Tennessee Environmental Council
Announcements:

Sustainable TN - Regional Opportunity Forums
Our next Regional Opportunity Forum will be held in Chattanooga on June 12, and registration is now open!  The Memphis forum will take place this fall. Please follow the link above for more details.

GREEN TIE AFFAIR 2008
Planting Seeds for a Greener Future
Thank you to everyone who made the 2008 Green Tie Affair so successful! Check in soon for updates and pictures from the event.

Volunteers Needed!
TEC's Volunteer Restoration Corps needs your help. Check in frequently for upcoming projects.

Summit for a Sustainable TN, November 15-17, 2007
NASHVILLE - More than two hundred citizens representing at least eighty Tennessee communities, organizations and agencies gathered at Lipscomb University in Nashville on November 15, 16, and 17, 2007 to begin a multi-phase, year-long process of crafting the state’s first sustainability agenda.  Assembled under the banner “Many Voices. A Common Vision”, the participants spent three days in working meetings outlining key issues and goals, and discussing strategies and tactics for sharing resources and information.  The meeting, titled The Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee, was organized by the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC) and Tennessee Conservation Voters (TCV) with help from dozens of volunteers from several local and statewide organizations. Click here for the full press release.

GM Spring Hill Manufacturing Plants Trees for Earth Day
April 19, 2008 - In celebration of Earth Day, GM Spring Hill Maunfacturing partnered with TEC to enhance habitat along McCutcheon Creek. Follow the link above for the article.

Water Contamination Suit Filed Against Dickson County, TN
WASHINGTON, DC, March 10, 2008 (ENS) - The Natural Resources Defense Council and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee have filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and city governments. Follow the link above for the full article.

Williamson County Planning Commission - Thursday, Jan. 10
Stillwater proposal denied
The Tennessean, January 13, 2008
A 491-home golf course community proposed near Triune was voted down unanimously Thursday night by planning commissioners, who said developers needed to go back to the drawing board.  Click here for full article.

Planning Commissioners Take Steps to Protect Streams
The Daily Herald, January 2008
The city took its first steps in establishing a storm water management program last week after the Planning Commission approved the measure by a 3-1 vote.  Tennessee Environmental Council Organizational Advancement Director Kyle Duvall said the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) required the city to adopt such a policy to curtail water pollution and destructive erosion.
Click here for full article.

Stormwater Ordinance Another Sign City's Growing
The Tennessean, January 9, 2008
SPRING HILL — On any given rainy day, Beau Herring is out in his truck driving around and looking for where the rainwater flows.
More specifically, he's looking to see what that rain does at construction sites across the city. Herring, the city's stormwater coordinator, is tasked with making sure local builders comply with state mandates the city has to enforce to protect the area's creeks, which include Grassy Branch, Rutherford, Aenon, McCutcheon and McCormick creeks.
Click here for the full article.

EPA Gets it Wrong by Denying a Waiver
The Tennessean, January 6, 2008
The decision by the Bush administration to deny California's attempt to limit greenhouse gases was wrong — wrong legally, scientifically and morally.
Click here for the full article, written by TEC Board Member Joseph Prochaska.

Do you know where your energy comes from?
Most people have no idea.  To find out, go to www.ilovemountains.org or www.appalachianvoices.org and put in your zip code. Using Google Earth, the program shows you exactly where your energy is coming from, and will even show you aerial photos of the mountain range destroyed so we can all have cheap energy.  Browse the sites for a while and learn more about this issue. It transcends political affiliation and affects us all.  You can also find out easy ways to cut back energy use, and lessen your role in mountain top removal coal mining.

Coal Cons - an editorial by TEC Board Member Paul McCown & James Qualk  Click here to read the article.

Guest column: Support tough mileage laws
The Daily News Journal, December 10, 2007
As Tennesseans put the pencil to their household budgets, a whole lot of us are frustrated enough to break that pencil in half when we add up what we're spending on gasoline.
Click here for the full article, written by TEC Executive Director John McFadden.

