Betsy Bennett Papers, 1983-2006
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Bennett, Betsy, 1948-
Title: Betsy Bennett Papers, 1983-2006
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 5 cu. ft.
Location Number: Mss. A B471
Biographical Note
Elizabeth Rudd Bennett was born in 1948. She is a private practitioner of law and has worked for W. H. Graddy and Associates in Midway, Kentucky. She was a member of the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club, where she held three positions: newsletter editor of The Cumberland newsletter beginning in September of 1984, chair of the Cumberland Chapter Committee on Political Education in 1987, and chair of the Cumberland Solid Waste Committee in 1990. Bennett served on the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission from 1994 to 2003 as commissioner and vice chair.
The Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) is a state government advisory board established in 1972 to address environmental issues in Kentucky.
The Sierra Club emphasizes the importance of environmentalism through education and practice of smart choices to protect the environment.
Sources (printed copies are also in the finding aid folder):
https://www.sierraclub.org/Kentucky/about-us
https://www.kyrc.org/about-us/board-and-staff
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n93102530.html
Scope and Content Note
This collection documents Bennett’s service in the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) and activism within the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club. This collection consists of information pertaining to the business of the Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter and the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission from the standpoint of Betsy Bennett and Hank Graddy, chair of Watershed Watch in Kentucky, Inc.
The papers include EQC meeting notes, memorandum and minutes (some containing handwritten notes by Betsy Bennett), agendas for public forums and EQC meetings, correspondence between the EQC and other organizations (environmental and governmental), newspaper clippings on the topics of the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, poultry processing, swine regulation, clean water, drought management, fish kills, waste and waste management, forestry, and local environmental issues pertaining to Kentucky and surrounding states that can be located within their respective folders by month and/or date. This collection also holds the monthly EQC and Sierra Club Cumberland newsletters from February 1994 through July/August 2004. Full copies of amendments and the EQC’s recommended changes can also be found within their respective folders.
Box 1: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter, 1983-1998. Contains forty-three folders of information from the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club regarding the policies, bylaws, environmental initiatives, and fundraisers held by the chapter. This box also holds manuscript items from Hank Graddy as he worked with the Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter.
Box 2: Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, 1999-2005. Contains thirty folders from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board and the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission ranging from the years 1999 to 2005. Memorandum includes amendments, annual reports, meeting notes, agendas, minutes, and correspondence. Budgets throughout these years can be found in their respective folders based on year.
Box 3: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter & Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, 1980s-2006. Contains twenty folders regarding memorandum from Hank Graddy, the Sierra Club, and Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission ranging from the 1980s through 2006. Memorandum includes written works and publications from environmental specialists, correspondence between Kentucky environmental organizations, environmental issue-based newspaper clippings, informational pamphlets, EQC meeting minutes, memorandum, and resolutions, amendment and regulation recommendations, draft of The State of Kentucky’s Environment 1994 Status Report, and EQC Earth Day Awards information including nominations and nominee information.
Box 4: Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, 2001-2004. Contains twelve folders of Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission meeting memorandum from January 2001 through March 2004. This includes meeting minutes, agendas, and notes, correspondence, studies, and amendments with recommendations from the EQC and other environmental organizations. Budgets throughout the year can be found within their respective folders based on year and month.
Box 5: Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission, 1994-2004. Contains twenty folders that contain Kentucky’s Environment Newsletters from 1994 through July/August 2004, environmental position statements and pamphlets, and memorandum from the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission from March 1995 through 1998. The 1998 EQC priorities live here and are separated into two folders.
Related Collections:
Tichenor, Carroll and Doris Collection, 1966-2009
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter misc. memorandum, undated.
Folder 2: Water Watch memorandum, 1985.
Folder 3: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Sierra Fundraiser, undated.
Folder 4: Sierra Club Mississippi River Basin Ecoregion Program memorandum and correspondence regarding the Mississippi “Big River” Week, April 30-May 4, 1994.
Folder 5: Sierra Club Mississippi River Basin Ecoregion Program memorandum and correspondence regarding the Mississippi “Big River” Week, 1995/1996.
