Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney of JacksonNASHVILLE - A bill banning so-called "mountaintop" removal coal mining is officially dead in the General Assembly after a House subcommittee deferred the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act until next year.
Earlier in the day, the measure died in a Senate committee when the sponsor, Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney of Jackson, failed to get a motion on the bill from the six Republicans in the committee.
Two of Finney's fellow Democrats, Sen. Charlotte Burkes of Monterey and Sen. Ophelia Ford of Memphis, both serve on the committee but were absent.