance if someone had shot his mother:

Williams said he opposes abortion even for cases of rape and incest, and he likens it to murder: “If somebody shot my mother, I would want to kill them, but I don’t think that is the appropriate thing to do. We have laws against murder.”

Positions like Williams’ are clearly unconstitutional and create the absurd situation where a woman who has already been a victim of a crime would have no choice or control over her own body. Unfortunately, though, they’re becoming more and more common among conservatives, from state legislatures where Republicans claim women will fake rapes to qualify for abortions to the party’s presidential race, where candidates have advocated sending doctors who perform abortions for rape and incest victims to prison.

The Cincinnati-suburb politician was not shy about explaining his disgust:

Frank elaborated: ”The Taliban, as they see it is resisting occupation. I am resisting the Occupiers and very proud to be a 1%’er. I figured that the irony would be lost on most of the dummies in Occupation Nation who oppose the war in Afganistan because they see us as occupiers. I happen to oppose the war too but for highly different grounds. PS I am proud of our troops and have a son in harm’s way.”

Frank’s war analogy is a disconcerting reaction to the peaceful protests — as is his comfort comparing himself to Taliban fighters who kill American troops. He is obviously proud to be, in his words, part of the top 1 percent and stands opposed to the 99 Percent movement that is trying to speak for the vast majority of Americans. Although, as civil servant, its highly unlikely that he is actually in the top sliver of American wealth holders.

Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville, KY

The Sherman Minton Bridge, one of three major bridges spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana, was closed Friday after cracks were found in its structure. Roughly a quarter of America’s bridges, and more than a third of Kentucky’s, are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, a problem highlighted by recent reports that the country needs an immediate $2 trillion investment just to bring its infrastructure up to date.

The bridge closure came just days after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R), whose Kentucky home is less than 13 miles from the bridge, derided President Obama’s jobs plan — largely based on infrastructure investment — as a “re-election plan.” McConnell doubled down on those claims Tuesday, saying the plan contained proposals both parties had “already rejected.” Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth (D), who represents Louisville, slammed McConnell’s lack of leadership last night, telling Rachel Maddow that McConnell should “come back to the district” and tell Louisvillians himself that America can’t afford to invest in its roads and bridges:

YARMUTH: What he needs to do is he needs come back to the district, he needs to stand there and talk to the people who are waiting in line and say, ‘You know, we don’t need to be investing in infrastructure, we can’t afford it right now. And ask them to make the sacrifice.’ He’s not willing to do that. Again, to portray what the president has said as just another political act defies reality. He’s staring in the face of something that is of enormous consequence to hundreds of thousands of his constituents. … This affects everybody. Mitch needs to take a leadership role in the Senate to help get this kind of investment adopted by Congress. If he doesn’t step forward, I don’t know how we can get it done. But he needs to. These are his people.

Watch it:

Despite claims that he supports investing in infrastructure, McConnell has continually opposed proposals to do just that. And while he chides Democrats for pushing a plan he claims won’t stimulate the economy, the closing of the Sherman Minton Bridge highlights the costs of not investing in such projects, as it is already extracting huge costs from state governments and private companies.

Industrial trucking companies have estimated the closure is costing them as much as $4,400 a day, while local companies have had to accommodate employees whose commute times have increased by more than an hour in some instances. Extra costs and potential drops in productivity will have an untold negative impact on the local economy. Kentucky and Indiana, meanwhile, may pay for repairs by diverting funds from other infrastructure projects, including a new Ohio River bridge.

Republicans, under the leadership of McConnell, have claimed that America simply can’t afford to pay for roads, bridges, and infrastructure. In reality, however, putting off such investments costs rather than saves money. America’s roads and bridges must be fixed. The only question is how long Republicans will put off such investments, and how costly the economic impact of their intransigence will become.

Take action and tell Congress it’s time to rebuild America.

Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville, KY

The Sherman Minton Bridge, one of three major bridges spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and southern Indiana, was among the Kentucky bridges listed as deficient. And last night, the Sherman Minton Bridge was closed after further deficiencies, including cracks, were found in a load-bearing part of its structure. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports:

The Sherman Minton Bridge was closed late Friday afternoon and will remain shut down indefinitely after officials discovered cracks in the span.

Will Wingfield, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said officials “do not have an estimate” on how long it will take to repair and reopen the bridge, which carries Interstate 64 traffic across the Ohio River.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) ordered the closure of the bridge, as the state of Indiana maintains and operates the bridge. But the 49-year-old bridge serves as a major thoroughfare for Louisville, McConnell’s hometown and Kentucky’s largest city, carrying 50,000 people a day into or out of the city, according to Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The state of Kentucky assists in maintenance and evaluation of the bridge’s structure. While the Sherman Minton Bridge is closed, much of its regular daily traffic will be re-routed over another bridge that was already slated to be inspected for structural damage Monday.

