2008-2012 annual report: the transformation years

2008 - 2012 Annual Report:The Transformation Years

A Report of Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment:a 40-year-old statewide community organization where

people work together to improve their quality of life

Contents

Letter from SOCM’s President� ............................2

Our Plan for Transformat�ion ...............................3

Chapters Bedford County ..................................................5 Bledsoe and Rhea Counties .............................8 Campbell/Anderson Counties .......................10 Cumberland County ........................................12 Franklin County/Decherd ..............................16 Jackson ...............................................................17 Knoxville ............................................................20 Maury County ...................................................21 Roaring River ...................................................25

Campaigns Aerial Spraying .................................................28 Anti-Racism Transformation .........................29 Coal Ash is Toxic Waste ..................................31 Green Collar Jobs .............................................33 Energy, Ecology, and Enviro. Justice ............41

Strategies Organizational Development ........................49 Leadership Development ...............................51 Litigation ............................................................53 Communications ..............................................55 Coalition Work .................................................57

SOCM Celebrates 40 ............................................60

Financial Report ...................................................62

Board - Committees - St�aff ..................................64

Our Process for Choosing a New Logo ............66

About SOCMSOCM is a member-run organization that encourages civic involvement and collective action so that the people of Tennessee have a greater voice in determining their future. The mission of SOCM is to empower Tennesseans and their families and friends to protect, defend, and improve the quality of life in their communities across the state. SOCM is working for social, economic, and environmental justice for all. We are committed to the journey of becoming an anti-racist organization. Recognizing our interdependence, SOCM is committed to overcoming social and institutional racism and embracing our diverse cultures.

SOCM envisions a society where people of diverse backgrounds are empowered through community action and leadership development to achieve changes that improve their quality of life. SOCM envisions a Tennessee with clean air and water, decent housing, adequate food, affordable health care, good educational opportunities, a fair tax system and a living wage with good jobs for all people. SOCM members envision a Tennessee where all people are treated fairly and equally across lines of age, race and income. In SOCM, we see a Tennessee where our communities are preserved and protected with a sustainable environment and where corporations and all public officials are held accountable to the people.

At the local level, SOCM is organized in chapters, based in communities, where members decide what local issues they will work on. SOCM issue committees propose to the Board statewide campaigns that address the root of problems they are addressing. Overall, SOCM is governed by a Board of Directors with four officers and three at-large delegates elected by members at the annual Membership Retreat (often called the Annual Meeting), and one representative from each chapter elected by members of that chapter. The Board makes decisions about policies and finances, sets priorities for the organization’s issue and organizational development work, and endorses other organizational commitments.

Letter from SOCM’s President�

In 2008, we began a strategic planning process with the goal of transforming and strengthening SOCM for the future. The special challenge issued for this strategic planning process was to look for ways to transform and reinvigorate SOCM in ways that would promote more statewide growth, make the organization more effective in winning significant change, deliberately include a greater diversity of members and bring in younger individuals and families. So over the past five years, we rolled our sleeves up and began the hard work of putting these plans in motion. The transformation has been challenging but also rewarding. A few of the accomplishments we’ve made thus far include:

We carried out a successful executive transition with the hire of a new executive 1. director to pick up where long-time director Maureen O’Connell, who retired in 2009, left off;We strengthened our communications capacity, hired a communications director, 2. launched a new website, developed a new logo, increased our use of technology in our organizing work, and moved into using social media and other online tools;We deliberately worked to increase our community organizing across lines of race and age;3. We moved our organizing into new urban areas, forming our first urban chapter in Knoxville in 2012;4. We moved our main office from the rural community of Lake City to the City of Knoxville so we could be closer to 5. our sister groups and increase our visibility in the state;We developed new ways of describing SOCM to new members with our new elevator pitch and Theory of Social 6. Change;We developed new materials to help orient new members, such as the updated membership handbook that can be 7. downloaded from our website;We started developing new issue work that will grow and strengthen the organization and we’ve celebrated campaign 8. victories along the way, which you’ll learn about in the pages following.

We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past five years. We were able to carry out this work and begin our transformation, thanks in part to a generous gift from a long-time donor and member. But to continue this work, we must find new supporters to fund us. Shortly after beginning our transformation, the country suffered the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. As a result, we faced replacing half of our budget in a short amount of time. We were, and are, on our way towards growth but now at a more measured pace.

Our continued growth includes growing our membership throughout the state to build strong local and statewide campaigns that make our communities cleaner, safer, and healthier. And as we grow, the diverse organization that we’ve created has varied needs and challenges. Our new, and sometimes younger, membership has new and exciting perspectives and the organization is striving to accommodate and adjust while honoring our traditions and our inclusive grassroots approaches. In 2012, we celebrated our 40th anniversary and as we look back and honor the work that so many dedicated and passionate members put into winning issues and building a strong organization, we also recognize our current state of affairs. There has never been a time when Tennessee needed SOCM more. The affronts and abuses to the common populace have never been greater. The political/governmental agenda as it relates to social and environmental justice is the most regressive in recent history. So we keep our sleeves rolled up and we continue to fight for our communities and our families. And with your help, SOCM can and will continue to be a voice for justice in Tennessee for many years to come.

Noel Johnson, SOCM Board President, 2010-2013

From t�he Mount�ains t�o t�he Mississippi: Our Plan for Transformat�ion

During the first decade of the 2000s, as SOCM formed new chapters in Middle Tennessee around social and economic justice issues, and in the last few years as SOCM’s organizing spread all the way to the Mississippi River to address health impacts of aerial spraying of toxic chemicals, intense discussion began about the need to transform SOCM into an even more powerful, statewide community organization with a name and visual identity that reflected our growth over the past decade.

As a result, the organization began a long-range strategic planning process and also began discussion of a new name. Although dear to many members, Save Our Cumberland Mountains was a name that was geographically specific (being tied to the mountains in East Tennessee) and sounded exclusively environmental. Members and staff working in Middle and West Tennessee were finding SOCM’s name to be an obstacle when recruiting new members. Therefore, the Board voted in fall of 2007 that it was time for a name change.

The Board began solicitation of new name ideas. Member opinion came in overwhelmingly in support of keeping the acronym SOCM with new words representing each letter. After hours of deliberation and debate at meetings of a Board subcommittee and full Board discussion, the Board decided at its May 2008 meeting on the new name for SOCM. The name chosen, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, expresses the

organization’s statewide scope and mission of organizing to empower people in their communities. In October 2008, more than two-thirds of the voting membership voted to ratify the new name at the annual Membership Retreat.

As the new name was finalized, discussion continued around SOCM’s long-range plans. A strategic planning committee of 18 members worked with consultant Alfreda Barringer, long-time staff person for Grassroots Leadership based in Charlotte, North Carolina, to coordinate the process, opening it up to input from the full membership at SOCM’s annual Membership Retreat. Members and staff dedicated numerous hours, and evenings and weekends to the process, working to ensure it was as inclusive and representative of the organization as possible. SOCM’s Anti-Racism Transformation Team began a strategic planning process as well in 2008 in order to be able to support SOCM’s strategic planning process. Details regarding the ART Team’s strategic plan are discussed in the Anti-Racism Transformation section of this report.

In the summer of 2009, the membership finalized SOCM’s strategic planning process and adopted an ambitious plan to transform and reinvigorate this organization in order to make it more effective in winning significant change throughout the state. The Plan contains challenging goals and strategies for growing our members and chapters statewide, developing statewide economic and social justice campaigns (as well as the ongoing environmental justice work SOCM continues to do), recruiting a greater diversity of members, including younger individuals and families, incorporating a more strategic use of technology and many modes of communication to advance SOCM’s work, and other strategies to assess and analyze how SOCM can become an even larger and more effective statewide, grassroots community organization.

The summer of 2009 was also when SOCM’s founding Executive Director Maureen O’Connell scheduled her retirement. Leaders saw this transition as an opportunity to reassess the staff structure of the organization. Additionally, the strategic plan developed new work areas that required additional staff positions be hired. To help with a changing staff structure (and usher in a new executive director) member and consultant Vickie Creed stepped up and worked with staff and members to visualize what these roles would look like and provide support to the interim co-directors and executive director search committee. At the same time, member and consultant Charlie Biggs provided foundation fundraising support.

The Strip Mine Issues Committee responded to the overall transformation goals of the organization by going through a process of restructuring. Historically, the committee dealt with surface and underground coal mining issues in the coalfield counties of Tennessee. Over the past decade, the committee has taken on social, environmental and economic justice issues

Members at a 2008 strategic planning meeting.

From t�he Mount�ains t�o t�he Mississippi: Our Plan for Transformat�ion

in Tennessee related to energy cycle resources. These issues ranged from landfills to rock harvesting, and from water quality issues to coal ash disposal. To reflect the expanding scope of the committee, the members (with input from the full membership) decided to change its name. In 2010, SOCM’s oldest committee, the Strip Mine Issues Committee, became the E3 Committee, focused on issues and impacts related to Energy, Ecology, and Environmental Justice.

To support our plan for growth and transformation, members and staff worked to implement the following enhancement projects:

New Visual Identity: In 2009, a hard working group of members served on a logo committee to come up with a new SOCM logo. After much debate and discussion, the committee brought their top choices to the May 2009 SOCM Board meeting and a new logo was approved. Check out the array of logo options on the last page of this report that members explored in order to reach our new logo we use today. To the right is a snapshot of SOCM’s old and new visual identity. We’re lookin’ good, aren’t we? Expanded Infrastructure: To better support staff and chapters spread throughout the state, SOCM opened an office in the city of Jackson in West Tennessee in 2009 and moved its main office to Knoxville in 2011. Due to financial constraints, the Jackson office was temporarily closed in 2012. To strengthen our infrastructure, we also developed manuals and handbooks to support incoming members and new staff. A new membership handbook was produced, as well as SOCM’s first employee handbook, membership recruitment manual, and staff manual.

Increased Communications Capacity: 2010 focused on building the critical infrastructure needed to support our expansive growth. A communications director was hired and a SOCM Communications Department was born! A new e-newsletter was developed, the SOCM Sentinel got a face-lift (as seen in the examples pictured to the right), our presence on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter expanded, and our presence in newspapers throughout the country significantly increased. We have also increased our use of communications tools during meetings such as using slideshows and digital stories at chapter meetings to help orient new members. Members and staff across the state are also using the Internet to Skype into meetings when travel is not an option, which is much more personal than a phone call. It’s miraculous all that SOCM has achieved during this transformation by using communications and technology to strengthen our organizing and community building.

Accessible Database: With staff and members working all throughout the state, SOCM needed a membership database that could be accessible from anywhere at any time. After much research and discussion, the organization contracted with a new database service, Sustain Fundraising Software, and began the hard work of transferring close to 40 years of data from one system to another. We’re excited about the many ways the new database will strengthen our work.

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Bedford CountySince its inception, the Bedford County Chapter has worked to unite the community regardless of people’s age, color, or culture. In 2008, Bedford County members maintained their commitment to diversity by working with the Bahi’I community to put on a Race Unity Picnic with a live band, traditional dances, singing and cultural sharing. It was a wonderful afternoon full of community building and many opportunities for new relationships to grow and deepen among SOCM’s members and the diverse communities in the county.

Seeing the benefit of the Race Unity Picnic, members began an annual tradition of hosting a “Community Unity Night” and the chapter has continued that tradition for the past five years in Shelbyville, Tenn. - a community seemingly divided over the growing immigrant community that has changed the demographics of the county over the past decade.

• In 2008, over 100 people gathered for a discussion on the golden rule – a basic community value that we should treat others as we would want to be treated found in all major religions in different forms. “It was an awesome night that brought all races together as one,” said Tammy Partin, 2008 Bedford County Chapter Chair and current Board Representative. “This event made our chapter stronger and we feel that we’ve found an appropriate direction for our chapter that fits well with the SOCM mission.”• In 2009, over 50 local residents joined in a community discussion regarding the misunderstanding in Shelbyville of the Somali community, featuring a documentary entitled “Somali Somali” created by Nashville Public Television. • In 2010, the chapter organized a panel discussion with nearly 85 attendees to address recently-passed anti-immigrant legislation (discussed further below). • In 2011, Shelbyville became a target of federal law enforcement raids, forcing many in the community to stay indoors and cancelling Community Unity Night. • The theme of the 2012 Community Unity Night was “One Community, One World.” Attendees were invited to share something of their cultural roots and influences through music, food, art, dress, and dance. Many came dressed in traditional garb and engaged in roundtable discussions of topics such as environmental justice, housing, and racism in the community.

Chapters are the building blocks of SOCM’s democratic structure and grassroots approach. They can be city, county or regionally based. Chapters offer local residents a place to meet, discuss and address concerns. Chapters are effective in bringing about change in their communities because they identify the issue and develop a plan of action to address it. Between 2008 and 2012, SOCM has had active campaigns in the following counties: Bedford, Bledsoe and Rhea, Campbell and Anderson, Cumberland, Franklin, Madison (City of Jackson), Knox (City of Knoxville), Maury, and Putnam, Jackson and Overton.

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Chapters

Members join in song at the Race Unity Picnic.

Organizer Brad Wright leads a discussion on racism at the 2012 Community Unity Night.

The following are additional campaigns the chapter pursued between 2008 and 2012.

Growing Parental Participation in Local ESL ProgramsIn 2009 and 2010, the chapter carried out a campaign to strengthen parental rights and involvement in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. ESL is for pre-kindergarten through grade 12 children whose primary language in the home is one other than English. The chapter worked with El Centro Latino, Local and State Boards of Education, and Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC) to educate parents and the general public on their rights. SOCM held two planning meetings in 2009 with over 50 local residents, including a number of Hispanic families, in attendance. Parents were particularly concerned about the high dropout rates of Bedford County teens. An outcome of these meetings was that the parents decided to form a parental advisory board. The chapter met with the parental advisory board in May 2010 and conducted house visits with

El Centro Latino members. Later in 2010, members and parents met with the superintendent of schools and heads of various programs about the potential for parental participation. The superintendent showed willingness to work with them, however these conversations did not continue. Two things were named as obstacles that stalled these efforts: 1) parental participation goals changed when the Race to the Top funding came to Tennessee because it changed the entire configuration of the programs, and 2) the safety of Tennessee immigrants changed when a law was signed by former Governor Phil Bredesen that requires jailers to verify immigration statuses of every person detained. The new law made it more difficult to involve immigrant parents than before because they were now “laying low.” So the chapter shifted gears.

Fighting for Immigrant Rights in Middle TennesseeIn fall 2010, the chapter organized its annual Community Unity Night with a panel discussion focused on newly-passed anti-immigration legislation. Despite a broad-based community campaign, Governor Bredesen signed Senate Bill 1141/House Bill 670 (Public Chapter 1112) into law, requiring every jailer in the state to verify the immigration status of every person detained. The jailers receive no specialized training, funding, oversight, or access to federal immigration databases. An audience of 70-85 participants engaged with a four-person panel which included Renata Soto, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Conexión Américas, Nashville, Tenn.; Miguel Gonzalez of El Centro Latino, Shelbyville, Tenn.; William Roberts, Jr, JD, former Executive Director of Race Relations Center of East Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.; and Colin Calhoun, Attorney at Sobel, Poss & Moore, PLLC, Nashville, Tenn.

Public Chapter 1112 went into effect on January 1, 2011 and Bedford County residents saw the effects immediately.

The local authorities began to follow a new pattern. First, there is an arrest when an individual is stopped and cannot show proof of citizenship. Then no bail is offered to the person being detained and an immediate ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) hold is placed on that person, giving the local jail the authority to detain the individual for an additional 48 hours without charging that person with a crime. Many believe that this process is evolving into a formula for indefinite detention or deportation. It has certainly led to instances of racial profiling, something that many rural Tennessee communities struggle with already.

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Chapters

Shelbyville students at a planning meeting to improve the local school system.

Panelists discuss Public Chapter 1112 at the 2010 Community Unity Night.

Each month, chapter meetings grew in attendance, averaging between 80 to 100 individuals. The chapter meetings served as space to educate the community on topics such as “Knowing Your Rights” and “What to Do if you are Stopped by Police” and “Holding ICE Accountable.” Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), and local attorney Andrew Free provided support to conduct these presentations.

As a result of the workshops, the chapter developed a rapid response network to quickly communicate local immigrant rights violations, including disseminating information regarding raids, roadblocks, arrests and other situations. SOCM members would go to local jails and demand that individuals be released that had been held longer than the 48-hour legal limit.

Soon, however, the entire immigrant community of Shelbyville felt under siege. ICE raids became frequent at businesses, places of employment and even at residents’ homes. In fall 2011, we were devastated to learn that one of SOCM’s Board members had been detained and threatened with deportation, even though he had been a long-standing member of the Shelbyville community. Chapter members, SOCM staff, state and national allies all worked for his release. However, Board member Antonio Perez was torn away from his family and deported to Mexico. Antonio was a business owner, husband, father and son who had lived in Shelbyville for over 15 years. His family remains in Shelbyville. Below, Antonio and his father are pictured on the front row at SOCM’s Lobby Day, lobbying against anti-immigrant legislation.

Throughout 2011, SOCM members in Bedford County found themselves at the heart of the country’s most difficult issues around immigration, racial profiling, detention and deportation. In a short amount of time, the chapter was faced with questions about the rights of immigrants, reconciling rights for families that are comprised of both legal and non-legal residents, reports of racial profiling, documentation issues, unlawful detentions and the uncovering of unfair housing practices. Chapter members, some of whom are local attorneys, began providing legal advice and support to other members. As we ended 2011, however, the number of Hispanic SOCM members attending chapter meetings drastically declined and the chapter was forced to reevaluate how it would continue to support immigrant rights in Middle Tennessee and spent the bulk of 2012 reconstituting itself.

The Bedford County Chapter is currently continuing the work of redefining itself and expanding its geographical boundaries to connect with other clusters of member activity in the surrounding counties. Chapter members, in their analysis of how to continue to build and maintain a strong chapter, concluded during 2012 that they needed to reach beyond Shelbyville and rural Bedford County to re-construct the base of members they would need to continue organizing for justice in powerful ways. The core group of members in the Bedford Chapter, which also draws from Coffee and Marshall counties, has taken the leadership role in envisioning and building this new multi-county chapter. Members have so far expressed strong interest in issues of fracking, mountaintop removal, landfills, water and air quality, racial justice and immigrant rights, housing, a living wage, and worker rights.

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Chapters

Bedford members engage in a “Know Your Rights” discussion.

Members lobby against anti-immigrant legislation at the State Capitol in 2011.

Bledsoe and Rhea CountiesTwenty-five years ago, Bledsoe Chapter members won a precedent-setting decision from the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) to prevent mining in the Rock Creek Gorge, which is underlain by the toxic Sewanee coal seam, by far the most dangerous coal seam in Tennessee and one of the most toxic in the country. The high level of pyrite in the rock above this seam, when exposed to air and water during mining, forms acid mine drainage that turns water bright orange and renders it unfit for human or animal use. Therefore, the area was given a “Lands Unsuitable for Mining” (LUM) designation in 1987. In 2007, members in the Bledsoe chapter learned that Highlands Land Company had applied for an exploratory permit for surface coal mining in the area. Members maintained that no mining should take place in the area until an effective toxic material handling plan had been

demonstrated. Meeting after meeting, members were told by OSMRE that no such plan had been developed for a mine site in the Sewanee seam. Despite this fact, OSMRE approved the permit. With the urging of SOCM members, OSMRE required that additional drilling holes should be sampled with OSMRE oversight.

At the end of 2008, members wrote a letter to OSMRE asking that any request to renew the permit be denied, highlighting a recent increase in land development activities in the area. However, the permit was renewed. In 2009, the Bledsoe Chapter went inactive and the Rock Creek issue was transferred over to the Strip Mine Issues Committee (now called the E3 Committee). Longtime members Wanda Hodge, David Hardeman, and Landon Medley formed a subcommittee to monitor any drilling in the area.

In summer 2009, Wanda, David, and Landon, along with former SOCM organizers Don Barger and Ann League, met with local OSMRE Director Earl Bandy and Bill Winters, the head of the Technical group of the Knoxville Field office of OSMRE to discuss and gain information about the exploratory drilling in the Rock Creek watershed. These same members also delivered a presentation at the 2011 Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law (APIEL) conference held at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville regarding the history of “Lands Unsuitable for Mining” designations in the state. For more on the Sewanee Coal Seam, see the “Energy, Ecology, and Environmental Justice” section of this report.

While keeping a watchful eye on any exploratory drilling in the area, SOCM learned in 2011 that a mining company, Iron Properties, had applied for two underground mining permits in the Rock Creek watershed on the line between Rhea and Bledsoe counties. Members are concerned about this renewed interest in deep mining in the area and are weary of any attempts to open up mining in the Rock Creek watershed. The Rock Creek LUM designation states that the Rock Creek area is “unsuitable for all surface coal mining operations and surface disturbance incident to underground mines.” If mining were permitted, it would be the first reopening of a “lands unsuitable for mining” designated area in the state.

SOCM staff and members of our E3 Committee attended a meeting with Iron Properties in Dayton, Tenn., in early 2012. The purpose of the meeting was to gain additional details about the mines, determine which seams of coal they plan to mine, and what the impacts on water would be. Following the meeting, the biggest concerns of committee members and area residents were: 1) the high truck traffic that would accompany the mines, 2) the refuse coming out of the mine sites, and 3) how water runoff would be contained from the prep plant and refuse piles.

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Chapters

Members of the Bledsoe Chapter.

Chapters

SOCM members on the E3 Committee, as well as members living in the Bledsoe and Rhea County area, have been organizing community members who live on Ogden Road where there is estimated to be one coal truck every six minutes for the next 20 years. In April 2012, SOCM helped organize a public hearing with over 200 local residents in attendance. The hearing constituted the first public joint hearing of all federal and state agencies in Tennessee that are involved in mining and water quality oversight. This is due to a National Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on June 11, 2009 by the Department of the Interior, Department of the Army, and the Environmental Protection Agency in recognition that the Appalachian Mountains possess unique biological diversity, forests, and freshwater streams. The purpose of this Local Interagency Working Agreement (LIWA) is to improve agency communication and coordination during the coal mine permitting process in Tennessee.

Concurrent with investigating mining activity in the southern coalfields, SOCM members also worked to develop legislation and get it introduced in the 2012 state legislature that would prevent future strip-mining in the toxic Sewanee coal seam. However, the legislation, called the Sewanee Coal Mining Prohibition Bill, did not pass in 2012. During the short 2012 legislative session, debate in the legislature focused on the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, state legislation that would ban mountaintop removal mining on ridgelines above 2,000 feet. Unfortunately, the Scenic Vistas Act was sent to the state’s summer study session and the Sewanee bill never made it out of subcommittee.

