SOCM stands for Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (previously Save Our Cumberland Mountains) and is a

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

community organizing group best known for its opposition to

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

. It was founded in 1972 to oppose what the organization said were unfair imbalances in

property taxes A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net we ...

, described by a group of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

students, between small and large landowners in the rural

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

counties of

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...

. SOCM's focus later grew beyond the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...

and

Cumberland Mountains The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, southwestern West Virginia, the eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the ...

regions, to include all of Tennessee. In 2008, SOCM changed its name from Save Our Cumberland Mountains to Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment to reflect its growing work in social, economic, and

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

. SOCM now has chapters in the cities of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

and

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, and Bedford County, Maury County, Rutherford County and

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

. The Roaring River Chapter is made up of residents of Putnam County, Jackson County, and

Overton County, Tennessee Overton County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,511. Its county seat is Livingston, Tennessee, Livingston. Overton County is part ...

. J. W. Bradley of

Petros, Tennessee Petros ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Morgan County, Tennessee, United States, located on State Route 116. Its population was 459 at the 2020 census. Petros has its own post office, with the ZIP code 378 ...

, is a cofounder and longtime leader of the group.

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* Environmental organizations based in Tennessee Coal mining in the United States Mining in Tennessee 1972 establishments in Tennessee Organizations established in 1972 Nature conservation organizations based in the United States {{environmental-org-stub

See also

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External links