Folder 6: Sierra Club Mississippi River Basin memorandum and correspondence regarding the Big River/Clean Water Week in Washington, D.C., June 7-11, 1996.
Folder 7: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding media, 1996.
Folder 8: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Farm Bill and agriculture issues, 1996.
Folder 9: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding nerve gas, 1996.
Folder 10: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Sierra Club Council, 1996-1997.
Folder 11: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding chapter policies, 1996-1999.
Folder 12: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding chapter bylaws, 1983.
Folder 13: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding ORSANCO, 1996.
Folder 14: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding Rock Creek comments, 1996.
Folder 15: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding forest issues, 1993-1998.
Folder 16: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding groundwater, 1997.
Folder 17: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding flooding, 1997.
Folder 18: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the copper belly snake, 1996.
Folder 19: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding pollution prevention, 1996.
Folder 20: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Scenic Kentucky comments, 1996-1997.
Folder 21: Sierra Club memorandum and correspondence regarding the Midwest Regional Conservation Committee, 1996-1997.
Folder 22: Memorandum and correspondence regarding U.S. bills and legislation, 1994.
Folder 23: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Land Between the Lakes, 1996.
Folder 24: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding Activist Weekend, 1996.
Folder 25: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the 5th Annual President’s Dinner, 1999.
Folder 26: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Clean Water Rally, 1996.
Folder 27: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the EPEC campaign overseen by Aloma Dew, 2000.
Folder 28: Misc. memorandum and correspondence collected by Larry Tye, 1984-1985.
Folder 29: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding Red River Gorge, 1986.
Folder 30: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding hazardous waste, 1982-1984.
Folder 31: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Solid Waste Committee, 1990-1991.
Folder 32: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding the Local Official’s Guide to Kentucky’s Environment, 1993 (1 of 2).
Folder 33: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding the Local Official’s Guide to Kentucky’s Environment, 1993 (2 of 2).
Folder 34: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program, 1986.
Folder 35: Misc. Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 2000-2001.
Folder 36: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Water Conference Abstracts, 1985.
Folder 37: Memorandum and correspondence from Sierra Club Executive Committee Meetings, 1989.
Folder 38: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Stop the War on the Environment, 1995.
Folder 39: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1995.
Folder 40: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding general information from Stop the War on the Environment, 1995.
Folder 41: Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding takings, undated.
Folder 42: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding A Hidden War on the Environment, 1995.
Box 2
Folder 43: Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board memorandum and correspondence, July 1999.
Folder 44: Misc. environmental newspaper clippings, 1999.
Folder 45: Misc. environmental newspaper clippings, 2000.
Folder 46: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2000.
Folder 47: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding other business, 2000.
Folder 48: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding onsite sewage, 2000.
Folder 49: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding the 2000 Legislative Session.
Folder 50: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2003.
Folder 51: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding environmentally healthy schools, 2004.
Folder 52: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2004.
Folder 53: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2005 (1 of 2).
Folder 54: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2005 (2 of 2).
Folder 55: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence regarding the Martin County coal slurry spill, 2000-2001.
Folder 56: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Eminence Wastewater Treatment Plant Trial Notebook, 1993-1994.
Folder 57: Memorandum and correspondence regarding water quality, 1997-2002.
Folder 58: Memorandum and correspondence regarding public participation and education, 1999-2001.
Folder 59: Lake Cumberland Trust meeting memorandum and correspondence, 1998.
Folder 60: Memorandum and correspondence regarding industrial farming, 1999.
Folder 61: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter Executive Committee memorandum and correspondence, 2000.
Folder 62: Memorandum and correspondence regarding leakage and sinkhole collapses under Hog Waste Lagoons in KY, 1981-1998.
Folder 63: Misc. Ozone Pollution news, 2000.
Folder 64: Memorandum and correspondence regarding BG Airport, 1997-1999.
Folder 65: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Cumming Falls Marina, 2000.
Folder 66: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, 1999-2000.
Folder 67: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the DXL, Inc. suit, May 2000.
Folder 68: Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter memorandum and correspondence regarding the Industrial Agriculture Press Packet, April 1999.
Folder 69: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Watershed Watch AWQA: Farmer’s Perspective, 2002.
