Platinum Rating Serves As Marketing Tool For Chattanooga – Hamilton County

Chattanooga and Hamilton County receive one of their biggest marketing tools to date: A platinum rating by TVA in their new Valley Sustainable Communities program.

Millie Callaway, a community development specialist for TVA, says, "Meaning you really have married sustainable efforts with your economic development efforts as well."

Community leaders say this rating will help in December when they make a big push to get new businesses to come to Chattanooga.

Callaway adds, "A lot of it is getting it out there. There’s a perception in the Southeast that our communities and our cultures isn’t educated in this realm."

But Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger says the area is, in fact, educated in sustainable efforts.

Mayor Coppinger adds, "The fact that the new schools that we’re building and what we’re doing to make them energy efficient and one of those is geo therm to do the heating and air. We are already seeing much more saving there than we thought."

Those aren’t the only buildings "going green," and mimicking what’s already being done on the west coast.

Charles Wood, the chamber vice president of economic development, says, "If you think about companies like Blue Cross, Blue Shield, which built almost a million square foot gold LEED building, or Volkswagen, or EPB’s new LEED certified facility. Those are great stories to tell."

Chattanooga’s message is certainly changing, and city leaders say this award shows just how far the area has come since being designated as the dirtiest city in America back in the late 60’s.

This is the first year for the Valley Sustainable Communities program.