‘Climate Action Plan’ in Southern City Draws Backlash Over Diversity, Smart City Language

Athletes compete in the swim portion during the IRONMAN Chattanooga on September 26, 2021 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images for IRONMAN

A Climate Action Plan being debated in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was the subject of a public hearing in front of the city’s council on Tuesday, March 21, drawing a wide range of support and adamant opposition.

Tuesday’s meeting was of such interest that Chattanooga City Council Chairman Darrin Ledford said the building was over capacity per the fire marshal and those who couldn’t get a seat would need to leave the meeting room and wait in the lobby. The planned 30-minute speaking slot was also extended by an hour to allow more voices to be heard.

The plan, proposed by Mayor Tim Kelly, has ambitious goals for making governmental operations in the city carbon-neutral by 2040 and the entire Chattanooga community carbon-neutral by 2050.

Chattanooga’s mayor is nonpartisan, with Kelly stating in the past he does not identify with a single party. He has voted in eight Republican primaries and one Democratic primary in 2020, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, noting his discontent with former President Donald Trump.

The Plan

Over the years, the city has already cleaned up its image and environment decades after once being famously called “the dirtiest city in America” by Walter Cronkite in 1969.

The city has since been noted for its approach cleaning up its once heavily polluted environment, in particular going from the “dirtiest city in America” to one of the first cities to implement an electric bus system (pdf) in its downtown corridor in the early 1990s.

Mayor Kelly released the Climate Action Plan earlier this month online, alongside a video announcement, with the goal of “creating a clear vision for growing and attracting the workforce of the future while preserving the natural resources we treasure.” An earlier Climate Action Plan was released in 2009 by former mayor Ron Littlefield.

“While some folks may tune out or make assumptions about the plan based on its name alone—I’m here to tell you that it’s about a lot more than just climate resiliency,” he said in the video. “Chattanooga is growing and it’s up to us to ensure that we grow in a way that’s good for the environment, good for our local economy and good for our quality of life.”

Chattanooga is a hotspot of natural beauty. Crystal Shi/The Epoch Times

Kelly goes on to say the plan is about sustainability and protecting the city from a “changing” climate that’s “causing more extreme weather events, disrupting local economies, negatively impacting public health and leading to billions of dollars in losses.”

The mayor notes the rise of “green technologies” and other cities working to “reduce their carbon footprints.”

The plan itself is broken down into “six ambitious yet achievable goals” through 2050.

They include building a more sustainable city through new, modernized smart growth and zoning policies; preserving and improving Chattanooga’s natural resources; becoming a national leader in the green economy; achieving net zero-carbon emissions and zero waste footprint in city government operations by 2040 and city-wide by 2050; and reducing disparities among socially and economically vulnerable communities.

Details of the plan’s equity portion include public water fountain/refill stations in key areas such as heat islands and unshaded streets; community health and resiliency assessments, and designing affordable housing developments with interconnected communities.

Other initiatives under the remaining five goals include water use intensity reduction goals at city facilities; electrifying the entire mass transit bus system; encouraging and incentivizing EV adoption; establishing low or no-emission zones; increasing recycling and reducing solid waste entering landfills; adopting a smart growth policy and implement a centers and corridors policy; preserving natural resources; and continuing green job growth.

A Public Hearing

As residents of the city and surrounding Hamilton County voiced their opinions, the council called for order in the room more than once, as audience members reacted to speakers.

A tally by The Epoch Times noted approximately 41 people voiced their opinion at the meeting, with around 22 in support and 19 against the plan.

Those who spoke ranged from everyday citizens to community leaders, business people, and representatives from major industries such as the local power company Electric Power Board (EPB) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Carol Eimers, TVA Regional Vice President, was the first speaker of the evening and voiced support from the TVA for the plan.

“TVA was established 90 years ago to serve this region and the nation by developing innovative solutions to solve complex problems,” she said. “We are supportive of the mayor’s climate action plan and look forward to working side by side to help improve Chattanooga’s quality of life and enable smart, clean, and sustainable growth that benefits all members of the city.”

Glenda Pappu, a resident of Hamilton County, spoke against the plan, calling for a referendum for all county residents before the plan is implemented.

