Tennessee Chapter Conservation Committees
Tennessee's Future Depends on You
Contact one of our Conservation Committees today to learn how you can get involved and protect your right to clean air, clean water, healthy forests and a safe community for today and tomorrow.
Contact our Conservation Chair, Bill Moll (whmoll@aol.com) if you are looking for something different or if you have questions about what’s going on in your neighborhood.
Land Management
Contact: Virginia Dale (virginia.dale4@gmail.com)
The Land Management Committee scope is land management processes across private, commercial, and public lands in Tennessee, including residential, agriculture, and forested areas. Specific interests include agriculture practices and incentives, biodiversity, endangered species/wildlife, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO).
Solid Waste and Mining
Contact: Dan Firth (dan.firth.sierraclub@gmail.com)
The Solid Waste and Mining Committee scope is mining and extractive industries, landfills, manufacturing byproducts, biosolids and plastic. Recent focus has been on both the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging bill recently introduced in the TN senate and the Bristol (Virginia) landfill problems.
Energy
Contact: JoAnn McIntosh (joann.mcintosh@tennessee.sierraclub.org)
The Energy Committee scope is all energy-generation-and-use related issues. Recent emphasis has been outreach and communication, including attending a listening session with the TVA Board in Bowling Green and meeting virtually with staff of the Congressional Energy & Commerce (E&C) and Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committees, and discussions with TVA regarding its continued lagging deployment of renewables, scheduled gas buildout, and lack of transparency with the public.
Forests and Public Lands Committee
Contact: Davis Mounger (wdmounger@yahoo.com)
The Forests and Public Lands Committee mission is the restoration and preservation of biodiversity, improved protection of fish, wildlife, plants, wildlife, soil and water resources in our state and federal forests, including an increase in the size and number of designated wilderness areas and increased availability of nature-oriented recreation and the protection of scenic values.
Recent efforts include working with local officials to prevent the clearcutting of large sections the Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness (a side result has been getting legislation passed to increase the transparency of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) timber sales). We continue to monitor the Tennessee State Forest Timber Sale program regarding the continuing trend of clearcuts turning diverse mixed hardwood forests into low-biodiversity stands of a couple of species. (often with encroaching invasive species).
Transportation Committee
Contact: Kent Minault and Bill Kornrich, Co-Chairs (kminault@gmail.com)
The State Transportation Team works on decarbonizing all aspects of our transportation system. We advocate for cities and counties to electrify their fleets, for school boards and transit districts to electrify their buses, and finally for individual drivers to get the support they need to stop burning gasoline and diesel in their personal transportation. Recent activities include encouraging local entities to utilize funding to increase the number of charging stations.
Water Quality
Contact: Axel Ringe (onyxfarm@bellsouth.net)
The Water Quality Committee mission is to protect, preserve, and restore Tennessee's waters and wetlands through advocacy, education, and litigation to make them fishable and swimmable once more, and to protect the health of the communities that depend on them. The scope includes water quality, wetlands, surface water, aquifers and aquatic biodiversity and endangered species. Activities include meeting biweekly with the Tennessee Water Group (TWG), an informal coalition of groups across the state concerned with water quality issues in Tennessee (for more information about the TWG, contact Jim Redwine at jimredwine@harpethriver.org). We hold irregular meetings with both the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE).
Know Nuclear Committee
Contact: Don Safer (dsafer@comcast.net)
The Know Nuclear in Tennessee Committee engages locally in support of the National Sierra Club's policy against the use of nuclear fission for electricity generation. We work to reduce the Tennessee Valley Authority's increasing reliance on dangerous, dirty, costly nuclear power. We work for the most responsible and absolute isolation of harmful man-made radiation created by both nuclear power and weapons production. The Committee also focuses on reducing Tennessee's unique role as the nation's, and increasingly the world's, destination for "low level" radioactive waste processing and disposal.