WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsSierra Club urges members to visit Tennessee
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Associated Press - July 30, 2009 4:05 AM ET
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Sierra Club is urging its members to support Tennessee's tourism industry to combat a boycott that Appalachian coal miners have called for.
The coal miners are refusing to vacation in Tennessee because they say 1 of that state's political leaders, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, wants to eliminate needed jobs by banning mountaintop removal. Alexander is sponsoring legislation that would bar coal companies from blasting away mountaintops to unearth coal.
The Sierra Club's Kentucky chairman, Joey Shadowen, said the organization supports Alexander's proposal and is calling on members nationwide to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other Tennessee tourist sites. The Sierra Club has about 800,000 members nationwide.
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