COVID-19 Update: Read about the most recent Sierra Club guidelines here.
Tennessee News
Voting is underway, and Sierra Club Tennessee announces endorsements!Local and state elections are happening now, with early voting dates running October 19 - Thursday, Nov. 3. The general Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8, and polling hours vary by county, but all locations will close at 7 pm CT / 8 pm ET. This elections will have profound consequences for our environmental and social future, so it's extremely important to vote, and encourage others to vote as well! ENDORSEMENTS: To see candidates endorsed by your Sierra Club Chapter and Group, go to the Chapter or Group website, hover over “Political” in the top bar, and click on "Endorsements." Want to endorse future candidates where you live? Tell Jerry Thornton at gatwildcat@aol.com.
Voting for Sierra Club Chapter and Group ExCom (Executive Committee) underway! Keep your voting streak going by mailing in your paper ballots to elect Sierra Club leaders for 2023-2024. Over the coming two years, the candidates chosen will make impactful decisions on your behalf. Look for candidate bios and ballots in the November-December Tennes-Sierran, or print off ballots from the online edition. Ballots must be received by December 15, so don’t wait too long!
Environmental group sues TVA to gain records for plans to convert coal plants to natural gas. "An environmental group opposed to plans to build natural gas-fired generation to replace aging coal plants in Tennessee is suing the Tennessee Valley Authority to gain access to TVA records the group claims are illegally being withheld from the public. In a 10-page complaint filed in federal court in Knoxville, the Center for Biological Diversity claims TVA has failed to properly release thousands of pages of public records concerning the agency's consideration of plans to build new gas plants..." Read more
by Dave Flessner - Times Free Press - October 11, 2022.
Multigroup effort secures additional 833 acres of land for Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls State Park. "Fall Creek Falls State Park will be acquiring an additional 833 acres of land thanks to a purchase arranged by multiple partners to expand the park's already extensive footprint on the rugged Cumberland Plateau. The acquisition [is] a collaboration between TennGreen Land Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee and the Conservation Fund, as well as the Open Space Institute and the Chattanooga-based Lyndhurst Foundation." Read more by Times Free Press staff - October 20, 2022.
New plant in Cumberland City to support EV battery industry. Officials announced that Daejin Advanced Materials USA Inc will invest $10.2 million to establish its second U.S. manufacturing and processing facility in Cumberland City, Tennessee. The project will generate 83 new jobs over the next five years. The facility will manufacture process trays for electric vehicle batteries and expand other lines of production. Read more by Lindsay Tipton - September 27, 2022.
Culture-war legislation, visualized.
"Over the past three academic years, legislators in 45 states proposed 283 laws that either sought to restrict what teachers can say about race, racism and American history; to change how instructors can teach about gender identity, sexuality and LGBTQ issues; to boost parents’ rights over their children’s education; to limit students’ access to school libraries and books; to circumscribe the rights of transgender students; and/or to promote what legislators defined as a ‘patriotic’ education.” Tennessee is one of 25 states that have passed a total of 64 laws in the past three academic years reshaping what students can learn and do at school.
Read more by Hannah Natanson, Clara Ence Morse and Anu Narayanswamy - Washington Post - Oct. 18, 2022. Editor'sNote: This is a strong reminder of why voting is so important!
"Clash of the seasons" by Christy Martin. The bright colors of autumn come head to head with the approaching frosts of winter in Blue Ridge Parkway near Craggy Dome, October 2022. Photo used with permission by Christy Martin (Instagram: @christym981).
Environmental Updates
The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges: Utilities are trying to greenwash their dirty plans. It’s time to hold them accountable. Beyond Coal has updated its Dirty Truth report. TVA again gets an “F,” scoring just slightly above zero, putting it at or near the top of Sierra Club’s lists, “The Worst Utilities Keeping Coal Online Past 2030” and “The Worst Utilities by Planned Gas Capacity.” To see for yourself, visit the Beyond Coal website, and enter in "TVA" in the search bar beneath the question: Is Your Utility Part of the Problem?
