Across the Appalachians, companies are blowing entire mountaintops to smithereens to get at the thin coal seams below. The communities of the region are paying the cost in their health, their culture and their natural heritage. Big coal companies should not be allowed to turn our nations' oldest mountains into molehills, and NRDC is working with local allies to halt this damaging practice.
Posted March 28, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment
Yesterday a state House subcommittee declined to vote on the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act, instead sending it to a summer study panel, where state bills go to die. But there will be no quiet death for this bill. It's still kicking, and so...continued→
Posted March 9, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Tennessee is headed toward a historic state Senate decision on whether to ban mountaintop removal mining. Passing the Scenic Vistas Protection Act* would make Tennessee the first state to ban mountaintop blasting for coal within its borders. Plently of people...continued→
Posted March 5, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Momentum is building around the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a state bill to ban high-elevation strip mining, also known as mountaintop removal coal mining, in Tennessee. The bill passed Senate committee last week and could see a vote on the state...continued→
Posted March 2, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
As promised, the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act came to a vote in the state Senate Environment Committee earlier this week. The good--and history-making--news is that the bill passed in committee. Now the full Tennessee Senate will, for the first time,...continued→
Posted February 29, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Today brings a moment of truth for Tennessee's mountains and mountain communities. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill to ban mountaintop removal in Tennessee, is slated for vote this morning in the state Senate Environment Committee. This committee vote will be a first,...continued→
Posted February 24, 2012 by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice, Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
As many of my readers may know, I grew up in the southern Appalachian Mountains, which had everything to do with my eventually finding a career in environmentalism. I’ve had a framed “Stop Strip Mining” poster on my wall...continued→
Posted February 22, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Tennessee is poised to become the first state to ban mountaintop removal coal mining within its borders. A bill in the state legislature, the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, would end strip mining above 2000 ft in elevation, effectively ending the...continued→
Posted January 10, 2012 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Will this be the year that Tennessee becomes the first state to ban mountaintop removal mining? Leaders in the state legislature are once again pressing forward with the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill to end mountaintop removal in the state. And they...continued→
Posted December 13, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
The Charleston Gazette highlights a new study confirming the long-term water quality impacts of mountaintop removal mining. In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) this week, a team of Duke University researchers found that contamination from MTR mines is cumulative, and...continued→
Posted December 1, 2011 by Melissa Waage in Health and the Environment
Earlier this year Music Saves Mountains member band 2/3 Goat started their grassroots fundraising campaign to produce a new video for their mountaintop removal themed song "Stream of Conscience." And they did it! Thanks to everyone's donations, they've just debuted...continued→
