2 feminist posts, 1 environmental. Guess I'm back

Help stop destruction like this:


Here's something I recieved from a good friend. It is very important that you contact the governor of Tennessee as it is so beautiful down there, and this strip mining is ruining the land and threatens the health of the locals. It's my old stomping ground and I can't describe to you how beautiful it is there. Pictures and more info can be found here. It's just an email, you can do it.

**PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, EMAIL ADDRESSES, LISTSERVES, MYSPACE
BULLETIN BOARDS, IMC'S, RADIO SHOWS, MEDIA CONTACTS,
EVERYONE YOU CAN**

If you love mountains please contact the Governor of Tennessee!
phil.bredesen@state.tn.us

WE ARE ABOUT TO KILL STRIP MINING FOR COAL IN TENNESSEE !!

The tide is turning! This is it. We can kill strip mining for
coal in Tennessee for good with your help. This is for all the
marbles. In the last year the entire tone of the campaign against
strip mining has shifted; the strip mine companies are on the
defensive. Now it's time for a knock out punch.

United Mountain Defense and its attorneys recently helped members
of the Tennessee Student Legislature draft a bill which out and
out bans strip mining for coal in the State of Tennessee no 'ifs', 'ands'
or 'buts' a flat out abolishment of the practice known
as strip mining for coal. We are not asking for less strip mining, or
kinder gentler strip mining we are demanding the permanent
abolishment of this horrendous attack on Tennessee's jobs, environment
and culture.

1. This bill was passed by the Tennessee Student Legislature and
now is being passed to Governor Bredesen's desk. Yes, Gov. Bredesen will
read our bill to ban strip mining in Tennessee! After a
week or so there, the bill will be introduced and debated by
the Tennessee General Assembly. If it becomes law all strip mining for
coal in the state of Tennessee will be forbidden by statute.


If you don't know what strip mining is doing to the Appalachians,
you are fortunate. It is an ongoing ecological, social and cultural
disaster of literally geologic proportions. Entire mountains
are being blown up, highland watersheds are being buried forever
and the most diverse habitat in the world is being destroyed
for short term greed. For more information and pictures of the
destruction go to: unitedmountaindefense.org.

Needless to say, we need your help now more than ever. We need
folks to call, email, write, fax, talk to, petition, fly planes
with banners' to contact Governor Bredesen in every way possible
and to express support for this bill.

Please be polite! Governor Bredesen has sent clear signals that
he is not happy with the strip mining for coal happening in our
beautiful state, as has our General Assembly. This is about numbers of
supporters for this bill; it is not an adversarial approach.

After the bill leaves Bredesen's desk and goes to General Assembly,
then we go to step 2: begin calling and emailing the General
Assembly to urge their support for this bill.

Do not be afraid to hit the economics argument first, foremost
and head on in this call in campaign. We have a point by point,
state by state, county by county refutation of any argument that
strip mining creates jobs. Check the citations. State data and
data from the mining industry itself shows that wherever strip
mining has reared its head, mining jobs have plummeted.


In Tennessee that's especially ironic when our number one employer
is tourism. Mining is not even in the top 10. So don't be afraid!
The economic, social and environmental data is all on our side
against strip mining here in Tennessee .

And as the bill makes its way through our Assembly you can bet
the Assemblies of other states will be watching (and hearing)
about what Tennessee is doing. In the 70's, it was Tennessee
that dealt the final blow through legislation to the so called
'broad form deed' which provided much of the momentum for strip
mining then. We hope to repeat history. After Tennessee takes
this step, other states must take the idea more seriously. If
we can get Tennessee to do the right thing for its own economic,
social and environmental interest (and for its people) other
states will come around.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Don't send us money! How's that for an
argument from an environmental group? Right now we need your
voices to be heard in support for this bill. Once during our
campaign against a road in Tennessee, we got over 45,000 comments
in opposition to it we need that again. This is purely about
numbers. We need everyone: SEAC, NPCA, the Sierra Club, Earth
Justice, OHVEC, App Voices, SELC, the Appalachian Center for
the Economy and the Environment, GreenPeace, SOCM, TCWP, CRMW,
Mountain Justice Summer, EVERYONE to make this a priority. And
of course the coal industry is going to freak out at this overt
offensive against their destruction of our mountains.

For the Mountains!

Call the Governor?s ethics hotline toll free at toll-free: 1-866-442-9025
http://www.state.tn.us/governor/Ethics.do

Governor's Office Tennessee State Capitol Nashville, TN 37243-0001

Phone: 615.741.2001 Fax: 615.532.9711
Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us

http://www.state.tn.us/governor/Welcome.do

Visit Bredesen personally!

Join United Mountain Defense info list.

Other things you can do to help save Tennessee 's Mountains.

Email united mountain defense AT yahoo DOT com if you can help, have
any questions, or if you could forward your comments and what
you get back to us.

For the Mountains!
Here is a bare bones copy of the bill.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 59-8-205 is amended
by adding the following language as subsection (d):

(d) No permit shall be issued for a surface mine utilized for
the purpose of coal mining in the state of Tennessee.

SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 69-3-107 is amended
by adding the following language as an appropriately designated
subsection:

() The Commissioner shall not have the authority to issue a
permit to an activity prohibited in Tennessee Code Annotated,
Section 59-8-205(d).

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming law, the
public welfare requiring it.
Here is more context.
Here's what the news below means. College student government
members
from across Tennessee passed legislation banning strip mining
that will go to the desk of governor Bredesen and possibly to
the Tennessee state
legislature to be made into law. Thanks to Chris Irwin and Gena
Lewis
for drafting the anti-strip mining bills for us. There will
be massive
lobbying for this later so keep your eyes open and tell everyone
you can to support this. We are potentially on the verge of banning strip
mining in
Tennessee.
Woo-hoo!

Members of Tennessee Alumni & Students for Sustainable Campuses
(TASSC) were busy in Nashville this past weekend at the 2006 Tennessee
Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL). At this annual mock-congress
convergence, student leaders from across the state convene to
write, debate, and pass legislation just like the actual state
legislature. Bills that are passed through both the House and
Senate of TISL are ultimately presented to Governor Bredesen
for review.

Members of TASSC wrote and sponsored a total of seven bills,
four of which were successfully passed:
+ Ban on surface mining for coal in Tennessee

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Please call/email/visit! This is huge and will hopefully affect the rest of the Appalachians, because they are right now being destroyed. One of the most beautiful and diverse ecosystems on the east coast of the US is being devestated and destroyed. More infor about Southern Appalachia can be found here.