This record group contains environmental research files related to five locations in the southeastern United States where citizens were involved in substantial organizing to fight industrial pollution and other health risks in their communities and water supplies. Included are materials from Bumpass Cove, Tennessee, where residents fought a landfill containing toxic wastes. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where local residents and national allies researched the risks of a monitored retrievable storage facility for nuclear wastes. Erwin, Tennessee, where residents struggled against health and safety risks from the Nuclear Fuel Services plant. Pigeon River, Tennessee, which faced warming and pollution from western North Carolina's Champion Paper Mill. Yellow Creek, Kentucky, which faced water pollution from a tannery in Middlesboro, Kentucky.

Materials include news clippings, information about corporations, research related to specific chemicals present in dirt or groundwater and their associated health risks, the results of community surveys related to health and pollution, correspondence, meeting notes, and publications from citizens' groups and affiliated national groups.