Over the course of 2012, SOCM organizers made monthly trips to the Dayton area to provide trainings and leadership development in an effort to strengthen our organizing efforts in the southern coalfields. Meetings have been successful with 32-45 residents in attendance at each meeting. Members began a campaign in 2012 to increase public participation in an air quality permit process for a coal processing plant proposed at the mouth of one of the deep mines. Members requested a public hearing regarding the permit. In addition, members are getting more organized in the area by discussing the formation of a new, expanded, multi-county SOCM chapter so that they are able to stop future mines in the area before the permitting process begins.

The April 2012 Public Hearing brought over 200 local residents to the courthouse in Rhea County and was the first of its kind.

Members and local residents review maps at the public hearing in Dayton, Tenn.

The Sewanee Coal Seam runs from Kentucky to Alabama and is the most toxic coal seam east of the Mississippi River.

Chapters

Campbell/Anderson CountiesSOCM members in Campbell and Anderson Counties have been heavily involved over the last several years in the fight against strip mining and mountaintop removal coal mining, surveying their community about good jobs, and getting prepared for a statewide fight against fracking.

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining at Zeb MountainIn 2008, National Coal Company submitted its application for a five-year permit renewal at Zeb Mountain. Campbell/Anderson Chapter members jumped into action by submitting written comments and requesting a pubic hearing to further question the variety of “ills” that have taken place in the previous five years of mining on Zeb Mountain, a 2,140-acre site which includes taking off three peaks of Zeb Mountain. Over 100 families live along the hollows within one-half mile of the mine and the local elementary school is one-half mile away. Once the permit was granted, SOCM joined ally groups in litigation to stop mining at Zeb Mountain. Members wrote letters to the Department of Transportation on behalf of area residents to address the numerous speeding trucks that filled state highway 297 en route to the mining site. Local members also tested area water quality for toxic levels of selenium. A full update on Zeb litigation is discussed in a later section.

In addition to fighting mountaintop removal at Zeb, members have held meetings with state and federal regulatory agencies in Tennessee and in neighboring states to hold these agencies accountable for better enforcement of laws and regulations. In March 2010, the Campbell/Anderson Chapter hosted a successful meeting and potluck lunch with federal officials at the Clearfork Community Institute in Eagan, Tenn. Chapter members met with Earl Bandy and Bill Winters, representatives from OSMRE and Tom Welborn, an EPA representative. Members were able to have an informative and informal discussion with the federal regulators concerning many topics including water quality and the impact of the mining on their communities. While the chapter has been very involved in the fight against destructive strip mining that is wreaking havoc on our mountain communities, chapter members also realize that there has to be something to fight for in Anderson County and the coalfields of Campbell, Claiborne and Scott counties.

Good Jobs in Campbell/AndersonAt a planning meeting in early 2008, the Campbell/Anderson Chapter explored how the area can best take advantage of local natural assets in order to build a “clean” and economically healthy future for their counties. Members discussed how tourism revenue in the state, which has consistantly been over $13 billion since 2008, far exceeds any economic benefit from coal mining. In fact, reports show that the coal industry actually has a negative impact on the state economy, costing taxpayers $3 million per year.

For more on Zeb Mountain, see the “Litigation” section of this report.

Members meet with Federal OSMRE Director Joe Pizarchik and other OSMRE officials in Campbell County in March 2010.

Chapters

As a result of the planning meeting, chapter members formed the SOCM Clean Futures for Campbell/Anderson Committee. The goal of the committee was to help create a spiritual, social and governmental community that recognizes the need and strives for a local economy resulting in cleaner air and water and a decreased dependence on fossil fuel production and consumption. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage and create new good-paying jobs in tourism, new home and business construction/development and sales, alternative forms of energy, food production and distribution, and strenghten the technology industry, among others. Beginning in 2008, the committee began looking at positive aspects of Campbell and Anderson counties that could be used to help create a new economy that benefits the vast majority of area residents. SOCM members worked with members of the Clearfork Community Institute to discuss how to help bring good green jobs and a sustainable economy to the residents of Tennessee’s coalfields. Members and organizers worked to identify community assets and polled local residents regarding what they thought about “green jobs” and what they thought a “good job” would be for community, friends, and family. The results of the community assets survey put the natural beauty of the mountains and accessibility to parks and trails at the top of the list. SOCM used the poll results to inform its statewide work for green-collar job development. Locally, the Clearfork Community Institute took the lead on efforts to explore a sustainable economy for the region.

New Issues, New ThreatsBig changes are in store for the Campbell/Anderson Chapter. Although SOCM members in Campbell and Anderson Counties have remained active, the chapter itself has fallen mostly inactive and the number of active chapter members has decreased. In response, SOCM organizers have conducted listening tours in the community to hear what residents of the two counties feel are the most important issues impacting them. In 2011, then-staffers Ann League and Fran Day travelled to the area and learned that the top two concerns of local residents are the lack of jobs and the loss of quality after-school activities for kids.

Residents are also concerned about threats of new oil and gas permits being issued. On a trip through Eagan in 2012, on the border of Campbell and Claiborne Counties, Ann and SOCM member Vickie Terry witnessed a stunning sign of one of the newest threats to the Cumberland mountains and plateau – a score of large tanker trucks used for a natural gas extraction method known as “horizontal fracturing” or “fracking” (learn more about fracking in the “Energy, Ecology, and Environmental Justice” section in this report). SOCM members in the area will keep an eye on the fracking that is happening in East Tennessee, in addition to the continuous struggle against unsafe mining practices in the area.

In 2012, to strengthen the impact of SOCM’s work on these issues, SOCM Organizer Parker Laubach was instructed by the Board to explore the feasibility of expanding the chapter and possibly teaming up with other chapters along the Cumberland Plateau. Parker began the work of talking to chapter members throughout the region about what work is being done and what work is needed in the area. Members in the region will continue to discuss how to strengthen their chapter and the important work they are doing.

Former staffer Ann League leads a discussion at the Clearfork Community Institute.

Chapters

Cumberland CountyMembers in Cumberland County have been busy during SOCM’s transformation years, defending their communities from both new and reoccurring threats. Highlights from campaigns are shared below.

Highway 127 NorthIn 2008, the Cumberland County Chapter celebrated a victory that was seven years in the making when the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) made its final decision to widen a 14-mile section of Highway 127 North along its existing route.

The work began in 2001 when TDOT announced at a public hearing its intentions to convert the highway north of Crossville to a four-lane roadway. Two options were presented: Plan “A” abandoned the existing route, dividing forests and farmland, while Plan “B” generally followed the existing path. Plan A was TDOT’s preference. Members in Cumberland County jumped into action to collect hundreds of letters from area residents expressing concerns about the plans. Members engaged in strategy sessions, conference calls, letter-writing, media campaigns, and community outreach. After seven years of dedicated hard work by a committed group of Cumberland County SOCM residents, the chapter was victorious in their efforts. On April 28, 2008, TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely made an announcement that was music to their ears, “The project will move forward, following the alignment of the existing route.”

As the project progressed, members stayed involved to monitor the project’s impact on the community. In 2011, members attended a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) hearing and were surprised to find little documentation of the environmental impacts of the project and no documentation of the cultural impact the project would bring to the area. Citizens complained that it was hard to provide effective feedback when there was very little documentation for the hearing. Members requested another hearing to provide time needed to truly consider the economic and environmental impacts of the project.

There is a deep history of development involved in Crossville’s current structure. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the National Industrial Act as part of his New Deal projects during the Great Depression. One of the projects under this Act involved acquiring 10,000 acres of land for the citizens on the south side of Crossville to build a community of homes; a school; a 50,000 gallon water tank; a firehouse; a cannery; and other community structures to reinvigorate one of the most depressed communities in our country at the time.

SOCM members looked to federal rules for ways to protect their community. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) are laws that must be followed. Section 106

of the NHPA states “A vigilant public helps ensure federal agencies comply fully with Section 106.” In response to requests, the Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) can investigate questionable actions and advise agencies to take corrective action. As a last resort, preservation groups or individuals can litigate in order to enforce Section 106.

TDOT has yet to begin the 127N expansion project. SOCM members have provided critical comments throughout this process regarding the NEPA and NHPA rules and regulations. Members continue to monitor the issue to ensure any activity does not jeopardize the historical integrity of the area.

In addition to all the environmental work the Cumberland County Chapter is involved in, the group also has some strong members interested in local elections. On September 24, 2012, the chapter co-hosted a candidate forum for their state representative and town council elections in Pleasant Hill.

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Crab Orchard LandfillMembers in Cumberland County have fought for years to keep a former county gravel quarry from being turned into a landfill. The fight first began in 1999 when the county was talking about selling the old county quarry to a private company. County engineers did a study in 1999 when the quarry in Crab Orchard was flooded with water and concluded that the quarry was an unsuitable site for a landfill because of the high water table and rock fractures caused by years of blasting. After the study, the site was sold to Pat Stone and Dennis Hinch, who was a member of the County Commission when he purchased the old quarry. Cumberland Chapter members kept a copy of the study and pictures of the flooded quarry site.

Close to a decade later, another company comes along – Surplus Property Company (SPC) – and applies for a permit to operate a construction and demolition landfill at the site of the quarry. SPC became the owner and operator of the limestone quarry and supported the city of Crab Orchard’s adoption of the Jackson Law in May of 2008 in hopes that the city would waive their authority and allow the landfill to be sited. The Jackson Law gives a county or city siting authority over solid waste facilities. When discussions began about the proposed landfill, oddly enough a copy of the county’s 1999 study could not be found but SOCM members had their copy! Without proper notice about a public hearing on the issue, members found out that there was going to be a “public meeting” and made preparations to go there in numbers. Some Crab Orchard residents went door to door helping folks fill out comment sheets and brought over 200 individual petition sheets to the meeting. The public meeting was in fact a “public hearing,” confusing since the engineer for SPC was running it. The Crab Orchard meeting room was standing room only and residents managed to pressure the Mayor and City Council to postpone action until the following year in January of 2009.

By January there was a newly elected city mayor and SOCM members and other Crab Orchard residents showed him the 1999 study on the quarry. When the issue came up for vote, the meeting room was again full and eloquent testimony presented. The

final vote was 2 against the landfill being sited in the city and 1 for the landfill – close but a victory secured!

“The effort was inspiring,” said SOCM Board member and Chapter Chair Jean Cheely. “The community had strategy meetings and broke up assignments. Folks went door to door to talk with people in the community who would be affected. To have gotten 220 written comments opposing the landfill in a town with a population of 800 is amazing!”

In 2011, Crab Orchard residents found themselves preparing for another landfill fight against SPC Investments, LLC. Since the last permit battle, a new alderman was elected and the company felt they had a chance to get approval since only two alderman serve as the city council. Citizens of Crab Orchard began collecting signatures to request that the city mayor and aldermen ask that the permit be denied. SOCM hired geologist Mark Quarles to document how the landfill would threaten water quality in the area and also to help educate the community about how special wastes like coal ash and radioactive materials are, over time, allowed in Class III landfills without public notice or debate. Chapter members pushed the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) for a series of public meetings in order to present our findings and give local residents an opportunity to voice their concerns about the adverse affects the landfill would have on the community and particularly its natural water sources.

On February 22, 2012 the local city council responded to the outpouring of citizen complaints and concerns involving the landfill and voted to stop plans to move forward on the permit. Congratulations to SOCM member Jean Cheely, a Crab Orchard property owner, who was instrumental in the fight to “dump the dump,” and to the numerous other SOCM members throughout the region who dedicated years to this fight.

Cumberland County Chapter member Jackie Turner giving testimony at a public hearing on the Crab Orchard Landfill on January 27, 2012.

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TVA Coal Ash Landfill on Smith MountainEarly in the morning of December 22, 2008, disruption of an earthen containment wall at a coal-fired power plant operated by TVA dumped 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge into the Emory River and neighboring communities in Roane County, Tenn. The shock of how this catastrophic spill might directly impact the land and lives of surrounding communities did not hit Cumberland County residents until May 2009, when word leaked out and was then confirmed that an abandoned mine on Smith Mountain was one of three suggested sites for TVA’s storing of spill waste.

Smith Mountain Solutions LLC (SMS), a company from Charleston, Tenn. owned by the Wright Brothers, came forward with a proposal to “reclaim” the Smith Mountain strip mine by turning it into a landfill for TVA’s coal ash spill. Trying to win support from the County, Smith Mountain Solutions offered a host fee of between $7.5 – 8.5 million to Cumberland County to turn the mine site into a landfill, and promised to bring about 100 jobs, mainly in trucking and heavy equipment work, to the area.

SOCM members and other residents near the active Smith Mountain mine have spent years protesting the water problems coming from the mine. Both a strip mine and an underground mine on Smith Mountain excavated coal from the Sewanee coal seam, the most toxic in the state and one virtually always producing acid mine drainage. The inappropriateness of Smith Mountain as a toxic ash storage site was clear immediately to most residents near the site and in the county.

“Lots of people are concerned about the water problems and health problems of the toxic ash as well as about the safety of cars and school buses meeting over 200 trucks a day, six days a week, trucking ash up narrow, winding, steep Smith Mountain Road,” said Jean Cheely. “During the previous mining of the site, two or three coal trucks overturned on that road.”

Environmentally, it is a terrible idea to put highly toxic coal ash on top of the most toxic coal seam in the state. Economically, this proposed ash dump would affect land values of all the residents of Smith Mountain and Crossville would be known as the “ashtray“ of Tennessee instead of the “Golf Capitol” of Tennessee.

SOCM members, as well as other organizations and individuals in the county, immediately started organizing. The Cumberland Chapter began a petition drive to present to the County Executive and County Commission opposing the proposal. Over 2,000 signatures were quickly gathered with more added by June 2, 2009 when the County scheduled a first hearing. One question under County Commission discussion was whether to adopt the “Jackson Law” for the county. Named after Senator Doug Jackson who sponsored the law in the 1990’s, the law, if adopted by a county, gives the county say in whether to site waste facilities in their area.

At the June 2nd hearing at the Palace Theater in Crossville, most of the evening was given to Smith Mountain Solutions to do an extensive presentation about their plans for the landfill. The company brought an estimated 150 truckers and their families wearing lime green shirts with the words “We support Jobs.” Tom Kilby, father of former state senator Tommy Kilby, owns the trucking company that would be hauling the waste. When someone on the Commission asked how many of the folks present were from Cumberland County, local SOCM members saw only one hand go up among folks in the lime green shirts.

After the extensive presentation by Smith Mountain Solutions, 50 of the more than 350 people present gave testimony. Out of these, 45 spoke against the proposal to make Cumberland County a toxic ash waste site; 5 spoke in favor of the proposal with only 1 of these people from Cumberland County. Despite this opposition, plans for the landfill moved forward.

Cumberland County Chapter member Margie Buxbaum and current Board Representative and Chapter Chair Jean Cheely deliver more than 2,000 petition signatures seeking a County Commission “No” vote on Kingston Coal Ash Landfill on Smith Mountain.

Members did not give up however. Members of the Cumberland Chapter and the Strip-Mine Issues Committee (now called SOCM’s E3 Committee) conducted a site visit on the partially reclaimed Turner mine on Smith Mountain with officials from the Knoxville Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). Members of the group were able to assess for themselves the reclamation progress the mine is currently experiencing.

Following the site visit, members met with TDEC and OSMRE to discuss the Smith Mountain landfill. It was a valuable time for SOCM members to have specific questions answered by various officials regarding permits and other areas of work the chapter is involved in.

On November 5th of that year, at the Stone Memorial High School in Crossville, there was an informal conference on the “post mine land use” permit for the Turner mine. There were almost 400 people attending the informal conference and most of the attendees wore “no ash” stickers provided by SOCM. OSMRE got requests from over 45 people to speak at this conference as well. All but one of the speakers was against the proposed coal ash landfill. The only speaker in favor of the ash landfill was Steven Wright, one of the owners of Smith Mountain Solutions, LLC.

But yet still, the landfill was approved. And Cumberland County residents responded with a loud voice. SOCM members and Cumberland County residents joined together to file a lawsuit challenging the permit at the end of 2009. In addition, the next year, 10 of the 14 commissioners that approved the landfill were voted out of office, thanks in large part to the organizing efforts of SOCM members.

As the chapter continued its fight and lawsuit against the coal ash landfill, members remained active in various actions and events around federal coal ash regulations, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s coal ash regulation hearing on Oct. 27, 2010 in Knoxville (discussed later in this report).

After years of battling it out in court, Cumberland County members received their victory when the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decisions of lower courts to uphold the permit and sent the case back for review. On February 11, 2013, Ronald Thurman, presiding chancellor of the Chancery Court of Cumberland County, signed an agreed order of dismissal, reflecting a mutual agreement made by all parties in the case, that effectively voided the commission’s vote to approve the project.

Thanks in part to SOCM’s organizing efforts, 10 of the 14 County Commissioners that approved the coal ash landfill were voted out of office the following year.

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Franklin County/DecherdAlthough not a chapter, members in the Franklin County area have been active since 2008, working to keep their agricultural community from being rezoned as an industrial area.

Over 100 citizens of Franklin County came together in 2008 to say “No” to a proposal to rezone acreage in the community to “Special Industrial.” This rezoning request, if passed, would have allowed a private landowner to go ahead with a plan to turn land zoned as agricultural into a limestone quarry. With several limestone quarries already in operation in the county, citizens saw this move as one purely motivated by profit and they came together to speak strongly about the need to maintain integrity of their agricultural community.

Citizens packed the Franklin County Courthouse in June of 2008 and spoke out strongly about the effect the quarry would have on the community. They were rewarded for their hard work and unrelenting stance on the quarry. The commissioners overwhelming voted with the citizens, turning down the request to rezone the area.

In 2012, this issue resurfaced. People living along scenic Greenhaw Road, outside of Decherd in Franklin County, found themselves engaged in another fight against the development of a rock quarry on land recently purchased by Tinsley Asphalt Company. The company had already begun construction on the site, confident of the result of an upcoming scheduled referendum to determine whether 181 acres would be annexed by the City of Decherd for the quarry – a referendum in which the only voters were to be the Tinsleys themselves.

“This area offers a plethora of spectacular places to hike, cave, fish, hunt and breathe fresh air in quiet surroundings,” SOCM member Philip Lorenz said. “It also has its share of lower income residents struggling to make ends meet. The last thing Franklin County needs is another quarry, especially when it is being railroaded down people’s throats, leaving the residents of Greenhaw with no way to have a fair say over their part of the community.”

Residents have been fighting the quarry development for several years. In 2010, people from the surrounding area joined Greenhaw Road residents and SOCM members in Middle Tennessee to form the Keep Greenhaw Green Coalition. The coalition has been campaigning to stop the destruction of the landscape and disturbance of the ecosystem of this beautiful area that would surely come with the operation of a quarry there.

In addition to environmental and health concerns, the exclusion of other Decherd citizens from voting on the matter in the referendum is unacceptable at any level of government in a democracy. SOCM believes Tennesseans have the right to determine their own future, and a small, biased minority should not make decisions that affect an entire community.

On May 30, 2012 residents successfully got a restraining order against the referendum. SOCM members, Greenhaw residents, and members of the Cumberland Center for Justice and Peace attended the hearing to show solidarity with the plaintiffs in the suit. Though the restraining order is holding up the process of operating the quarry, in the long run, SOCM members and allies believe that it will be collective and coordinated action by the people that will apply the pressure needed to win. Preparations on the site have slowed but continued. There is excessive clear-cutting still happening on the site even though the case is in the courts. SOCM members will continue to work to preserve the Greenhaw community in Decherd.

Member Joe Partin speaks out against the proposed quarry.

SOCM members and other local residents protest the quarry.

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JacksonThe Jackson Chapter, SOCM’s first chapter in West Tennessee, formed in early 2008 and started things off with a bang! Members began immediately exploring many issues including crime, youth and jobs, homelessness, voter restoration and registration, equality, and city maintenance. To find a focus, chapter members organized the first annual Save Our Community Day to create a space for Jackson and the surrounding community to come together and engage with community members directly affected by these issues. The event was an overwhelming success with over 700 community members attending and the Madison County Deputy Mayor, Tony White, proclaiming the first Saturday of October as “Save Our Community Day.”

“On that first Saturday in October at Muse Park, I saw different races, different religions, and even different people from the local political arenas. We actually came together, had fun, enjoyed entertainment and food together and cited concerns within our community. I believe that this was the first step of many for future resolution of concerns and unity in our community,” stated SOCM member Byanker Cole. The chapter continues to host this event each year in October.

East Jackson RedevelopmentFollowing the success of Save Our Community Day, the chapter did not have time, however, to settle on an issue because an issue found the chapter: city investment in East Jackson. In early 2009, a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was formed after the Jackson General Hospital, Jackson’s largest employer, decided that the surrounding neighborhood was deteriorating and required the City of Jackson to do an initial survey of the entire city. Upon completion the CRA Board decided to revitalize the historic and more affluent area surrounding the hospital, leaving out the predominantly African-American low-income community of East Jackson, which was in need of revitalization after tornados devastated the neighborhood in 2003.

Members of the Jackson Chapter jumped into action. When a public meeting was held to discuss revitalization plans for the neighboring Lambuth community, SOCM member Ruth Jackson, who has lived in the East Jackson area since 1973, posed the question, “What about East Jackson?” Steve Auterman, a city contractor, responded that it was in too rough a shape to begin work there because if things didn’t go right it could be devastating to the community. Auterman assured East Jackson residents that the money “left over” from Lambuth would be used in their area. Ruth Jackson disagreed with that approach because she had heard the city promise things before and not follow through, or suddenly divert money to another project. This answer was not good enough for East Jackson residents either. They wanted more.

Chapter members spent several weeks attempting to reach Councilman Johnny Dodd, the only city councilman serving on the CRA Board, before SOCM and the community finally held their first public meeting with him. Over 100 people attended and spoke about continuing problems in East Jackson after the 2003 tornados including ditches filled with debris, damaged and abandoned houses, and erosion of sidewalks and streets. Residents were also concerned about curbside trash pick-up sometimes taking several weeks.

Jackson members meet in 2008 to form a new chapter.

A local, youth dance troup performs at Save our Community Day in 2011.

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The community convinced Councilman Dodd to put East Jackson on the next agenda of the CRA Board. The CRA approved the East Jackson Plan Proposal and agreed that East Jackson would go through the same process that the more affluent Lambuth community had undergone, allocating $85,000 to study revitalization needs in East Jackson.

“SOCM has been classed as troublemakers but we’re not, we’re trouble shooters,” said Martha White, a SOCM member and lifelong resident of Jackson. “We came together and made something happen and SOCM pulled us together,” said Ozell Taylor. “We shake the right trees to get positive action done; whereas the average citizen sits and says nothing. We take the average citizen and empower them so that we can confront the powers to get positive results,” Howard White, SOCM Board member, added. “The citizens of East Jackson put the pressure on Dodd and now he’s headed toward being a much better councilman,” said Howard White. Councilman Dodd now sends regular updates to his constituents on community improvements in the East Jackson area. In an editorial in The Jackson Sun urging the City to take action to help East Jackson, the headline read, “Want Answers from City Hall? Just SOCM.”

