McClatchy Washington Bureau

Gov. Steve Beshear visited residents of Harlan and Floyd counties Thursday, making good on a February promise to coal-mining protesters who staged a sit-in at his office.

Members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth showed him streams and homes damaged by surface mining and asked him to take a stand against mine permits proposed for areas of Black Mountain around Lynch. The Energy and Environment Cabinet has declared frivolous a petition to declare the area "lands unsuitable for mining." That decision is being appealed.

"This town, if it dies, it can't be replaced, it can't be simulated, it can't be restored. ... If they are allowed to take these mountains, this town is gone, people's lives are gone, history is gone," Lynch City Councilman Taylor Hall said. Asked to support the lands-unsuitable petitions, Beshear said he would take residents' comments into consideration.

Read the full story at kentucky.com.