Gov. Phil Bredesen on Friday asked the U.S. Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining to declare some 500 miles of North Cumberland Plateau area ridgelines “unsuitable for mining.”
The move effectively would ban mountaintop removal there, but not prohibit more traditional forms of coal mining.
“We’ve really needed something like this for a very long time,” said Don Barger, senior director of the Southeast regional office of the National Parks Conservation Association. “It is completely in line with the state’s effort to ‘Connect the Cumberlands’ and preserve them … but it also is exactly the kind of compromise the OSM is looking for.”
COVERED AREAS* The Royal Blue, Sundquist and New River units of the North Cumberland Wildlife Management area.* The Emory River Tract Conservation Easement, managed by Frozen Head State Park* A portion of the Cumberland Trail that traverses the property.Source: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Bredesen’s action was attacked by the Tennessee Mining Association, whose officials said they “strongly opposed” the petition as a “property takings of mineral rights.”
“The state of Tennessee was able to afford these properties because they only purchased the surface rights. Now they are attempting to take the mineral rights from their rightful owners without proper compensation,” TMA President Chuck Laine said in a statement.
Bredesen’s petition would prevent surface mining of coal for 600 feet on each side of the ridgelines in a 67,000-acre area. That would create a 1,200-foot ridgetop corridor on state-owned or state managed land in Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Scott counties.
“These lands are managed by the state of Tennessee for hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing and other outdoor recreational activities,” Bredesen said. “This petition asks the federal government to help us prevent mining on these ridgelines to protect their important cultural, recreational and scientific resources.”
OSM will review the petition. Once it is accepted as “complete,” the federal mining office will prepare an environmental impact study. After a public comment period, OSM will make a decision and publish it in the Federal Register.