Consultants hired by the City have been working with East Jackson residents to continue expanding and improving the redevelopment plan for East Jackson. Residents are asking for churches, schools, and civic organizations to continue to be part of East Jackson’s future plans and are looking for support to provide tutoring, mentoring and life learning skills development classes. So far, the City has repaved East Chester Street (the main road in that community), widened streets, installed more streetlights (which has improved property values and safety in the community), upgraded mailboxes in some communities, and installed sidewalks. Now, when driving through the community, members see new houses being built and new businesses coming to the area such as a new Family Dollar. In addition, the community has been strengthened by the awareness raised by SOCM’s organizing efforts and the political power the residents gained. Leaders of the effort formed a neighborhood association to continue monitoring development activities.

After securing redevelopment money, SOCM members stayed involved in East Jackson by participating in anti-crime walks, block parties, and other events such as a Neighborhood Networking Day where the chapter learned about gang activity in Jackson and ways to get involved to prevent it. SOCM members are energized to continue encouraging residents to take action on the many issues that impact their community.

West Madison Landfill FightIn the fall of 2011, the work of the Jackson Chapter took a new turn when they joined an effort to fight a landfill proposed for a residential area. Residents on all sides of the landfill depend on well water, which would inevitably be contaminated by the landfill already in operation. West Madison County Concerned Citizens is a grassroots group of neighbors directly affected by the landfill that has been meeting since 2009 around this issue, and many SOCM members have been involved with the group. In June 2013, a Davidson County judge ruled that the landfill did not properly obtain a permit to operate. At the time of this report, the owner of the landfill has not appealed the court’s decision and for now, the landfill is closed.

All ages joined in the effort to get funds for East Jackson.

In 2009, while the City discussed widening sidewalks in other parts of Jackson, East Jackson residents still had boarded up windows from the 2003 tornado damage.

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Choice Neighborhoods Program: Allenton HeightsIn late 2011, the Jackson Chapter began participating in the Choice Neighborhoods planning program after a $167,000 grant was awarded to the Jackson Housing Authority and the Community Redevelopment Agency to improve the neighborhood surrounding a public housing complex, Allenton Heights. The grant requires community participation in the planning process and SOCM was approached to be a stakeholder in the process because of our campaign to get redevelopment funds for East Jackson. More than 41% of the residents in this community are living in poverty and the crime rate is twice that of the city as a whole. This program is ongoing and members are helping develop a transformation plan for the Allenton Heights Redevelopment District.

Voter Registration and EmpowermentIn 2012, Jackson members began working on voter registration and education projects related to a new state law requiring a photo ID when voting and worked with other community groups to launch a city-wide coalition. Jackson members have led voter registration campaigns in the past, but 2012 was the first time a broader coalition was formed. The chapter helped register 100 new voters by tabling at Anti-Crime Block Parties hosted by local radio station 96 Kix. Members worked with a local DJ to do community outreach and build awareness of SOCM, recruit new members, educate people about the new photo ID law, and register voters. Members tabled at local businesses and the Jackson Generals minor league baseball game. Members also worked with city officials and the Jackson Transit Authority to improve access to the Department of Transportation, where people can obtain free IDs for voting purposes. This work was highlighted in CommonCause.org’s publication Got ID? Helping Americans Get Voter Identification.

In addition to the voter empowerment campaign, the chapter also worked with community members and other organizations to explore a local solution to the youth unemployment issue. Chapter members conducted one-on-one conversations with young people in Jackson about what they think could improve their community and high rates of unemployment. The chapter hosted a successful outdoor family movie screening, held a dance at the local Boys and Girls Club and solicited ideas from the youth that came to the chapter’s annual Save Our Community Day. Through this outreach, they identified a number of community resources that are not getting utilized, and are continuing to do research and have one-on-one conversations to find the best approach to reach and empower Jackson’s youth.

MegaBus CampaignAlso in 2012, the chapter launched a campaign to petition Megabus to provide service from Jackson to Memphis. A safe, efficient, and inexpensive way to get to larger cities where many Jackson residents frequent on a regular basis would benefit the whole community and the environment. Members did a wonderful job of collecting hundreds of signatures and talking to local officials about joining the cause. In fact, the mayor of Jackson even agreed to support the efforts. In early 2013, members learned that Megabus was canceling part of its service in Tennessee and they are currently working to develop new strategies in light of this development.

Member John Dixson, who attended every voter registration tabling event, got to throw out the first pitch at a Jackson Generals baseball game.

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KnoxvilleWhen SOCM members developed the five-year strategic plan, they identified moving into urban centers as a key strategy for SOCM’s growth and transformation into an even more powerful and effective statewide organization. One of those urban centers identified was Knoxville.

In 2012, members and staff began the work of building a new chapter. In April, teams of members and staff carried out a doorknocking campaign, educating the community about SOCM and collecting over 100 surveys from Knoxville residents who expressed interest in getting involved. The Knoxville Chapter had its first meeting on May 14, 2012 at a public library in East Knoxville. About 40 people – longtime members, new members, allies, friends, and new faces – attended the meeting, which was part introductions, part training, and part planning. Through introductions, attendees found they all had varied but harmonized interests. Some of the issues raised were the need for community gardens and healthy food supplies for lower-income areas, localized economies, energy efficiency and renewables, fair wage jobs, an improved public education system, and immigrant rights. Organizing Director Kazi Wilkins then gave a short training on how to use grassroots community organizing to move issues forward and the group ended the meeting by brainstorming important people in Knoxville that they should build relationships with. It was a wonderful meeting that provided an opportunity for new members to become informed and engaged, and longtime Knoxville members to get motivated about working on local issues in their community through SOCM.

Over the next several months, members were busy building relationships with people important to their work by conducting one-on-one interviews and participating in community events such as the SEEED (Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development) Music Harvest Festival, co-hosting a Winter Weatherization Workshop with SEEED and the Tennessee Healthy Energy (THE) Campaign, and tabling at local farmers markets. They also went through SOCM’s annual goal-setting process and established a strong chapter structure that includes a chapter chair, Board representative, secretary, communications team, and fundraising team. This strong structure has led to a lot of engagement and ownership among the members, resulting in members planning the agenda and doing turnout phone calls for each meeting.

By the end of 2012, the chapter campaigns really started to form. Organizer Parker Laubach held a campaign training session at the December meeting, which motivated the group to really focus in on a few different issues related to food and sustainability. Knoxville-area members are excited to continue building a local SOCM chapter in their community.

A great group of members helped with doorknocking on April 14, 2012.

An intergenerational group of members and supporters gathered for the Knoxville Chapter meeting on May 14, 2012.

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Maury CountyMaury County SOCM members came together to reactivate their chapter in 2008 by growing their base to at least 30 dues-paying members. In early 2009, chapter member Johnny L. Farris travelled to the Board meeting to represent the chapter and petition the Board, expressing that Maury County members were focused on building membership and getting more people involved locally and statewide. The SOCM Board unanimously voted to reinstate the Maury County Chapter on May 16, 2009.

Fighting the Wheel Tax HikeOne of the first campaigns the reactivated chapter tackled was a proposed increase to the wheel tax from the Maury County Commission. The wheel tax, when approved years ago, was supposedly designated for jail improvements and road-paving projects. However, the revenue was used to balance the budget rather than make any improvements; therefore, many residents felt they shouldn’t have to endure another wheel tax increase. SOCM members in Maury County began circulating petitions asking citizens to stand up and say no to the proposed wheel tax increase. The campaign represented the second time citizens had to unite and fight wheel taxes in the community; 14 years ago citizens stood together and won. “We have to get out and get every signature we can. We cannot let the county balance the budget on Maury County citizens’ back.

It’s just not fair,” said SOCM member Michael Chester. “How can we afford to pay for a tax increase with jobs leaving?” asked longtime SOCM member Roberta Dobbins.

On Monday October 12, 2009, SOCM’s Maury County Chapter held a rally to oppose the proposed wheel tax increase after a local property tax increase was put into place by the county commissioners. The rally was held at the public square where a massive number of community members and leaders held signs, listened to live music, and chanted “NO TO WHEEL TAX” while a large audience watched from the courthouse steps. As a result of the members’ efforts, the county abandoned the proposal to raise the wheel tax and the issue did not come up for a vote.

Green Jobs in Maury County“Maury County’s future job growth will happen in the areas of manufacturing and green jobs.” Those were the words of Columbia Mayor Dean Dickey at the Congressional Educational Committee Hearing, which was held at the Colombia State Community College, April 21, 2011. There were SOCM members in attendance who were pleased to hear of the Mayor’s belief that green jobs will play a major role in Maury County’s future job growth.

The Maury County Chapter has been very actively involved in the SOCM Green-Collar Jobs Initiative and has been striving to help bring more green jobs and training opportunities to their county. As the Spring Hill, Tenn. General Motors (GM) plant dwindled from 7,000-plus employees to less than 500, the chapter worked vigorously to secure a portion of the GM plant as a training center for the community, meeting with plant officials and State Representative Ty Cobb. As a result of their efforts, the training center is now offering solar voltaic classes to laid-off GM employees and family members. The building is still owned by GM. “It’s all about linking the training with the jobs,” said Rev. Danny Gibbs, former GM employee, and former chair of SOCM’s Maury County Chapter. In 2010, the chapter members carried out house visits, appeared on radio shows, and organized a massive mailing from SOCM member Rev. Gibbs’s house to invite farmers to an informational meeting on February 20, 2010 at the Maury County Senior Citizen Home to learn more about growing rubber. Members felt a rubber plant could provide a green-

Members hold a rally to oppose the wheel tax hike in downtown Columbia in October 2009.

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jobs solution for the county, helping jump-start a new economy that could replace a once-booming local tobacco industry. The rubber plant could be used to manufacture hypoallergenic rubber gloves for the medical industry, rubber parts for wind turbines, tires and other products. Further research and engagement with county farmers following the meeting, however, revealed that the rubber plant idea was not a viable option to pursue.

Maury County members continued to search for green-collar job solutions for their community by attending SOCM’s first Green Collar Jobs Tour in 2010 where they worked to establish relationships with county education leaders to secure commitments around green jobs training opportunities for high school students in the community. The following year, chapter members also attended a solar workshop in lead certification by Lightwave Solar, which discussed the basics of solar energy and incentives and reasons why Tennesseans are installing solar on their homes and businesses. In 2012, Maury County members

took a lead role in SOCM’s green-collar jobs initiatives by helping to conduct interviews with contractors who participate in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Quality Contractor Network in order to learn how local contractors can expand their business and create jobs in the community by weatherizing homes and gaining exposure and new customers through TVA’s program (further discussion in the “Green Collar Jobs” section of this report).

Flood Relief for Middle TennesseeIn early May 2010, a historical flood pushed river and creek water out of banks and across Tennessee land and neighboring states, leaving thirty people dead in Tennessee. Among the damage, Highway 7 in Maury County was left with a 40-foot deep hole. The Santa Fe diner located in Maury County was also ruined. The flood left many in the county without their homes, clothes and vehicles. In response, the Maury County Chapter began collecting donations for those affected by the flooding and also began hosting free food and clothes give-away events during the 3rd Saturday of each month, turning out more than 35 people per month.

The chapter joined with The American Red Cross, Mount Williamson Primitive Baptist Church and Maury County Harvest Share food pantry to invite their fellow community members to “Give a Little, Help a Lot” at a free concert to benefit affected residents. The event was held at the United Auto Workers/UAW union hall and collected donations of all kinds and offered entertainment by area singers Tracy Harlan and Wayne Hayes. The concert brought in $150 and the chapter brought bags of donated canned goods to Maury County Harvest Share food pantry, all benefitting flood victims. As a result of the event, the chapter was invited to participate in a monthly Spring Hill Community Day event hosted by the city. Johnny and Cassandra Farris, along with Roberta

Dobbins at the “Give a Little, Help a Lot” concert to benefit flood victims.

In 2012, the Maury Couny Chapter held a Community Unity Day based on Jackson’s Save Our Community Day. Jackson Chapter members helped Maury County members think through the planning process involved to make the event successful. Here, Anti-Racism Transformation Team member Franz Raetzer talks to students about the Wall of Oppresion, a tool used by the ART Team to show the history of racial oppression and resistance in America.

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Improved Educational Opportunities for Maury CountyMembers in Maury County have worked to find ways to improve educational opportunities in their community. They see their focus on early education as connected to the potential for area youth to access jobs, including new opportunities like green-collar jobs. Instead of a cradle-to-prison pipeline, they want to improve the school-to career readiness path. “It takes a whole community to raise kids,” said Johnny L. Farris. “If they aren’t performing at the level they need to be, it’s all our fault and all our responsibility to create the solution.” Members believe that it is not only important to introduce a new literacy curriculum but it is also necessary to work to create learning atmospheres throughout Maury County that will ensure educational excellence for all students. Maury County members also have been discussing how to connect the local Career Center with the public school system to create tutoring for standardized testing, such as the ACT and SAT. “First of all, you have to get over your shame in not being able to read, and that’s where I can come in, telling my story,” said Johnny about his past struggles with reading. The chapter’s work on this issue has been put on hold as the chapter worked to respond to immediate challenges facing the community, which are discussed below.

Community Forum on Metro Charter Proposal in Maury CountyThe Maury County Chapter organized a community forum on February 28, 2012 to get answers to community members’ many questions about a pending vote on a proposed Metro charter in Maury County. Despite a lively debate that was broadcasted by the local media, and the campaigns waged by groups in opposition and support of the Metro charter, SOCM members noticed that a significant portion of the community was unaware of the vote and its implications. This prompted SOCM to hold this community forum. The forum was held at the Ledbetter Auditorium on the campus of Columbia State Community College. The non-partisan event was intended to inform Maury County residents about the proposed move to a Metro system and to encourage their participation in the referendum vote to be held on March 6th. Local elected officials on both sides of the issue engaged in a panel discussion, moderated by Nashville Public Radio correspondent Joe White. Questions were submitted by SOCM members and local residents, and the result was a reasoned and informative discussion of the issue.

Michael Chester, a resident of Columbia and former chairperson of SOCM’s Maury County Chapter, said the forum was needed “to educate the people of Maury County that, potentially come March 6th, the most important change in the history of our county will be taking place. And that everyone, regardless of party affiliation, needs to come to the polls and allow their collective voice to decide what is best for the community at-large.” In 2012, voters in Maury County voted not to adopt a metropolitan government structure. 84% of those in the county and 67% of those in Columbia voted against the proposal.

High Rates and Poor Water Quality in Mt. Pleasant In 2012, SOCM members in the Maury County Chapter began organizing around environmental and economic justice issues affecting residents in the town of Mt. Pleasant. While investigating an aluminum dump and smelter in Mt. Pleasant, issues of water quality and excessive monthly charges came to the surface, prompting a new organizing campaign for the chapter. Members held chapter meetings in Mt. Pleasant on May 12th and June 2nd to listen to the concerns of residents there and to chart the way forward.

Members and other residents of Mt. Pleasant have been unable to afford the inordinately high monthly sewer rates ($55 per month base), and were told in May 2012 that both water and sewer rates would increase 8% more. SOCM members across the state answered a call for assistance in summer 2012 by sending in their water bills for comparison to see just how unusual such a high rate was. Through

Maury County Chapter members are always doing outreach and base building in the community. Here, Michael Chester and Francis Scribner table at Maury County’s annual Mule Day celebration in March 2012.

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Members Frances Scribner and Carla Sowell “congratulate” Gloria Whitaker for having the highest water bill at a community cookout on July 14, 2012. Gloria won a water purification system for her $190 monthly water bill.

this exercise, we discovered Mt. Pleasant’s bills were two to three times higher than most elsewhere in Tennessee. The graphic below shows the difference in rates between bills from Mt. Pleasant and Knoxville. Notice also the difference in the way the rates and amounts are presented.

To add insult to injury, residents feel the water in Mt. Pleasant is not safe to drink, and some residents do not even use it to bathe in. During our research and meetings with residents and public officials that have taken place since February 2012, it came to light that two large aluminum-processing companies in Mt. Pleasant have been polluting the water and air with the toxic discharge from their operations. Those two companies also jointly operate two salt-cake dumps locally that are of grave concern. Hoover Mason Recycling, the newest of the landfills located in the city limits, sparked a controversy in the fall of 2011, as the mayor ousted planning commissioners who were opposed to the landfill and installed new ones that approved of the project. That landfill is also adjacent to the public housing projects, where more than one hundred families reside.

For the second half of 2012 and continuing through 2013, Maury County members have been working to activate local residents and allies across the state to apply pressure on city and state officials about the threats to the environment and the health of local people posed by the landfills and the city’s poor water quality. Members have been doing research on the path Mt. Pleasant’s water travels before it reaches residents, the history of water pollution in the area and how the City’s aging infrastructure has contributed to the problem, how residents’ health has been affected, and how paying outrageously high water bills and purchasing drinking water is harming their wallets.

At the same time, members have been meeting with city and state officials. Some meetings with officials were productive and members were able to learn of new strategies to pursue such as submitting a draft resolution to the city of Mt. Pleasant requesting that funds from other departments be shifted over to the wastewater department, which was suggested by Commissioner Bob Shackleford who has become an ally on the issue. Unfortunately, however, in many of these meetings our members were met with hostility - both when seeking a solution to the high rates and when discussing water quality.

Members continued to make great strides in 2013, including getting significant media attention and having new residents join the fight, but they feel that the City and the State have inadequately responded to real health threats in the community and they want answers. They are committed to pursuing this campaign into 2014, with the goal of winning reduction a in sewer rates and the City of Mt. Pleasant either demonstrating that drinking water is safe or providing an alternative option.

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Roaring River (Jackson, Overt�on, Put�nam Count�ies)The Roaring River Chapter pulls members from Jackson, Putnam and Overton counties. Chapter members have worked on a variety of issues during SOCM’s transformation years, many of which deal with water quality. They often invite guest speakers to their meetings to inform members on local issues and they throw a great party!

Permit to Bury Cookeville Stream ContestedIn 2009, the Roaring River Chapter filed an appeal to the Water Quality Control Board contesting a permit to bury (culvert) a stream on the edge of Cookeville.

SOCM members may be familiar with the drill: one day there is a free flowing creek with frogs and critters, the next day the banks have been stripped of trees and bushes, and within a few days the whole creek is channeled into a culvert pipe and the culvert is buried. This happens more than 100 times a year with the permission of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), which gives “Aquatic Resources Alteration Permits” or ARAPs. If the culvert is to be more than 200-feet long, the only public notice required is a little sign in the weeds, often hidden from sight. However, members of the Roaring River Chapter pulled their resources together to put an end to this unfair practice in their town.

The Roaring River Chapter appealed the permit to bury 276 feet of an “unnamed tributary” to Little Creek in the Blackburn Fork watershed. The chapter, local Cookeville residents, and the Sierra Club also challenged TDEC’s failure to effectively penalize the developer for the siltation of the stream before it was buried. A volunteer lawyer assisted the chapter in this effort.

Tennessee law requires TDEC protect the waters of the state, which are held in trust for U.S. residents. TDEC permits like this help developers make profits but fail to protect natural waters and streamside tree belts in communities.

Unfortunately, TDEC’s then-Water Pollution Control staff failed to communicate and coordinate. A permit writer issued an ARAP which the developer used immediately to bury the stream. A few days later an enforcement staffer ordered the restoration of another stream that had been destroyed during grading. An appeal to the Water Quality Control Board resulted in a settlement which required a change in TDEC procedures so that a site under enforcement review could not be issued a permit until the situation was clarified between the permit and enforcement chiefs. The developer agreed to control stormwater by installing rain gardens.

Later, the developer was sued by several residents who recovered substantial damages for mold and mildew problems because the developer had buried a spring which rose under several houses. The development was a financial failure, in part because of the buried creek which, as a tree-lined, free flowing stream, would have provided an amenity and increased the value of the homes.

Jackson/Overton CAFOIn 2011, a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) was proposed in the Jackson/Overton County area. The Roaring River Chapter hosted a meeting to discuss the issue on February 24, 2011. CAFOs (also called factory farms) create a crowded living condition for livestock, requiring antibiotics and pesticides to mitigate the spread of disease and pestilence. Chapter members expressed concern that the factory farm would negatively impact property values, the local economy, and would threaten a nearby organic farm.

Longtime Roaring River Chapter members Leith Patton (left) and Nova Land (right) update the membership about the chapter’s activities at the 2010 Annual Meeting.

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The “Barefoot Farmer,” Jeff Popins organized his community to resist any additional chicken CAFOs and the CAFO owner reduced the size of his operation below the size required to have a state permit which preventer any legal appeal. TTU Campus Workers CampaignIn January 2012, custodians at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville were notified that the university had outsourced their jobs to contractor SSC Service Solutions, a subsidiary of the $9.9 billion food and support services multinational corporation Compass Group North America, based in the United Kingdom. Members of the Roaring River Chapter became interested in the campaign, led by United Campus Workers, and worked to lend their support by attending rallies and writing letters of support to the administration. Members also tabled at events on campus, creating an opportunity to discuss with students and staff the issues that SOCM had been working on. The event provided ample time to connect with young, energetic college students, and learn about their concerns for Cookeville and the surrounding area.

Despite heavy opposition, the administration voted to move forward with outsourcing custodial jobs at the university, a tough defeat for the members involved and for Tennessee Tech employees and students.

Pigeon Roost Creek/Cookeville Waste Water Treatment PlantIn September 2012, the Roaring River Chapter hosted SOCM member and Tennessee Clean Water Network attorney Stephanie Matheny for a discussion on Pigeon Roost Creek. Protecting Pigeon Roost Creek has been on the chapter’s mind for years because it carries away most of the stormwater from the city, including the storm flow collected by a series of caves beneath the city. The creek then is used to dump the treated effluent from the city’s Waste Water Treatment Plant. At low creek flow times the creek is more than 90% treated sewage. A heavy rainfall can bring this sewage flow into the yards and near the homes of those who live below the sewer plant. The TDEC permit allowing this has been frozen for more than 20 years by legal appeals which have never been brought to trial before the Water Quality Board. At the meeting, members learned how serious the situation is from the Tennessee Clean Water Network and voted to support an appeal of the permit that allows the City to pollute Pigeon Roost Creek. This appeal is pending.

Educational Opportunities for Chapter MembersThe Roaring River Chapter has a tradition of providing educational opportunities for their members. Each year, members invite guest speakers to chapter meetings to educate members on issues impacting their communities. It is important to chapter members to have several different opportunities to get involved.

Chapter members hosted a screening of “The Story of Stuff,” a cartoon movie that takes a look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns and hosted guest speaker Dr. Ferdinand DiFurio of the Department of Economics, Finance and Marketing at Tennessee Tech University. Dr. DiFurio provided members with a non-technical description of the factors that affect the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere and what changes in the State’s policies might reduce Tennessee’s emissions. Members co-hosted a screening of the documentary “Coal Country - Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining” at a local church and invited guest speaker Mary Jennings, Field Supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Cookeville, to discuss how her agency partners with other federal agencies to protect endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The group twice hosted Tracey Meggs, Cookeville’s Stormwater Engineer, who presented the City’s efforts to enforce stormwater regulations, specifically how to properly dispose of the discharge of mud from building sites as required by city regulations. And chapter members participated in a Rain Barrel festival to learn how to build their own rain barrel and how to build and plant their own rain garden. Roaring River Chapter members continually do a good job of keeping themselves informed and as a result have served as an important support to other SOCM chapters fighting similar battles, as well as ready to fight any new challenges they see in their community.

