LOUISVILLE, Ky. —— Ford, the nation’s largest employer of UAW autoworkers, will reveal plans to design and build a new electric vehicle and EV platform at an August 11th event that CEO Jim Farley likens to a “Model-T moment.” The announcement will be made at Ford’s...
Eric Dixon
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Achieving Significant Local Hire at the Starfire Solar Project
On June 18, Senior Researcher Eric Dixon appeared before the Siting Board of the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) to advocate the condition of the approval of the proposed 210-MW Starfire solar project in Appalachian Kentucky on further action needed to:...
Delay the Vote, Dismiss the Workers, and Distract the Public: Does BlueOval SK Have an Anti-Union Playbook?
This report was updated on July 31, 2025 with updates about recent decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board and more detail about the unfair labor practice charges filed in this case. Summary A supermajority of workers at an electric vehicle...
Timeline: BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky
This page chronicles main events in the development of the BlueOval SK Battery Park in Kentucky, including the unionization effort at the facility. Updates will be added as future events unfold. Last updated August 8, 2025. Timeline May 20, 2021: Ford and South...
As Storm Triggers Mine-Related Landslides Across Kentucky, Federal Funding Freeze Could Hinder Emergency Response
Damage Control: AML Reclamation Funding Freeze Puts Projects, Jobs in Jeopardy
In the past three years, the Department of the Interior has awarded about $3 billion to reclamation agencies across the country for the purpose of cleaning up land and water damaged by the coal industry. Reclamation projects funded by Abandoned Mine Land (AML) grant...
Housing Rebuild After Kentucky Flood Still Lacks Funds
After the 2022 flood in southeast Kentucky, the Ohio River Valley Institute worked with the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center to do an initial estimate of the cost to rebuild housing damaged by the flood and found that the cost far exceeded the funds that had been...
Black workers helped build Appalachia’s economy. Today, they’re still shortchanged.
Here’s a name you don’t often read in Appalachian history books: Bill Worthington. Bill was a Black coal miner from Harlan County, Kentucky, and a member of the United Mine Workers of America. Bill played a pivotal role in historic labor disputes in Harlan...
Chart Book: Tracking Recovery from the Kentucky Flood of 2022
Last updated: December 31, 2022 In late July 2022, severe storms dumped extreme precipitation across southeast Kentucky. With so much rain bearing down over such a short period, streams rose to unprecedented levels and the region experienced catastrophic flooding....






