Tennessee
As the South experiences extreme heat and increased flooding, we are at a critical time for our environmental future. Together, we can protect our remarkable natural resources and help turn the tide on climate change. SELC was built for this.
Your support enables us to do this work.
Rooted in the South, we use strong legal and policy work, strategic vision, and pragmatic problem solving in all three branches and at all levels of government. When one door is closed, we find another way. With our commitment to place, SELC is building on nearly 40 years of success in Tennessee and five other states, and driving results that resonate across the nation. That’s why we say, “Solutions Start in the South.”
Now is the time to act. Join us.
Protecting the country’s most biodiverse river from unbridled development
©Barry Sulkin
SELC is collaborating with partners at the Harpeth Conservancy, Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy to protect the Duck River — a remarkable natural treasure and the most biodiverse river in North America. Today, plans to withdraw more water from the river to keep up with fast-paced development are threatening the Duck. When combined with periods of drought, excessive water withdrawals — which could increase daily water consumption by 35 percent — would alter the flow of the river and harm aquatic life. SELC recently won a settlement upholding common sense flow restrictions. We expect the state to issue seven more permits that would allow water utilities to ramp up consumption.
Upholding state clean water protections
For years, SELC has stood strong against an unprecedented assault on our nation’s core clean water protections. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that severely limits federal Clean Water Act coverage for streams and wetlands that shield communities across the nation from floods and help protect local sources of drinking water. In Tennessee, however, we still have a critical backstop: the state’s long-standing protections for wetlands and streams that keep our rivers clean, filter drinking water, provide flood protection, and keep our natural areas thriving. With hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands in the balance, SELC and partners are fighting at the legislature to maintain those protections as industry groups push the state to abandon its clean water laws.
Protecting water quality in the Harpeth
SELC reached a settlement last summer that will stop pollution in a tributary of the Harpeth River. Trace Creek, which flows into a heavily paddled part of the river, was taken over by a shocking bacterial and algal bloom. This bloom was caused by sewage-related pollutants discharged by a nearby treatment plant. SELC filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Harpeth Conservancy and reached a settlement in which the state, plant operators, and the Conservancy will collaborate on operational changes expected to stop the toxic algal bloom.
Solutions start in Tennessee.
Nonprofit and nonpartisan, we are the Southern Environmental Law Center. The South’s largest and most effective environmental defender.
Challenging backwards gas buildouts
©Nancy Pierce/Flight by Southwings
SELC is the national legal expert on the Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest federal utility and the third-largest producer of electricity in the nation. Given its federal status, TVA should be at the cutting edge of climate progress, but consistently ignores the Biden administration climate goals, denying millions of customers across seven states access to renewable energy. Rather than embracing clean energy, TVA is proposing to replace retiring coal-powered plants with methane burning plants. We are in federal court challenging TVA’s decisions to build methane fired power plants at Johnsonville and at Cumberland, where the utility illegally entered agreements with a gas supplier before completing required federal reviews of the environmental impact of its proposal.
Pushing TVA to adopt clean energy
TVA has an upcoming long-term energy planning process, and SELC is involved to make sure that implementation of federal climate legislation is included in the utility’s forward-looking plans. Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act make renewable energy and energy efficiency even more affordable and should accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels. As a federal agency, TVA is charged with leading by example into the clean energy future in multiple executive orders, but so far, the utility has been dismissive of the opportunity to save money for families and keep our climate livable. We must ensure that TVA’s long-term generation plans reflect the new economic reality created by the landmark federal legislation.
Environmental justice in Memphis
©Steve Jones
In partnership with grassroots organizations like Memphis Community Against Pollution, SELC is working in Memphis to advance environmental justice as we advocate for clean air, clean water, and an equitable electricity system. After months of advocacy from community members and local organizations, Sterilization Services of Tennessee — which has been emitting toxic ethylene oxide pollution into nearby communities for more than four decades — will finally close its South Memphis plant. This win builds on our 2021 victory when a multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline company buckled under waves of coordinated pressure from SELC and our partners.
Pushing for safeguards against sewage pollution
Some homebuilders want to bring mobile, prefabricated sewage treatment systems, known as activated sludge package plants, into Tennessee. Currently illegal in the state, package plants cause terrible water quality problems and often result in raw sewage being discharged into local streams. No one should worry if their children will encounter sewage pollution when they play in a nearby creek, and SELC is resisting efforts to remove legal safeguards against activated sludge package plants.