Our Mission: Helping People and Communities Improve Our Environment
Our Vision: Thriving Habitats, a Circular Economy, and Climate Balance in Tennessee
Tennessee Environmental Council is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1970 as an umbrella organization that would tie together many different organizations with diverse, but common priorities into focused advocacy in the state legislature on behalf of Tennessee’s environment. Those groups were the League of Women Voters, the Junior League of Nashville, the Tennessee Lung Association, the Tennessee Conservation League, the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center (Cheekwood). We are just as enthusiastic today about taking care of the landscape we call home as we were upon our founding.
TEC has been successful in protecting the Great Smoky Mountains, cleaning up the Pigeon River, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and preventing degradation of high quality streams in the globally significant Duck River Watershed. We have twice been awarded the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award.
Our Vision: Thriving Habitats, a Circular Economy, and Climate Balance in Tennessee
Tennessee Environmental Council is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1970 as an umbrella organization that would tie together many different organizations with diverse, but common priorities into focused advocacy in the state legislature on behalf of Tennessee’s environment. Those groups were the League of Women Voters, the Junior League of Nashville, the Tennessee Lung Association, the Tennessee Conservation League, the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center (Cheekwood). We are just as enthusiastic today about taking care of the landscape we call home as we were upon our founding.
TEC has been successful in protecting the Great Smoky Mountains, cleaning up the Pigeon River, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and preventing degradation of high quality streams in the globally significant Duck River Watershed. We have twice been awarded the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award.
Top Accomplishments for all 49 Years!
1970s
1977 we initiated & won a lawsuit against TVA to force them to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. As a result, TVA reduced it's acid rain causing sulfur-dioxide emissions by 1 million pounds per year.
1980s
1988 We launched a recycling project which has helped 80 communities throughout the state establish or improve their recycling efforts.
1988 Lead an effort for wilderness designation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in collaboration with national environmental organizations, beginning a decade-long partnership to protect the park from future development projects
1989 We lead the successful effort to ban lead-acid batteries from landfills and incinerators in Tennessee.
1990s
1990 we lead the effort for Tennessee to adopt stringent solid waste landfill regulations which ensured greater protection of groundwater.
1992 We won settlement which forced the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) to pay $20,000 to Ijams Nature Center and clean up an old landfill leaking toxic PCBs into a creek feeding the Fort Loudoun Reservoir
1995 Won largest settlement to date in a federal Clean Water Act citizen suit — $1.125 million — against the Dana Corporation for violations of its water discharge permit involving the discharge of lead into tributaries of the Duck River
1997 Successfully completed and led 37 organizations in a landmark two-year effort to clean up the Pigeon River on the Tennessee/North Carolina border which was heavily polluted by an upstream Champion International paper mill
2000s
2002 Successfully led an effort to prevent wastewater from a sewage treatment plant from being discharged into Dry Fork Creek (a tier II, high quality stream) and the Rumbling Falls Cave system in Fall Creek Falls State Park
2007 Launched the Tennessee Tree Project
2009 Duck River Opportunities Project received the 2009 Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Aquatic Resource Preservation in part for planting thousands of trees and repairing about 1500 feet of eroding creek bank
2010s
2012 The Council and Friends of Henry Horton State Park won the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for “Environmental Education and Outreach”
2012 We completed the Duck River Opportunities Project (DROP) and launched the Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative, with the help of countless volunteers we planted 5,000 native trees and stabilized over a thousand feet of creek bank
2013 Hosted our first 10K Tree Day with 600 volunteers including businesses and school groups
2018 Hosted our largest tree day yet with 190, 000 trees planted statewide in one day
1977 we initiated & won a lawsuit against TVA to force them to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. As a result, TVA reduced it's acid rain causing sulfur-dioxide emissions by 1 million pounds per year.
1980s
1988 We launched a recycling project which has helped 80 communities throughout the state establish or improve their recycling efforts.
1988 Lead an effort for wilderness designation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in collaboration with national environmental organizations, beginning a decade-long partnership to protect the park from future development projects
1989 We lead the successful effort to ban lead-acid batteries from landfills and incinerators in Tennessee.
1990s
1990 we lead the effort for Tennessee to adopt stringent solid waste landfill regulations which ensured greater protection of groundwater.
1992 We won settlement which forced the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) to pay $20,000 to Ijams Nature Center and clean up an old landfill leaking toxic PCBs into a creek feeding the Fort Loudoun Reservoir
1995 Won largest settlement to date in a federal Clean Water Act citizen suit — $1.125 million — against the Dana Corporation for violations of its water discharge permit involving the discharge of lead into tributaries of the Duck River
1997 Successfully completed and led 37 organizations in a landmark two-year effort to clean up the Pigeon River on the Tennessee/North Carolina border which was heavily polluted by an upstream Champion International paper mill
2000s
2002 Successfully led an effort to prevent wastewater from a sewage treatment plant from being discharged into Dry Fork Creek (a tier II, high quality stream) and the Rumbling Falls Cave system in Fall Creek Falls State Park
2007 Launched the Tennessee Tree Project
2009 Duck River Opportunities Project received the 2009 Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Aquatic Resource Preservation in part for planting thousands of trees and repairing about 1500 feet of eroding creek bank
2010s
2012 The Council and Friends of Henry Horton State Park won the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for “Environmental Education and Outreach”
2012 We completed the Duck River Opportunities Project (DROP) and launched the Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative, with the help of countless volunteers we planted 5,000 native trees and stabilized over a thousand feet of creek bank
2013 Hosted our first 10K Tree Day with 600 volunteers including businesses and school groups
2018 Hosted our largest tree day yet with 190, 000 trees planted statewide in one day