|
|
People working together for social, economic and environmental justice in Tennessee
|
Excerpts from SOCM's history
|
|
THE EARLY YEARS:
1971:
A land study by Vanderbilt students showed tremendous inequities between taxes paid by large corporate landowners and those paid by smaller landowners.
Thirteen coalfield residents took this information to the State Board of Equalization and convinced the
board that the value of minerals on the property must be considered when assessing property.
1972:
Organizational meeting held to form a coalfield citizens' organization, which was renamed Save Our Cumberland Mountains, with active members in 5 main coal counties. Members lobbied to successfully pass the first TN coal severance tax, with monies coming back to the counties for schools and roads.
1973-74:
SOCM president J.W. Bradley visits western US states to talk with citizens' groups about coal mining issues.
Members succeeded in out-lobbying the coal industry, and the state legislature doubled the severance tax from 10 cents to 20 cents per ton.
1975:
SOCM expands to counties on the Cumberland Plateau to deal with the threat of AMAX (a huge multi-national mining conglomerate), which plans to mine several thousand acres with huge dragline shovels.
Members convince WTVK-TV, Knoxville, to give SOCM 30 minute of free air time to respond to a program run by the station advertising the "benefits" of strip mining.
1977:
AMAX is denied a water quality discharge permit, due to intensive efforts by SOCM members.
SOCM also wins passage of the first Surface Rights Law, protecting landowners who do not own their mineral rights from having their land strip mined without their consent.
The late 1970's saw a Federal Strip
Mine Law passed. Federal OSM enforcement was strong, and SOCM members were subjected to a lot of intimidation with homes being burned and individuals threatened, but SOCM continued to grow as citizens experienced success fighting unfair business practices.
|
|
|
THE 1980'S:
SOCM is in a two year planning process resulting in major organizational changes:
Chapters are formed by county and/or area; a board is formed with representatives from each chapter plus at large members; and the organization is redefined as a "membership, multi-issue" organization, rather than just coal related.
New chapters are formed around toxics, sold waste, strip mining, and other local issues. SOCM members continue to suffer harassment, including houses burned.
SOCM continues to grow.
1982:
Roane County members successfully campaign against a synthetic fuel plant proposed for their community, marking the first SOCM campaign around toxic issues.
1983:
SOCM begins its first five-year long-range
planning process.
1984:
Members testify at an OSM hearing held to examine deficiencies in the TN Division of Mining's regulatory program.
SOCM wins passage of Oil and Gas Notice and Compensation
Bill, giving landowners some say about surface disturbances on their land and setting up procedures for fair compensation of damages.
1985:
New SOCM chapter formed to oppose the Tennessee National Guard's plan to condemn thousands of acres of land for an unnecessary training area. Chapters defeated the proposal.
1986:
SOCM and other groups convince TN Governor Alexander to veto plans for a high-level radioactive waste storage facility in the Oak Ridge area.
Bledsoe County SOCM members convince OSM to suspend RITH's coal mining permit until a toxic materials handling plan can be approved.
After a two year fight Bledsoe County Chapter wins a partial Lands Unsuitable for
Mining designation for the Rock Creek Gorge.
1987:
The first new SOCM chapter organized around forest clear cutting is formed.
SOCM members also lobby successfully to pass the 1987 Surface Rights Law, giving many TN surface owners the right to reclaim the mineral estates beneath their lands in some circumstances.
1989:
SOCM is victorious in combating a harassment suit which was filed against SOCM members in the fall of 1987.
SOCM members turn out en masse to protest an OSM plan that would allow strip mining in National Parks and directly adjacent to homes, schools and churches.
|
|
|
THE 1990'S:
The organization continues to grow, with new issue committees formed, and the main office moving from Jacksboro to Lake City, TN.
Paid staff is increased to better serve and coordinate the efforts of the members as the membership extends across the
state.
Alliances and partnerships are formed with other like minded groups such as JONAH, TIRN, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, The Dogwood Alliance, etc.
SOCM is a founding member of the Southern Organizing Cooperative, and of the Tennessee Partnership on Organizing and Public Policy.
1991
SOCM members lobby (unsuccessfully this time) in favor of better solid waste legislation and stopping discrimination against temporary workers
.
1992:
SOCM and other citizens groups across the US lobby to pass a bill giving states the right to say NO to out-of-state waste.
The bill passes the U. S. Senate. SOCM is also part of the effort which succeeds in getting TVA to turn down chip mills which want to locate on the Tennessee River.
1993:
SOCM defeats weak timbering legislation that may have encouraged the development of chip mills and increased clear cutting in the state.
SOCM's timbering committee is established and begins work on writing legislation for a future "Forest Practices Act".
1993:
Members and staff attend their first multi-day dismantling racism workshop.
In succeeding years these workshops are attended by many SOCM members.
1997:
New multi-racial chapters in Maury and Bedford Counties are welcomed into SOCM.
These are the first SOCM chapters purposefully formed to be multi-racial from the beginning.
|
|
|
A NEW CENTURY:
2000:
SOCM wins a 10 year battle to protect Fall Creek Falls State Park from devastation by acid mine drainage, with a 61,000 acre designation as Lands Unsuitable for Mining.
Secretary of the Interior Babbitt makes the announcement at the
park.
Maury County Chapter hosts the first "in house" Dismantling
Racism Workshop.
2001:
A new five year long range plan is developed with major goals set for program and organizational work.
SOCM introduces legislation to require permits for new industrial chip, pulp, and paper mills.
2002:
SOCM introduces state legislation to protect rural Tennessee residents from the harmful effects of aerial spraying of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers.
2003:
Members form a Social Progress Committee to look at issues of injustice based on race and to work on dismantling racism.
The committee is later renamed The
Anti-Racism Committee. SOCM Stripmine Committee launches a campaign against the
threat of mountain top removal in Tennessee.
2004 - 2005:
SOCM members travel to Washington DC to testify and lobby for an extension of the Federal Abandoned Mines funding.
Two short extensions are passed. SOCM, along with other related groups, continues to work hard for a permanent extension of this fund.
Members work hard lobbying for SOCM legislation to control massive destructive clear cutting and to establish some basic health related rules for aerial spraying.
In the face of intense opposition from the Tennessee Farm Bureau, SOCM makes progress in converting more legislators to the "support" side of these issues.
The Anti-Racism Committee finds sponsors for a Voter Rights
Bill. The SOCM bill does not go through, but SOCM's name is quoted as supporting another bill which
makes progress. This bill, if passed, would make one small step toward reforming the existing laws regarding voter rights and former felons.
2006:
After numerous meetings between SOCM
members and state officials, TDEC officials announce new policies for strip
mining in Tennessee: no exceptions to the 100 foot buffer zone protecting
streams and essentially no mining in toxic coal seams. Additionally, the state
requests the federal Office of Surface Mining to write a new mining EIS for
Tennessee. A new state law regarding ex-felons’ voting rights passes. It
contains a provision restoring an ex-felon’s voting rights upon completion of
the sentence, a provision which was written originally in a SOCM bill. However,
the bill that passes also adds economic-based restrictions to the restoration of
voting rights and permanently disenfranchises additional categories of felons.
SOCM’s board establishes an anti-racism committee and 25 SOCM members attend a
three day Crossroads Ministry anti-racism training. SOCM’s board also votes to
join the effort to win a state minimum wage law.
New legislation which is meaningful is always extremely difficult to enact, but SOCM members do not give up.
They continue to educate the public, contact legislators and do the long term work necessary to make Tennessee a better place for all of its citizens.
|
|
|
