Protect Tennessee’s Mountains
Appalachian Voices took to a national Fox News audience last night to spread the word about protecting Tennessee’s mountains. The theme of the piece is our exceptionally large and diverse coalition of environmentalists, faith groups, conservationists, and conservatives who are fighting to protect our mountains.
The Fox anchor let the coal lobbyist get away with more misinformation than I would have liked. For instance, we know that mountaintop removal has meant far fewer mining jobs, is linked with horrific health impacts, and has a negative effect on community well-being. Fox missed those facts.
We know that the Scenic Vistas Protection Act has an exemption for the “wonderful” re-mining that the coal industry is so proud of themselves for “doing.” But that wasn’t mentioned either.
In all, more than 2 million people heard our message that environmentalists, conservatives, independents, and progressives and people of all creeds from across Tennessee want to protect our mountains. And that is an incredibly important message that we will continue to share.
Our state has a simple choice to make. We can let a few radical, out-of-state, out-of-country individuals bring down our mountains and ship out a few tons of coal. Or, we can protect our invaluable mountains for all Tennesseans and for future generations. Appalachian Voices will continue fighting to ensure that these mountains remain standing.
JW RandolphRaised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.
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