SOCM members attended a rally organized by United Campus Workers in Nashville on March 7, 2012. The Roaring River Chapter worked with the local UCW at Tennessee Tech University to try and keep the university from outsourcing custodial jobs.

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Roaring River Members Provide Support to Sister GroupsChapter members have also been active on a wide-array of statewide issues that they purse with SOCM’s sister organizations. The chapter has actively worked on national health care reform with the Tennessee Health Care Campaign (THCC), joining in demonstrations, call-ins, letters-to-the-editor, and public presentations. Several chapter members are actively engaged in assisting with enrollment in health insurance through the Marketplace.

The chapter’s work on tax reform has heated up as budget cuts reduce education and family services while the disproportionally heavy tax burden on low-income Tennesseans from the sales tax on food cannot be ended because we lack a progressive income tax. Tennesseans for Fair Taxation (TFT) has kept the chapter informed of opportunities to make the tax system less regressive and more

adequate to provide key services. Currently, SOCM is supporting TFT and other efforts to defeat a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would forever forbid an income tax and lock in our (highest in the nation) sales tax and our tax on groceries.

Roaring River Chapter members have been quite active in the Tennessee Health Energy Campaign (THE). This joint effort with the Sierra Club, the Tennessee Alliance for Progress, and the Tennessee Environmental Council is focused on maximum participation in the improved TVA home energy audit program and advocates for TVA to adopt a 1%+ year over year annual target for energy efficiency savings. Members use THE Campaign to show how individuals can save energy and money so TVA can stop plans for nuclear plants and can retire more coal plants! They’ve also been heavily involved in the action to oppose TVA’s investment of $1.1 billion to upgrade the Gallatin fossil plant. And chapter members were quite vocal during the development of TVA’s 2010 Integrated Resource Plan, voicing their desire for stronger energy efficiency measures and renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar, and calling for less coal and nuclear.

The chapter has networked with the Sierra Club, the Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF), the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), the Solar Valley Coalition, the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC), Tennessee Conservation Voters (TCV), the Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN), and the League of Women Voters of Tennessee (LWVTN) to provide a steady stream of advocacy opportunities for members and friends.

Fundraising EffortsEach December, the Roaring River Chapter hosts a wine tasting FUN-raiser to celebrate the good work members have done over the last year, invite friends and family to learn about SOCM, and raise money for SOCM. It’s always a well-attended event that locals (and staff) look forward to every year.

In May 2012, chapter members hosted The Hector Black Musicale, a house party featuring a piano recital by SOCM member Hector Black. Chapter Chair Brian Paddock and Mary Mastin hosted the event held at the house of Reverend and Mrs. Pat Handlson of the First Presbyterian Church. After the success of the first Musicale, members hosted another in June 2013 in the award-winning gardens of Al and Rosemary Ponte. A local ensemble of musicians led by violist Dicksie Schmitt entertained about 50 people who came to enjoy the music and company, and learn about SOCM’s work in the area.

Through these fun events, Roaring River Chapter members do a great job of recruiting new members and bringing SOCM to their neighbors.

Chapter Chair Brian Paddock serves wine at the chapter’s annual Wine Tastin FUN-Raiser in 2011.

On May 19, 2012, the chapter hosted “The Hector Black Musicale,” a fundraiser for both SOCM and Tennesseans for Fair Taxation.

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Aerial SprayingFrom 2000 to 2009, people directly affected by chemical spraying in Middle and West Tennessee worked as SOCM members to bring justice to the practice. Tennessee had no laws on the books to protect people from this practice. Throughout the years, SOCM received hundreds of calls from people living near areas being sprayed. SOCM members and neighbors experienced mild to very serious health problems from the spraying.

SOCM members worked to pass emergency rules that would require aerial sprayers to submit notification to the local Sheriff’s office before spraying – the first time for this kind of notification in Tennessee. It proved much harder to get buffer zones and public notification of chemical spraying because the Farm Bureau and chemical industry fought any kind of new law and regulations. One likely reason for this opposition being that any new law would admit that aerial spraying of chemicals can be harmful to residents nearby.

In 2009, the Aerial Spraying Committee did not see as much activity in complaints about aerial spraying, as spraying through the boll weevil eradication program dropped off. Aerial spraying of chemicals also decreased in West Tennessee as farmers moved away from cotton – a crop that has one of the highest rates of chemical use due to pests and harvesting practices. Therefore, in 2009, the SOCM Board decided to sunset the committee, with the potential of members refocusing the direction of this committee’s work through SOCM’s Green-Collar Jobs Initiative.

“The aerial spraying committee did some good work; and now, with the changing times it is not needed as it once was. We thank all the members who worked on the legislation and in their local communities on these issues.”

Sharon Criswell, Aerial Spraying Committee Chair

SOCM members and neighbors in Middle and West Tennessee were experiencing health problems due to the vast amounts of aerial spraying going on. This led to the formation of the Aerial Spraying Committee.

SOCM carries out statewide campaigns on various issues through issue committees established by the Board. The Board establishes issue committees to address the roots of problems that affect many members and which call for organization-wide strategies and participation. Issue committees are not just for “experts” or technical people who already know a lot about the issue. As SOCM member David Hardeman once wrote, “You don’t need to be an expert to be involved; you just need to be interested in the issue and be willing to do some work and learn some new things!”

Over the years some issue committees have come and gone as issues were resolved or energy waned. SOCM issue committees make recommendations to the Board when taking on major campaigns. They develop and carry out strategy on these Board-approved campaigns. Between 2008 and 2012, SOCM members engaged in the following campaigns.

Member Mikel Crews shows the medicine he must take after exposure to chemicals from aerial spraying.

Sharon and Mark Criswell on their farm. Sharon served as the Aerial Spraying Committee Chair.

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Anti-Racism and Racial JusticeAs an organization, SOCM has long been engaged in the practice of critical self-evaluation and honest reflection about how the organization is developing. Throughout the years, SOCM has invited speakers, trainers and consultants to our gatherings to challenge the organization, not just compliment us. At Leadership Appreciation Dinners in 1988 and 1990, SOCM was challenged to fight any temptation to stay comfortable. And decades later, members continue to embrace that challenge wholeheartedly! The goal from that moment forward was to grow larger and wider so that we could have the power to affect lasting change throughout the state. In order to grow our power, members knew that we had to cross barriers that divide us, like race, and begin to understand the plight of a diverse group of people throughout the state also fighting for the right to be treated with dignity.

As part of that commitment, SOCM formed the Anti-Racism Transformation Team (ARTT) in 2005 and for the past several years has been engaged in internal anti-racism trainings for members and staff of the organization. In addition to these trainings, the Team plays a role in reviewing internal policies and procedures to ensure SOCM is following through with its mission. ARTT members have also presented workshops at conferences and worked with community groups to respond to instances of racism that have occurred.

The foundation laid in the early years also led to the recruitment of a more racially and demographically diverse membership, the adoption of new issue work, and the establishment of new chapters throughout the state.

SOCM’s ART Team was formed in 2005 by a Board mandate to move the organization closer to its mission of becoming an anti-racist organization. The organization invited trainers from the non-profit, Crossroads Anti-Racism Organizing and Training, to Tennessee to conduct two strategic planning trainings in November 2008 and January 2009. Eleven team members participated in the five-day trainings. The trainings initiated a process where the team would identify groups within SOCM to work with on anti-oppression institutional values. To work with these stakeholders, the team developed a training module that provides a brief introduction to the analysis of racism and the anti-racist task of an institutional transformation team.

In early 2010, the ART Team finalized their strategic plan, which includes an analysis of the organization, a vision, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) confronting the team, as well as stakeholders the team will work with and strategies the team will implement when building relationships with these essential groups in SOCM. Since 2010, the Team has done an initial training as well as follow-up trainings for Board members, the SOCM staff, the Jackson Chapter, the Maury County Chapter, the Cumberland Chapter, and paid a visit to the Bedford Chapter. The Team has also provided the organization with support in thinking through new ways to engage their communities in dialogues about race such as hosting an anti-racism community event. The Team suggests members consider hosting an international food festival, a multi-cultural dinner-and-a-movie night, partner with a local group working on issues of race to host a social event, or find time to work with a SOCM chapter from a different county that has a different diversity than your own. Since making these recommendations, SOCM has witnessed multiple chapters wanting to incorporate these ideas into their work!

In January 2011, SOCM’s Anti-Racism Transformation Team conducted its first workshop outside of SOCM at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group

SOCM invited trainers from Crossroads to Tennessee in 2009.

Consultant Alfreda Barringer at an ARTT strategy meeting.

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Conference, held in Chattanooga. The session was titled: Strengthening Our Work & Your Organization through Diversity. ART Team members Ruth Jackson, Cathie Bird, Todd Shelton, Martha and Howard White, and Franz Raetzer led the training. Members Fred Jones and Sammie Jackson were also in attendance. Members led conference attendees through an active discussion of how to make diversity a priority for an organization and facilitated a discussion of obstacles that may arise. The discussion was well received by conference attendees.

In March 2012, the ART Team met with representatives from the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville to resolve a three-year boycott based on a racist incident that took place there. When the boycott began, SOCM failed to notify Scarritt-Bennett of the incident so there was no plan to resolve it. ART Team member Todd Shelton invited Scarritt-Bennett staff to a meeting to resolve the boycott and develop a strong relationship with another organization committed to anti-racism. Scarritt-Bennett staff members were shocked and appalled that SOCM members experienced racial prejudice at the Center and they were glad that we reached out to them. As Boo Tyson, a member of the Scarritt-Bennett team, said, “Anti-racism is like holding jell-o; just when you think you have a good grip on it, the shape changes and it slips through your fingers.” From the experience, the ART Team resolved to address any racist incidents that members experience at SOCM events,

and invite members to report incidents as soon as they’re comfortable doing so. SOCM and the Scarritt-Bennett Center now have a strong relationship and remain allies in our joint commitment to building anti-racist organizations.

ART Team’s Efforts Set Stage for SOCM Social Justice CommitteeIn 2012, SOCM members in Middle Tennessee, particularly in Bedford and Maury Counties, identified issues of racial prejudice and injustice as big concerns in their communities. Members have noticed that how people of color are represented in the local media is among the many factors that lead to racism and racial tension in their community. In 2011, members witnessed their elected officials monitoring discussion boards of online newspapers to gauge support of many anti-immigrant pieces of legislation being introduced into the state legislature. Therefore, staff and members began to develop a project to address these issues in the media. One widely-distributed publication in Rutherford and Bedford counties – The Rutherford Reader – is particularly disturbing and extreme for its misinformation about and stereotyping of various minority groups – especially local Muslims and other immigrants. And the intolerance, racism, and xenophobia in its pages seem to say a lot about the deep and dangerous tension in Murfreesboro that bubbled over into intimidation and harassment directed at local Muslims and their friends, as the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM) built its new mosque. Existing members and new members in Rutherford have come together to support local people already working on these issues. SOCM’s Race in the Media project is ongoing and members are committed to working with local and state news agencies to achieve results that lead to racially-appropriate reporting in Tennessee.

(l-r) ART members Todd Shelton, Cathie Bird, and Howard White lead a training for the Jackson Chapter in 2011.

The Anti-Racism Transformation Team’s Vision Statement“SOCM is a diverse anti-racist organization composed of people (of all ages, races, ethnic groups, and religions) working together, in total trust, openly and freely, with shared multi-racial leadership. This multi-racial power will be used to create an organization, (and a state) where everyone has a voice, is

united, and feels safe to be a full participant. SOCM will continue to educate our members and the public to pave the way, so that future generations will not experience the oppression, fear, and exploitation of the past so that the institution will rise from the dark and desolate valley of inequality to the sunlit path of racial justice. SOCM’s ART Team will participate in decisions that shape the institution and inclusion of diverse cultures, lifestyles, and interests. In our vision, there is a road to success that is not straight. There’s a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, a speed bump called friends, caution light called

family, and flats called jobs. But, if you have a vision called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, you will make it to a place called success.”

Coal Ash is Toxic WasteFor many residents of Roane County especially those living along Swan Pond Road and downstream of the Emory River the shock started on December 22, 2008 when a massive spill of toxic coal combustion waste broke loose from an impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston coal steam plant, spreading more than 5 million cubic yards of ash and sludge onto 300 acres of nearby land, almost blocking the Emory River, damaging or destroying 42 homes, and causing a massive fish kill and ongoing contamination concerns. Coal combustion waste, the residue of coal after it’s been burned, contains toxic heavy metals including mercury, selenium, lead, and cadmium among others.

The Kingston spill pushed the once-obscure issue of coal ash disposal into the national spotlight. In the immediate wake of the disaster, there were widespread calls for better oversight of coal ash, the nation’s second-largest waste stream after household trash yet exempt from federal regulation. In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed rules requiring safer handling of the waste, announcing the two disposal options in a 500-page report, and set a ninety-day public comment period that would provide activists and residents the opportunity to cite evidence that coal ash is a hazardous waste. Coal ash contains dangerous pollutants, and threatens public health if stored in unlined landfills and ponds, a practice allowed today.

“Environmental justice activists have for years wanted coal ash to be considered a hazardous waste in order to better control and minimize negative effects to public health and land. We are relieved to see the EPA moving forward on this important topic,” said Cathie Bird, former E3 Committee Chair. “There is substantial information released in EPA’s report, but for clarity’s sake, it can really be summed up as a classification issue. We have two routes; one protects the U.S. and the other does so minimally, and possibly not at all.”

“We will be urging our members to let the EPA know that we want coal ash regulated as a hazardous waste. We have ninety days, and we will be moving quickly, be rest-assured,” said Cathie Bird.

While seven hearings were scheduled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider a classification for coal ash, those in Kingston, Tenn. directly affected by the 2008 TVA coal ash spill, were ignored. A coalition of environmental justice organizations – forming the Citizens’ Coal Ash Hearing Committee – hosted a people’s hearing to help ensure that the

people of Kingston and the surrounding areas, who had been affected by toxic coal ash, had the opportunity to take part in the rulemaking process.

The people’s hearing took place on September 2, 2010 in the Student Lounge of the Roane State Community College. The hearing provided time to collect testimony and comments for the EPA regarding the ongoing coal combustion residuals rulemaking process.

“Unfortunately, not one of the scheduled hearings was within a reasonable distance of Kingston, Tenn., where the largest coal ash disaster in our nation’s history occurred in December 2008,” said Cathie Bird. “Moreover, this Kingston disaster was the impetus for the current rulemaking process.”

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Taken seven months after the December 2008 coal ash spill in Kingston, the damage is still plainly visible. Though we are still awaiting adequate regulations for coal ash, in 2012, a federal judge found TVA liable for the 2008 spill, thus requiring TVA to pay damages.

It was a full house at the people’s hearing at Roane State Community College on September 2, 2010.

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For Tennessee residents, the closest hearing scheduled by the EPA was in Louisville, Ky., roughly a four-hour drive from Kingston, Tenn.

After the “People’s Hearing” on September 2nd, and after strong urging from Senator Lamar Alexander, the EPA announced they would hold a public hearing on coal ash regulations in our state.

On Wednesday, October 27th, the EPA held the last in a series of public hearings on new proposed coal ash waste regulations in Knoxville. SOCM members and residents from across the state and Appalachian region testified about the harmful effects of coal ash on public health and communities. Concerned residents, activists, health and disaster experts, faith leaders and students testified throughout the day asking the EPA to regulate coal ash – under subtitle C - as a hazardous waste.

Campbell/Anderson Chapter members made an impressive turnout for the official EPA public hearing for coal ash regulation on October 27th. The region is wracked with surface coalmines and SOCM member Vickie Terry, a resident of Campbell County, has been an active leader in the efforts to fight destructive surface mining and bring environmental justice to the region.

SOCM and allies held a press conference and a film screening of “Perry County” during the day, followed by a rally outside the Marriott, where the hearing was held. The rally theme was “Coal Ash Is Scary” and we asked residents to call on the EPA to adopt strong federal regulations for coal ash waste.

SOCM was proud to partner with a variety of social and environmental justice nonprofits, including Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Tennessee Clean Water Network, United Mountain Defense, Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light, Sierra Club, Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville, and many more. The combined efforts of these passionate organizations have been hugely influential during the process to regulate coal ash.

Since 2010, the EPA has delayed issuing a final rule after coming under intense political pressure from electric utilities, coal mining interests, and the coal ash recycling industry, which fears that treating coal ash like hazardous waste would stigmatize its products.

In the meantime, coal ash has continued to pile up at power plants across the nation. Between 2009 and 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, over 71 million tons of coal ash waste have been dumped in impoundments like the one that failed at TVA, and another 147 million tons have been disposed of in landfills, according to a recent Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) analysis of EPA data.

Today that final rule is still in regulatory limbo and politicians are trying to prevent the EPA from ever setting federal safeguards for coal ash, despite mounting evidence of environmental damages from its poorly-regulated disposal. To date there are 197 documented cases of coal ash spills and contamination in 37 states, many of them involving contamination of water supplies and wetlands.

Bills have been introduced into Congress that would block federal regulation and instead create state-implemented permit programs for the management and disposal of coal ash.

In Tennessee, members continue to track activities on a federal level and work to protect their communities on a local level by fighting attempts to create coal ash landfills in our state. Read the Cumberland County Chapter update to learn how local residents kept a coal ash landfill from coming to their community.

A group of protestors outside the October 27, 2010 EPA hearing on new proposed coal ash waste regulations in Knoxville.

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Green Collar JobsSOCM’s green-collar jobs work began in 2008 when the SOCM Board approved the exploration of a “good jobs” campaign for Tennessee through SOCM’s annual priority-setting process, recognizing that good jobs are needed in communities across the state.

SOCM began the process of exploration by placing a survey in the SOCM Sentinel in 2008 that asked for input on what was happening with jobs in people’s communities. The number one answer was “people aren’t getting paid enough,” followed closely by “jobs are moving to other countries.” A smaller number, but good portion of respondents, said, “the local economy has ‘dried up’- jobs are now only found many miles away in urban areas.”

A Good Jobs Working Group was formed from survey respondents and others who had indicated interest in this work with the task of exploring options for a good jobs campaign for SOCM. SOCM members and staff began meeting with sister groups throughout the region working on good job growth and economic development such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee, and others. We learned from our partners that nobody really knew how economic development money was being spent. It appeared a lot of money went toward tax incentives, but it was not being spent in a way that created sustained economic growth.

Members and staff also began attending area and national conferences dealing with issues related to good jobs. In 2009, members and staff attended the national “Good Jobs Green Jobs” conference in Washington, DC. The conference is hosted by the Blue Green Alliance—a partnership between The Sierra Club, the United Steelworkers of America and other support partners primarily in the labor and environmental sectors. Several members of Congress, senators and governors have spoken at the conference throughout the years to express support of the alliance and efforts to bring labor and environmental movements together. SOCM member still attend this conference each year.

During our exploration and learning, the federal government passed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, providing $787 billion in federal stimulus money that could be used to jumpstart a green-collar economy, and the Tennessee Department of Labor and

Workforce Development released a study called “Growing Green: Potential for Green Job Growth in Tennessee.” The 100-page report covers moves already begun in state government toward the renewable energy field, incentives and initiatives and green occupations related to industry growth in the manufacturing, wind and solar sectors. The potential for repairing our struggling economy with the development of good, green jobs was quickly becoming a promising prospect.

The Good Jobs Working group began exploring the questions: What is a “good job”? How do we start communicating that far and wide? What partners should we bring to the table? To explore these questions, the working group hosted a planning meeting in Nashville in April of 2009. At this meeting, members defined “good jobs” as green-collar jobs t�hat� are family-support�ing jobs wit�h workers’ right�s, which st�rengt�hen communit�ies and provide pat�hways out� of povert�y and an equitable, sustainable clean energy economy. At the meeting the working group also decided that they and the public should be more informed about the funds being made available through the Recovery Act so that members could have a voice in directing those dollars towards good, local, green-collar job development and training.

In July 2009, the SOCM Board officially approved the development of the working group into the Green Collar Jobs (GCJ) Committee. The committee decided to focus on three test pilot programs in Campbell County in East Tennessee, Maury County in Middle Tennessee and Madison, Shelby and Gibson counties in West Tennessee. The goal was to create green-

(l-r) Executive Director Amelia Parker, Personnel Committee Chair Cassie Watters, Roberta Dobbins, former Organizer Chris Hill, David Beaty, and Franz Raetzer attended the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference in 2010.

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collar jobs in local areas by working with the community and recently unemployed workers as well as local officials to develop solutions that made sense for the local community. Members, staff, and a dedicated intern worked to develop county profiles on the three-targeted areas to help track clean and efficient energy incentives, and careers and training opportunities available in the local area because of funding provided through the Recovery Act. While no major campaign surfaced from the pilot projects, many lessons were learned, new allies were developed, and both members and the broader community received an education on the green-collar job opportunities in their region.

West Tennessee Pilot ProjectMembers in West Tennessee took interest in SOCM’s green-collar jobs initiative as a way to curb the effects of aerial spraying in their communities. The aerial spraying of chemicals has decreased in West Tennessee as farmers have moved away from cotton – a crop that has one of the highest rates of chemical use due to pests and harvesting practices. The national movement

toward locally grown foods interested the members of the aerial spraying committee in a positive way. By diversifying agricultural lands and invalidating the use of aerially applied chemicals, members felt that the development of family farms in West Tennessee and diverse agricultural land uses could help grow the local economy while also helping to curb the use of aerially sprayed chemicals.

SOCM worked with the Sustainable Agriculture Program within the Department of Agriculture to bring together family farmers and consumers in April of 2009. The meeting turned out about 50 people from Memphis to many rural areas reaching up to the border of Kentucky. They formed a network called the West Tennessee Locally Grown Food Community. Others at the meeting who signed on to facilitate buying locally grown products in West Tennessee and to provide support to the group were the marketing director of a grocery store chain, the Memphis Farmers’ Market founders, officials from TDEC and the owner of the Old Country Store Restaurant in Jackson. In the break-out sessions, the group decided that, long term, it would work on food policy as well as fight regulations that inhibit family farms. Since this initial meeting, those members who have remained involved have worked to fight threats to the community that prevent family farms such as massive factory farms or CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) that continue to target rural communities in West and Middle Tennessee.

