SOCM stands for Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (previously Save Our Cumberland Mountains) and is a
Tennessee community organizing group best known for its opposition to
strip mining. It was founded in 1972 to oppose what the organization said were unfair imbalances in
property taxes
A property tax or millage rate 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 wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
, described by a group of
Vanderbilt University students, between small and large landowners in the rural
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
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 count ...
. 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 "Alle ...
and
Cumberland Mountains 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. SOCM now has chapters in the cities of
Jackson and
Knoxville, and
Bedford County,
Maury County
Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro ...
,
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
*Cumberlan ...
. The Roaring River Chapter is made up of residents of
Putnam County,
Jackson County, and
Overton County, Tennessee.
J. W. Bradley of
Petros, Tennessee, is a cofounder and longtime leader of the group.
See also
*
I Love Mountains
Sources
External links
*
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
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