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State Sen. Raymond Finney's bill to prohibit the disturbance of ridgelines above 2,000 feet in Tennessee, aimed at curbing surface coal mining, has been approved in the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee.

The committee on Wednesday recommended Finney's Senate Bill 3822 for approval. The companion bill was defeated in a House subcommittee, but Finney has said it could be revived by parliamentary means.

The bill says that if a ridgeline is over 2,000 feet, it can't be altered or disturbed by surface coal mining, according to Dawn Coppock, legislative director of the Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship, a Christian group established by members of the Church of the Savior, United Church of Christ, in Knoxville.

Coppock, who has been pushing the bill, praised the committee vote.

"{We) are just tickled to death, she said. "We're very happy. It passed 8-1. We only needed five votes to pass. We were very encouraged by the numbers and by the remarks of the senators. They were solidly behind the bill. We got bipartisan support. We're pretty happy."

Technically, mountaintop removal is no longer practiced in Tennessee. What many environmentalists refer to as "mountaintop removal" is what companies refer to as cross-ridge mining. If the top of the mountain is removed, the mining company is now required by the federal government to use the leftover soil and rock to return it to the approximate original contours.

Environmentalists still oppose the technique, saying the effects of both mountaintop removal and cross-ridge mining far outweigh the benefits.