Hundreds of Clarksville residents attended two meetings September 26 to voice their concerns about pollutants expected from new industry in Montgomery County. The AtlasBX lead-acid battery plant, sister company to recently-opened Hankook Tire, filed for permits projecting lead emissions ~1000 lbs/year, in addition to other pollutants such as sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, for total particulate matter emissions of 100,000lbs/year. The proposed plant will be located within two miles of three schools, a hospital, a vineyard, and hundreds of homes.

Members of Sierra Club Clarksville-Montgomery County spoke at the 2pm meeting of the Regional Planning Commission, where final site approval for the plant was to be decided. The Commission was asked to defer a decision until after the public meeting with TDEC that evening, and informed that a petition with 1600 signatures had been sent to appropriate government officials, expressing concern over projected emissions and the plant's proximity to residential areas. The Commission was also reminded that a decision they made previously to rezone the area adjacent to the industrial park as residential had been hotly contested at the time, and was now pertinent to the AtlasBX site approval. After some deliberation, the Commission decided in favor of site approval, stating they had no basis for deferral.

Dozens more citizens spoke at the 6pm TDEC meeting, citing statistics on lead-related health issues in other communities with similar plants, local Clean Air Act and OSHA violations from AtlasBX's sister company Hankook in the past year, and questioning the benefits of 200 new jobs when weighed against the consequences of increased pollution in a city that is already rated 24th in a list of "Most Toxic Places" in the nation. TDEC responded that AtlasBX's lead projections were within the limits set by the EPA; the air permit was issued the following morning.

JoAnn McIntosh lives in Clarksville, TN
She is Secretary of the Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter Executive Committee and a member of the Sierra Club Clarksville-Montgomery County Conservation Committee. Please follow the work of the Clarksville-Montomery County team on Facebook.
JoAnn is a long time environmental activist.