East Tennessee Pilot ProjectIn early 2008, members in Campbell and Anderson counties began a conversation on how they could best take advantage of the local natural assets in order to capitalize on a “clean” and economically healthy future for their area. SOCM members involved in the Campbell County Culture Coalition (the local arts agency that hosts the annual Louie Bluie festival) hosted a large local event, bringing in state tourism officials and out-of-state tourism specialists to discuss how Campbell County could go about planning for a sustainable future. Members noted that Tennessee brings in over $13 billion per year through the tourism industry, a figure much larger than coal mining profits. Following the event, chapter members formed the SOCM Clean Futures for Campbell/Anderson Committee to work on a campaign to encourage and create new, good-paying jobs in tourism, new home and business construction/development and sales, alternative forms of energy, food production and distribution, and improved technology, among others. Beginning in 2008, the committee began looking at positive aspects of Campbell and Anderson counties that could be used to help create a new economy that benefits the vast majority of area residents. SOCM members worked with members of the Clearfork Community Institute in Eagan, Tenn., to discuss how to help bring good green jobs and a sustainable economy to the residents of Tennessee’s coalfields. Members and organizers worked to identify community assets and polled local residents regarding what they thought about “green jobs” and what they thought a “good job” would be for community, friends, and family. The results of the community assets survey put the natural beauty of the mountains and accessibility to parks and trails at the top of the list. It was discovered that in Campbell County, there is a strong tradition of digging medicinal roots like ginseng that can be done sustainably. The community

Member Susan Williams facilitates a discussion at one of the first meetings of the Green Collar Jobs Committee.

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also wanted to embrace their roots by doing heritage tourism. SOCM used the poll results to inform its statewide work for green-collar job development. Locally, the Clearfork Community Institute took the lead on efforts to explore a sustainable economy for the region.

Middle Tennessee Pilot ProjectIn 2010, members gathered in Middle Tennessee to share a vision of green-collar jobs for Maury County, identifying a clear industry objective – transition the Maury County economy from a reliance on the low-paying tobacco industry to a new rubber plant that could be used to manufacture hypoallergenic rubber gloves for the medical industry, rubber parts for wind turbines, tires, and other products. Following the meeting of Green Collar Jobs Committee and Maury County Chapter members, members carried out house visits, appeared on radio shows, and organized a mass mailing to invite farmers to an informational meeting on February 20, 2010 at the Maury County Senior Citizen Home to learn more about growing rubber. Members felt a rubber plant could provide a green-jobs solution for the county, helping jumpstart a new economy that could replace a once-booming local tobacco industry. Further research and engagement with county farmers following the meeting, however, revealed that the rubber plant idea was not a viable option to pursue, sending members in Middle Tennessee back to the drawing board. Green Collar Jobs work in Middle Tennessee is discussed further in the Maury County section of this report.

Tracking the Stimulus MoneyAs previously mentioned, since 2009 the Green Collar Jobs Committee has been researching and tracking federal stimulus money that could be used to jumpstart green-collar job creation in Tennessee. The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law in February 2009 with the purpose of spurring economic growth through tax cuts and benefits, funding for programs such as unemployment benefits, and funding for federal contracts, grants and loans. Since 2009, Tennessee has been awarded over $6 billion in various types of stimulus funding such as funds used to create the West Tennessee Solar Farm, a five-megawatt farm administered by the University of Tennessee as a demonstration site for educational purposes, funds to improve state emergency preparedness plans, and funds to increase access to energy efficient products and use of efficient technologies. Rural Business Enterprise grants, administered by the Tenn. Department of Economic and Community Development, used stimulus funds to provide micro loans up to $10,000 for entrepreneurs living and operating a business in rural Tennessee. Stimulus funds were used to supplement the state’s Idle Smart Clean Diesel Grant program, which helped small trucking companies reduce engine idling, save money and reduce air pollution. Both small businesses and local governments had access to loan programs to fund energy-related improvements to buildings and equipment that would reduce energy consumption. And TVA has offered programs such as an energy right heat pump loan program that offered water heater rebates. These are just a few of the programs made available in Tennessee by stimulus funds.

After extensive research and tracking of Recovery Act funds in Tennessee, it became apparent to us that federal funds have been under-utilized throughout the state for various reasons. Limited state agency coordination and limited state agency community outreach and education appear to be causes of underutilization at the city and county level. However, many SOCM members also reported strong opposition by local county leaders to an Obama-Administration initiative. In response to the opposition, and in some cases lack of capacity and awareness on behalf of government leaders throughout the state regarding the funds, members began building campaigns that targeted specific stimulus programs to encourage local governments to use the funds where monies were still available and still had the potential of creating jobs and promoting efficient and renewable energy use.

SOCM hosted a community meeting on February 20, 2010 to explore the possibility of transitioning the Maury County economy from a focus on tobacco to growing rubber.

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Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)One such program heavily funded with stimulus money is the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG). The program provides federal grants (ARRA) to units of local government, Native American tribes, states, and territories to reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and for improvements in energy efficiency. The state of Tennessee received a total of around $13 million for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, according to Ryan Gooch, Energy Policy Director of Tennessee’s Department of Economic & Community Development.

The EECBG program provides grants to local governments to fund programs and projects that reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions and, hence the name, increase energy efficiency. Under the guidelines, the most populated counties and cities get an automatic amount of funding, while sixty percent is saved for all other local government entities to apply. That would be about $8.3 million. According to Gooch, “Tennessee proposed to use more than the 60% for sub-grants.”

The EECBG Program provided a great opportunity for counties and cities to retrofit outdated and inefficient HVAC systems and lighting. Most cities, towns, and counties in the state have benefited from the grants. At this point the money from the ARRA has been completely used and there is no sign that a similar round of grants will be available in future years. One unfortunate element about the use of EECBGs is that hardly any were used to install alternative energy generators, like solar panels or wind turbines, in government buildings.

Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs)The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, enacted in October 2008, authorized the issuance of Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs) that may be used by state, local and tribal governments to finance certain types of energy projects. QECBs are qualified tax credit bonds. The October 2008 enabling legislation set a limit of $800 million on the volume of energy conservation tax credit bonds that may be issued by state and local governments. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the allowable bond volume to $3.2 billion. Tennessee’s QECB allocation totals $64,676,000.

Once SOCM members learned of this program and learned that the money had yet to be spent in Tennessee, members began a campaign to influence the use of the money. In October 2012, Governor Bill Haslam received 200 petitions from SOCM members and friends across the state urging him to create a Green Communities Fund with the state’s QECBs. SOCM staffers Katie Greer and Kazi Wilkins, along with member Stefan Partin, met with the State Energy Office in Nashville in October 2012 to discuss the state’s options with the QECBs and how the funds can be used locally. At-large member Henry Stokes wrote an op-ed for the Knoxville News-Sentinel urging the state to take advantage of its Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds and explaining the benefits of energy efficiency. At this meeting, members learned that the state energy office was waiting to see if local governments would use their allotted funds or whether the state would have a large pot of money to work with. Following the meeting, members began the work of reaching out to county leaders throughout the state to ask how they plan to use the bonds and urge them to use the bonds in a manner that would help homeowners reduce their energy consumption, save on energy bills, and create local jobs for the community. Through this outreach, members learned that some counties already had plans to use the funds on public building projects, many were considering reallocating, and some did not even know the funds were available. Based on these conversations, members decided to focus energy on the state level and work to influence the state’s use of the funds once all funds were reallocated to the state.

SOCM members delivered over 200 of these petitions to Governor Haslam’s office calling for him to create a Green Communities Fund with the state’s QECBs.

On April 12, 2013, members Stefan Partin and Rick Held met with officials in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs (Katie Southworth, Pete Westerholm, Molly Cripps) and urged them to make sure that QECB funds are spent in order to save energy and create jobs. The Energy Office agreed that this was important and informed the members that it is giving local municipalities with QECB allocations until June 15, 2013 to decide to reallocate their funds to the state if they don’t have a plan for them. The Energy Office told us that they are not in a position to tell municipalities what to do with their own bonds, but can offer an incentive for the municipalities to reallocate their bonds. Otherwise, the bonds may go unspent. They also can not take on the burden of the issuance cost for municipalities. However, the state will be offering a Request for Proposals in October to redistribute the reallocated funds. After the meeting, SOCM members agreed to follow up with municipalities to see who has plans for their QECBS, who plans to reallocate, and who is sitting on their funds with no plans.

As of June 2013, the following municipalities still had QECB funds: Memphis $7,014,356 Metro Nashville $6,441,971 Knoxville $1,910,094 Chattanooga $1,767,919 Blount County $1,247,286 Hamilton County $1,668,015Knox County $2,501,003 Clarksville $1,241,344 Rutherford County $2,512,804 Shelby County $2,456,712 Sullivan County $1,597,614 Sumner County $1,589,310 Washington County $1,214,005 Williamson County $1,728,832Wilson County $1,106,807

On October 31, 2013, the Energy Office launched an open competitive proposal process to allocate QECBs to local governments and public universities in Tennessee with proposals due January 31, 2014. The total QECB authority available for allocation under this request for proposals (RFP) is $46,542,400. Eligible proposers must agree to accept and utilize a minimum allocation of $500,000 in QECB tax credit bonds. The maximum allocation is $7.5 million in QECB tax credit bonds. The recipients of a QECB allocation shall use QECBs to fund qualified energy conservation projects within their jurisdictions.

Members will continue to monitor and work to influence the use and allocation of QECBs in the state.

Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)Another program whose funding was significantly boosted from stimulus money is the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). The program was created in 1976 to help low-income families weatherize their homes and the Recovery Act greatly increased the funds available for the program. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is 100 percent federally funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The program provides funds to states to assist with the weatherization of the homes of low-income elderly and disabled adults and families. In Tennessee, the program is administered through contracts with an established network of 19 non-profit agencies and local governments experienced in providing weatherization services. WAP services are available in all 95 Tennessee counties. Applicants must meet low-income eligibility guidelines based on established federal poverty guidelines. Activities include: insulation, storm windows, caulking, and other related activities to reduce home energy costs and increase home energy efficiency.

Rick Held (left) and Dan Joranko (right) at the Winter Weatherization Workshop on December 7, 2012 in Knoxville. SOCM co-hosted the event with the Tennessee Healthy Energy Campaign and SEEED.

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Tennessee received over $100 million from the federal government for weatherization in 2009 - 2010. A concern members had with the program was that there was some dispute about how jobs would be created for local people if the bids for weatherization projects are open to contractors across the state. Members have also expressed concern about the quality of the work being conducted. With these concerns in mind, members looked for other solutions such as the Portland Model.

The Portland Model and KEAP Green JobsAt a Green-Collar Jobs Committee strategy meeting in July 2010, SOCM members learned of a new strategy being pursued throughout the country to promote green-collar job development. The strategy, based on a model developed by a non-profit in Portland, Oregon, establishes a public sector green jobs (in this case weatherization) initiative backed by the municipality and the state on a large scale through innovative financing measures and cross-sector coordination. In 2011, SOCM members joined with coalition partners Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED), the Tennessee Alliance for Progress (TAP) and others in the Knoxville area to develop a weatherization initiative that would increase access to weatherization programs and other energy efficiency measures for low to moderate-income residents in Knoxville. The hope was that members could use the knowledge gained from the Knoxville weatherization project to pursue similar efforts in other utility districts around the state. The initiative is called the Knoxville Energy Alliance and Partnership for Green Jobs (KEAP Green Jobs).

The steering committee’s objective has been to form an energy alliance in the City of Knoxville. An energy alliance is a public-private partnership of local stakeholders who create, oversee, and maintain a comprehensive program to grow green jobs by increasing access to energy efficiency and renewable energy for homeowners, tenants, non-profit organizations, and commercial building owners. Successful energy alliances include Local Energy Alliance Program in Charlottesville, Va., Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance, Clean Energy Works Portland, and Nashville Energy Works.

Once formed, the energy alliance would launch the KEAP Green Jobs program, a revolving loan fund for low to moderate-income households in Knoxville to increase access to funds for the up-front cost of weatherization and solar energy projects. The homeowners would pay the loan back through the energy savings on their electricity bills. As loans are paid back, the program could then use the money to issue more loans and also to provide community outreach and green job training.

One of the first tasks for the KEAP Green Jobs steering committee, along with the East Tennessee Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee, was to host a City of Knoxville mayoral debate on November 1, 2011. Both mayoral candidates, Mark Padgett and Madeline Rogero, stated that increasing access to weatherization and creating sustainable green jobs are a high priority for Knoxville. Madeline Rogero even went a step further to say that she is excited to explore the KEAP Green Jobs proposal because not only is it about providing funding for energy efficiency upgrades, but it includes training for local residents to fill the jobs. You can watch the debate and learn about KEAP Green Jobs by visiting the program’s website: www.keapgreenjobs.org.

In early 2012, KEAP worked to strengthen its structure by electing officers to the steering committee: Stefan Partin (Tennessee Solar Energy Association intern and SOCM member) and Joshua Outsey (SEEED organizer and SOCM member) serve as co-chairs, Mary Shaffer Speight (TenneSEIA) serves as secretary, and Katie Greer served as the treasurer. SOCM Treasurer Franz Raetzer also serves on the KEAP Green Jobs steering committee.

Members of KEAP met with City of Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero on February 1, 2012 to discuss the prospect of forming an energy alliance in Knoxville.

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In November 2012, IBM announced that Knoxville had been selected for a Smarter Cities Challenge grant. Launched in 2011, the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, $50-million competitive grant program. The program assigns a team of six top IBM experts to each winning city to study a key issue identified by the city’s leadership. The grant provides consulting services valued at $400,000.

Knoxville’s application asked for advice on the most effective way to connect weatherization and energy education services to residents who receive emergency utility bill assistance. The IBM team arrived in Knoxville in April 2013, and it provided preliminary findings in May 2013.

Results of the study showed that too much money is spent on charity to help pay utility bills. The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team issued a final report calling for a multi-pronged effort to help low-income residents weatherize their homes and learn more about energy efficiency to reduce the need for emergency utility bill assistance.

In response, the City is forming a low-income weatherization working group to increase communication amongst stakeholders. A Knoxville Smarter Cities Stakeholder Council was created to help lead the next phase of Knoxville’s Smarter Cities Challenge and will work with four community-driven work groups to implement the recommendations. Members of KEAP have been appointed to the Council. The Council met for the first time on September 26, 2013 and will meet quarterly with meetings being open to the public.

SOCM encourages members to send the message to elected officials in Knoxville that we need to move away from poverty management and fix the problem, which is unweatherized homes. This could be solved with a revolving loan fund where there is no out-of-pocket expense for the homeowner and the loan is paid through the savings on the homeowner’s utility bill.

As of 2013, KEAP is also working on a demonstration project with Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and SEEED’s pre-apprenticeship program. SOCM has committed to maintaining at least one member on the KEAP steering committee.

Green-Collar Jobs TourIn 2010, SOCM’s Green-Collar Jobs Committee organized a green jobs tour, giving residents throughout Tennessee a chance to see how the new ‘green economy’ buzz is practically applied in different communities. The tour visited five sites throughout the state in three days: Buffalo Mountain Wind Energy Center in Oliver Springs; Sustainable Futures (a solar installation and sustainable living education company) in Knoxville; a Solar Photovoltaic Installation Training center in Pulaski; the Bridgestone-Firestone Manufacturing facility in Morrison; Sharp Electronics Corporation in Memphis. The tour was a great educational experience for SOCM members and allies who joined us on the tour. The full report can be found on our website at www.socm.org.

Green-Collar Jobs and the Tennessee General AssemblyIn 2010 and 2011, SOCM members worked with allies throughout the state to pass the Tennessee Green Jobs Act and Tennessee High Growth Sustainable Jobs Act, which would have enabled Tennessee to use federal money to pave the way for green job development in Tennessee’s most distressed communities. Each year progress was made but the votes continually fell according to party lines. In 2010, the House Commerce Committee voted to defer the Green Jobs Act until the next year with 12 Republicans voting to squash the bill and 9 Democrats voting in support. In 2011, the Sustainable Jobs Act was also tabled until the following year. During this period, SOCM members also supported the Recycling Refunds Act (also known as the Bottle Bill), which would have required redemption centers to be established in all counties for residents to use to recycle bottles and other containers thereby creating needed jobs in each county while promoting more recycling,

In 2010, the Committee hosted a Green-Collar Jobs Tour visiting five different sites throughout the state. Here, a tour group poses in front of a windmill at Buffalo Mountain Wind Farm.

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and the Green Jobs and Education Bill, which would have required the state Board of Education to establish a “green jobs” vocational and technical education program. Both bills, however, failed to pass. After a multi-year battle to get these pieces of legislation passed, members felt that moving forward with other non-legislative strategies were best to pursue on the state level for green job development in the state.

In December 2012, E3 Committee Chair Ann League conducted a “Lobbying 101” training for committee members that focused on clean energy and energy efficiency legislation at the federal level, preparing members for opportunities to secure favorable legislation from the federal government that would positively impact green-job growth in Tennessee. Members developed a plan to ask our congressional representatives to use their political pressure to tell TVA’s Board to step up their energy efficiency actions. While preparing to target federal legislators, SOCM members learned of a bill to be introduced in the state legislature that would raise property taxes on all businesses that have invested in solar energy. If the bill passed as written, solar property tax assessments would have jumped from 0.5% to 33.3%. This would have discouraged buying American-made solar panels, as they would have been more expensive than imported panels, putting 6,400 Tennesssee jobs in jeopardy. We’re happy to report that by working in coalition and conducting a series of visits with state representatives to educate them on the benefits of our growing solar industry, SOCM members and our allies were able to get the tax increase reduced by 1/3 before it passed both houses.

TVA’s In-Home Energy Audit ProgramGreen-Collar Jobs Committee members have been promoting the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) In-Home Energy Audit program since 2010. In looking for ways to expand local green-collar jobs in rural communities, members saw an opportunity through the audit program. TVA contracts with businesses across the state to evaluate a home’s energy efficiency. When you schedule an in- home energy audit, an evaluator will come out and show you what you can do to save money on your power bill. SOCM has been promoting this program because a decrease in energy consumption correlates to a decrease in production.

Committee member David Beaty, who lives in a rural part of Tennessee, noticed that the contractors on TVA’s Quality Contractor Network were not in his county. An evaluator must be a part of TVA’s Quality Contractor Network in order for the homeowner to qualify for TVA’s rebate for home weatherization. David brought this up on a committee call and members decided that this was an issue worth looking into.

GCJ Committee members spent months visiting and calling local energy efficiency contractors to ask them about their experience with the TVA’s Quality Contractor Network, how it affects their business, and what an organization like SOCM can do to improve the program, especially for rural counties.

Committee member Franz Raetzer interviewed several businesses. “All contacted businesses were very happy with this program,” he said. “It increased everybody’s business substantially. They all said that SOCM could help this program by promoting it and educating the public on the details of the program by organizing public meetings. Apparently there are small differences in how the program is set up in the various utility districts so it will be important to work with the local utility company.”

Members are planning to compile the data collected through the interviews with contractors and organize public education sessions in areas where SOCM has chapters to educate the community on the program and begin community-wide discussions with residents and green companies about how to expand green job opportunities in rural counties in Tennessee.

Leroy Thompson (left) and Josh Outsey (right) attended SOCM’s Lobby Day in 2011 to push for legislation that would support green jobs. Leroy and Josh are members of SEEED.

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Energy, Ecology, & Environmental JusticeThrough SOCM’s E3 Committee (Energy, Ecology, and Environmental Justice), SOCM members develop strategies to protect the land and people of Tennessee. The E3 Committee was formerly the Strip Mine Issues Committee, SOCM’s oldest active committee. In the beginning it operated out of a basement in Knoxville, helping SOCM members with information to help organize coalfield citizens around strip mining issues.

Over the years, many things have changed - in SOCM, Tennessee, the coal and other fossil fuel industries and the federal government - that have required shifts or expansion of thinking about mining and related issues, such as water, energy sources, energy policy, and moving beyond coal-based economies in rural, mountain communities where many of our members live.

In 2009, the committee undertook a revisioning process aimed at making sure the committee’s work had a secure platform from which to move forward in this new social, economic and political environment. In a sense, the need to expand the vision of the committee’s work came about in part because SOCM and other grassroots groups in Appalachia have been successful in raising public awareness of the connections between dirty fossil fuel economies and negative impacts to the social, economic and environmental health and integrity of our communities.

Therefore, the members decided to expand the scope of the committee and began by changing the committee’s name. In a vote on possible new names, committee members chose “E3 Committee” at their September 21, 2010 meeting, settling on “Energy-Ecology-Environmental Justice” to represent the 3 E’s of the committee’s work. Committee members reframed the work of the committee in the following way:

What we use for energy and how that impacts our watersheds and communities is a question that covers 95% of the work taken on by the committee:

• Watersheds are the basic natural infrastructure of our communities and clean water is the lifeblood. Water-related laws and policies represent portals through which we, as citizens, may have the most power, because of the administrative and regulatory ties between the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the federal Clean Water Act.• The energy connection brings a number of resource issues together under two main headings:

1. Current use of fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil, etc) and the impacts of their extraction, transportation, processing, use, disposal and reclamation on our communities, and2. Present and future development of other energy sources that will emerge as fossil fuels are phased out (for example: biomass, biofuels, wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, etc.)

• Rock harvesting, quarries and other types of resource extraction make up the other 5% of the committee’s work.• A bedrock idea that ties all of these things together and describes the historical, present and potential work of the committee is environmental justice.

Below are highlights from the campaigns that the committee pursued between 2008 and 2012.

Ending MTR through State Water Quality PoliciesState elections in November 2008 changed the face of the Tennessee General Assembly. For the first time since Reconstruction (1869) both the state House and Senate gained a Republican majority. For the House especially, with a one vote Republican majority, composition of all committees and committee leadership changed. For SOCM members, the reality of these political changes came quickly as new bills were introduced. An emboldened industry not only reintroduced old bad bills like the “Limited Resource Waters Bill,” which would deregulate the headwaters of streams and promote more mountaintop

SOCM member Cathie Bird lives in Campbell County near the mountaintop removal site, Zeb Mountain. Cathie’s work with SOCM began with the fight to save Zeb, but she’s also been instrumental in the work we’ve done around fracking and is co-chair of the Anti-Racism Transformation Team.

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removal mining, but they also introduced new bad bills like a deregulation of selenium, a wet weather conveyance bill, a bill to allow industry to designate its own expert to decide what constitutes a stream under state law, a bill setting stringent timelines for how long the state could take to review a permit – about 14 bad water-related bills in all. SOCM succeeded in modifying language of one bill calling for measuring the buffer zone to a stream from the “center of the stream” to wording calling for measuring from the “edge of a stream.” A disastrous bill setting selenium standards (for the first time ever by a legislative body instead of by the Water Quality Division) failed by one vote to get a majority for passage. One very bad bill referred to as the “wet weather conveyance bill” passed the General Assembly in 2009. The bill sets up a definition of a wet weather conveyance, excluding it from water quality regulation, and allows a third party (e.g., consultant from industry) to decide on a site what is a stream to be protected and what is a wet weather conveyance. The presumption is that this assessment is accurate unless TDEC objects within 30 days.

