Done with yet another “bill mill” dominated TN General Assembly, I took off on Monday, May 20th to support the conservation efforts of our members across the state.
On Monday, May 20, I joined Sierra Club members and others to oppose the reopening and expansion of the Maury County owned demolition landfill in the Chickasaw Trace Park, where the Columbia Cycling Club has created a regionally popular system of mountain bike trails along the Duck River. Last year, the Maury County Commission voted to close this landfill. Now, under newly elected County Mayor Andy Ogles (ex-director of the Koch brothers funded Americans For Prosperity in TN), the Maury County Commission is considering reopening and expanding the landfill, threatening bike and hiking trails, as well as water quality in the Duck River. Due to the several hundred residents that turned out in opposition, the Maury County Commission kicked the vote down the road until September 2019. If you want to get involved contact longtime Sierra member Gale Moore at galecourtneymoore@cpws.net.
The next morning (May 21) I joined members of Sierra Club’s Care NET Committee in a meeting with Hawkin’s County’s new Director of Solid Waste and Recycling, John Lilly. John seems to have a solid grip on the county’s waste problems and their operation was very clean, perhaps due to the use of county jail labor. Hawkins County appears to be doing a good job with their recycling and we will keep a close eye on them. Contact Nancy Bell at nancywithbell@gmail.com to get involved.
I then headed south to a public hearing regarding US Nitrogen’s cooling water withdrawals to manufacture ammonium-nitrate explosives for mountain top removal coal mining. On the way, I pulled over on the way to talk to TN legal experts and geologists to talk about how we could strengthen our state laws to avoid being the industrial waste dumping ground of “Special Wastes” the United States. Too many of our landfills in TN receive interstate wastes, including low-level radioactive waste from the US and other countries, dead chickens and other animals from compromised feeding operations, without public notice. Sierra Club intends to put the people back in these decisions.
The public hearing on the evening of May 21st, was attended by 20 or more concerned citizens from Greene and Cocke County. The issue at hand was the reissuance of a TN Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit to allow US Nitrogen to suck 1.9 million gallons of water out of the Nolichucky River to supply cooling and process water to their explosives manufacturing plant, imperiling several species of endangered mussels in the process. Even though no public need was ever proven, US Nitrogen was allowed to force their pipeline through private properties and US Nitrogen now pays nothing to use water from the Nolichucky River and discharge their wastes to the same. For background, visit ex-Knoxville Sentinel Wally Roches blog on the US Nitrogen saga . Contact me, Scott Banbury, at smbanbury@gmail.com, for more info on the upcoming air permits around the US Nitrogen plant, or RSVP here if you plan to attend the June 10th informational hearing or the June 11th public comment session.
On Wednesday, May 22nd, TN Chapter Conservation Chair, Bill Moll, and I ate lunch with the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Conservancy and learned about plans to fill in many acres of wetlands for a mixed use retail/residential/soccer facility. I don’t know where this is going, but we must defend wetlands whenever they are at risk. Contact the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Conservancy. I also had the immense pleasure of meeting one of the oldest members of the Sierra Club, Ken Dubke, who joined the Club in 1969. We swapped stories about TN State Naturalist Mac Prichard and Sierra Club Director David Brower.
On May 23, I was blown away by Chattanooga Public Works employee Lyn Rutherford’s efforts to turn post construction storm water structures into pollinator friendly native plant gardens. As bees and butterflies buzzed around us, she showed how these stormwater control structures could serve ecological as well as mechanical goals. To learn more about Lyn, read this article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Sierra Club hopes to promote Lyn’s initiatives statewide.
Also on May 23, I got word that an illegal landfill was operating in Shelby County. From Bill Moll’s porch in Chattanooga, I directed local media to the site, and the next day TDEC Director of Solid Waste, Pat Flood, assured me that TDEC was on it. The next day, we got one of the strictest Notice of Violations I’ve ever seen.
The next day I drove up into the Cherokee National Forest for the 29th Anniversary Heartwood Forest Council where the spectacular work of Davis Mounger, the TN Chapter’s National Forest Committee Chair, and Shelby Ward, environmental lawyer extraordinaire, was on full display in regards to their recent victory on the Dinkey Sale.
When I got home, I learned that TVA had issued a Draft Environmental Assessment on demolishing the Allen Fossil (Coal) Plant, and I’m advocating that I be allowed to press the shiny red button that implodes it all.
If you’d like any more information, or want to talk about conservation issues across Tennessee, please contact me at smbanbury@gmail.com or 901-619-8567.