An attempt to revive a bill that would ban "mountaintop removal" coal mining in Tennessee failed in the state Senate today. The recall motion by Sen. Andy Berke, a Chattanooga Democrat, failed by a 12-14 vote that fell mostly along party lines.
The bill would have prohibited surface coal mining more than 2,000 feet above sea level. It was never voted on by the Senate Environment Committee earlier this year.
Berke tried to revive the proposal after Senate Republicans vowed to make a similar move with controversial legislation that would resist the new federal health care reform law. Berke said a vote against the mountaintop removal ban would put the Senate "in the hands of a few people in the coal lobby."
Sen. Ken Yager, a Republican from Harriman, said the Environment Committee didn't get to hear both sides of the issue. But Berke said the matter had been debated for years.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100609/NEWS02/100609035/Mountaintop+removal+ban+fails+in+Tennessee+Senate+
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