The closure came just a day after President Obama renewed his call for Congress to invest in infrastructure improvements to stimulate the economy and address the nation’s crumbling bridges and roads, as studies have shown the nation needs $2 trillion in investment just to bring its infrastructure up to date. McConnell criticized Obama’s plan, saying it was “a re-election plan.”

But while McConnell insists that Republicans “agree that we must bring America’s infrastructure up to 21st century standards,” his recent record doesn’t show it. When progressives and Democrats argued that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act should be geared toward infrastructure, the GOP under McConnell’s leadership fought to focus it on tax cuts. The Senate GOP derailed a 2010 jobs plan focused largely on infrastructure investment, and if McConnell’s post-speech rhetoric is to be believed, he will be at the forefront of the Republican Party’s opposition to this plan too.

Dinosaurs on Noah's Ark at Kentucky's Bible-themed amusement park.

Mayor Rick Skinner said the offer is laid out in a memorandum of agreement that will be followed by a formal tax-increment financing deal with Petersburg-based Ark Encounters LLC in coming months.

The tax deal is in addition to almost $200,000 given to the company by Grant County’s economic development arm as an enticement to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.

And that’s not counting the state’s promise of $40 million worth of sales tax rebates and a possible $11 million in improvements to the interstate near the project that would be financed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that “the array of state and local incentives worry some people, who aren’t sure they will pay off in the end.” That group includes local officials like City Council member and former Mayor Glenn Caldwell who worries that residents might “be burdened with additional costs because of this project.”

Proponents of the project, including Gov. Steve Beshear (D) say it will create up to 900 jobs and attract 1.6 million tourists in its first year. However, as TPM notes, “those numbers were based on a feasibility study, commissioned by Ark Encounters LLC, that state officials reportedly never actually saw.”

The multiple tax breaks for the amusement park come at a time when Kentucky families are struggling from eight rounds of state budget cuts over the past three years. That includes cuts to education at all levels, a pay freeze for all teachers and state workers, and reduced funding for Medicaid.

The state already has a Creationism Museum, and the complementary amusement park includes biblical exhibits like the Tower of Babel and a full-size replica of Noah’s Ark…complete with dinosaurs inside (which creationists believe co-existed with early man). It’s slated to open in the spring of 2014.

The Pew Hispanic Center’s best estimate on Kentucky’s illegal immigrant population is 50,000, the aides said. For the purpose of the cost estimate, the aides assumed that one-third of the men and one-fourth of the women now here illegally could be convicted under the law. Those jailed could serve an average of 60 days at a cost of $33 a day.

Overall, Kentucky could face $90 million a year in new costs for local jails, state prisons, the foster-care system (for the children of jailed parents), the Administrative Office of the Courts and public defenders, the aides said.

This sum does not include additional police costs or lost revenue from the approximately two-thirds of illegal immigrants in the work force, many of whom pay sales and income taxes, the aides said. Against that, Kentucky could save $50 million a year in education costs as illegal immigrants’ children are deported or otherwise leave with their families and in reduced services through Medicaid and local health departments, the aides said.

The net cost to Kentucky would be $40 million.

The bill’s sponsor — state Sen. John Schickel — admitted that “It does look like serious money.” However, he rejected the findings, stating, “But these are estimates, and quite frankly, I don’t agree with these estimates.” According to Schickel, “this assumes that law enforcement is going to enforce it to the maximum everywhere, and the bill leaves it open to each jurisdiction’s individual discretion.” Schickel also noted that as Kentucky gets a reputation for being less friendly to undocumented immigrants, fewer of them will come, which will drive a decrease in some of the costs of the bill.

Schickel may be right that the costs mentioned will go down as the state kicks out all of its undocumented immigrants and dissuades others from coming. However, it seems pretty irresponsible to propose a law that could cost taxpayers $40 million for one year alone as Kentucky faces a $780 million budget shortfall.

Also, as was noted in the report, it doesn’t take into account how much it would cost Kentucky in lost tax revenue and business activity. A 2008 study estimated that, if Kentucky successfully removed all of its undocumented immigrants, it would lose $1.7 billion in economic activity, $756.8 million in gross state product, and approximately 12,059 jobs. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Hotel and Lodging Association reported a combined loss of $15 million in lodging revenue due to meeting cancellations just four months after its immigration bill’s passage due to an economic boycott that was waged against the state. The actual lost lodging revenue from these cancellations could top $45 million. Kentucky is opening itself up to being the target of a similar backlash.

