Sierra Club Board of Directors Election! The national Sierra Club Board of Directors consists of 15 members; 5 Directors are elected each year for 3 year terms. The mailed ballots are currently arriving in our postal or email boxes. Completed ballots must be received by National by Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at noon (Eastern Time) to be counted. If you vote online, please do not also send in your paper ballot. The Tennessee Chapter recommends a vote for Nancy Muse, Igor A. Tregub, Nathan Chan, Chad Hanson and Cynthia Hoyle in the upcoming election for the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors.
TVA names new CEO amid lawmaker scrutiny, board shakeup. "The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors selected Don Moul to serve as president and chief executive officer starting April 9. He is the fourth CEO in the agency's history...Moul has served as TVA's executive vice president and chief operating officer since June 2021." Read more by Kaitlin Riordan - WBIR - March 31, 2025.
Developer-backed bill would mean less oversight for failing sewer systems in Tennessee. "State inspectors recently found half of the state's 360 active rural sewage systems were out of compliance, with some allowing partially treated sewage to flow into surrounding yards, rivers and streams." Bill SB564 / HB803, sponsored by Senator Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, would put more responsibility on developers to fix broken systems. Cris Corley explained, "It's basically taking local government authority out of the equation and putting it in the hands of developers." Read more by Ben Hall - News Channel 5 Nashville - March 25, 2025.
Chattanooga becomes North America's 1st National Park City. On April 3rd, Chattanooga proudly received confirmation from the National Park City Foundation that their application has been approved—officially making it the first National Park City in North America!
Citizens' nickels helped create Great Smokies National Park. It needs us again. | Opinion. "A century ago, the great-grandparents of Tennessee citizens sent nickels to their state governments to buy land for a national park. The mountains were devastated by timber harvest, and leaders in Knoxville knew that the prestige of a national park would bring tourists and a new economy to the region. And it did." But now the park has seen illegal, indiscriminate firing of NPS employees. "Citizens of Tennessee, we urge you to act now before this treasure – a gift, given to you by your ancestors – is destroyed by an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk." Read more by Margaret Lynn Brown and Kris Johnson, Guest columnists - Knoxville News Sentinel - March 8, 2025.
Sunset in Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo credit: LaRae Thornton via Pixabay, February 2023.
Sierra Club Members Join Allies for a Rousing Conservation Day on the Hill
By Kent Minault and Jerry Thornton
This year Conservation Day on the Hill in Nashville more than doubled its level of action over preceding years. One hundred twenty advocates engaged with 85 legislators from across the state. A big part of the surge in activity came from our collaboration with the Tennessee Environmental Council. Powerful voices from the Harpeth Conservancy and Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light reinforced the unmistakable point: the voice for the environment spoke forcefully and articulately, focusing on three bills of key importance.
Of course, we don’t know if our advocacy will prevail, but we are acutely aware of the dramatic increase in our numbers and the swelling presence of younger activists, including about 20 students from Templeton Academy in Nashville.
Finally, the day also featured another first, a mini-film festival which persuasively advocated for our stands on the three pieces of legislation. So, lots of gratitude to Jeffrey Barrie, Maris Masellis, and all the great new people who made Conservation Day on the Hill such a success. Our movement has a higher profile because of their great organizing work.
Nancy Bell and Dan Firth wrap up a group conversation with District 3 Senator Rusty Crowe at Conservation Day on the Hill on February 25, 2025. Photo credit: Todd Waterman.
Environmental Updates
TN Gov. Bill Lee has a bold conservation agenda. These bills would undermine it. | Opinion. "During his Feb. 10 State of the State address, Gov. Bill Lee outlined a bold conservation strategy. He proposed investments to protect the Duck River alongside legislation to curb Tennessee’s rapid loss of farmland. While I am grateful for Governor Lee’s proposals, I worry that other legislation presently pending in the Tennessee legislature will undermine his efforts." Read more by George Nolan - The Tennessean - March 9, 2025.
Sixth Circuit greenlights [Cumberland] pipeline in Tennessee. "A three-judge panel dismissed a pair of petitions filed by environmental groups that claimed state and federal environmental officials failed to adequately assess risks with the project." Read more by Joe Harris - Courthouse News - April 4, 2025.
