Pass the Bipartisan Tennessee Scenic Vistas Bill
No more tearing down Tennessee mountains
Our elected officials need to work together to pass the bipartisan Tennessee Scenic Vistas Act, and end mountaintop removal in Tennessee. The Scenic Vistas bill would ban surface mining over 2,000 feet of elevation in the state.
Surface mining means fewer mining jobs for Tennessee’s rural communities because traditional underground mines employ far more people to get the same amount of coal. The mountain-dependent tourism industry in Tennessee employs more than 175,000 people and brings more than $13 billion into the Tennessee state coffers every year.
We Tennesseans love our mountains, and we don’t want out-of-state companies tearing them down at the expense of our economy, our environment, or our communities.
Help spread the word about a future without mountaintop removal in your community by writing a letter to your local editor today. Letters-to-the-editor are the most widely read part of the paper, besides the front page and the comics.
- Be original. The talking points are there as a guide, so use your unique voice!
- Being concise is key — 150 words is ideal.
- Respond to an article or other commentary published in the paper within the past 3 days.
- Proofread your letter (twice). Spelling and grammatical errors make your letter easily disregarded.
- Be sure to include your name, address, daytime phone number and signature. The paper will not publish that information and will use it to verify that you wrote the letter.
Tennessee