SOCM members have worked on several fronts to counter efforts to weaken state water quality policies that pertain to mountaintop removal and other industry activity. In June 2010, SOCM’s E3 Committee released a water quality policy paper, entitled Heads Up on Headwaters, in which the committee recommended changes in state water quality policy to address the threat of mountaintop removal to water quality in Tennessee. The committee released the report at a press conference on Volunteer Landing in downtown Knoxville and the report is available for download from SOCM’s website: www.socm.org. SOCM also partnered with Downstream Strategies and the Sierra Club to release another report in June 2010 that exposes coal’s economic impact on Tennessee. The report found that after factoring in tax incentives offered coal companies, the industry only contributed 1% of state revenues and an even smaller percentage of total employment. Both reports received much attention from the press (see news coverage at www.socm.org). The report is available for download at www.downstreamstrategies.com.

Since 2008, SOCM members have supported the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act, a bill that would protect mountains in Tennessee against mountaintop removal and water pollution at elevations above 2,000 feet. The bill was written by members of the Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF). The Church of the Savior in Knoxville set up the Fellowship years ago in honor of church member and long-time active SOCM member Kathy Lindquist who strongly opposed mountaintop removal coal mining.

Throughout our years of advocating for this legislation, members have heard time and again from legislators that mountaintop removal (MTR) does not exist in the state. Coal companies and their lobbyists have spread the inaccurate message that MTR is not practiced in Tennessee.

To clear this up, SOCM member and former organizer Ann League has explained: “Tennessee’s coalfields are confined to about 20 counties stretching along the Cumberland Mountains and Plateau in a northeast to southwest slant from the Kentucky to the Alabama state lines. Tennessee has had a federal program administered by the Office of Surface Mining to oversee strip mine permitting and enforcement. While other states have chosen to have a state program, Tennessee is the largest mining state with a federal program. Because Tennessee does not issue waivers to Approximate Original Contour (AOC) there is the mistaken idea that there is no MTR coal mining in Tennessee, but that is false because there are many forms of MTR as defined by two separate Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), one completed by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) in 1985 and one by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2003. In Tennessee, the various forms of MTR used here, including Cross Ridge Mining and Area Mining, still adversely impact Tennessee’s headwater streams, ecosystems and beautiful scenic vistas.”

SOCM members work regularly with other Appalachian groups to curb mountaintop removal mining on a federal level. Here, former SOCM staffer (and current Sierra Club staffer) Chris Hill attends an anti-mountaintop removal rally organized by Earthjustice in Washington, DC, in September 2012.

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Members continue to support the legislation and others discussed below as well as educate their legislators on the ongoing harms caused by mountaintop removal coal mining and other forms of strip mining occurring in the state in order to stop these destructive practices.

“Any mining that disturbs high ridgelines destroys the integrity of headwater systems that form near the tops of mountains. These small streams are largely responsible for the health and character of whole river systems. Passage of the Scenic vistas Protection Act would be a huge step toward protection of drinking water sources for communities downstream,” said former E3 Committee Chair Cathie Bird.

Rock HarvestingIn recent years, a lucrative market for commercial dimension stone and other rocks for construction and landscaping has spurred an enormous increase in surface mining of these stones. In some cases, large acreage is disturbed by heavy earth-moving equipment, just as happens with any strip-mining. One compounding problem is that some of this mining is occurring on land where the surface and minerals are separately owned. Another related issue is that many surface owners argue that rocks should not be interpreted as minerals and this designation could not have been anticipated as subject to surface mining with the surface property rights were acquired. Much attention was focused on this issue early in 2007 as rock harvesters mined land in Hamilton County on which the Cumberland Trail State Park owned the surface property rights, but not the mineral rights (see more on this in the “Litigation” section of this report).

SOCM members continued to monitor the issue until legislation was passed to regulate the practice. In 2011, the Tennessee General Assembly passed into law regulations on rock harvesting with the passing of SB1288 (Southerland) and HB1473 (Hawk). After years of work, this bill finally provides regulations on this practice. Although SOCM would have liked to see more protections for our land and surface owners in the bill, members believe it is a good first-step forward in addressing this environmental and property rights issue.

The New River Spill and the Responsible Coal Operators ActOn January 2nd, 2012, a discharge of coal slurry “black water” was released into the New River, an American Heritage River, which flows into the Big South Fork. The origin of the “black water” was the Baldwin Coal Preparatory Plant in Anderson County near Frozen Head State Park. The spill was so sizeable, it went upstream 100 feet and was sighted downstream 40 miles from the Baldwin plant.

The Baldwin processing plant is owned by Premium Coal, which is owned by James C. Justice II of West Virginia. The Justice family also owns National Coal Corporation. Over the past several years, SOCM and its partner organizations have been monitoring numerous and continuous violations on the part of National Coal Corp. In 2013, SOCM and our partners won a precedent-setting case against National Coal, ultimately ending putting them out of the strip-mining business in Tennessee.

When the spill occurred, neither Premium Coal nor the plant operators notified environmental officials of the spill as required by the TDEC permit. Premium Coal, owner of several coalmines in Tennessee, has a reputation for a pattern of violations, unpaid penalties and failure to report violations according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. However, TDEC is not privy to this information when making permitting decisions.

In March 2012, TDEC Commissioner Robert Martineau, Jr., fined Premium Coal Company, Inc., $50,000 for the massive “black water”

When former staffer Ann League and Board member Patrick Morales investigated the New River spill, they took pictures which were then released to the media along with SOCM’s press release announcing the spill. Fed up with out-of-state coal operators like Premium Coal Company, Inc., racking up violation after violation, SOCM members introduced the Responsible Coal Operators Act in 2012. Here, chunks of coal are seen washed up on the banks of the river after the spill.

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spill into the New River from the Baldwin Processing Plant. While SOCM was pleased TDEC issued a penalty, members felt the fine of approximately 3.5 cents per gallon of contaminated discharge was unacceptable.

Fed up with how out-of-state operators are treating our state and our communities and continually allowed to get away with it, SOCM and partners drafted the Responsible Coal Operators Act of 2012 (HB3199 Southerland/SB3453 Hawk). The Responsible Coal Operators Act would have authorized the Commissioner of Environment and Conservation to consider past practices when deciding whether to issue, renew or deny a permit for a coalmine issued under the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act. This measure is modeled after the “bad actor” provisions in the Tennessee Solid Waste Disposal Act.

“This bill is common sense,” said Board member Patrick Morales. “If I am going to do business with someone, I’m going to check their references. These coal companies ain’t coming to mow my yard, they want to remove parts of this state’s earth, for profit. Before even considering letting them do that, we should know as much about them as possible. If I do something as non-threatening as apply for a job to stock groceries, there will be a background check so this bill seems pretty clear to me.”

Despite valiant efforts to get this legislation through committee, the Responsible Coal Operators Act was sent to summer study by the House Subcommittee on Environment and Conservation. Summer studies are sometimes referred to as “Legislative Black Holes” because many committee members do not participate and they often last a long time. No further action was taken on the legislation.

The Sewanee Coal Seam and the Sewanee Prohibition BillSOCM members in Bledsoe County and in communities throughout the Cumberland Plateau have been fighting any mining in their area for more than 25 years (read more about chapter activities in the “Bledsoe and Rhea” section of this report). In 1987, members in that area won a “Lands Unsuitable for Mining” (LUM) designation for the Rock Creek Gorge, where part of the Sewanee coal seam is located. Federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) officials reported that the site contained one of the highest levels of acid mine material they had ever seen. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is the result of the chemical reaction that occurs when minerals containing iron and sulfur found in certain shales and coal seams combine with oxygen in the air and water. Once Rock Creek received the LUM designation, SOCM members hoped no exploration or mining would ever be allowed in the area. However, in recent years, OSM has issued multiple exploratory drilling permits in the area and members fear this could lead to the LUM designation being overturned. Therefore, members worked to develop the Sewanee Prohibition Bill to prevent future mining.

The Sewanee Prohibition Bill (SB3575 Berke/HB3631 McDonald) would have added a section to the Water Quality Control Act that would prohibit mining in the Sewanee coal seam until technology is developed that prevents acid mine drainage from the Sewanee coal seam.

“The Sewanee coal seam is well known for producing acid mine drainage that degrades surface and ground water quality, and requires perpetual treatment once it forms. Since there is no proven technology for preventing AMD in this seam, the best way to protect people and wildlife that depend on these waters is to prohibit mining in the Sewanee,” said Cathie Bird.

Early in the legislative session, press got out about this legislation, unfortunately, and the press attention backfired, as it alienated one of the bill co-sponsors, Senator Burke. Because of that tension, Burke would not move the legislation forward

Though SOCM won a “Lands Unsuitable for Mining” designation for the Rock Creek Gorge area, the Sewanee Prohibition Bill would have prohibited mining in the Sewanee Coal Seam until technology is invented to prevent toxic acid mine drainage.

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(it never moved beyond a caption bill) and advised SOCM members to refrain from moving forward on the bill until the Scenic Vistas Protection Act passed. Therefore, we did not do any heavy lobbying on the Sewanee bill throughout the session and the bill was never introduced.

North Cumberland LUM/TVA land in Royal BlueSOCM members have pursued various tactics to prevent the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from allowing mining and mineral extraction on its 53,000-acre mineral tract in the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area. In 2004 TVA leased 1,000 acres of Braden Mountain in Campbell County for MTR mining to a company who ran into financial trouble elsewhere and never mined the area. Due to the outcry by SOCM and other Tennessee allies, the agency agreed to do an environmental impact study on their entire Royal Blue 53,000-acre mineral tract before leasing any additional mineral acreage. The surface of the Royal Blue tract is owned by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) for fishing, hunting, and recreation. The tract includes at least twelve or thirteen potential mountaintop removal mining sites.

SOCM members have written letters to the editor, issued press releases, attended TVA Board meetings and public hearings to raise the issue. Additionally, SOCM members worked to pressure TVA to sell the mineral rights back to the state of Tennessee; however, TVA responded with an exorbitant price. In spring 2010, SOCM worked with University of Tennessee law students to research this issue from the angle of tax inequity because there is a major discrepancy between the amounts for which TVA is asking for the mineral rights in comparison to the amount TVA is paying in taxes according to the assessed value of the land.

One major development that could prevent mining in the wildlife management area is a Lands Unsuitable for Mining Petition (LUMP) signed by Tennessee’s outgoing Governor Phil Bredesen in September 2010. The petition would require the federal Office of Surface Mining to find ridgelines on land managed for public use on the Northern Cumberland Plateau, which would include Royal Blue. Upon receiving a complete petition, the federal Office of Surface Mining must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, providing an opportunity for public input prior to a decision being made about whether to accept the Lands Unsuitable for Mining petition under provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

SOCM members took action by attending three public hearing meetings scheduled by OSMRE in March 2011. Several local residents told stories about murky water, land blasts and corruption of land. SOCM also collected 300 comments through an online petition that were submitted to OSMRE to influence the scope of the petition. The petition is currently in the technical phase of the Environmental Impact Survey (EIS) where data is gathered and reviewed by OSMRE. The release of the final

Environmental Impact Statement for the LUM continues to be delayed, thus delaying the next phase of this campaign. SOCM members will continue to monitor this issue.

SOCM worked with University of Tennessee law students to research the taxes paid on 53,000-acre tract of land in the Roayal Blue Wildlife Management Area. UT students also attended public meetings and submitted comments on the LUMP.

E3 Committee members (l-r) Landon Medley, David Hardeman, and Wanda Hodge were invited to speak at the 2011 Appalachian Public Interest and Environmental Law (APIEL) Conference in Knoxville about winning a LUM designation in Rock Creek Gorge.

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Cumberland Dace and Darter ProtectionsIn 2010, the E3 Committee began a campaign, gathering data and comments, with the goal of persuading the Fish and Wildlife Service to add several small fish species onto the federal endangered species list. Of particular interest to SOCM members were the “Laurel Dace,” a pretty minnow-sized fish that is found in some of the streams in the southern coalfields of Tennessee namely the Rock Creek watershed, and the “Cumberland Darter”, a small fish that is found in a few streams in the northern coalfields around Campbell, Scott and Claiborne counties. These pretty little minnows were in danger of being wiped out of existence but after years of working for designation the E3 Committee was successful and the Laurel Dace, the Cumberland Darter, and the Chucky Madtom were added to the Federal Endangered Species list. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced in early August 2011 that these three fish plus the Rush Darter, found in Alabama, and the Yellowcheek Darter, found in Arkansas, were added as well. In 2012, the E3 Committee collected comments from members to submit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the habitat of the little fishes and in October 2012, a final rule was issued that extended protection to the habitats of these little fishes, making it that much harder to pursue mountaintop removal coal mining projects near where these little fishes live.

Army Corps/section 404 permitsBefore a company can start removing a mountain and dumping it into nearby valleys, there is supposed to be a rigorous permitting process to ensure that they will use good science, operate within the law and not harm nearby communities. Unfortunately, about one-third of mountaintop removal coal mining projects are approved under “nationwide permits.” These permits are designed for projects with “minimal impact,” but burying miles of streams under millions of tons of rubble is hardly “minimal impact.” During the Bush Administration, the Army Corps regularly granted nationwide permits for valley fills, even after federal judges found that the practice was illegal.

On June 11, 2009, the U.S. Department of the Army, U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each agency agreeing to work together to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of surface coal mining activities in the Appalachian region. As a part of the MOU, the Corps agreed to issue a public notice to seek comment on the proposed action to modify Nationwide Permit (NWP) 21 to preclude its use in the Appalachian region.

On July 15, 2009, a Federal Register notice was published soliciting public comment on the Corps’ proposal to modify NWP 21. The notice also proposed to suspend NWP 21 in order to provide more immediate environmental protection while the longer-term process of modification is fully evaluated. The comment period was extended in response to many requests, and public hearings were conducted in October 2009 in each of the six affected states. SOCM members were able to participate in this process at a hearing held in Knoxville. Approximately 6,000 individuals attended the public hearings and about 400 individuals provided oral testimony. The Corps received approximately 23,000 comments during the comment period that concluded on October 26, 2009, of which 1,750 were substantive comments that were nearly evenly divided, according to the Corps, for and against the proposed modification and suspension actions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced in June 2010 that it had suspended the use of Nationwide Permit 21 (NWP 21) in the Appalachian region of six states: Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

SOCM members welcomed this news but were disappointed when the Corps issued a proposal less than a year later in February 2011 to reissue and modify its Nationwide Permits (NWP) under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The Corps proposed three options: a) no reissuance; b) reissue NWP 21 with a ban on valley fills and a 300 linear foot limit on stream loss with the possibility of a waiver on the stream limit; and c) option B without the ban on valley fills. The Army Corps chose to go with option B.

The E3 Committee helped get the Laurel Dace (pictured), Cumberland Darter and Chucky Madtom added the Federal Endangered Species list in August 2011. (Picture taken from conservationfisheries.org)

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In March 2012, the E3 Committee sent a letter to the Army Corps expressing concern for the reissuance of NWP 21. Members stated that although the new NWP 21 process is an improvement, SOCM is disappointed that the Corps of Engineers opted to reissue nationwide permit 21. Our members feel a better decision would have been to completely ban the practice of issuing NWP 21 permits. MTR results in such devastating impacts to wildlife and communities, that each project deserves intense and comprehensive evaluation that NWP 21 does not offer. These evaluations should also include a thorough analysis of the cumulative impacts associated with MTR.

Committee members went on to say that they felt that under no circumstances should district Corps commanders have been allowed to waive the 300-foot limit on stream impacts conducted using a NWP 21, but as the current reincarnation of NWP 21 does give the Corps commander such discretion to waive the 300 yard limit they would like to suggest that language be added that clearly grants the commander that discretion only after the commander has consulted with public interests at local public hearings. Also, authors of the most recent scientific studies regarding stream and landscape impacts from mining and valley fills should be consulted. Municipal authorities downstream of proposed NWP-21 permit mine/valley fill, and other authorities such as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, EPA, OSMRE, and TDEC should also be included in discussions and consultations. After the commander has received from all those entities their input and data based upon specific regulations, guidelines, mandates, references to specific peer-reviewed scientific findings or intra-agency reports, and references to outcomes of comments at local public hearings on the particular NWP 21 waiver under consideration, then and only then, may a waiver be considered by the commander. Finally, the simplest real solution to the tremendous environmental and public health impact of mountaintop removal coal mining is the total abolition of the practice.

Members followed the letter with a meeting with Army Corps representatives in Washington, DC later that month. At the meeting, members were able to ask tough questions like the criteria for granting a waiver, whether there is a public comment period on NWP 21 (there is not), who oversees the NWP 21 once permitted, and recommended that the Corps hold stakeholder meetings in communities where these permits have been granted.

SOCM members will continue to monitor the NWP 21 process as the reissuance develops and public participation opportunities arise.

FrackingSince 2010, members of SOCM’s E3 Committee have worked together with members of the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and the Tennessee Clean Water Network to advocate for strong rules that would protect Tennessee’s drinking water supplies from oil and gas drilling operations such as fracking.

Gas extraction is of particular concern because of the huge interest in the fairly new “Hydraulic Fracturing” method of gas drilling. There have not been a high number of “hydro-fracked” wells in Tennessee, but there has been an upsurge of “foam-fracked” wells in the state. “Foam fracking” uses the same principles as “hydro-fracking” except nitrogen foam and other chemicals are used to fracture the gas bearing strata instead of water.

Since March 2011, there have been two public hearings on gas and oil regulations at the TDEC offices in Knoxville. Both hearings were followed by rallies in TDEC’s parking lot where members of SOCM and our ally groups spoke.

In May 2011, the process of hydro-fracking, or hydrological fracturing, was acknowledged by the House Conservation and Environment Committee as an area that needs regulation in the state of Tennessee. The League of Women Voters and Tennessee Conservation Voters took the lead in advocating for this resolution, and it unanimously passed in the House, May

E3 Committee member Megan Spooner attended a July 2012 TDEC Meeting in Knoxville to formally submit comments about TDEC’s draft regulations for fracking in Tennessee.

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9, 2011. The Resolution (HR 98 Richardson), “...urges Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Oil and Gas Association, League of Women Voters, and Tennessee Conservation Voters to collaborate in proposing regulations to oversee use of hydrological fracturing as a method of modern natural gas extraction.”

According to the Tennessee Oil and Gas Association (TOGA), two thirds of the land area in Tennessee is targeted for natural gas development. Oil and gas exploration and production activities and even water well drilling are a potential threat to human health, rivers and streams, as well as groundwater when drilling takes place in shallow areas that are close to our aquifers and streams, or when the bedrock that could have provided some protection is broken or fractured.

SOCM and its partners in the Tennessee Oil and Gas Consortium have been insisting on stronger rules that meet American Petroleum Institute (API) standards for hydrofracturing, and make requirements consistent, where applicable, with other TDEC permit programs such as Water Pollution Control and Solid Waste. On July 10, 2011, several SOCM members spoke at two public hearings at the TDEC office in Knoxville. Additionally, many other members sent in public comments to TDEC headquarters in Nashville.

The regulations that were passed by the now-defunct Tennessee Oil and Gas Board in its last meeting prior to its merger with the Water Quality Control Board fall short of recognizing Tennessee hazards, according to the Global Environment Consulting Firm. The merger of these two regulatory boards resulted in the Water Quality, Oil and Gas Board - a single regulatory board that is in charge of protecting water quality and regulating the oil and gas industry in Tennessee. Representatives from the oil and gas industry are on the newly-formed Board, along with governor-appointed “public at-large” and environmental interests delegates.

E3 member Brian Paddock and Organizer Parker Laubach attended the first meeting of the Water Quality, Oil and Gas Board on October 16th, 2012 in Nashville. At the meeting, members of the public, including several SOCM members, expressed their frustrations and deep concerns about the adoption of the new regulations. They wanted stronger regulations on fracking such as those proposed earlier this year by SOCM and other coalition groups. Keep your eyes open for more news about fracking in Tennessee and what you can do to protect water quality.

OSM/BLM MergerIn late October 2011, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) would be absorbed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The proposal raised concerns for SOCM members. The E3 committee questioned whether Salazar has the authority to integrate the two agencies, given that each was created by its own statute -- the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 for BLM and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 for OSMRE and E3 feels this is move would weaken oversight and regulatory authority of OSMRE.

In January 2012, several members attended a stakeholder meeting held in Knoxville with both agencies. The meeting was scheduled for the purpose of getting comments from citizens and industry on the proposed merger. Not one of the close to 50 participants at the stakeholder meeting spoke in favor of the proposed consolidation. For now, it appears that the merger proposal has been put on hold perhaps indefinitely or perhaps resulting in a partial merger. SOCM members will continue to monitor this issue.

Member Christine McNary at a fracking protest in Nashville. The weak fracking regulations that were passed by the Tennessee Oil and Gas Board made Tennessee an attractive target for oil and gas companies looking to drill for natural gas.

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Strategies

Over its history SOCM has regularly engaged in long-range strategic planning and each planning process has provided an opportunity for the organization to assess where it is, where it can build on its strengths, shore up weaker areas, take stock of the needs of current times in carrying out its mission, and chart new directions for the organization’s work for coming years.

At the end of 2014, SOCM’s 5-Year Transformational Strategic Plan will expire. This plan has set the organization on a path to transform and reinvigorate SOCM in ways that would promote more statewide growth, make the organization more effective in winning significant change, deliberately include a greater diversity of members, and bring in more younger individuals and families.

The organization has faced many unforeseen challenges as we’ve worked towards the goals in the strategic plan. As plans were being developed in SOCM in late 2008, the country experienced the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. Members and staff were unaware of all of the ways this would impact our fundraising and capacity to get the work done. Foundations were forced to close, many representing some of SOCM’s core supporters, and others were forced to concentrate their money in states where threats like mountaintop removal coal mining were more prevalent. Other challenges for SOCM included rising health care costs, the impact of the recession on SOCM’s investments, and the need to update our tax status as a result of a few changes at the IRS.

To respond to these challenges and more, SOCM reached out to several consultants including five with Management Assistance Program (MAP), part of the French American Charitable Trust (FACT). MAP Consultants Alfreda Barringer, Kim Gilliam, Belma Gonzales, Rebecca Johnson and Mary Ochs guided members and staff through SOCM’s transition focusing on staff structure and development, fundraising, financial management, and strategic planning.

SOCM’s Theory of Social ChangeAbout 30 staff and members met in Lebanon, Tenn., in February, April, and August 2012 to develop SOCM’s Theory of Social Change and refresh the strategic plan formed in 2009. With so much growth happening in SOCM, it became necessary to reflect on key aspects of the organization such as what we do well, what we uniquely contribute to bring about change,

and where we need to focus our resources. Consultant Mary Ochs facilitated the discussions.

Throughout the process, members looked at what it takes to create a social change movement, how our history, vision and members have shaped what SOCM has become, how we tell our story, what the significant issues that affect us are, and what beliefs we share that keep us moving forward. In July 2012, the Board approved SOCM’s Theory of Social Change and our “elevator speech” helping us create a unified voice to share with new members, staff and partners curious about how and why we do what we do.