“The plan is packed with administrative power overreach without the consent of the people,” she said. “The climate action plan is based solely on political theory, not true science … this global, one-world plan will eventually enslave us into a digital concentration camp.”

Workers assemble Volkswagen Passat sedans at the German automaker's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., on June 12, 2013. Erik Schelzig/AP Photo

Rick Walser spoke against the plan just before his wife, Harriette Reid, also spoke against it. The couple said they moved to Chattanooga from California.

Walser criticized the city’s current plan not being put to a vote by residents, as well as the former climate action plans in recent decades. He urged the council to put the plan on the ballot for voters to decide on.

Reid said the city had an “unproven problem called climate change” with an “unproven solution called alternative energy.”

She spoke to how her former state of California’s climate efforts had worked out, in her opinion, stating windmills and solar panels did not keep up with power demand and there were rolling “brownouts,” along with wildfires caused in recent years due to lack of maintenance on power infrastructure.

She added she believed the plan would lead to World Economic Forum-style “Smart Cities” and also said she didn’t understand why diversity and equity were included in a climate plan.

“Does it rain more where minorities live,” she said. “Why are minorities more affected by climate change?”

Tanya Miller, a county resident, said the fact that several corporate and business leaders spoke in support of the plan was telling.

“I don’t want to call anybody out by names, but they’re all in support of this bill,” she said. “I’m against this plan and I think it needs to be put up to the citizens to have a vote on … We’re waking up more and more and learning more of what this plan is all about.”

She added she was concerned in particular about reliance on other countries for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, such as China, along with fears of electricity prices going up as more people begin charging EVs.

“We don’t need to sell out our soul to these big corporations, the federal government, and the World Economic Forum,” she said. “The World Economic Forum has come up with this plan for us, because of the climate change, that we are going to own nothing and be happy.”

Melanie Mayo, a member of the Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers Association, spoke in favor of the plan, and said it should add additional language related to increasing local food production.

Allie Beukema, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Masters of Public Health candidate, said she spoke on behalf of the MPH program and Tennessee Public Health Association. She spoke in favor of the plan, stating Chattanooga’s poor had worse outcomes than in other cities and advocated for “closing the gaps in public health.”

Rachel Campbell, a city resident that said she owns a small subcontracting company, supported the plan and its goals of making Chattanooga clean compared to its “history of being the dirtiest city in the south.”

She said the plan is something the community could “be proud of” and where her children and their children “can live, work, play and breathe.”

Smart streetlight. Courtesy of the city of San Diego

Others mentioned the smart-city plan cameras that had been popping up around Chattanooga recently, equating the cameras to fears of surveillance and being forced to limit travel based on their data being monitored.

Aaron Berry, a man who said he was a retired Army Sgt. that lived in the city, said listening to speakers before him it was clear that “you have the corporation[s] against the people.”

“Let me explain something to you, the Constitution wasn’t written for corporations, it was written for the people,” he said. “I will have these cameras removed. I’m not going to discuss it anymore, I’ve had enough.”

He added he believed the plan was “surreal and serious” and “it’s a control factor.”

“I’ve been all over this world and I’ve seen it and now I’m sitting here in my own city. I didn’t come here to be in peace–to see war, and you know exactly what I’m talking about and I’m not going to go any further.”

Sadie McElrath, a nurse practitioner and pediatric primary care physician, said she supported the plan particularly because of increases in allergies and asthma she has seen in children as an “effect of climate change.”

Johan De Nysschen, a county resident and representative of the city’s transportation agency, said he was in favor of the plan and noted the impact he felt from hearing other speakers.

A slew of others spoke in favor and against the plan, echoing similar sentiments to those quoted.

The Epoch Times reached out to Kelly’s office for a response to the meeting but did not hear back.

Chattanooga’s Current and Future ‘Green’ Business Investments

The city’s business community writ large spoke in support of the plan, including a representative from the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.

Companies in Chattanooga have made major investments in the “green economy.” Volkswagen launched electric vehicle manufacturing at its Chattanooga plant in 2022, with reported plans to expand.

An Australian-based company, Novonix, is expected to begin the first U.S.-based production of a key component in EV batteries this year.

The city has tentatively scheduled the first vote on the Climate Action Plan on March 28.