Source: Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign - October 3, 2022.
Tiny Tennessee fish protected, but FWS has yet to say where. "The Barrens topminnow spent more than 40 years in endangered species limbo — under an on-and-off review in which the fish's chances of being saved suffered from the acrimony created during a highly publicized fight to save another tiny Southeastern fish, the snail darter." Read more by Associated Press - October 21, 2022.
Gripped by drought, drenched by rain, Mississippi basin sees climate extremes. "States across the Mississippi River basin are experiencing drought more commonly found in the arid Southwest, federal data shows. The dryness has disrupted agriculture, beached barges and upset ecosystems across large swaths of the Midwest, Great Plains and beyond, in epic proportions." Read more by
Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, Special to the Daily Memphian - October 23, 2022.
WATCH: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) discusses PFAS — a class of chemicals linked to an array of health issues — and why their widespread use isn’t as magical as it may seem. Watch the 20 min video - October 4, 2021.
New study suggests coal ash pollution more widespread in North Carolina than previously thought, according to a new study published by researchers at Duke University and Appalachian State University. "The new findings indicate that we have underestimated the environmental impact of coal ash,” said Avner Vengosh, study co-author and a Duke University professor of Environmental Quality." If that's true in North Carolina, is it true in other states as well? Read more by Celeste Gracia - North Carolina Public Radio - October 3, 2022.
What has the Cherokee Group been up to? Updates from the Chattanooga-area Cherokee Group: "The Drive Electric Scenic City event earlier this month was an electrifying time! There were over 50 EVs on display, including a new city bus and electric motorbike. Over 300 people participated in the event, exceeding expectations. It was great to see those who stopped by the Cherokee Sierra Club table! Additionally, the West Chick River Cleanup in Camp Jordan was a huge success! Over 6 boats worth of trash were cleaned up. Some of the trash included tires, bikes and orange cones from the nearby interstate construction. Thanks to those who helped come out and keep our waterways clean!"
Over 300 people attended the Drive Electric Scenic City event on October 1st in Chattanooga, Tenn. Photo by Susan M. Goodwin.
Solid Waste Disaster Narrowly Avoided (for now)
How the Sierra Club and its members make the difference
By Scott Banbury, TN Chapter Conservation Programs Coordinator [Edited]
In early September I received a call from Gale Moore, a member in Maury County who we’ve worked with for many years on several landfill issues along the Duck River. Gale was extremely concerned by the construction of a tire shredding and recycling facility on the Monsanto Superfund SIte. Gale is very vigilant about such things and was alarmed that there had been no public notice or local discussion about this project.
I looked up the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) files on the project
and was horrified to learn that an outfit called Trinity Business Group (TBG) had received the tire shredding permit via a process called Permit-By-Rule whereby TDEC can issue a solid waste permit without public notice and participation as long as it conforms to certain rules. What’s more, I learned that TBG had also applied for permits by rule to operate a Construction & Demolition Material Recovery Processing Facility, a Municipal Solid Waste Material Recovery Processing Facility and an Energy Recovery Processing Facility (waste to energy incinerator).
It became apparent that what TBG intended to do was import construction waste and municipal garbage from surrounding communities, separate out any recyclable material and then burn the rest. Based on the scale of the facilities in the applications, the facilities were being designed to replace the Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County, which currently serves 34 counties in Middle TN, and serve the construction demolition needs of several surrounding counties including Davidson County.
Needless to say, many Maury County residents were not happy with this idea, and rightly infuriated that TBG was trying to sneak it through without public notice and participation. We immediately contacted TDEC and several local officials to find out what was going on and who knew what about it. We were shocked to learn that no elected officials knew anything about it and that TDEC didn’t think that public notice was necessary even though the City of Columbia had adopted the Jackson Law during a previous fight over a proposed regional municipal waste landfill at the same site.
