Amanda Garcia
Senior Attorney and Data Center Project Leader
Amanda is a senior attorney in the Tennessee office of the Southern Environmental Law Center. Amanda leads SELC’s regional data center advocacy and works directly alongside communities to help build a more resilient, just, and livable future in the South.
Amanda’s legal practice centers on energy, air, and environmental justice. She led the SELC team that helped the southwest Memphis community defeat the Byhalia crude oil pipeline and co-led the SELC team that supported community opposition to xAI’s Colossus 1 data center in southwest Memphis. Amanda regularly collaborates with a dedicated coalition of local community leaders to create more environmental justice in predominantly Black communities in Memphis. In 2025, SELC’s work in Memphis was recognized with Young, Gifted & Green’s EJ x Ally award.
A special place for Amanda is the Lost Cove area in Tennessee’s South Cumberland State Park. The fantastical limestone formations and seemingly limitless variety of mosses and mushrooms make it seem a world away from Nashville, instead of just a short drive.
- San Francisco Baykeeper
- Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California, clerk
- J.D., New York University School of Law, magna cum laude
- B.A., Stanford University with distinction