Geospatial Technology Applications in Support of Technical Assistance for an Environmental Justice Community in West Tennessee

Dr. David A. Padgett, Associate Professor of Geography and Director of the Geographic Information Sciences Laboratory, Tennessee State University

Environmental Justice Program Sierra Club Memphis, TN http://www.sierraclub.org/ej/

Megasites Program -Tennessee Valley Authority - http://www.tvaed.com/megasites.htm

TennesseeWatchDog.org - http://tennessee.watchdog.org/2009/10/08/keeping-fredonia-free/

U.S. EPA Region 4/Tennessee State University MOU on Environmental Sustainability Spring 2011

TSU/EPA Region 4 Technical Assistance Services for Communities Contract June 2011

Technical Assistance Project: Primary Objectives

1.) inform Fredonia resident stakeholders of the spatial extent of the potential future impacts of the Megasite.

2.) provide demographic and geographic evidence that Fredonia is an environmental justice community and as such environmental justice should be part of the environmental impact statement (EIS) process for the Megasite.
3.) initiate discussion of possible mitigation alternatives for the Fredonia community.

General location of the Fredonia Community, Haywood County, Fayette County and the Memphis/Stanton Megasite

Technical Assistance Project Focus Area: Haywood and Fayette Counties, Tennessee (Census Tracts)

Technical Assistance Project Focus Area: Haywood and Fayette Counties, Tennessee (Census Blocks)

The Fredonia Community and environs

Deliverable (Fall 2011) - Fredonia Environmental Action Resource Guide

Deliverable (Fall 2011) GIS Basemap: Fredonia community stakeholders map layer, with residents identified by race (B = Black/W = White). Haywood County Census Tracts map layer with numbers of African Americans per Tract.

Conceptual development plan for Stanton/Memphis Megasite TVA Economic Development Services

Geospatial Technology-Based Technical Assistance Deliverables for the Fredonia Community Spring 2012
1.) Delineate and define Fredonia as an environmental justice community using U.S. Census data. 2.) Create maps of the area of potential impact within and in close proximity to the Megasite footprint. 3.) Create maps displaying the locations of individual Fredonia land owners so that they are able to see where their property is relative to the Megasite footprint.

Acknowledgements

Rita Harris, Environmental Justice Organizer, Sierra Club, Memphis, Tennessee Joseph Patrick, Qualekqua Cooper, Morgan Powell, and Jessica Lozada Research Assistants, TSU Geographic Information Sciences Laboratory, Nashville, Tennessee

Caroline Robinson, Ntale Kjumba, and Sheryl Good U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Atlanta, Georgia
Vernice Miller-Travis, Principal, Miller-Travis & Associates, and Senior Associate of Skeo Solutions Inc., Washington, DC