Chattanooga Creek Hazardous Substance Monitoring Program (2003)  

This United States Environmental Protection Agency funded project will quantify hazardous substances in the floodplain soils and water of Chattanooga Creek.  The Creek is a federal Superfund site that has been partially cleaned through a CERCLA removal action.  The removal action focused solely on sediment in the Creek bed, and preliminary sampling in the adjacent floodplain indicates soils may contain unsafe levels of carcinogenic substances (PAHs).  The project will enable citizens, government, and other interested persons to determine what types of future uses are appropriate in the Creek floodplain, including whether portions of the the floodplain could be safely used as a greenway. The project will also train a community researcher and a UTC graduate student to handle hazardous substances.  The project is a collaboration between UTC, STOP Toxic Pollution (a community organization), and the Water Center at Tennessee Technological University.

Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management (2001)

This article characterizes and evaluates efforts to conserve biodiversity through ecosystem mananagement and related approaches. Specifically, the article describes and analalyzes approaches taken in Florida, which in 1993 became the first state to adopt ecosystem managment as the guiding policy for its environmental programs. Florida's experiences can provide important lessons for other jurisdictions. The article concludes that while Florida has several innovative programs that conserve biodiversity through ecosystem management, for the most part its environmental regulatory agencies have inadequate statutory authority to effectively conserve biodiversity and implement ecosystem management, especially on privately owned lands.  

The citation for the published article is:   John C. Tucker, Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management in Florida: Obstacles and Opportunities, 13 FORDHAM ENVTL. L. J. 1 (2001).

Environmental Provisions in Constitutions (2000)

This article was written at the invitation of the Florida Law Review for a special symposium issue devoted to recent revisions to Florida's Constitution.  This broad-based article analyzes Forida's revisions, as well as the significance of a recent trend to incorporate environmental provisions into state, national, and foreign constitutions.   The article concludes that most modern (recently adopted or revised) constitutions recognize the environment as an important societal value, and that this is evidence of a developing environmental ethic in many societies throughout the world.

The citation for the published article is:    John C. Tucker, Constitutional Codification of an Environmental Ethi c, 52 FLA. L. REV. 299 (2000).

This United States Environmental Protection Agency funded project sought to 1) facilitate communication between regulators, industry, and citizens living in the enviromental justice communities surrounding the Chattanooga Creek Superfund site, and 2) educate citizens about environmental hazards and  environmental justice.  Key collaborators included Dr. Martha Wells of Tennessee Technological University's Water Center and Ms. Brenda Millsaps, President of the Emma Wheeler Homes Resident Association, Inc.  Project outcomes included development of a planing document, creation of an environmental justice website focusing on South Chattanooga, mentoring high school students from Howard High, mentoring UTC students, educating citizens, television and newspaper stories concerning the project and the situation in South Chattanooga, and receipt of a state conservation award. The project website is accessible through the following link: Chattanooga Creek Watershed.

Brazil NGO (1997-1998)