Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act (Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg: appointed, rental market, cost)

[nashvols]

Tennessee could become the first state to ban surface and mountaintop removal (above 2,000'). I think passing this bill would be a very prudent step in preserving the natural beauty of this state.

Tennessee Standing Up For Its Mountains | Earthjustice

[jabogitlu]

I'm calling my representatives in the morning. This is one of the most worthwhile bills that has come up in a long time.

Here's a photo of mountain-top removal in West Virginia:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/430773_10151370851680301_15771560300_22995807_8069 50299_n.jpg (broken link)


We need to protect our heritage, and our future. We need to protect our animal and plant species, our drinking water, and even our economic development and tourism-related industries.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by nashvols

Tennessee could become the first state to ban surface and mountaintop removal (above 2,000'). I think passing this bill would be a very prudent step in preserving the natural beauty of this state.

Tennessee Standing Up For Its Mountains | Earthjustice

Excellent! It is a shame what has already happened to the TN side of the Smokies in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area.

[kamoshika]

Argh! Thanks a lot, Senator Bell.

A last-minute amendment gutted a bill intended to ban the blowing off of Tennessee mountaintops and ridges, during the Senate Energy and Environment Committee meeting Wednesday. Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, offered the change that deleted the language of the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act to protect ridgelines above 2,000 feet from a practice often called “mountaintop removal.”
Amendment abates bill that's designed to protect vistas

While we are terribly disappointed by the mockery of the legislative process made by Senator Bell, the fact is that the bill could have died in Committee today, or it could have moved to the floor. We now have a chance to go to the floor of the Tennessee State Senate and have a conversation about mountaintop removal, while trying to add some meaningful language back into this bill.
http://appvoices.org/frontporchblog/

The senator represents Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, and Polk counties, and not one of them produces coal. Tennessee's five biggest coal-producing counties: Claiborne (56% of total production), Campbell (34%), Anderson (8%), Fentress (1%), Obion (<1%).

By 2008, the state’s coal production was concentrated in six counties along the Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains, employing only 558 people. Rather than contributing to the overall state budget, a 2009 study indicated that the industry represented a net cost to Tennessee of $3 million that year.
Pass bill to protect Tennessee's mountains| tennessean.com

Mountaintop removal mining is a common practice in Tennessee’s Appalachian neighbors Kentucky and West Virginia, although Tennessee has luckily remained largely unscathed. Luckily, that is, because the consequences of this type of strip mining can be downright scary.
Saving mountains saves jobs, too

[DonCorleone]

Smells like a lobbyist got ahold of the bill.

[jchometeam]

Lobbyists get ahold of every bill, its just whos lobbyist bribes better.

[DonCorleone]

Correction: sounds like a mining lobbyist greased someone's pockets more than the environmental lobbyist did.

[LisaCarol5]

I signed the petition! I wished this was up in the air before they cleared off an entire side of a mountain over here in Sevier County so they can build nothing but CABINS!! Everytime I see the mountain lite up by the cabin lights I get sick to my stomach and want to throw up. That's the whole reason why people come to Sevier County is to see our mountains- The Smoky Mountains. And you tear down it to build cabins? Sickening. I still don't understand why that happened and I still side other mountain sides getting cleared out. I am sure it will be more cabins.........

[jchometeam]

As long as there is a rental market for those cabins, they will build them. At whatever point guests get sick of seeing the other cabins instead of the mountains they will quit building them. Of course by then it wont matter

[Ridgerunner]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

I'm calling my representatives in the morning. This is one of the most worthwhile bills that has come up in a long time.

Here's a photo of mountain-top removal in West Virginia:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/430773_10151370851680301_15771560300_22995807_8069 50299_n.jpg (broken link)


We need to protect our heritage, and our future. We need to protect our animal and plant species, our drinking water, and even our economic development and tourism-related industries.

How many coal seams in east Tennessee are above 2000'? And of these few, how many have already been mined? The environmentalists didn't do their homework this time. The 2000' stipulation pretty well strips the bill of any meaningfulness.