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People working together for social, economic and environmental justice in Tennessee
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South Cumberland Chapter
Van Buren and Sequatchie Tennessee Counties
For information about times and places of the meetings of this SOCM chapter
please check the CONTACTS page
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Current Work
The South Cumberland Chapter is currently working to prevent Waste Industries from locating a new landfill in an abandoned strip mine in Van Buren County.
The Chapter opposes the location of the landfill for health and safety reasons. The site is geologically, a poor location for a landfill, with a high water table and artesian springs that would complicate the construction.
Nearly two decades ago, the State of Tennessee denied an application to locate a landfill on the same property.
The Chapter is monitoring the proposal of a new sewer system in Spencer. We are actively supporting the use of alternative solutions to discharging the waste water into Dry Fork Creek, a Tier II stream which drains into Fall Creek Falls State Park.
For more information contact Landon Medley.
The chapter is also working to report violations of Tennessee water quality laws that have resulted from individuals and companies dredging creekbeds for rock.
Dredging creeks results in increased risk for flooding and can affect the habitat of aquatic life.
In addition, Chapter members actively support SOCM organization-wide campaigns, with Chapter members involved in the Stripmine, Toxics, and Forestry Committees.
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What you can do:
• Report dredging of creeks for rock (in Sequatchie & Van Buren counties) to: Tennessee Department of Conservation (TDEC) 423-634-5745.
Please include information on the exact site on the creek where the rock is being removed.
• For more information about the chapter's meeting times and place see CONTACTS page.
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History/ Past Accomplishments
In the mid-late seventies residents in Van Buren and Sequatchie Counties mounted an all-out three year successful effort to keep AMAX Coal Company from getting a strip mine permit to mine 10,000 acres in the toxic Sewanee coal seam, which would have include mining through three streams. They formed a SOCM chapter when a new threat appeared on the Plateau.
Members were able to stop plans for an unnecessary 119,000 acre National Guard Training Center, saving hundreds of homes, nursery farms, and the quiet serenity of the Cumberland Plateau. This SOCM victory also eliminated a potential expenditure of $250 million in federal funds.
During 1999 and 2000, the Chapter has worked to get resolutions passed in Van Buren, Sequatchie, and Warren Counties supporting SOCM's Abandoned Mine Lands Campaign which would release millions of dollars to Tennessee to clean up abandoned coal mines.
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Members enjoy the outdoors while raising money for SOCM
in the Chapter's annual canoe-a-thon.
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