Tennessee Chapter Conservation Committees
Tennessee's Future Depends on You
Conservation committees each focus on a particular environmental issue.
Get the latest on the Committees here: Bi-Monthly Conservation Committee Reports
Contact Conservation Chair, Bill Moll (whmoll@aol.com) with questions.
Land Management
Contact: Virginia Dale (virginia.dale4@gmail.com)
The Land Management Committee focusses on land management processes on private, commercial, and public lands in Tennessee, including residential, agriculture, and forested areas. Specific interests include agriculture practices and incentives, biodiversity, endangered species/wildlife, and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
Improving Land Management in TN
Solid Waste and Mining
Contact: Dan Firth (dan.firth.sierraclub@gmail.com)
The Solid Waste and Mining Committee addresses mining and extractive industries, landfills, manufacturing byproducts, biosolids and plastic. Recent focus has been on both the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging bill recently introduced in the Tennessee Senate and the Bristol (Virginia) landfill problems.
Energy
Contact: JoAnn McIntosh (joann.mcintosh@tennessee.sierraclub.org)
The Energy Committee addresses all energy generation and use with a special focus on local advocacy of decarbonization. Volunteers work closely with Sierra Club staff on TVA's practices such as continued lagging deployment of renewables, scheduled gas buildout, and its lack of transparency with the public. Shared volunteer/staff work includes organizing local groups along proposed gas pipeline routes, attending and speaking at quarterly TVA Board meetings, and participating in other actions initiated by Sierra Club and allied organizations. Additional recent work includes outreach to local governments and power companies on the Inflation Reduction Act and other new grant opportunities, and discussion with other stakeholders in the energy industry about optimizing new technology in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Forests and Public Lands Committee
Contact: Davis Mounger (wdmounger@yahoo.com)
The Forests and Public Lands Committee works for the restoration and preservation of biodiversity and the improved protection of fish, wildlife, plants, wildlife, soil and water resources in our state and federal forests. Restoration and preservation includes increasing the size and number of designated wilderness areas and the availability of nature-oriented recreation.
Recent efforts include working with local officials to prevent the clearcutting of large sections of the Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness, which also resulted in legislation passed to increase the transparency of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) timber sales. The Committee continues to monitor the Tennessee State Forest Timber Sale Program's practice of clearcuts that turn diverse mixed hardwood forests into low-biodiversity stands hosting only a couple of species. (often with encroaching invasive species).
Transportation Committee
Contact: Kent Minault (kminault@gmail.com)
The State Transportation Team works on decarbonizing all aspects of our transportation system. We advocate for (1) cities and counties to electrify their fleets, (2) school boards and transit districts to electrify their buses, and (3) all drivers to get the support they need to stop burning gasoline and diesel. Recent activities include encouraging local entities to utilize funding to increase the number of charging stations for electric vehicles. More about Transportation
Water Quality
Contact: Axel Ringe (onyxfarm@bellsouth.net)
The Water Quality Committee works for the protection, preservation, and restoration of Tennessee's waters and wetlands through advocacy, education, and litigation, to make them fishable and swimmable once more, and to protect the health of the communities that depend on them. The scope includes water quality, wetlands, surface water, aquifers and aquatic biodiversity and endangered species. The Committee meets biweekly with the Tennessee Water Group (TWG), an informal coalition of groups across the state concerned with water quality issues in Tennessee (for more information, contact Jim Redwine jimredwine@harpethriver.org). Committee members also meet with both the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) when needed.
Know Nuclear Committee
Contact: Don Safer (dsafer@comcast.net)
The Know Nuclear in Tennessee Committee engages locally in support of the National Sierra Club's policy against the use of nuclear fission for electricity generation. The Committee works for: (1) reduction of TVA's increasing reliance on dangerous, dirty, costly nuclear power; (2) reduction of Tennessee's unique role as the nation's, and increasingly the world's, destination for "low level" radioactive waste processing and disposal; and (3) the most responsible and absolute isolation of harmful man-made radiation created by both nuclear power and weapons production.