Tennessee Sierra Club: Protect Citizens' Ability To Protect Their Health And Communities
Nashville, TN - This week, the Tennessee Senate will hear SB1958, which, if passed, would limit the ability of citizens and organizations to use their legal rights to safeguard their communities, their health, and their future. The bill, expected to be considered on Thursday, would grant the state immunity from illegal or unconstitutional actions while limiting the ability of Tennesseans to seek a halt to a project through an injunction. The only recourse available will be for individuals to sue cities, which often have been preempted by the state from protecting their communities.
Citizen suits have been a tool for communities to act as a backstop for failures in enforcement. In Tennessee, recent actions have involved helping to protect our water resources from untreated sewage and the xAI data center running the equivalent of a power plant without a permit, and inundating a community with pollutants that will harm their health.
In response, Tennessee Sierra Club Chapter Director Pat Cupples released the following statement:
“This bill is an attempt to choke off Tennesseans' voices as we struggle to breathe from the pollution that will fill our communities. This legislation is a disgraceful attack and flies in the face of the Founders’ ideals of checks and balances, and threatens our rights, our communities, our natural resources, and our future. Legislators should be working to pass laws that protect the constituents they represent, not shield potential illegal statutes or actions while scapegoating local government. Rather than trying to prevent Tennesseans from speaking up on behalf of the health of their families and environment, the legislature should pass laws that hold polluters accountable and adequately resource the agencies that enforce our state’s laws.”