As you are probably aware, subcommittees in both the Tennessee House and Senate dodged a vote on the bill to ban mountaintop removal, thus effectively killing it for this session. LEAF has the play by play...

From LEAF:

We had hoped for an up or down vote on the TN Scenic Vistas Protection Act in the House Environment Subcommittee today, but once again we were disappointed, this time, not by a delay, but by an adjournment of the Committee without allowing a vote on the bill due to plenty of parliamentary maneuvering.

When Rep. McDonald called for a roll call vote on the bill, Rep. McCord of Maryville immediately moved for adjournment. The motion was seconded, and according to the Parliamentarian, this motion had to be considered before any other motion that was on the floor. The Committee then voted, 6 to 4, to adjourn. By invoking an obscure rule, the Sub-Committee closed its hearings for the year without voting either for or against our bill.

Congratulations to all of you who wrote, e-mailed and called Tennessee's legislators. You generated enough discomfort regarding this issue that the legislators who are against the bill didn't want to publicly say so. Instead, they resorted to an evasive tactic. It's our belief that those who voted to adjourn without a vote would also have voted against the bill.

We are deeply grateful to the four representatives who voted not to adjourn. We encourage all LEAF’s supporters to thank them for their courageous stand. We are especially proud of Rep. McDonald for his valiant efforts to protect our mountains.

The committee members voting to adjourn and not vote on our bill are:

Rep. Michael Bell (Riceville)
Rep. David Hawk (Greeneville)
Rep. Ron Lollar (Bartlett)
Rep. Joe McCord (Maryville)
Rep. Frank Niceley (Strawberry Plains)
Rep. John Tidwell (New Johnsonville)

The committee members voting not to adjourn and who wished to have a vote are:

Rep. Willie "Butch" Borchert (Camden)
Rep. George Fraley (Winchester)
Rep. Brenda Gilmore (Nashville)
Rep. Michael McDonald (Portland)

If you would like to watch the hearing online and see for yourself the remarkable parliamentary procedures that were used against the bill (as well as the heroic efforts that were made on behalf of our mountains by Rep. McDonald and others) you can go to (link...) The video of the entire hearing should be posted sometime on Wednesday. The Scenic Vistas bill was the last bill on the agenda.

We'll keep you up to date as developments occur. Ongoing media coverage has been posted on LEAF's Facebook page and will be added to our website as soon as possible.

Keep the faith.

Dawn Coppock, Legislative Director
Pat Hudson, Executive Director
Pat Chastain, Volunteer Coordinator