Renee Hoyos is a business person, environmental advocate, and the former director of the Tennessee Clean Water NetworkWhile director of the TCWN she pressed a lawsuit against KUB for their dumping of toxic waste into local water supplies, and pointed out that the Mississippi River, which drains a third of the United States' freshwater, has been used for decades as the nation's "sewer".
In February 2017 she also requested a townhall meeting with the current US Representative for the district, John Duncan Jr., to discuss a bill that was pending in the House to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency; Duncan refused to hold the meeting.
In 2016 Hoyos became noted as one of "ten women who make a difference in Knoxville".
She also pushed for the enactment of the Clean Power Plan.Hoyos is one of six women in Tennessee who have received their party's nomination for US Congress for the November 2018 midterm elections.