Hello fellow SOCM members,
When I moved to Tennessee from New Mexico, I experienced the joy of a thousand shades of green covering the rounded peaks of the Cumberland Mountains in upper East Tennessee. I was captivated by the majesty, mystery and misty beauty of these ancient mountains. Then, one day, a mining company moved huge machines into Elk Valley and started taking Zeb Mountain apart.
First they hacked away the forest of native hardwoods, then they scraped and blasted their way down through soil and rock - Zeb's skin and bones - to get to the coal underneath. They moved across the mountain leaving piles of broken rock and a thin layer of lifeless soil where a mountain and its thriving communities of trees, plants and animals used to be. Now, when it rains, water runs across and filters down through that rubble taking sediment and newly exposed minerals into surface and ground waters below. Some of those minerals, such as selenium, can be toxic to wildlife. Three years ago we caught the company discharging excess selenium into one of the streams, and we're still waiting for evidence that they have fixed the problem.
Whatever they do to "reclaim" the mined land when they finish, it will never be enough to make Zeb a mountain again. We're told that such destruction is necessary to produce enough energy. But is it? And is it worth it?
The coal industry tells our state and federal legislators that mountaintop removal does not exist in Tennessee. However, we will not back down to those lies. From damaged roads, to dirty air, to concerns about our drinking water, we know that mountaintop removal hurts our communities and it's time for it to stop!
We need your help to end mountaintop removal and other practices that are devastating our communities and environment. There are several things you can do to help:
1) Join us this Thursday, April 28th when the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) will hold a public hearing on proposed rule changes for gas drilling regulations in the state. What chemicals are gas companies pumping into the ground in Tennessee? Nobody knows because Tennessee has no regulations or public oversight governing the gas drilling technique known as fracking. We've joined with several environmental groups to bring attention to Tennessee's weak gas drilling regulations and will be holding a People's Hearing prior to the hearing. Click here to learn more.
2) Help stop mountaintop removal by contacting your federal legislators and asking them to support the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachian Restoration Act. Click here to use the "find your representative" tool to pull your legislators' contact information.
3) Support the North Cumberland Lands Unsuitable for Mining (North Cumberland LUM) Designation of public lands in Campbell, Anderson, Morgan and Scott counties. The comment period has closed for this year but more action will be needed in the coming months. Stay tuned!
4) Join our Committee. We meet monthly by phone and welcome new members. Contact SOCM organizer Ann League for information on joining by emailing ann@socm.org or calling 865-249-7488.
You can also help us keep this work going by giving a donation to SOCM today. If we all just give a little ($10, $25, $50), those small donations add up!
Please consider giving today. You can give online or you can mail your donation to the SOCM main office: 2507 Mineral Springs Avenue, Suite D, Knoxville, TN 37917.
In solidarity,
Cathie Bird
E3 Committee Chair
