The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act, or HB 43, is listed on the state’s general assembly website as a water pollution proposal to prohibit “issuance of a water quality permit that would alter any ridgeline that is more than 2000 feet above sea level”

It is the first bill to be filed by Johnson, who holds a seat on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee set to rule on the proposal.

According to regional newspaper the Knoxville News Sentinel, the group has been tasked with the ruling for the first time as part of a committee realignment by House Speaker Beth Harwell.

Similar legislation was killed in past years by its former decision-makers, a sub-committee of the House Conservation and Environment Committee, a compilation abolished by Harwell.

“There's a new sub-committee, fresh eyes and new developments," Johnson told the paper late last week.

“I hope the chances are good. It's the kind of bill that should have bipartisan support.”

She called for protection of the state’s mountains because tourism was a large Tennessee employer.

“And there are other ways to get at the coal,” Johnson said.

Tennessee Mining Association lobbyist Chuck Laine told the paper he was confident that the legislation would again die.

Modern mandates, he said, required that mining operations be left better than they were before, resulting in current Tennessee surface mining that benefited the environment because most areas damaged were ultimately re-mined and other areas reclaimed.

“We go in and clean the stuff up," he told the paper.

Laine also noted that much of the state’s coal mining was concentrated in Campbell, Claiborne and Anderson counties, none of which count tourism as a major factor. Should the proposal be passed, it would have a detrimental impact on the landowner who purchased property with knowledge of the seams’ value.

According to federal data, Tennessee has 13 active bituminous mines and facilities. Another 22 are listed as new mines, non-producing, or temporarily idled.