Tennessee
Since 1998
Running the operation is Barry Sulkin, a Volunteer State native and former Chief of Enforcement and Compliance for the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC). Barry contacted PEER more than a year prior to the opening of the office, urging PEER's immediate involvement in helping state employees stand up for resource protection in the face of intense political pressure.
"In my experience as a state employee, at times factors other than science dictated what was supposed to be purely an environmental decision," says Sulkin. "PEER's 'anonymous activism' offers a way for good employees to stay within the system by giving them a completely safe channel to communicate with their real employer - the public."
Barry worked for TDEC from 1976 - 1990, leaving shortly after testifying that the agency had issued an illegal permit. Since then, he has created an extensive private practice as an investigator and scientist serving citizen groups and others on a wide range of water quality issues. His more than 25 years of experience in Tennessee resource management, both in state service and private practice, are being put to good use by PEER.
Contact
Barry Sulkin
4443 Pecan Valley Road
Nashville, TN 37218
phone: (615) 313-7066 email: tnpeer[at]peer.org
Recent Activities
"Water & Brimstone" is a work in progress. Environmental scientist Barry Sulkin begins to study the impact of recreational ATV activity on the rivers and creeks that feed into the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, a protected national treasure. Unregulated and unrelenting ATV traffic is also destroying adjacent Scott County land that has been in the Morrow family for generations. This short is intended to be the catalyst for increased awareness and control of this activity on our natural areas.