As a bill to ban mountaintop removal in Tennessee comes up for a vote today in the State Legislature, it's great to see the Knoxville News-Sentinel come out strongly in favor of the legislation. In urging Gov. Phil Bredesen and legislators to "consider serious restrictions on mountaintop mining," the editorial noted:
"As citizens, we have important decisions to make regarding our environment. Coal is not a commodity we can wish away. Every time we turn on our light switch, our computers, our heating and air-conditioning and our many other electric and electronic devices, we are using electricity produced from coal-burning plants. It will be this way for the foreseeable future."
"However, our insatiable appetite for our electric creature comforts notwithstanding, we can work for intelligent public energy policy...It also is what needs to be done with mountaintop mining. We want to see -- and we want visitors to our beautiful state to see -- our mountains, not a moonscape."