This blog was written by Michael S. Diamond, a student at Vanderbilt University and cross posted from the Southern Energy Network blog. 

For the second anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill, Vanderbilt Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility (SPEAR)asked students to stand with the Gulf by wearing black and also asked Senator Bob Corker to stand with the Gulf by voting to end subsidies for the oil industry. Students made and signed a letter to Senator Corker, who is up for reelection this Fall, and then hand-delivered it to his West End office.

When I was 12 years old, I moved from Nicaragua to the Tennessee. My first memories of the US include seeing snow for the first time and my mom organizing a protest. My mom’s event made it to the front page of our small local newspaper, but it was definitely empowering. Fast-forward 10 years later, I had watched several documentaries on climate change and definitely learned the importance of recycling.

On Friday, March 9, 2012 Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) set out to blow the whistle on Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Representative Duncan and call a penalty. The three of them have received close to half a million dollars from coal and oil industries in the past 5 years. Students set out dressed as referees (pinstripes and flags included) and blew the whistle at their offices in Knoxville. Students called a penalty on congressman for supporting the Keystone XL pipeline while taking millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

Tennessee’s State Legislature has the opportunity to make environmental and social history. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act (HB0291/SB0577), as originally written, would have banned surface mining that “alters or disturbs any ridgeline that is above two thousand feet” — in other words, mountaintop removal mining. This morning, the Senate passed a watered-down version of the bill that merely reinforces existing legislation. Although some are disappointed with this result, today’s events mean that mountaintop removal will be debated by the full legislative body for the first time.