Published: October 14, 2009 09:23 am      

LION AND THE LAMB: The struggle against coal combustion residues coming to Cumberland County

Where do we stand in the struggle against coal combustion residues coming to Cumberland County?

The struggle is continuing on several fronts with dedicated and growing citizen involvement and concern, with a growing number of environmental and legal partners raising concerns and doing research, and with state and national agencies voicing opposition.

There is also a pending lawsuit against our county, mayor, commissioners and Smith Mountain Solutions LLC claiming improprieties in executing the Jackson Law and other violations. It seeks judicial review by the Chancery Court of Cumberland County.

The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) of the U.S. Department of Interior has the responsibility for mining regulation in Tennessee. They are still considering comments and will be holding a public hearing on whether or not to change the existing permits calling for reclamation of the Smith Mountain strip mine site. The request was to change the designation to Industrial/Commercial in order to allow for a permit by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) for a large lined land fill for coal ash residues in the surface mining site that is in the Sewanee coal seam that requires perpetual treatment for the acid mine drainage from the 1,192.3 acre site.

Extensive comments telling OSM not to change the designation and/or insisting that they must conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) have come from several environmental, conservation and religious organizations. A full EIS would deal with not only environmental matters (water, air, toxics, geology, violation history) but also everything that should have been dealt with by the Jackson Law, like social, economic, recreational, and road safety matters.

The National Park Service and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency have filed comments asking OSM not to change the designation.

The major actors in the struggle besides OSM are the Chancery Court, TDEC, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Each has received a copy of over 3000 signatures on petitions still being gathered in the county as well as the comments by several organizations and agencies.

TVA has been formally requested to use some of the 230,000 acres that they own for the lined landfills needed for their increasingly more toxic coal combustion residue coming from their electric generating plants. As scrubbers are added to power plants, the coal combustion residue becomes much more toxic. Landfills on TVA property can be placed in optimal places which are far better than on a Sewanee seam strip mine site on Smith Mountain or on any other mining site or an existing land fill that accepts all kinds of waste that is in proximity to a population, and especially one raising environmental justice issues. TVA, sensitive to public opinion, needs to hear from everyone and our representatives, about using this alternative for toxic ash, while putting much more effort into energy conservation and clean energy production.

TDEC is required to continue processing the application for the landfill and has rarely turned down a landfill application because of inadequate regulations. They continue to ask for more information and, in this situation, must deal with the unsuitable nature of the mining site based on experience with the prior owners. It is a “first of its kind” proposed facility. The EPA is expected to rule on the toxicity of coal combustion residue before the end of the year that will probably make land fill requirements much stricter.

The public media has started to listen to Cumberland countians while environmental media are deepening their coverage of the disposal of toxic ash.

While the situation looks positive, the struggle is far from over and may never totally be won. The forces aligned against the public interest are formidable, corrupt and corrupting. Agencies designed to protect us and the environment are under-funded, understaffed, somewhat demoralized, equipped with weak or non-existent regulations and are politically manipulated. Professional staff can do what is right only with public support and pressure.

We need to keep attentive to opportunities to protect our community from exploitation, desecration and injustice. We can write to the powers that be and vote.