Erica Davis is fighting for the environmental and financial rights of communities in Tennessee. Her efforts earned her the 2016 Bower Youth Award for researching, writing and obtaining sponsorship for a bill to reform oil and natural gas severance taxes in Tennessee.
“Receiving the Bower Youth Award is a huge honor,” she said. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to worth with and inspire others from across the nation to find organizations and opportunities to help the planet and make a difference in our communities.”
Six young leaders are selected every year to receive Brower Youth Awards for making strides in the environmental movement. From taxing oil and gas companies, to turning recycled plastic into material for 3D printing, recipients are combining cutting-edge innovation with urgent solutions to the environmental crises the communities face. Award winners demonstrate excellent leadership as well as a commitment to the communities their work serves.
In Tennessee, severance taxes are the only legislative means to ensure that part of the wealth associated with oil and gas production remains in-state. Davis’s bill sought to raise these taxes and change the way the tax revenue is distributed.
The bill, sponsored by state senator Ken Yager and Rep. Dennis Powers, reallocates all oil and gas severance tax revenue to the county back to the county in which the resources were taken. Currently, a county would receive only one-third of revenue with the state getting the other two-thirds.
While fracking companies make huge dividends on the cheap energy alternative and capitalize on the struggling coal business and the state receives the majority of the severance taxes, the community’s monetary benefit is minimal and the environmental impact has been well documented, as it has been known to pollute groundwater and cause seismic activity.
Davis’s bill sought to correct that injustice through legislation.
“There’s a lot of not only resource wealth, but a lot of monetary wealth leaving these communities. And it’s the same communities that have been plagued by the coal industries historically,” Davis said of fracking in Tennessee.
While Davis lobbied strongly to help raise bipartisan support for the bill. Unfortunately, it was dropped from the 2015-2016 docket. Davis intends to revive the bill in the next legislative session.
As recipient of the Brower Youth Award, she will receive $3,000 in prize money and an all-expense paid trip to San Francisco to attend the 17th annual Brower Youth Awards convention on Oct. 18.
“I am also excited to be representing Tennessee, because I truly love my home and want to help make it the best it can be,” said Davis.
Davis is currently pursuing her law degree at the University of Tennessee College of Law and resides in Knoxville. She is the daughter of Donna and Matt Crim of Lafayette, and Eric and Kelly Davis of Warren County, and the granddaughter of Billy and Sandra Nunley, Jimmy and Janice Crim, and Don and Alda Bandy, all of Warren County.
Davis receives Bower Youth Award