We learned that significant issues that affect SOCM members are Discrimination (race, class religion, etc.); Economic inequalities; Lack of good jobs and social mobility; Cuts in public investment such as public school funding; Lack of access to quality, affordable health care including health education and preventive care; Poor

Organizational Development

“SOCM is a 40-year-old organization where people work together to improve their quality of life. So we organize and develop leaders around issues in communities throughout the state.” SOCM’s Elevator Speech

MAP consultant Mary Ochs facilitated the discussions between members and staff at SOCM’s three Theory of Social Change workshops in 2012.

Elements of SOCM’s Theory of Social ChangeStruggle: Significant change does not happen without resistance or a struggle. Powerful forces do not simply concede

when challenged.

Root Causes: It is necessary to analyze, identify and address the root causes of problems in order to know what we are dealing with and to determine how best to achieve true change and not just tinker with symptoms.

Long Haul: Significant change takes time, consistency, and persistence. Change is not an event but a process that involves many small and sometimes big steps along the way.

Nimble and Adaptive: Success requires persistence but also the ability to be nimble and flexible. We need to be open to trying numerous strategies and to adapting to changing conditions.

Learning Organization: It is important to learn from the movements and struggles of others. Our work is built upon the work of others who came before us. It is also important to learn from our actions and mistakes and to nurture collective wisdom.

Strength in Numbers: Our power comes primarily from large numbers of organized people united around a common vision and cause—working together.

Bottom Up Approach: Our issues and decisions come from our members. We are a bottom up, member driven, democratically run organization. Directly affected people must be part of the leadership and must be involved in defining the solutions to their problems. This is an essential approach to engaging people on issues they care about and to making change.

Effective Movements have been broad and inclusive.

We Can’t Do It (win) Alone: We must develop healthy alliances/partnerships with others who share our vision and values. We recognize the value and need for our organizations and movements to come together. We will need broad support to realize our vision.

Balance: We also recognized the related challenge that we should stay focused on our core work and build upon our unique assets and strengths. We should be careful and not allow our efforts to become too diffuse.

Local and Beyond: SOCM issues must have some resonance and connection with members at the chapter level even though the root cause and solutions might lie elsewhere. What affects one ultimately affects all. We acknowledge and affirm that we are interdependent.

Walk Our Talk: SOCM strives to model the change it seeks. SOCM recognizes that societal change and personal changed are linked and that one cannot be fully achieved without the other. To achieve social, economic and environmental justice, SOCM must also work at being democratic in its shared decision-making, inclusive and tolerant, and caring in its actions for each other and the environment.

Uniqueness: SOCM engages in organizing as its core strategy. SOCM brings together diverse people to act as one on shared concerns. SOCM invests in building a mass membership of trained leaders/directly affected people who are able to act with others in their communities to address issues of importance to them. SOCM has an engaged membership, not a paper membership. SOCM believes in shared leadership and shared, democratic decision-making. SOCM also engages in community education, lobbying, electoral strategies, message/communications and direct action strategies.

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housing; Illiteracy, poor education, high drop-out rates; Drug abuse and violence; Generational poverty; Destruction of the environment; Poverty including global poverty driving migration. Attendees also explored the different roles that members and staff play in SOCM and how to strengthen the relationships and communication between the two.

Challenges have presented themselves but we have stood strong as an organization, responded to the challenges responsibly, and weathered each storm.

Leadership DevelopmentSOCM emphasizes leadership development of members at every stage of its organizing - in local chapters where members identify and work on their own local issues, in issue committees which coordinate statewide campaigns that address the root of problems facing communities, at meetings of the SOCM Board which sets overall priorities and direction, and at organization-wide events where community members are able to benefit from training and educational opportunities. In addition, SOCM fosters leadership development on an individual level by encouraging members to assume new spokesperson or leadership roles on behalf of the organization. SOCM also provides group trainings at leadership retreats and by organizing issue specific trainings. SOCM members also participate in a number of coalitions, conferences, and other experiences that offer occasions for leadership development. Below are some of the many opportunities for leadership development that members enjoyed during the five-year period of this report.

Annual Meetings and Leadership RetreatsIn 2009, SOCM combined the annual Leadership/Membership Retreat with the Annual Picnic. The membership retreats were traditionally a fall gathering for members with workshops, speakers, fun and fellowship. The retreats have always been very participatory with members often having prominent roles leading sessions. Before 2008, the Annual Picnic, held in August, served as SOCM’s official annual meeting where elections took place for Board officers and at-large delegates and any by-law changes were approved. In fall 2008, the Board decided that because of the growing distance SOCM members had to travel, it was getting increasingly hard to find a place accessible to all members where travel could be done in one day. Therefore, since 2009 SOCM has organized one annual membership gathering, which has been called the Annual Meeting and takes place in rotating locations around the state each fall. The Annual Meeting is a time when the broader membership has an opportunity to influence the yearly priorities of the organization and it has also served as a time for members to further their learning through workshops such as “Finding Economic Solutions in Green-Collar Jobs,” “Media Messaging and Framing,” “Grassroots Fundraising and Membership Recruitment,” “Choices and Challenges in Setting Up the Tennessee Health Insurance Exchange,” “Racial Profiling 101,” and “Making the Commitment to Energy Efficiency,” to name a few.

Running Great Meetings: a Training for SOCM Facilitators and MembersIn 2008, SOCM organizers hosted a series of trainings concerning how to run great meetings. The training techniques were geared toward how to make chapter and committee meetings more effective, participatory, and something everyone wants to come back to. Members seemed to agree that role-playing is a helpful method (acting out a given scenario and thinking on your feet). Members also liked discussing the differences between conventional and participatory meetings.

Direct Action Organizing and Choosing an IssueIn 2009, members focused on learning skills and techniques involved in direct action organizing. Direct action organizing is based on the power of people to take collective action on their own behalf. It’s taking demands right to the source – the power holder, or “target.” Members were able to attend two trainings in 2009 hosted by SOCM organizers, one on direct action organizing and another on choosing an issue. In the first training, members learned the “Fundamental Principles of Direct Action” and the “Six Steps of Direct Action Organizing.” In the second training, members learned about choosing an issue. They focused on the characteristics of a good issue and selecting a good issue around which to organize.

“I’m happy we did these trainings! Being a member of SOCM for a long time, I understand how knowing these skills will help to kick off a local campaign for our chapter,” said Tammy Partin, Bedford County Chapter Member.

Strategies

The tradition of the annual tug-of-war competition continues at each of SOCM’s Annual Meetings. Teams are usually divided by age and the “more-seasoned” team has always won until 2012 when the younger team was victorious.

Strategies

Chat with ChairsIn 2010, SOCM began hosting a series of periodic conference calls for the chairs of SOCM’s chapters and committees as a way for members to get mutual support, trade tips, troubleshoot with one another, and share with each other about the work and issues happening across the state. The training was a follow-up to the “running great meetings” training that was provided in previous years.

Some of the topics covered included: Getting more participation from Chapter/ Committee members, Increasing turnout for meetings, Motivating members to be more active and take on (and complete) tasks, Tips for good meeting facilitation, Drawing out new people and get everyone involved, Defining staff/Chair roles, Developing new leaders/ chairs, and How to keep meeting discussions moving and helping the group make decisions.

Members enjoyed the chat with chairs and saw it as a valuable tool for staying connected with members throughout the state.

One-on-One Trainings: An Intro to Community OrganizingIn 2011 and 2012, SOCM organizers worked with members to strengthen their use of the one-on-one meeting. The One-on-One meeting is the most basic building block of community organizing. There is no way to understand a community, its members, its elected officials, its local government without being a student of the people in it. Decisions that are affecting our communities, our children, our families and our tax dollars are made everyday without our input. In order to be part of the decision-making process, community leaders have to be seated at the table. How do you get a seat at the table? How do we get our concerns heard, and our solutions considered? The One-on-One meeting is designed to get to the root of questions like these, and more. The training challenged members to commit to a regular schedule of conducting one-on-one meetings with the decision-makers in their community.

Jackson member Martha White said her one-on-one conversation with Jackson Police Chief Gill Kendrick was incredibly helpful. “I found out that our interests, as a community organizing group, were basically the same as the police department. They have the same desires for Jackson as we do- less crime, more males involved in the development of young men, etc. His biggest concern is crime, which we are concerned about too,” she said. “He said if there is any way the police department can help, just get in touch with him. We’ll definitely be calling on him again.”

Several SOCM chapters participated in the One-on-One training during 2011 and 2012 and as a result, continue to pursue one-on-one meetings with their local stakeholders and decision makers.

Lobby Day and Legislative TrainingsSOCM often organizes an annual Lobby Day in Nashville to provide SOCM members a legislative training opportunity as well as an opportunity to build relationships with elected officials and educate them on the issues that matter most to SOCM members. In addition to Lobby Day, SOCM works with members to organize one-on-one meetings, in-district meetings, and sets up trainings with lobbyists such as Clifton Stewart who organizes a legislatives skllls training in Nashville each year. The training includes a tour of Legislative Plaza as well as an overview of how the Tennessee General Assembly operates, discussion of the current political and legislative climate in Tennessee, practical tips for lobbying and having effective meetings with elected officials, and a question and answer opportunity.

In 2010, SOCM formed a legislative committee to provide support to members participating in lobbying activities and to help provide strategy for SOCM’s legislative priorities. SOCM also recruited an intern to work with SOCM members to develop a power analysis of the state, a tool that has been helpful in identifying which elected officials should be targeted for visits.

Members attend a lobby training and informational session prior to a full day of meetings with legislators on SOCM’s 2011 Lobby Day.

LitigationThroughout its history, SOCM has participated in lawsuits when it was a strategy of last resort and organizing strategies had reached the end of their effectiveness. Sometimes lawsuits can curb organizing efforts and therefore, whenever possible, SOCM concentrates its energy on building up the organizing capacity of regular people to make change. Below are the lawsuits that SOCM participated in from 2008 through 2012.

National Mining Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: MTR/Clean Water Act Guidance CaseIn June 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued policy documents to coordinate between the three agencies, which are all involved in the permitting and review of mountaintop removal mine projects. The enhanced communication, information-sharing, and coordination between these agencies would lead to a safer and stronger permit review process. As part of this process, the agencies committed to ensure coordinated and stringent environmental reviews of mine permit applications under applicable law, including the Clean Water Act, to engage the public through outreach events in the Appalachian region to help inform the development of federal policy, and to help diversify and strengthen the Appalachian regional economy and promote the health and welfare of Appalachian communities.

In April 2010, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson issued guidance to field staff that refocused them on relevant legal and scientific information to fully assess the damage from potential mountaintop removal mining permits after finding a need to clarify and emphasize the importance of staff following basic legal requirements. Using the best available science and urging compliance with the Clean Water Act, the guidance discussed a range of example benchmarks for pollution and other scientific information relevant to proposed permits, which would help staff measure and prevent significant and irreversible damage to Appalachian watersheds at risk from mining activity, as required by law. The EPA’s independent Science Advisory Board released its draft review of the scientific studies that served as basis for this EPA guidance, expressing support of the EPA’s scientific research and agreeing with EPA’s conclusion that surface mining in Appalachia threatens stream life.

Following the issuance of the guidance, the National Mining Association challenged the guidance and the agencies’ joint permit review process, attempting to block the EPA from exercising its basic Clean Water Act authority to ensure the consideration of important scientific information during the permitting process. In October 2010, SOCM joined with several Appalachian coalfield organizations to intervene on behalf of the EPA to support the EPA’s new Clean Water Act guidance and the agencies’ joint permit review process. In July 2012, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia threw out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s water quality guidance for coal mining in Appalachia. In September 2012, we appealed the decision with our six partners. Our main argument is that the EPA should retain its full legal authority as granted by Congress under the Clean Water Act to continue protecting communities in Appalachia from harmful MTR permits. This case is ongoing.

Jordan Ridge NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit Appeal Intervention In this case, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) issued a permit to National Coal for the Jordan Ridge Refuse Disposal Area with selenium limits. National Coal challenged the permit and TDEC failed to follow through and defend the permit, leaving Jordan Ridge free to discharge unlimited amounts of selenium into a tributary of the New River in upper East Tennessee. SOCM and our partners (Tennessee Clean Water Network, Sierra Club, and United Mountain Defense) attempted to intervene to defend the selenium limits in the permit. Our petition to intervene was denied in April 2012. The judge found that we did not have legal interests, only advocacy interests, and also found that TDEC adequately represents our interest in protecting water quality, a laughable statement to many of our members.

Zeb Mountain NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit Challenge Through the first decade of the 21st century, SOCM members have fought to save Zeb Mountain in Campbell County and the waterways and communities that surround it. Once organizing strategies proved ineffective, the organization joined with partners to file suit to stop the destruction at Zeb.

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In 2002, Robert Clear Coal Corporation applied for a permit to open a 2,000+ acre mine on Zeb Mountain’s three peaks. Just a year after mining began, the Zeb permit was transferred to National Coal. In 2003, the violations began stacking up against operations at Zeb. To draw attention to the violations, SOCM carried out a major media campaign, a 2.5 week Canoe Relay and boat flotilla to carry polluted water from Zeb down the 400 miles of the Cumberland River to a press event in downtown Nashville. The orange colored runoff water was presented to a representative of the governor’s office to remind state officials that Nashville was downstream from Zeb. On April 10, 2006, the federal Office of Surface Mining issued a “pattern of violations” notice to National Coal for seven hydrologic balance regulation violations in the preceding 12 months. In August 2006, after National Coal mined through two headwater streams without a permit, TDEC issued a Stop Work Order that mandated restoration of streams. In 2008, SOCM and other groups worked to oppose the permit renewal at Zeb. Despite our efforts, the permit was renewed and not too long after there was a finding of large amounts of toxic selenium in the water runoff from the permit site. That same year, we took our battle to the courts, filing our first lawsuit against National Coal for discharging toxic selenium from the site without a permit. After years of fighting, SOCM members finally won as a settlement was reached in June 2013 in which National Coal agreed to stop mining operations and to continue reclamation activities at the sites until the area returns to its “natural state.” The decree also requires the company to pay $54,000 to the Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation to acquire approximately 1,800 acres of land for conservation purposes in Campbell County. For the first time, National Coal will be required to comply with selenium limits during the entire duration of its reclamation work.

Clean Water Act Enforcement Suits (Zeb Mountain, Jordan Ridge, and Mine 14) In November 2011, SOCM joined with the Sierra Club and the Tennessee Clean Water Network to file three suits against National Coal, LLC to hold the mining company accountable to pollution limits on two coal mines, Zeb Mountain and Mine 14, and one coal mine waste disposal area, Jordan Ridge. According to the company’s own monitoring, National Coal continually violated legal limits on its selenium discharge into local waterways. Selenium, a toxic element that causes reproductive failure and deformities in fish and other forms of aquatic life, is discharged from many surface coal-mining operations across Appalachia. At very high levels, selenium can pose a risk to human health, causing hair and fingernail loss, kidney and liver damage, and damage to the nervous and circulatory systems. These suits were settled in 2013 along with the Zeb Mountain lawsuit, although no action was taken on Jordan Ridge as it had come under new ownership.

Lahiere-Hill Rock Mining CaseIn 2007, the state of Tennessee filed suit to stop rock harvesting on Cumberland Trail State Park land. The state of Tennessee, like many other surface owners on hundreds of thousands of acres of the Cumberland Plateau, does not own the minerals beneath a section of the Trail in Hamilton County. Minerals are owned by Lahiere-Hill, a large mineral holder in the county, and Lahiere-Hill leased their minerals to a commercial rock harvester to surface mine the state park for rock.

In a shocking decision the Hamilton County judge threw out the state’s case without the case even coming to a hearing. The state appealed to the Eastern Court of Appeals in Knoxville and several groups, including SOCM, filed an amicus brief (“friend of the court”) to support the state’s position that surface mining of rock could not have been intended in the definition of “mineral” in the deed, partly because rock mining in that form destroys the surface. In June 2008 the hearing on the case was held in Knoxville and a surprisingly quick decision was rendered in late July 2008.

The decision was a win for the state and the amicus partners. The Court of Appeals remanded the case back to Hamilton County and provided a clear statement of the basic principle of law that the owner of the mineral rights cannot destroy the surface unless the deed expressly creates that right. Following this victory, Lahiere-Hill still had the option of pursuing the case in trial court in Hamilton County where the case was remanded. In 2010, the state and Lahiere-Hill reached a settlement agreement, foregoing another trial. Per the settlement agreement, the case was resolved by the state’s purchase of certain mineral rights from Lahiere-Hill, in the Soddy Creek section and in the North Chickamauga Creek State Natural Area outside Chattanooga. This will help protect forests, streams, wildlife habitat, and the recreation experience in these parklands. In the end, the settlement between the state and Lahiere-Hill has resulted in a better outcome for the Soddy Creek section than could have been achieved at a trial.

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CommunicationsTo build our presence and keep our members informed every step of the way, we have increased both our internal (staff, members, allies, leadership) and external (media, general public) communications efforts since 2008. Stronger communications strategies can lead to more media coverage, more members, more allies, increased levels of engagement, stronger grassroots fundraising outcomes, and more. Because stronger communications can impact every level of SOCM, a full-time Communications Director was hired at the beginning of 2010 as apart of SOCM’s five-year strategic plan.

Through strategic planning, members identified strengthened communications capacity as a tool needed to help SOCM build statewide power and win big. Part of strengthened communications includes developing a rapid communication capacity. Therefore, in addition to the quarterly, printed SOCM Sentinel, in 2010, we started a statewide electronic newsletter. This newsletter also serves as a recruitment tool since anyone can join the email list to stay informed on our work. Each issue of the E-News features important updates on statewide committee work and highlights ongoing chapter work. Additionally, the E-News also serves as a reminder for upcoming events (both SOCM and related), features pictures and stories from members, includes calls to action, and showcases the extraordinary work SOCM members are doing in their communities. In between regularly-scheduled E-Newsletters, e-mailed Action Alerts have been successful in activating members to take quick action on issues.

We have also increased our online presence using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to share SOCM’s work with the world and be in constant contact with our members and friends. Our social media presence has grown exponentially since we started in 2008 and we have found new innovative ways to use social media to further our issue work.

In addition to our online engagement, in 2010, we started to create new membership materials to be used for member education and outreach including one-page handouts for each of SOCM’s committees and chapters, a new membership brochure, and a member handbook designed to introduce new members to SOCM and the benefits that come from membership. In 2012, we translated those documents into Spanish.

Members Tell SOCM’s StoryAll of these efforts have helped SOCM create a unified look - central to which is our members. In 2009, SOCM member and photographer Karen Kasmauski was awarded a Getty Images Grants for Good award and spent several months documenting SOCM members’ stories through photographs and videos. “I wanted to show the often quiet process of change at the grassroots level,” she said. “I wanted to show the long-term commitment those in the organization make in the interest of securing social change.” Her photographs have adorned our publications and her video has been used to introduce SOCM and its history to new members and the public.

In 2012, SOCM’s communications director expanded on the project for SOCM’s 40th Anniversary by recording interviews with members from across the state asking them questions like “what is your favorite SOCM memory” and “what keeps you involved in SOCM after all these years.”

Projects like these are great examples of how, as a member-run organization, SOCM’s story is best told by its members.

Using Communications in Organizing EffortsOften times, communications tools can be very effective in jumpstarting campaigns. For instance, in January 2012, SOCM’s E3 Committee was alerted to a large volume spill of black water (a by-product of coal processing) into the New River from a processing plant near Devonia in Anderson County. The Baldwin Processing Plant did not self-report the spill to the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) or Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) as required by law. After investigating the spill first-hand, the E3 Committee issued a press release which was quickly picked up by the media and subsequently prompted an official statement from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Without the efforts of local citizens who reported the spill (estimated at 1.4 million gallons) and SOCM’s public notification, this devastating blunder may have gone unnoticed.

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Later that year, the Green Collar Jobs Committee gained some momentum in its effort to educate people on how to reduce energy consumption. To show that small changes in a household’s energy consumption could make a difference, the committee launched a “share your energy story” campaign in which SOCM members were asked to send in examples of how they reduce their consumption. Stories were featured in the E-Newsletter, SOCM Sentinel, and on the website. Members sent in stories about simple changes like installing a programmable thermostat to using solar panels to power an entire house! It was a great way for members to be engaged in Green Collar Jobs work and to learn from each other.

We have also been successful in using our website to make it easier for members to communicate with us and decision makers. For instance, in 2010, we started using online surveys for members to give input on issues that SOCM works on. The following year, we expanded our use of the website by making it possible for members to easily take action with the click of a button. When members want to send in public comments or email a decision-maker in response to an action alert, form letters can now be found on the SOCM website and members can send an email directly from the site just by filling out a few blanks and clicking “submit.” Members have used this tool to contact state officials, including the governor, and lend their signatures to petitions.

Communications TrainingsTraining members to do media work is key to SOCM’s success. Members are encouraged to be spokespeople and build relationships with their local reporters. On July 31, 2010, SOCM and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) hosted a Communications Exchange in Campbellsville, Ky., to share lessons learned from rewarding media campaigns and communications outreach. The exchange was made possible with the support of the Community Media Organizing Project (discussed further under “Coalitions”).

In 2009, members in the Jackson Chapter sought communications training support from SOCM member and former editor of the Lafollette Press, Boomer Winfrey, in an effort to take their East Jackson campaign to the next level. The lack of government support to rebuild East Jackson (a predominately black, working class neighborhood) after the 2003 tornados sent SOCM members into action. In addition to holding community meetings and putting pressure on city officials, members built relationships with the local paper, The Jackson Sun, which wrote a series of editorials urging the City to send funds to East Jackson, including one titled “Want answers from City Hall? Just SOCM.” SOCM members kept The Sun informed throughout the process prompting several well-placed and in-depth articles. Thanks to the efforts of members, the paper was not fooled when others tried to claim credit for getting the Community Redevelopment Agency to include East Jackson in its plans and recognized SOCM as the driving force behind the decision. Members were happy with the media attention in their local paper but wanted to explored how to take the campaign to the next level in their efforts to influence decision-makers so Jackson Chapter members called in Boomer to help step up their media efforts. Boomer conducted a spokesperson training where the group learned about how to give interviews and decided on talking points and a unified message. To communicate the new message and test their spokesperson skills, member Billy Moore appeared on a local radio talk show called “Community Feedback” and joined Martha White on the local PBS station’s “Newsmakers” program. Throughout the experience, SOCM members in Jackson discovered how the media can be an important ally. In 2012, they partnered with Radio Rasheed, a DJ for 96 Kix, to participate in the station’s Anti-Crime Block Parties. It was a great opportunity to spread the word about SOCM, recruit new members, and register people to vote.

Adding a Communications Director to the staff has helped our visibility, outreach, and media presence. It has also allowed for additional guidance and leadership development opportunities for members interested in communications or needing help framing messages, speaking to the media, writing editorials, or producing press releases.