Folder 70: Memorandum and correspondence regarding Year of Clean Water, Oct. 26, 2001.
Folder 71: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Kentucky Trimodal Transpark, March 16, 2007.
Folder 72: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Clean Air Act Task Force, 1996-1999.
Box 3
Folder 73: Misc. Hank Graddy correspondence, undated.
Folder 74: Sierra Club and Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1980s.
Folder 75: Sierra Club and Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1990s.
Folder 76: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 2000s.
Folder 77: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, Feb. 1994.
Folder 78: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, April-June 1994.
Folder 79: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, Aug.-Oct. 1994.
Folder 80: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding the State of Kentucky’s Environment 1994 draft.
Folder 81: Kentucky EQC newspaper clippings, 1994.
Folder 82: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Governor’s Conference on the Environment, 1994.
Folder 83: Misc. environmental management and engineering company brochures, 1994.
Folder 84: Memorandum and correspondence regarding the Division of Environmental and Emergency Management Seminar, 1995.
Folder 85: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1995.
Folder 86: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, Feb.-June 1996.
Folder 87: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, Sept. 1996.
Folder 88: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, Oct. 1996.
Folder 89: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1997-1998.
Folder 90: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1999 (1 of 3).
Folder 91: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1999 (2 of 3).
Folder 92: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence, 1999 (3 of 3).
Box 4
Folder 93: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Jan. 2001.
Folder 94: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Feb.-March 2001.
Folder 95: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, July-Sept. 2001.
Folder 96: Kentucky EQC meeting newspaper clippings, 2001-2002.
Folder 97: Kentucky EQC memorandum regarding the Pine Mountain Ecotourism Roundtable, 2002.
Folder 98: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Jan.-March 2002.
Folder 99: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, May-Aug. 2002.
Folder 100: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding the state budget, 2003.
Folder 101: Kentucky EQC misc. newspaper clippings, 2003-2004.
Folder 102: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, 2003.
Folder 103: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, June-July 2003.
Folder 104: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Jan.-March 2004.
Box 5
Folder 105: Copies of Kentucky’s Environment Newsletters, Feb.-July/Aug. 2004.
Folder 106: Misc. environmental position statements and pamphlets, undated.
Folder 107: Misc. environmental newspaper clippings, undated.
Folder 108: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, March-April 1995.
Folder 109: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, June-Aug. 1995.
Folder 110: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Sept.-Oct. 1995.
Folder 111: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Nov.-Dec. 1995.
Folder 112: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Jan.-Feb. 1996.
Folder 113: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Oct. 1998.
Folder 114: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Dec. 1996-Feb. 1997.
Folder 115: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, March-May 1997.
Folder 116: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, June-Aug. 1997.
Folder 117: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Sept.-Oct. 1997.
Folder 118: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Nov. 1997-Jan. 1998.
Folder 119: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, March 1998.
Folder 120: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, April-June 1998.
Folder 121: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Aug.-Sept. 1998.
Folder 122: Kentucky EQC meeting memorandum and correspondence, Sept. 1998 (continued).
Folder 123: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding their 1998 priorities (1 of 2).
Folder 124: Kentucky EQC memorandum and correspondence regarding their 1998 priorities (2 of 2).
Subject Headings
Air quality.
Appalachian Regional Commission.
Black Mountain (Harlan County, Ky.)
Bottling.
Budget deficits.
Coal mines and mining.
Cumberland River (Ky. And Tenn.)
Daniel Boone National Forest (Ky.)
Ecotourism.
Energy industries.
Factory and trade waste.
Factory farms.
Forests and forestry.
Green River (Ky.)
Harlan County (Ky.)
Hazardous substances.
Kentucky River (Ky.)
Kentucky River Watershed (Ky.)
Land Between the Lakes (Ky. And Tenn.)
Legislative amendments.
Licking River Watershed (Ky.)
Martin County (Ky.)
Martin County Coal Corporation.
Mountaintop removal mining.
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
Pine Mountain (Ky.)
Pollution prevention.
Pollution.
Poultry industry.
Red River Gorge (Ky.)
Refuse and refuse disposal.
Sewage.
Strip mining.
Swine.
Water quality.
