WHITESBURG, Ky. — An economic development group in Letcher County has taken on a project that members hope will help to heal the scars of coal mining on Kentucky's mountains.

        The Letcher County Action Team is working with Maine farmer and businessman Doug Roach to use red worms to transform garbage into topsoil to be deposited on reclaimed surface mines.

        In a demonstration project being set up at a recycling center, the worms will be fed cardboard and food scraps, leaving behind droppings that could be taken to enrich barren mine land.

        “I'm hoping by next year to have enough data to go to the governor and get some big money to do this,” Mr. Roach said.

        Tracy Frazier, community development director for the Action Team, said the worms could begin their work in the next week.

        Mr. Roach said local officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, give out worm boxes to residents as a way to dispose of kitchen scraps and reduce the amount of garbage they have to deal with. Canadians are encouraged to use the castings from those boxes for house plants and flower beds.

        The process is called vermicomposting.

        “Before I get a lot of credit I don't deserve, the only thing new about it is using it on strip mines,” Mr. Roach said.

        If the worms prove successful in replenishing large tracks of mine land, the action team will ask the Kentucky Division of Forestry to help plant trees on some of the newly fertile land, Frazier said.

Airport tackles runway safety
$1.4B may not be enough
Ohio justices defy convenient labels
UC tuition will rise by 8% in fall
A boost for home buyers
Cities say rules thwart growth
Clinton visits Dayton to accept peace prize
Cops take it where crime happens
Doctors rally against concealed carry
Dulcimer picked as official Ky. instrument
Fair's touchy about animals
Grand jury will hear Lebanon case
Group moves to scrap city's civil service rules
Hospitals won't get Medicaid raise
Kenton teachers get 7% hike
Low-income housing would be controlled
Nature Conservancy buys more land along palisades
No sex indictment against teacher
Ohio PTA award announced
Outside auditor to watch ballpark
Proposal for video slots at racetracks dies in committee
Protester on trial for fest disruption
Officer Roach trial scheduled for Sept. 17
School gets 2nd inspection
Silverton development group launched
United Way pledges other help
Video store bandits use the same script
Welfare reform spending in danger
Worms sicced on Ky.'s coal scars
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report