Finally, Kentucky’s law will probably invite litigation. The court costs included in the $40 million cost estimate only seem to include the dollar value associated with the legal process of convicting undocumented immigrants who break the new law. It doesn’t include the price of litigation over the law itself. Arizona spent over $1 million in 2010 alone to defend SB-1070 and the state still has a long way to go before the legal issues are resolved. Farmers Branch, a small town of 30,000 people, has spent over $3.2 million in defense of its immigration law and the Pennsylvania city of Hazleton is on the hook for the $2.4 million it has acquired in attorneys fees. The city’s mayor predicted that costs could rise at least another $2 million if it loses at the federal appeals court level.

There’s never been a court case based on this. [...] There’s never been a Supreme Court case decided on if you come here illegally are you under the jurisdiction of our country or under the jurisdiction of a foreign country still. [...]

There is some question that these people came here illegally and their legal jurisdiction, their legal domicile is still in Mexico.

Watch it:

Paul recognized that there was one case, “Wong Ank [sic],” or U.S. v Wong Kim Ark, that touched on the issue. Yet, Paul dismissed the case because it was decided back in 1898 and dealt with the issue of whether a child of a legal immigrant could be considered a U.S. citizen. The truth is, the court didn’t make a distinction between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants and it’s not clear what category Wong’s parents fell into. What was made explicitly clear was that Wong’s parents were “subjects of the emperor of China” and he was not. Therefore, the court ruled that since Wong was born in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction, he was automatically a citizen, regardless of what jurisdiction his parents were under.

There is also a second case that Paul didn’t mention. The 1982 Plyer v. Doe decision established that unlawful status does not preclude one from being subject to U.S. laws. The court wrote, “the Fourteenth Amendment extends to anyone, citizen or stranger, who is subject to the laws of a State, and reaches into every corner of a State’s territory. That a person’s initial entry into a State, or into the United States, was unlawful, and that he may for that reason be expelled, cannot negate the simple fact of his presence within the State’s territorial perimeter.”

In practice, there are only a few exceptions (diplomats and their children) to the jurisdiction of the U.S. and there’s a good reason for the inclusivity of U.S. law. If undocumented immigrants and their children were only under the jurisdiction of their respective foreign governments, they could not be prosecuted and punished in the U.S. if they break our laws. It could even be argued that if undocumented immigrants aren’t under the jurisdiction of U.S. laws, they are by extension immune to immigration laws. Paul’s creative interpretation of the 14th amendment could create a situation in which, rather than being legally defined and treated as removable “illegal aliens,” undocumented immigrants could only be declared personae non gratae — a legal term under international law used to refer to “unwelcome” foreigners, usually diplomats, who are inherently under the jurisdiction of their home governments. Paul would probably have a problem with the fact that the persona non grata designation is completely discretionary and “[e]xpulsion is not the automatic consequence of the declaration.”

Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), who has received $91,042 from oil and coal interests.

We’ll have to examine the new budget proposal we received this morning, but we are very concerned about any possible impact this repeal could have on Kentucky jobs.

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who has received $691,565 from oil and coal interests:

The president can’t have it both ways. You can’t seek to end our dependence on foreign oil and get America working, while at the same time imposing policies that harm domestic energy production and kill jobs. This is just another politically motivated assault that takes dead aim at coal, severely limiting coal companies in their ability to create jobs and keep production lines open. Worst of all, it hurts Appalachia’s hardworking coal mining families at a time when the commonwealth faces over 10.7 percent unemployment.

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), who has received $782,449 from oil and coal interests.

These new taxes will mean less domestic energy production, a substantial increase in the price of power for American homes and businesses, less revenue, as well as jeopardizing thousands of jobs. I would encourage the administration to refocus their attention on funding clean coal technologies, along with the commercial deployment of advanced technologies that are necessary to ensure the United States has clean, reliable, and affordable energy.

Western Europe has its pros and cons relative to the United States and since it represents a diversity of different policy environments it doesn’t even really make sense to talk about adopting “European” policies. Still, it strikes me as odd that conservatives seem so convinced that a set of countries whose populations are healthier and longer-lived, and where dramatically fewer children grow up in poverty, is somehow obviously a dystopian nightmare. Indeed, even at the time when living standards really were clearly higher in the United States and tons of Europeans were eager to move here, the people of old continent were hardly clamoring to get into the glamorous world of Kentucky.

Here’s Amsterdam:

Beware!