122-mile pipeline expansion through East Tennessee approved. "A 122-mile natural gas pipeline expansion cutting through East Tennessee has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Ridgeline pipeline will stretch from Smith County to the TVA’s Kingston power plant, which is in the process of moving from coal to natural gas. Construction is set to begin this fall and be completed Fall 2026." Read more by Hannah Moore - WATE - April 4, 2025.
Trump fires TVA board member one week after Blackburn, Hagerty attacked utility leadership. "President Donald Trump fired Michelle Moore from the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors on March 27, according to a March 28 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The termination came exactly one week after Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty wrote a scathing op-ed targeting the TVA board and calling for the Trump administration to replace them. The firing of a Biden nominee who leads a nonprofit organization that champions solar energy was more transparently partisan than Trump's termination of two TVA board members during his first term over outsourcing of IT jobs." Read more by Daniel Dassow - Knoxville News Sentinel - March 28, 2025.
Demonstrators in Knoxville at the nationwide Hands Off! protest on April 5th, 2025. Kent Minault (in green shirt), Tennessee Chapter Transportation Chair, attended the event. Photo credit: Todd Waterman.
Health & Justice
Tennessee bill would expand weed-killer manufacturers’ legal immunity. "A Republican-backed bill that passed Tennessee’s Senate Judiciary Committee Monday would give pesticide and herbicide companies such as Bayer, the owner of Roundup, broader protection from lawsuits. Senate Bill 527, sponsored by Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon, would provide legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers as long as their federally-approved label doesn’t warn of a disease." Read more by Sam Stockard - Tennessee Lookout - March 25, 2025. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE (Good news!): THIS BILL WAS DEFEATED FOR 2025. Rolled to 2026.
Tennessee Senate OKs bill to hold charities liable for aiding immigrants who later commit crime. "The proposed legislation applies to Tennessee charities and churches that knowingly provide long term housing aid to individuals without legal status, including the act of providing assistance in obtaining or signing a lease. Faith leaders have criticized the legislation as a violation of their religious freedom." Read more by Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout - April 3, 2025.
Vexed by judicial restraints on Trump, U.S. Senate GOP floats bill to undermine courts. "Amid dozens of injunctions placed against the Trump administration, Republicans on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary discussed a bill Wednesday to curb the nationwide effects of those orders from federal judges. The bill, sponsored by GOP Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who leads the committee, would prohibit district court judges from issuing injunctions that have nationwide effects." Read more by Ariana Figueroa - Tennessee Lookout - April 3, 2025.
Trump’s EPA is at war with the Americans it is supposed to protect. "With last week’s move by the EPA, it is sadly ironic that the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine science, common sense, climate resilience, and public health are coming to a crescendo – so far – right as the world turns its attention to the necessity of environmental protection. Americans will not take these attacks lying down. We are — and will keep – fighting back." Read more by Ben Jealous, Sierra Club Executive Director - Tennessee Tribune - March 15, 2025.
Bill to bar certain immigrant kids from Tennessee public schools advances in Senate. "A Tennessee Republican leading the effort to exclude some immigrant children from public schools has refused to rule out the possibility his bill could also force educators to report students to U.S. immigration authorities. Sen. Bo Watson, a Republican from Hixson, is cosponsoring the legislation to require immigration status checks of every student at each one of Tennessee’s more than 1700 K-12 public and charter schools." Read more by Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout - April 2, 2025.
On Sunday, March 30th, 2025 hundreds of Tennesseans gathered at the Education for All rally in Chattanooga. Photo credit: Chattanooga in Action for Love, Equality, and Benevolence ( CALEB).
In Memory
Mary Headrick, Goodbye
By Todd Waterman, Harvey Broome Group (HBG)
With the sudden death in February of our beloved Mary Headrick, we have lost an indomitable champion for Harvey Broome Group and for the climate. Mary was a physician and a formidable health care advocate, an ORNL computer scientist and mathemitician, and a passionate opponent of methane gas fracking together along with her beloved husband, retired NOAA environmental physicist Detlef Matt, who preceded her in death.
