The Interior Department is designating nearly 75,000 acres or over 550 miles of mountain ridgelines in East Tennessee as unsuitable for future surface coal mining operations. The department’s action comes at the request of the state, which said in a 2010 petition that mountaintop coal mining in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area and Emory River Tract Conservation Easement would significantly damage the area’s natural resources and hurt its cultural, scientific and aesthetic value. The ban protects land in Anderson, Morgan, Campbell and Scott Counties. The area provides habitat for black bear, elk and songbirds. The New and Emory Rivers run through the designated area and provide clean drinking water.