Bill to stop use of mountaintop-removal coal in North Carolina is withdrawn after hearing, protest

The proposed Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act, introduced in the last two sessions of the North Carolina legislature, got a committee hearing yesterday but was then withdrawn. State Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Greensboro, "said she'd work on a resolution to encourage Congress to restrict or ban the mining practice," reports John Murawski of The Raleigh News and Observer.

Harrison's decision came after several legislators said the "bill would not stop the controversial mining practice but would only divert coal mined that way from North Carolina to markets like Europe and China," Murawski reports. The bill had grabbed attention from other coal-producing states. Representatives from the coal associations of West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky attended the hearing to voice their opposition. (Read more)

The day before, protesters in Charlotte marched on Duke Energy's headquarters, complaining about the company's environmental practices. "Duke opposes a state ban on imports of mountaintop coal," wrote Bruce Henderson of The Charlotte Observer. A Duke spokeswoman told him, "We are sensitive to the issue, and we are reviewing it." On other fronts, the company has taken steps to be more "green." (Read more) For a report on the hearing, from Jordan Schrader of the Asheville Citizen-Times, click here.

The protest was partly intended to show people in non-coal states how the coal that produces their electricity is extracted. That point was made in a St. Petersburg Times column by Robert Trigaux, who noted that local utilities Progress Energy and TECO, formerly Tampa Electric Co., have operated mountaintop-removal mines. TECO still does, and says reclaimed sites have provided needed land for public projects and other development. To read the column, click here.