Mary showed up for everything, for everyone, with her heart and mind wide open. She served on the boards of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, American College of Physicians Tennessee Chapter, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, SOCM, and HBG. She hand-wrote welcome cards to every new HBG member. And, she mounted two rousing, if unsuccessful, campaigns to replace U.S. 3rd District Representative Chuck Fleischmann. Her top campaign issues were compassionate healthcare and revolutionary climate policy.
Years ago Mary recounted to me how she had uncharacteristically fallen behind on a hike while carrying her newborn child. Suddenly, she looked up to see a large black bear standing right in front of her, glaring at her. She glared back, clutching her newborn close. Nobody was taking her baby.
She heard growling – and realized it was coming from her. The bear turned and ran.
That’s who you want standing up for you in Congress.
We loved you, Mary. We – and our Earth – will miss you.
Fundraising Corner
By Mac Post, Chapter Fundraising Chair
The Tennessee Chapter’s annual March Appeal fundraising letter is making its way to your mailbox. It outlines several of the Chapter’s priorities for the year. They include:
Rallying Tennesseans to pressure the Tennessee Valley Authority into increasing the amount of electricity produced by renewable energy;
Advancing our Waste to Jobs legislation that moves Tennessee toward a truly circular economy by keeping packaging waste out of our landfills and environment; and
Stopping legislation that would weaken wetland protections resulting in the loss of thousands of acres of beautiful carbon-storing, flood-mitigating, and water-purifying wetlands in Tennessee.
To accomplish these we need for you to pitch in and help fund these and other activities to achieve our goals. You can still donate if you didn’t get a letter or don’t want to wait. Donate now using the secure online Chapter web form!
April Events
Statewide environmental events listed chronologically. Do you have an event you'd like publicized? Send it to Enews.sierratn@gmail.com.
April 19th (12pm - 7pm) - Chattanooga National Park City Celebration. This free event is celebrating Chattanooga's status as the 1st "National Park City" in the United States. The event will include live music, food, and dancing at Ross's Landing downtown! View full week of events here.
Apr. 26th (9:30 am-5:00 pm) - Virgin Falls Hike with Harvey Broome Group. Join the Harvey Broome Group for a hike in Bon Air, TN to see beautiful Virgin Falls. This hike is a 9.3-mile trail, with roughly 1700 feet of ascent/descent. It is not technically difficult, but it is strenuous.Call Vince Cianciolo (865-254-0876) to sign up, and sign the required liability waiverby selecting the April 26th event on the Outings Calendar.
May 2-4 - Tennessee Chapter Spring Retreat at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Join the Tennessee Sierra Club for a lovely spring retreat, hosted by the Cherokee Group. Activities include a guided hike, silent auction, live music, and Saturday evening programs. Early bird pricing if you register by April 24th. Sign up here!
Species Spotlight
This month's featured species is: Japanese flowering cherry tree (Prunus serrulata)
Pink cherry blossom against a blue sky. Kwanzan cherry trees have more complex, bright pink blooms, while Yoshino cherry trees have simpler, paler blooms. Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay.
Cherry blossom trees are one of the first trees to bloom in spring, and last for a few weeks through mid-April. They are woody, mid-size trees that belong to the Prunus genus, and are related to prunes, almonds, and apricots.
Cherry blossom trees differ from cherry trees because they don't produce fruit, only blooms. The flowers are white or pink and have edible petals.
Cherry blossom trees are native to East Asia, and hold particular cultural significance in Japan. When the Japanese consulate-general for the Southern U.S. region moved from New Orleans to Nashville in 2008, they gifted 1,000 cherry blossom trees to the city.
Did you know the Tennes-Sierran is available online? The digital version is in color and has clickable links! Do you wish to opt out of the paper copy and go digital instead? View current and past issues or request paperless delivery here!
Contact Us
Do you have a program or speaker idea for your Group? An issue you're particularly passionate about? Do you have a story idea for the Tennes-Sierran or the e-newsletter? Let us know! Look through our past programs for inspiration. Submit your suggestion here!
Questions or comments for Sierra Club in Tennessee? We want to hear from you! Chapter E-news Editor: Allie Stafford Photo Editor: Todd Waterman
The views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sierra Club.
We are the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the world’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. With over 3.8 million members and supporters, the Sierra Club has the resources to empower people and to influence public policy through community activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation.
Our mission is to Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.
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