The Jackson Law allows any municipality or county that adopts it to decide whether or not TDEC should go forward with solid waste permitting. We also learned that TDEC shared some of our concerns and that they had issued Notice Of Deficiency letters on all three permits that were still pending.
TBG has now refiled standard solid waste permits for the C&D and Municipal Solid Waste Material Recovery Facilities, both subject to the Jackson Law, and the previously issued tire shredding permit is now on “administrative hold,” also subject to the Jackson Law. In regards to the waste to energy permit, the TBG
responded to TDEC Notice Of Deficiency by changing the word “incinerator” everywhere it appeared in the the application to “thermal demanufacturing” in an apparent attempt to take advantage of the
2019 exemption of gasification and pyrolysis from solid waste law. They also made it clear that they intend to piggyback on the existing NPDES permit for the existing permit for site remediation and associated Class II landfill on site.
To their credit, newly elected Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt, State Representative Scott Cepicky and State Senator Joey Hensley all contacted TDEC and TDEC responded by reviewing an updated City of Columbia map and lo and behold, they discovered that the proposed facilities were, in fact, within one mile of Columbia and therefore subject to the Jackson Law. Now TBG has to submit their plans to the City of Columbia and most likely Maury County too as they passed adoption of the Jackson Law on first reading on October 4th.
The takeaway here is that all it took was one member letting Sierra Club know that something foul was afoot to totally turn the table on a sneaky company that was trying to build one of the most polluting facilities Tennessee has ever known. The fight’s not over yet but at least we stand a chance of stopping it now.
Chemical linked to high cancer rates 40-times more toxic than previously thought, EPA says. "Sterilization Services of Tennessee, located in South Memphis on Florida Street, is a commercial sterilization facility that uses EtO
(Ethylene oxide) to clean medical equipment. The EPA identified the facility as an elevated risk for those who live in the surrounding areas." The facility has been permitted since 1985 and is part of a chain with three locations, including Atlanta and Richmond, Virginia. New regulations have not been specified yet. A public comment period will occur, with new rules coming as early as 2023. Read more by Lucas Finton - Memphis Commercial Appeal - October 20, 2022.
Health Department launches first specific cancer-cluster study. "South Memphis residents filled the pews of Monumental Baptist Church on Tuesday, Oct. 18, to learn about their possible lifetime cancer risks from a nearby facility that’s emitting a chemical called ethylene oxide, aka EtO. But the Shelby County Health Department hopes to have more information for them, from a new study, in a few months." Read more by Keely Brewer - Daily Memphian - October 21, 2022.
BCG’s New Frontier: Autoworkers and the Environmental Movement. Nonprofit Quarterly published an article by Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz and United Auto Workers Vice President Cindy Estrada discussing how the labor and environmental movements must work together to secure both economic and climate justice. Read more by Ramón Cruz and Cindy Estrada - Nonprofit Quarterly - October 5, 2022.
Watch this new one minute video about the Sierra Club values! Learn why the five core values of anti-racism, balance, collaboration, justice, and transformation are foundationally important to our work.
October 18th was the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Events
Statewide environmental events listed chronolically.
Do you have an event you'd like publicized?
Send it to Enews.sierratn@gmail.com.
The Clean Water Act turned 50 on October 18th. The Clean Water Act is a landmark law that helped reverse years of environmental damage and pollution to America’s rivers, lakes, wetlands, and waterways. After the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire due to the high levels of pollutants in 1969, the public awakened to the health dangers and environmental damage that can result when activities by corporate polluters and the fossil fuel industry go unchecked. The public pressed Congress to act, and in 1972, the Clean Water Act passed with strong bipartisan support, enough to overcome President Nixon's veto. Learn more at
ProtectCleanWater.org.
Fall Festival & Holiday Market in Chattanooga on Saturday, October 29, at Southside Community Park, 3501 Central Ave. The event will be from noon-4 pm. The Cherokee Group will be tabling, so come by and say hello, or sign up to help set up or staff the table! The weather forecast looks sunny and refreshingly cool. For more info contact Bill Moll by email or phone at 404-401-7899.
