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People working together for social, economic and environmental justice in Tennessee
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Cumberland County Chapter
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The Cumberland County Chapter of SOCM meets monthly in Crossville, TN.
For details regarding time and place of meetings see the CONTACTS page.
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Current Work:
Because the Cumberland County Chapter
members felt the 2006 election was important, they worked together to hold a
voter registration drive at Roane State Community College. Forty-two
students registered to vote during the two-day period of the college’s
regular student registration. The chapter believes that encouraging
community involvement in the democratic process is very important.
The chapter
continues to monitor Highway 127 road projects north of Crossville and has
asked the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to be included as a
consulting party in the Section 106 process of the National Historic
Preservation Act for Highway 127 South. The chapter has a six-year history
with this road project. Members and the community remain concerned about
potential adverse effects of the road project on environmental, cultural and
historic resources in the Cumberland Homesteads. Since 2000, members have
attended UT and TDOT public meetings and the citizen working group meetings
sponsored by TDOT. Today members are asking that some
critical research pieces be included in TDOT’s review process that may have
considerable impact on how the entire road project is conducted.
Mining on Smith Mountain
has ended. Crossville Coal recently discontinued mining operations
because they intercepted an aquifer on one side and a large slab of rock on
the other --- just as some chapter members warned years ago. The chapter
has been tracking mining on Smith Mountain since the late 90’s when
Cumberland Coal Company (or the Turner Mines) began strip mining. The
Cumberland Coal Company strip mine on Smith Mountain damaged people’s homes
with blasting and discharged polluted water into area streams. (See Chapter
History below for more details.) The chapter attended multiple public
meetings and helped get the county commission to pass a resolution calling
on TDEC to delay issuing a permit for expansion of the mine. In 2004
Hillsborough Resources purchased the Turner Mine permits and continued
operating the deep mine. Chapter members toured their mining operations in
January of this year and expressed continued concerns. Hillsborough
recently sold their permits due to lost revenue and Crossville Coal Company
took over for a brief period before discontinuing operations.
The chapter continues to monitor logging
activities in the Crab Orchard area. In April 2006 several members toured
the timber cutting on Crab Orchard Mountain. They were satisfied that the
logging company Smurfit-Stone was following Tennessee’s suggested Best
Management Practices. However, they were saddened by the rapid pace of the
cutting, a pace which the landowner Lone Star Energy forced on Smurfit-Stone
with the contract conditions. There were areas of clear cutting and
rightful concern about what the mountain will look like when all 7,000 acres
are stripped.
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What you can do:
• Join the Cumberland County Chapter.
• Monitor and report blasting damage.
• For details of meeting times and place, or for more information about any of the above issues, please go to the CONTACTS page.
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History/ Past Accomplishments:
The Cumberland County Chapter grew out of the Cumberland Recycling Partners, a local group which worked for ten years to get the Cumberland County Recycling Center established by the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners.
This recycling center is now a "model" operation and is saving the county a significant amount of money in its landfill operations.
In December of 1998 the members of Cumberland Recycling Partners applied to become a SOCM chapter. As a chapter they enthusiastically supported SOCM's campaign to have the watershed of Fall Creek Falls State Park declared unsuitable for mining.
In 2002 the chapter worked to stop the expansion of the Cumberland Coal Company mine on Smith Mountain.
The chapter mobilized and packed the court house at three public hearings held by government agencies.
Despite vocal opposition, state and federal agencies issued permits that allow continued mining on Smith Mountain.
OSM did reject Cumberland Coal Company's request for release of part of their performance bond
after several area residents showed up to accompany OSM inspectors on their tour of the mine site.
OSM required the company to make significant changes to the permit, including establishing additional water monitoring points,
updating the pre-blast survey of structures within a half mile of the mine, doing a new inventory of wells in the area around the mine, and
changing how they handled toxic materials on the site.
In 2004 Cumberland Coal
sold the mine area to Hillsborough Resources.
Hillsborough sold their permit due to loss of revenue, and the Crossville
coal company took over for a brief period before discontinuing operations in
2006.
Chapter members are active in SOCM lobbying efforts and attend many hearings throughout the state on important environmental and social issues. The Cumberland County Chapter has also supported SOCM through its
successful annual fundraising events.
Chapter members
participate in SOCM’s annual Walk-A-Thon. Those who can’t walk the 5-7
miles the Walk-A-Thon entails hold a “Rock-A-Thon”, a community education
fund raiser, at a local grocery store.
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