Environmental Defense Hails Landmark Vote on Lieberman-Warner Climate Change Bill 
WASHINGTON (December 5, 2007) Environmental Defense today applauded the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s historic approval of bipartisan climate change legislation.
  “This bill hits all the right notes -- it would drive the reductions we need now and fuel American innovation.  Finally, there’s a path to real action on global warming on the floor of the Senate," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense. “The authors and Chairman Boxer deserve credit for crafting a strong bill that can win support from both sides of the aisle.”  Click here for the full press release.

 

EPA and District of Columbia Agree to Go Green to Protect Rivers from Storm Water Runoff
PHILADELPHIA (December 4, 2007) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a landmark agreement with the District of Columbia to implement major green infrastructure enhancements to protect the Potomac and Anacostia rivers from storm water runoff.
In modifications to a Clean Water Act permit, the District has agreed to undertake innovative measures to stem storm water flow and pollution, using natural systems such as trees, green roofs, and vegetated buffers.  Click here for the full press release.

Italian Radioactive Waste Headed To Tennessee?
 NASHVILLE -- A loophole in a Tennessee law could be opening wider than ever, allowing more radioactive dumping to occur.
The biggest company for processing nuclear waste is asking permission to import the biggest shipment on record from Italy.
Click here for the full story and video from WSMV Nashville.

Objection to a Depleted Environment Sustained
Listen to the Liberadio(!) interview with local U.S. Green Building Council spokesperson Jamie Qualk and Tennessee Environmental Council Executive Director John McFadden.  Click here to listen.

Volunteers Work to Mend Damaged Creek
The Advertiser News, November 7, 2007

Aenon Creek Threatened by Silt and Mud
October 29, 2007

Current Issues and Events

Hooked on Subsidies
Why conservatives should join the left's campaign against nuclear power.
 Forbes.com, November 26, 2007

Nuclear is no Energy Solution by TEC Chairman Don Safer
The Tennessean, October 28, 2007

Planning Commissioners Take Steps to Protect Streams
Columbia Daily Herald, October 16, 2007

New Environmental Rules May Limit Some Developments in Spring Hill
Columbia Daily Herald, October 11, 2007

Volunteers: Making a Difference
On September 8, 2007, ten volunteers gathered at Jerry Erwin Park in Spring Hill to build revetments into the side of severely eroded banks on McCutcheon Creek.  Read more & see pictures.

Clean Energy Boom Powers Texas
Texans like to say that everything is bigger in Texas, and when it comes to wind power, they're right.  Texas boasts the world's largest wind farm - FPL Energy's 735 megawatt (MW) Horse Hollow Energy Center - and also the world's second largest wind farm - the 505 MW Sweetwater project owned by Babcock & Brown & Catamount Energy, both located near Abilene.  Read more.

Tell your Representative and Senators:
DO NOT fund nuclear reactors with risky, taxpayer-guaranteed loans!
Language has been added to the Senate- and House-passed energy bills that would allow the Department of Energy to authorize unlimited loan guarantees to the nuclear industry without congressional oversight, forcing U.S. taxpayers to assume the high risk of expensive loan defaults by nuclear.  Read more.

Solar Energy Industries Association Action Alert, 10/02/2007
The House-Senate negotiations on final energy legislation that are taking place this month represent our biggest opportunity yet to jump-start solar energy in this country.  A long-term solar ITC will create tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and help spur the use of solar power throughout the US.  Read more.

Raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards Promotes Economic Growth
Follow the link above to learn more.

See More Issues and Events

 

The mission of the Tennessee Environmental Council is
to educate and advocate for the protection of the environment
and public health in Tennessee.

Since 1970, TEC has worked to empower the collective force of the environmental community and provide leadership in program areas of  clean water, clean air, pollution prevention, healthy forests and smart growth.

 

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