Ernie Reed

Faber resident Ernie Reed has announced his candidacy for the Nelson County Board of Supervisors’ Central District seat.

Reed, president of Friends of Nelson, a group dedicated to opposing the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, is running as a Democrat.

Connie Brennan, the current Central District supervisor, will not seek re-election, according to a news release issued by Reed.

Connie Brennan

Reed, who served as president of environmental advocacy group Wild Virginia, said in the release his campaign will focus on education, economics and the environment.

“It is with delight and confidence that I look forward to handing the reins of responsibility to Ernie for the business of helping Nelson County continue to move forward,” Brennan said in the release. “His knowledge and experience in many fields, from business to the environment, will help keep the commonwealth’s mandates of protecting the health, safety and welfare of our residents foremost in his deliberations. His energy and dedication will bring forward new ideas for the future.”

Reed moved to Nelson County in 1983 before moving to Charlottesville, where he founded the Living Education Center for Ecology and the Arts, an alternative, private, nonprofit high school. He moved back to Nelson after the school closed.

Reed also has worked with the Oakwood School, a distance learning school, in the past.