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Inez man arraigned on charges brought by former water district manager
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — An Inez businessman pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning in Martin District Court to criminal charges initiated by the former manager of the Martin County Water District, Craig Miller. Clarence “Edd” Kazee, 57, faces charges of terroristic threatening and menacing, stemming from a warrant and a criminal complaint signed…
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Kentucky amended Drinking Water SRF plan available for public review and comment
The Kentucky Infrastructure Authority announced Friday that the draft amended 2024 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Intended Use Plan (IUP) is available for public review and comment for 30 days, from April 12, 2024, through May 12, 2024. The Public Notice, referenced on the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority website at https://kia.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx, announces the draft amended…
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Martin County Water District violates drinking water standard
CITIZEN STAFF REPORT INEZ — The Martin County Water District violated a drinking water standard in November. While some customers say they received a notice of the violation on the back of their water bills the following month, other customers reported not receiving a notice. MCWD board member Nina McCoy recently shared a copy of…
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HB1 calls for $2.68 million for Martin County water projects
CITIZEN STAFF REPORT FRANKFORT — Kentucky legislators sent a spending bill to Governor Andy Beshear on Thursday that includes $2.68 million for the Martin County Water District (MCWD) for the fiscal year 2024-2025. HB1 allocates $681,000 to the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA) for a water tank project and $2 million for water meters in Martin…
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Congressman Rogers secures $5 million for Martin County water improvements
CITIZEN STAFF REPORT WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05) announced Tuesday that he secured a $5 million Community Project Funding earmark for Martin County water system improvements in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024. The bipartisan federal funding package was signed into law March 9. The funding is for installing 50,000 linear…
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Martin County Judge/Executive makes plea for $10 million federal aid to replace asbestos water lines
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty is asking U.S. Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY-05) for a $10 million earmark in the 2025 federal budget to rid the county of asbestos concrete water lines. Asbestos lines in the Martin County Water District were installed with the original water system in Inez…
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Martin County water woes: A cry for help unanswered by Kentucky legislators (CORRECTION)
Last week, the Mountain Citizen erroneously stated in the editorial space that State Representative Bobby McCool chose to “abstain from voting” on Gov. Andy Beshear’s $12 million budget allocation for water projects in Martin County. The following article corrects the use of the terms “abstain” and “abstention” by stating Representative McCool was “absent from the…
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Martin County faces water crisis
Freezing causes countywide outage BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — Martin County is in the throes of a severe water crisis as crews work tirelessly around the clock to address widespread leaks in the public water system caused by sub-freezing temperatures. The emergency prompted a countywide shutdown Saturday, leaving all Martin County residents without…
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Governor’s proposed budget allocates $12 million for Martin County water
BY PHILL BARNETT MOUNTAIN CITIZEN During Gov. Andy Beshear’s Team Kentucky update Jan. 18, the governor laid out the differences in the budgets proposed by his administration and the budget proposed by the House of Representatives. Gov. Beshear’s proposed budget allocated $12 million specifically for Martin County water projects, a significant and direct investment in…
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News Alert: Urgent water shut-off in Martin County
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN MARTIN COUNTY — In an urgent announcement at 7:27 p.m. the Martin County Water District informed residents of an imminent water shut-off across the entire county starting from 11 p.m. Saturday. The measure comes as a response to critically low water levels in the clearwell tanks at the water treatment facility.…
Category: Water Crisis
