Primacy and Reclamation Act of Tennessee - Vote NO!
As reported last week, there is a proposal to have the state of Tennessee to take over regulation of coal mining from the federal government. This would be a drain on state financial resources and an attempt at the weakening of environmental regulations. The bill was rolled in the House subcommittee from March 10th to Tuesday, March 17th. The bill was moved in the Senate from the Government Operations Committee to the Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and will be heard on Wednesday, March 18th.
Call or write the members of the committees listed below and tell them to vote NO on primacy!
SB 0842 by *Yager (HB 0833) by *Powers - "Primacy and Reclamation Act of Tennessee" iransfers all strip-mine permitting and oversight from the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), an agency already stretched thin both monetarily and in personnel, especially in their oversight of NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits.
This change of SMCRA primacy would allow the coal-mining industry to further endanger Tennessee's water quality.
Tennesseans should not allow taxpayer money to be spent for a program that already exists via the federal Office of Surface Mining. A comprehensive and effective state mining program would cost Tennessee taxpayers between millions during a five year development stage, require the hiring and training of hydrologists, geologists, field inspectors and others to a job that is already being done.
Primacy would be too costly for Tennessee in too many ways.
This bill does have a fiscal note and it is too expensive for Tennesseans.
The increase in state expenditures would be: $605,400/General Fund/FY15-16 $1,168,600/General Fund/FY16-17 $3,188,700/General Fund/FY17-18 $2,772,200/General Fund/FY18-19 and Subsequent Years Please contact the senators and representatives on the committees listed below and tell them to vote NO on SB 0842 and NO on HB 0833.
House Ag Committee: (members underlined are on sub-committee)
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