Climate Panel Discussion in Warner Park Nature Center in Nashville. "Listen to, learn from, and ask questions of experienced educators about how they approach this challenging topic by de-polarizing the issue, leaning into what science actually is, and focusing on concerns we all have in common." Event held Friday Nov. 4, 6:00-7:30 pm CT. Learn more and find out how to register here.
Tennessee Sustainable Transportation Forum & Expo on Nov. 8-9. "The Forum & Expo speakers and panelists will address topics such as alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies; mobility and transportation justice, which includes issues of access to transportation, community displacement, and gentrification in sustainable transportation projects; and the intersections of transportation with public health and emergency response. There will be a networking reception on Nov. 8." Event held at the University of Tennessee Student Union (Knoxville). Learn more here.
National Recycling Congress held on Nov. 9-10. This virtual summit "will bring together a wide variety of practitioners and policymakers at local, state and federal levels, in organizations and business, in the areas of waste management, reuse, recycling and more." Register here by Oct. 31 for a discount.
National Zero Waste Conference will be Nov. 30-Dec. 1st. This two-day virtual educational and networking event is organized by Zero Waste USA and partners. Learn more and register here.
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Eco-Guru
Dear Eartha, My environmental book club began investigating micro-plastics. Do you have any general information and thoughts on prevention? Can the United States get to a place of actually banning the manufacture of products (as the UK has) that contain what the Brits call “microbeads”? How can we commoners Stop the Stall? —Just the Facts, Ma’am in Chattanooga
Dear Ma’am (in honor of the Queen’s passing!),
First of all, an environmental book club? You’re rocking my world! I need one of those. Here’s a bit of background (with help from our Sierra E-News editor, Allie Stafford): Plastic itself is made from petroleum, rarely gets recycled, and is used to make single-use items which cause, as this video explains, “a ton of waste” (Dangers of microplastics, Oct. 2022).
All the single-use, non-recycled plastic we are consuming breaks down into what is called microplastics. Microplastics, called microbeads in the UK, are teeny tiny particles less than five millimeters in diameter, and scientists have only recently documented how serious the environmental damage is. According to Chemical & Engineering News, biogeochemist Janice Brahney was working in a remote part of the western United States collecting dust to study how phosphorus might disrupt wild and remote ecosystems. But what this Utah State University researcher discovered under the microscope “were enormous amounts of plastic…fibers, spheres, and chunks of the stuff, in all different colors” (
Katherine Bourzac, 2/2/22).
Brahney, having no funding, conducted research for years in her spare time and concluded (along with researchers from France, Greenland, and Svalbard) “that the microplastics were being transported in the atmosphere and then falling to the ground with snow, rain, or dusty winds” (Science.org).
Companies are coming up with innovative ways consumers can reduce their plastic footprint. According to PlanetCare.org
, 35% of the plastic microfibers in the ocean come from washing machines which “shed thousands of tiny plastic pieces that go into wastewater, enter our ecosystem and end up in the food we eat.” PlanetCare manufactures a washing machine filter that they say eliminates 90% of each household’s microplastics from polluting our waterways, animals, and air. By 2025, France is requiring that all washing machines have this filtration system, making it "the first country in the world to take legislative steps in the fight against plastic microfiber pollution" (Oceancleanwash.org).
Then there’s Precious Plastic-USA, a company that designs small-scale plastic re-processing and production machines. Their machines are built in Portland, Oregon using open source designs to “facilitate modification and design evolution” that encourage plastic reuse efforts (preciousplastic-usa.com).
On another front, select Kroger stores in the country are eliminating single use plastic bags from their stores, a practice common in health food stores for decades. Kroger is partnering “with other stores like Walmart and Target for the Beyond the Bag initiative, which challenges shoppers to explore reusable options and ‘reimagine’ plastic bags” (The U.S. Sun, 10/8/22). It’s about time, right?
