Legislature Bows to King Coal Once Again: House Kills Bill Banning Mountaintop Mining

[kpete]

Source: Nashville Scene


Legislature Bows to King Coal Once Again: House Kills Bill Banning Mountaintop Mining
By Jeff Woods in Legislature, Woods
Tue., Mar. 30 2010 @ 12:53PM

What's left of Zeb Mountain
​After eloquently discussing the benefits of blowing the tops off our mountains, the inaptly named House environment subcommittee adjourned for the year today without voting on legislation to stop coal companies from doing it.

That effectively kills the bill for the third straight year, which is a really good thing if you believe what its opponents say.

Take Zeb Mountain, which has been flattened by mountaintop removal mining. The once-proud peak in the Upper Cumberland looks devastated but, according to Tennessee Mining Association president Chuck Lane, it's a tourist attraction now:

"We're creating tourism places. Those of you who have visited Zeb Mountain, you've seen what we're doing to Zeb Mountain. We've taken that from a cesspool and, within a year, it'll have trees growing. It'll be green. The intent of the owner is to sell houses up there. You couldn't sell anything up there prior to this."

Read more: http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2010/03/legislature_bows_to_king_coal.php

[ixion]

1. It's okay. Eventually all the mountain tops will be gone. Problem solved.

:sarcasm:

[maxsolomon]

2. 2 quotes:

"the road is an arm of the law, grasping everywhere for the pollution of money" - raoul vaneigam

"Capitalism has the power instantly and continuously to
transform into a drug the very venom that is spit in its face, and to revel in it" - Berthold Brecht

[ProSense]

3. What's the make up of the Tennessee legislature? n/t

[DebbieCDC]

4. Dumb and dumber

[4lbs]

5. From what I gleaned, the Tennessee House is almost evenly split Democratic/Repuke but the State

Senate is 58% Repuke.

However, it appears the Tennessee Democrats are mostly Conservative Democrats in the Blanche Lincoln mold.

[ProSense]

6. Thanks, it figures. n/t

[ro1942]

7. What kind of a country do we live in? Really sad

[Stumbler]

11. Isn't it obvious?

We're a nation of illiterate children masquerading as adults. We shun education because the teevee tells us that "stoopid is Cool." Because of that stupidity, we have boogie-men hiding under our beds and around every corner, so we incarcerate more of ourselves and shamelessly spend more on "defense" than any other nation. We are scared and we are stupid, so we turn to those who claim to have convenient & pretty answers, whether it's the idea of "safety & security" provided by loud-mouthed yet cowardly bullies on the teevee & the radio, or it's the happy idea of life-after-death provided you tithe enough to your local 'religious authority.'

Actually, many of us do not fit this mold, but a great many others do...

[nosmokes]

8. I can't fathom the mindset of someone who looks at a mountain and sees

profit instead of sanctuary and harmony.

[Jefferson23]

9. ""If we're going to have elk, you gotta have somewhere for them to stay"

WHAT A SCHMUCK!

[pundaint]

10. What is the Democratic Party position on ecology? Do we have any beliefs or principles?

Which belief or principle was this action consistent with?

[Nihil]

12. "Which belief or principle was this action consistent with?"

The principle that bribes "campaign contributions" are worth far more
than emails or letters to the editor. It's a principle that has been
consistently held & applied from the local level right up to the top
(that chap in the White House).

The difference between most elected Democrats and most elected Republicans
is that the former can usually spell the things that both parties ignore.
That is about the limit of "the Democratic Party position on ecology".