Jackson Chapter member Fred Jones talks with KFTC’s Communications Associate Tim Buckingham at the Communications Exchange in Campbellsville, Ky., in 2010.

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Coalition WorkThe Alliance for AppalachiaIn 2007, SOCM became a founding member of the Alliance for Appalachia. SOCM members are heavily involved with Alliance work and represent SOCM well in leadership positions. From 2007-2010, the Allliance took on a a federal-level campaign to pass the Clean Water Protection Act and fought permits for new strip mines. One of its largest victories came when the Obama Administration released the “Interagency Action Plan to Address Strip Mining in Central Appalachia,” which resulted in the suspension of 86 permit applications, 79 of which were held for further review. Since 2009, the Alliance has offered trainings to build up our region by addressing economic transition opportunities, building community leaders, and using our collective resources to paint a clearer picture of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of destructive mining practices in Appalachia. Every year, SOCM members help organize and lead these trainings, which includes the annual “Week in Washington” lobby trip.

American Clean Energy AgendaFormerly referred to as Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now (CLEAN)Initiated by the Civil Society Institute (CSI) and the Environmental Working Group, and endorsed by 120 organizations around the country representing 2 million Americans, the American Clean Energy Agenda (released on June 22, 2012) calls for a number of bold steps to move the U.S. toward a clean, safe energy future. By signing on, SOCM agreed to a platform of nine principles that support a renewable energy future. CSI has used this platform to lobby for change in the federal government’s attitude on energy and bring the platform into the national conversation.

Appalachia RisingAppalachia Rising began as a mass mobilization in Washington, DC in September 2010 calling for the abolition of mountaintop removal and surface mining. Since then, Appalachia Rising has been hosting trainings and direct action events in Washington, DC, at regional EPA Headquarters, at banks which fund mountaintop removal mining, and more. SOCM members regularly attend and often help to plan these events.

Citizens Coal Ash Hearing CommitteeThe Citizens Coal Ash Hearing Committee formed in response to the 2008 Kingston Coal Ash spill in Roane County, Tenn., where 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge spilled into the Emory River and neighboring communities. Organizations that joined SOCM in the Committee were the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Tennessee Clean Water Network, Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, Roane County Concerned Citizens’ Group, Tennessee Environmental Council, Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light, Cumberland Stewards, United Mountain Defense, and the Scott County Environmental Coalition. After the EPA announced it would host seven public hearings on coal ash regulations, but omitted Tennessee (the site of the nation’s largest coal ash disaster), the Committee hosted a People’s Hearing on Sept. 2, 2010. Following input from Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander and the hightened attention brought by the People’s Hearing, the EPA decided to host an official Public Hearing in Knoxville on Oct. 27, 2011.

Several SOCM members attended the Alliance for Appalachia’s Leader Training in 2010.

Member Carol Judy at an Appalachia Rising Rally in Washington, DC in 2010.

(l-r) Members Melody Reeves and Noel Johnson review materials with trainer Tomas Aguilar at the 2010 CMOP Annual Training.

SOCM members participate in a rally on the University of Tennessee campus in 2010 organized by United Campus Workers and Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee.

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Strategies

E3 Committee member Megan Spooner comments on the proposed regulations for fracking at a TDEC meeting in Knoxville in July 2012.

In August 2011, concerned citizens protested the 40-year-old (zombie) nuclear reactors at TVA’s Bellefonte Nuclear Facility in Northeast Alabama.

SOCM intern and Knoxville Climate Action Team member Jack McNelis gathers signature for a petition to TVA to increase energy efficiency measures in August 2012.

Community Media Organizing Project (CMOP)CMOP was started by grassroots community organizing groups in the southeast who wanted to learn more about how to use communications to strengthen their issue work. Between 2008 and 2012, members of CMOP included 9to5 Atlanta Working Women (Ga.), Community Farm Alliance (Ky.), Federation of Childcare Centers of Alabama (FOCAL), Friends and Families of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), Greater Birmingham Ministries (Ala.), and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC). Each year, CMOP hosts an Annual Training and provides opportunities for communications support.

Equal Voice for America’s FamilyAn initiative started by the Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF), the Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign brought together tens of thousands of low-income families to create a national platform of values and policy suggestions in anticipation of the 2008 general elections. Through national conventions, surveys, conversations, town hall meetings, and support from MCF grantees such as SOCM, Equal Voice has been able to start a national conversation on issues that affect regular families in our country and build a movement to advocate for change. SOCM members have been a part of this initiative by filling out surveys, participating in conversations, and have even been featured several times in the Equal Voice national newsletter.

Jobs with Justice of East TennesseeJobs with Justice is a national network of local coalitions that brings together labor unions, faith groups, community organizations, and student activists to fight for working people. Many members are involved in the fight for good jobs and living wages through their work with SOCM and Jobs with Justice. SOCM regularly co-sponsors rallies, marches, demonstrations and educational opportunities in coalition with Jobs with Justice and other groups concerned with social and economic justice in Tennessee. We have also lobbied with Jobs with Justice, most notably helping to defeat an anti-living wage bill in 2009.

Scenic Vistas Protection Act CoalitionEach legislative session from 2008 to 2012, SOCM lobbied for the Scenic Vistas Protection Act (SVPA) which would curb mountaintop removal coal mining by putting regulations in place regarding water and prohibiting mining operations disturbing the ridge lines above 2,000 feet. LEAF (Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship) wrote the bill and led the coalition whose efforts included lobbying, media attention, letters to the editors of newspapers across the state (some by very prominent and well-known Tennesseans), awareness events, and more. In 2012, SVPA became the first anti-mountaintop removal bill in the country to make it to the senate floor for a vote, though it was defeated.

Tennessee Health Care Campaign (THCC)Access to affordable and adequate healthcare is an issue that has been on the minds of members since SOCM’s founding in 1972. These days, we work with THCC, the state’s premier nonprofit consumer health care advocacy group and a leader in the health care justice movement. We collaborate with THCC by supporting its Local Organizing Groups (LOGs), spreading the word about educational opportunities and action alerts, and supporting lobbying efforts, when applicable.

Jackson residents Chris and Emory Rose were facing $1,000/month premium for health insurance, which was not an option, after losing their jobs in 2009.

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Tennessee Healthy Energy Campaign (THE Campaign)THE Campaign is a statewide effort to increase awareness about energy efficiency and the importance of pursuing sensible, cost-effective, planet-friendly ways of meeting our energy needs. The campaign includes a team of activists across the state who help encourage their communities to become more energy efficient, while working to pressure TVA to set a 1% annual energy efficiency target and invest in efficiency. Many SOCM members are serving on the Tennessee Climate Action Team (TCAT) and we have collaborated with THE Campaign on events and strategies. Campaign partners include SOCM, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Tennessee Alliance for Progress, the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Tennessee Environmental Council, and the Tennessee Solar Energy Association.

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)TIRRC is a statewide, immigrant and refugee-led collaboration whose mission is to empower immigrants and refugees throughout Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights, and create an atmosphere in which they are recognized as positive contributors to the state. The SOCM Board officially approved SOCM’s membership in TIRRC in January 2010. Since then, members have attended TIRRC lobbying events such as “New American Day on the Hill,” in Nashville and “March for America,” in Washington, DC. We’ve also fought a proposed bill that requires tests for driver’s licenses to be available only in English, known as the “English-only bill” in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Tennessee Oil and Gas GroupOver the past two years, members of SOCM’s E3 Committee have worked together with members of the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and Tennessee Clean Water Network to advocate for strong rules that would protect Tennessee’s drinking water supplies from oil and gas drilling operations such as hydrofracking. Member groups collaborated on proposed rules and regulations for fracking in Tennessee, which were ultimately dismissed by the Water Quality, Oil and Gas Board in 2012. They also coordinate action to fight unsafe oil and gas extraction.

Tennesseans for Fair Taxation (TFT)TFT is a Tennessee coalition of about 30 organizations working to change the state’s regressive state tax structure, which relies on the highest sales tax in the country, including high sales tax on food and no income tax. SOCM has been a TFT member since 1991. Most notably, since 2009, TFT has been fighting a proposed constitutional amendment outlawing an income tax and have been successful in delaying it a few times. However, the measure is expected to be voted on in 2014.

Other CoalitionsSOCM has a long history of working with other organizations that share our issues, values, and concerns. For instance, the Cumberland County, Jackson, Maury County, and Knoxville Chapters regularly participate in their local Martin Luther King, Jr., Day celebration activities often hosted by MLK organizations and local NAACP chapters. We also co-host events such as movie screenings, fundraisers, and direct actions with other groups, including student organizations at area campuses, working on similar issues. In August 2011, SOCM members, in coalition with public interest organizations, United Mountain Defense, and concerned citizens dedicated to healthy and sustainable valley communities, gathered in Knoxville dressed as zombies to protest a TVA Board meeting in which a proposal to restart construction of the nearly 40-year-old nuclear reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Facility in northeast Alabama was on the agenda.

With our large, diverse, and knowledgeable membership, sometimes it is in SOCM’s best interest to support campaigns fighting a particular aspect of an issue we work on. In August 2012, SOCM signed on to two campaigns that are working to hinder the coal industry’s ability to access capital and are holding financial institutions that provide that capital accountable. SOCM became an official supporter of the Hands Off Appalachia! Campaign, a U.S.-based campaign demanding Swiss financial group, UBS AG, change their official policy and stop financing, supporting, and advising companies that engage in mountaintop removal mining. At the same time, SOCM joined the National Coal Divestment Coalition which called on colleges and universities, pension funds, banks, and all other investors to divest from the coal industry.

We recognize that working together and learning from each other is key to building a better Tennessee. That is why we take our coalitional work very seriously and will continue to seek out and nurture those relationships.

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Members old and new came to together in the fall of 2012, as SOCM celebrated its 40th year of fighting for social, economic, and environmental justice in Tennessee. On May 25, 1972, SOCM’s founding members signed the state charter formally establishing SOCM as a community organization. We celebrated this anniversary throughout the year that followed with birthday parties held by members, statewide events,

a fundraising campaign, and a commemorative journal that included stories from members and congratulatory ads from sister groups.

Our normal two-day Annual Meeting and Membership Retreat was shortened in 2012 to allow for time to celebrate SOCM’s 40th birthday. On October 20, 2012, at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill, members conducted their annual business of electing Board members and setting priorities in the morning then walked over to the Conference Lodge and enjoyed an afternoon of music, storytelling, games, and reminiscing with friends. Members were able to pick up some vintage SOCM gear like t-shirts and mugs, browse through old SOCM Sentinels and photo albums, outbid each other on donated silent auction items, and create a visual timeline by captioning pictures and sharing their favorite memories.

Longtime member Boomer Winfrey moderated the afternoon celebration, calling members up on stage to share their favorite memories, and sharing a few fun SOCM stories of his own. SOCM member Kelle Jolly and her husband Will Boyd traveled from Knoxville to start the afternoon off with some inspiring protest music mixed in with some jazz and some of our favorite sing-a-longs. After lunch, attendees were treated to a video montage of SOCM members telling their favorite stories, recalling big wins, and sharing their motivation that keeps them involved in SOCM.

While planning the celebration, the 40th Anniversary Committee called attention to the idea of bringing in an outside source to talk about the impact SOCM has had on Tennessee throughout the last four decades. The group decided to invite Sandra Goss, executive director of Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP), to be the keynote speaker. Sandra and TCWP have a long history of working with SOCM and it was nice to hear how SOCM members and TCWP members bonded and worked so smoothly together on certain campaigns throughout the years. Many times during her speech, Sandra mentioned that several wins on campaigns that TCWP fought for would not have been possible without SOCM’s support. Following the annual tug-of-war competition and some more storytelling, a Cookeville-based band called Carissia and Company performed their “Live Music in America” act which featured music from nearly every genre in the history of American music and really got people up and moving. The

SOCM Celebrates 40

David and Beckey Beaty look through photo albums at SOCM’s 40th Anniversary Celebration. Captioning photos was a popular activity that afternoon, sparking fun memories and great stories.

Kelle Jolly and Will Boyd performing at the 40th Anniversary Celebration.

SOCM Celebrates 40

band’s performance was inspiring and turned out to be a great way to cap off the day. The 40th Anniversary Celebration was a wonderful event thanks to the hard work of many dedicated members and staff.

In the spirit of telling stories and sharing memories, a 40th Anniversary Commemorative Journal was produced, filled with SOCM history, member stories and pictures. The Journal also gave sister organizations, non-profits, businesses, and supporters the opportunity to purchase ads to wish SOCM a happy anniversary and advertise their company or organization.

To collect stories, we put a call out to all SOCM members and friends and we received several entries from members expressing their love of SOCM and appreciation for the work they were able to do through SOCM in their communities. We also heard stories of how people first became involved in SOCM and what keeps them coming to meetings and events. Several longtime members shared concerns about what Tennessee would look like if SOCM weren’t still around after all these years. “We had some big wins that are continually being threatened,” one member said. “If SOCM isn’t here to keep an

eye out, we might go back to the way things were before.”

While the events on October 20, 2012 and the Commemorative Journal are great opportunities to look back on the last 40 years, members are excited to look forward to the next 40 years. In order to sustain SOCM for 40 more years, an aggressive fundraising campaign was launched at the celebration in the fall.

Several SOCM members joined the 40th Anniversary Fundraising Team to help SOCM reach a campaign goal of raising $160,000. During the last half of 2012, the team, headed by former staffers Maureen O’Connell and Peggy Mathews, met several times to plan the fundraising campaign which included sending out a letter to all members, conducting follow-up calls, securing matching gifts, and more.

SOCM is fortunate to have dedicated members willing to help SOCM carry out successful grassroots fundraising campaigns. SOCM’s staff and leadership have long recognized that membership development, fundraising, and programmatic work are inextricably linked. The more members and the more resources SOCM has, the stronger and more effective it will be as a force for social, economic and environmental justice in the state. And the stronger and more effective SOCM is, the more it can attract new members and resources. Equally important, having a strong grassroots fundraising base means that the organization can be truly accountable to its members and constituents and need to rely less on foundation and other funding. SOCM will continue to work towards the goals of increasing, diversifying and strengthening our fundraising efforts. New and old SOCM merchandise was on display and for sale at

the 40th Anniversary Celebration.

Peggy Mathews and Johnny L. Farris display the 40th Anniversary SOCM quilt auctioned off at the celebration.

Financial Report

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 5 Year Totals

INCOME Foundation Grants 268,310 325,757 358,846 441,403 251,339 1,645,655 Historically Raised/Reserves 70,571 12,659 43,375 214,793 341,398 Dues 13,999 12,741 10,150 7,712 5,029 49,631 Donations 131,197 100,748 199,040 29,014 29,946 489,945 Fundraising Events 17,555 11,258 8,022 13,881 14,980 65,696 Community Shares 12,898 13,113 9,655 7,441 5,734 48,841 Other Income Sources 380 377 8,912 9,105 22,135 40,909 Investment Income 19,097 12,940 10,035 9,967 22,414 74,452 TOTAL INCOME RAISED 463,436 547,505 617,319 561,898 566,370 2,756,528

EXPENSES Salary and Fringe Benefits 330,374 363,763 449,591 409,899 436,932 1,990,559 Consultants 7,053 32,681 9,988 6,059 7,699 63,480 Training 21,436 30,724 30,086 20,984 15,656 118,886 Travel 25,320 32,889 30,468 23,002 20,110 131,788 Rent, Utilities, Cleaning 19,215 22,750 25,102 36,443 34,103 137,613 Consumable Supplies 13,271 16,887 18,323 16,514 9,424 74,420 Telephone 11,255 14,605 12,768 12,777 7,609 59,014 Communications/Website/Media 763 2,279 1,857 2,569 2,963 10,431 Postage & Shipping 9,027 9,419 9,278 6,534 6,954 41,212 Equipment Expense 8,734 6,431 8,589 7,723 5,509 36,985 Printing 2,713 4,664 8,539 4,308 5,439 25,662 Administration/Management 4,316 3,812 4,724 1,968 6,511 21,331 Community Shares Dues 2,367 2,188 1,568 1,681 1,400 9,204 Fundraising 2,362 2,033 2,822 7,143 3,142 17,501 Lobby Day 1,124 1,541 2,572 3,219 2,214 10,670 Publications 942 514 475 393 259 2,583 Legal 318 325 331 444 371 1,789 Coalitional Memberships 100 0 240 240 75 655 TOTAL EXPENSES 460,689 547,505 617,319 561,899 566,370 2,753,783

2008 - 2012 Financial Report

Financial Report

Jan -‐‑ Dec 2008 Jan -‐‑ Dec 2009 Jan -‐‑ Dec 2010 Jan -‐‑ Dec 2011 Jan -‐‑ Dec 2012 TOTAL

INCOME Historically Raised/Reserves

70,571 12,659 43,375 214,793 341,398

Dues 13,999 12,741 10,150 7,712 5,029 49,631 Major Gifts 124,127 93,312 192,230 11,407 19,197 440,273 Chapters 4,219 1,783 589 2,415 2,518 11,524 Direct Mail 7,070 7,436 6,810 15,807 9,096 46,219 Events 13,336 9,475 7,433 11,466 12,462 54,172 Community Shares 12,898 13,113 9,655 7,441 5,734 48,841 Other Efforts 19,477 13,317 18,947 20,872 46,202 118,815 TOTAL INCOME RAISED

195,126 221,748 258,473 120,496 315,031 1,110,874

Aerial SprayingAnne BrownJames BrownMike CrewsSharon CriswellBurless DavisPeggy DavisBarry EisonMurray HudsonEllen KovalskyCarla KellumJane McPeakTy LefflerSuzanne NovakJack SigmonJanice SigmonGeorge SmithMarvene TwisdaleWayford WashburnRebecca WassonNelda ScottHoward WhiteMartha White

Anti-RacismSadie HillTupper MoreheadFranz RaetzerTodd SheltonHoward WhiteMartha WhiteGinny WiedemannCathie BirdTaloni LeeSammie JacksonRuth JacksonPeaches GoodmanMillicent BlackByanker ColeRev. Joe HuntNelvia HuntTammy PartinJoe Hunt

E3 – Energy, Ecology, Environmental. Justice (former Strip Mine Issues Committee)David BeatyCathie BirdJ. W. BradleyLilian BrooksJean CheelyRoger DownsDavid HardemanWanda HodgeAnn LeagueVickie TerryLandon MedleyYvonne SeperichEllen SmithAnnetta WatsonElla WillifordFranz RaetzerLeith PattonMegan SpoonerBrian PaddockNora LimonPatrick MoralesChanda TaylorLouise GorenfloLynnea Sedrel-DonaiHolly HayworthBill Hofmeister

ExecutiveNoel JohnsonEllen MartinAnn LeagueJohnny FarrisPolly MurphyRich HenighanAlicia WrightTammy PartinHoward WhiteFranz Raetzer

Below are members who have served on SOCM issue and internal committees between 2008 and 2012. Committees plan and run SOCM’s statewide issue campaigns as well as oversee internal functions as delegated by the Board.

FinanceDavid BeatyRich HenighanBob LuxmooreFranz RaetzerCandace BoydJoyce SchmidlinNelda ScottHoward WhiteGinny WiedemannJon JonakinDon O’Dell

Green Collar JobsDavid BeatyMark CriswellJoe PartinRyan WishartMillicent BlackMichael ChesterMarie CirilloSamantha HensleyTupper MoreheadBobby ClarkPeggy MathewsSusan WilliamsVickie TerryLinda DesmondNelda ScottDanny GibbsShannon GibbsLuis SweeneySadie HillJohnny SmithNoel JohnsonRuth JacksonSammie JacksonCassandra FarrisJohnny FarrisRoberta DobbinsLouise GorenfloRick HeldJon JonakinFranz RaetzerLauren BushHenry Stokes

LegislativeBrian PaddockDon ClarkMichael ChesterJohnny FarrisManuel MesaLinda DesmondLandon MedleyMurray HudsonMary MastinMarilyn MorganJames TheusFrances ScribnerTupper Morehead

PersonnelMarvin EllisMarg EllisEllen MartinTodd SheltonMargie TaulbeeNoel JohnsonCassie WattersPeggy MathewsCassandra FarrisWanda HodgeRev. Clarence Currie

Strategic PlanningRoberta DobbinsBarry EisonCassandra FarrisJohnny FarrisMurray HudsonNoel JohnsonBob LuxmooreBill NaumannSuzette NovakTodd SheltonNelda ScottVickie ValdenHoward WhiteMartha WhiteGinny WiedermannBoomer Winfrey

Board — Committees — St�aff

Board — Committees — St�aff

Board of DirectorsPresident� – Ellen Martin, Noel JohnsonVice President� – Ann League, Noel Johnson, Johnny FarrisSecretary – Polly Murphy, Rich Henighan, Alicia WrightTreasurer – Howard White, Franz RaetzerBedford Rep. – Noel Johnson, Joe Partin, Antonio Perez, Sarah White, Tammy PartinBledsoe Rep. – Roger DownsCampbell/Anderson Rep. – Mary Ann Graves, Cathie BirdCumberland Rep. – Bill Naumann, Linda Desmond, Jean CheelyJackson Rep. – Sammie Jackson, Howard White Knoxville Rep. – Steven GreerMaury Rep. – Rev. Danny Gibbs, Roberta Dobbins, Michael Chester, Larry PattonRoaring River Rep. – Leith Patton, Nova LandAt-Large Rep. – Polly Murphy, David Beaty, Suzette Novak, Johnny Farris, Tammy Partin, Nora Lìmon, Patrick Morales, Kim Mays

StaffAlex Moir, OrganizerAmelia Parker, Executive DirectorAmy Anderson, OrganizerAndrea Van Gunst, OrganizerAnn League, OrganizerBrad Wright, OrganizerCasey Self, Communications DirectorCassie Watters, Lead Organizer/Asst. DirectorChris Hill, OrganizerChristina Honkonen, Communications & IT DirectorFran Day, Development DirectorHenry Jones, OrganizerJennie Caissie, Development DirectorKathy Nix, Office ManagerKatie Greer, OrganizerKazi Wilkins, Organizing DirectorLauren McGrath, OrganizerLinda Cowan, Finance Director and Major Gifts OfficerMaureen O’Connell, Executive DirectorMaurice Muhammad, OrganizerMonica Kimball, OrganizerParker Laubach, OrganizerRandy Knighten, OrganizerRochelle Ziyad, OrganizerStacey Mitchell, Organizer

Board and staff members at the March 2010 Board Meeting.

Staff members on a staff retreat at Highlander Center in May 2012.

SOCM organizers in summer 2009.

Our Process for Choosing a New SOCM Logo

2507 Mineral Springs Ave., Suite DKnoxville, TN 37917Phone: 865-249-7488

Fax: 865-851-9761www.socm.org

2008-2012 annual report: the transformation years

Documents

people of tennessee

socm members

mission of socm

people of diverse backgrounds

community action

racism transformation

leadership development

good jobs