But what about legislation? In the US, the House and Senate passed the “Making Investments in Curbing Ruinous Output of Plastics Act of 2020.” The bill established a microplastics pilot program to “test the efficacy and cost effectiveness” of removing and preventing the release of microplastics in the environment. The UK had already banned the manufacture of products containing microbeads in 2018.
I'm so thrilled, Ma’am, to have been educated by your question and to learn how we can take common sense steps to eliminate plastic pollution. Keep taking your canvas and recycled-product bags on shopping trips, for sure, but also check out the filtering systems for our washing machines and other steps innovators have manufactured.
Yours from the “Creativity Abounds” journalism realm, I remain,
Eartha
Submit your questions, comments, or brief opinion of 'What Matters Now' to the Sierra E-News Editor [Enews.sierratn@gmail.com]. Dear Eartha is penned by Rita Bullinger.
Fundraising Corner
By Mac Post, TN Chapter Fundraising Chair [edited]
Recently the National Sierra Club fundraising team sent emails to many of you encouraging you to become a monthly donor to the Tennessee Chapter. The Tennessee Chapter is effective because we have the flexibility to fight any environmental battle at any time—including legislative fights in Nashville.
Monthly donors are the backbone of that power and flexibility. Your steady giving, regardless of size, sustains longterm campaigns that are improving Tennessee’s environment. Please consider this invitation to become a Chapter monthly donor by using our secure website.
Remember that you can also give a gift of Sierra Club membership. Keep this in mind as the holidays approach! Membership can be a thoughtful gift for like-minded loved ones, and if you use this link for gift memberships to new members, our Chapter will get the commissions!
The ground-dwelling wild turkey has a large, dark body and big feet; it can fly short distances and roosts in trees at night. It lives in 49 out of the 50 states, and has bounced back thanks to modern wildlife management, after being over-hunted in the early 1900s.
When male turkeys court females, they have a white forehead, bright blue face, and scarlet neck. All males have a beard, or tuft of modified feathers on the chest; some females are bearded as well. Males make a gobble sound, while females make a sharp tuk sound.
Domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo domesticus) are white in color and cannot fly, due to being bred to be large and heavy.
The best way to help keep wild turkeys wild is by not feeding them. Turkeys are supposed to roam widely and forage throughout the day. If wild turkeys become comfortable with humans and being fed, they can be boldly aggressive. It's best to give them their space and let them forage. They're very proficient!
Invitation to Comment on the Dissolution of Upper Cumberland and Watauga Groups
At the September 11, 2021 Chapter ExCom meeting we voted to reorganize the Tennessee Chapter into four groups and formally dissolve the Upper Cumberland and Watauga Groups. This plan is a formal acknowledgement of the Chapter’s current operation: Upper Cumberland hasn’t been operating since 2015 and Watauga converted to a Regional Conservation Committee in 2019. Once the plan is finalized, the Sierra Club can restructure its databases and assign members appropriately to these four groups.
Please note that this action to dissolve these groups does not affect individual members as members of the Sierra Club or chapter. It also does not remove their representation by the Sierra Club.
Please comment on this through the Tennessee-News listserv by emailing your comments to TENNESSEE-NEWS@lists.sierraclub.org with the subject “Chapter Reorganization,” or email Mac Post at mpost3116@aol.com. Your comments and discussion will be summarized for the November 12 Chapter ExCom meeting where the reorganization will be voted on again. Members are also welcome to attend and comment at the meeting on Saturday November 12, 10:00 am Central before a final vote is taken. In order to get the Zoom link please RSVP here.
The updated County Assignments are as follows. These are the assignments we have been using for more than 5 years with the additional change of adding the former Watauga Group counties to the Harvey Broome Group:
See the Tennessee county map (below) for the proposed map:
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Contact Us
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The views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sierra Club.
Who We Are
We are the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the world’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. With over 3.8 million members and supporters, the Sierra Club has the resources to empower people and to influence public policy through community activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation.
Our mission is to Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.
