TDEC budget hearing: commissioner touts parks investments, Duck River planning and nuclear regulatory steps

Commissioner David Salyers, speaking to the Finance, Ways and Means Committee on March 11, 2025, outlined the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s (TDEC) budget priorities, highlighting plans to eliminate the parks’ deferred maintenance backlog, fund regional water planning for the Duck River, and create a state regulatory framework for nuclear fusion and related technologies.

Salyers said the proposed budget includes funding to address the parks maintenance backlog and to fully staff several newly established parks. He told committee members that nine new state parks have been approved by the governor and the General Assembly and that the budget would fund three new parks (Dry Branch in Perry/Hickman/Lewis counties; a Cherokee Removal memorial park in Meigs County; and a Blueway State Park on the Clinch River), along with staffing for two already-named parks.

On water planning, Salyers described a $24.5 million budget item, saying about $20 million would be focused on the Duck River for engineering, hydraulic modeling and to incentivize regional cooperation among utility districts and municipalities. He said the Duck River is among the most ecologically diverse freshwater rivers in North America and that the funds are intended as seed money and programmatic support to keep pace with population and industrial growth.

Salyers also told the committee TDEC is preparing a state-level regulatory program for nuclear fusion. He said the state, as an agreement state, will implement a framework to work with prospective licensees and the public and to expedite oversight timelines compared with federal processes. "We are in a race right now with Massachusetts who can get there first," Salyers said, adding that Tennessee is competing with a small number of other states to lead in the nuclear sector.

Committee members asked detailed questions about staffing, seasonal versus full-time positions in state parks, capital project cost inflation, shoreline stabilization at park sites, and use of federal ARPA funds for water and wastewater projects. Deputy Commissioner Karen Simo and other TDEC officials provided operational clarifications:

- Vacancies and full-time equivalents: Simo said vacancy counts are a snapshot; among roughly 333 vacancies pulled in February, 274 had been vacant less than a year and 59 were long-term vacancies (over a year). TDEC has reduced long-term vacancies from 107 in February 2023 to 59, she said, and uses job-share funding that can be filled by multiple seasonal hires while showing as a single full-time equivalent in the budget.

- Parks capital and inflation: TDEC described project-specific programming for each new park and requested $6.2 million to address maintenance funding to avoid a return to the prior deferred-maintenance cycle. Shoreline stabilization work (examples cited: two Chattanooga parks and Paris Landing) was described as essential but costlier than expected.

- Duck River and ARPA: Salyers and deputy officials said ARPA funds have been granted to counties and municipalities statewide for water infrastructure; TDEC reported $250 million expended and approximately $685 million in approved procurements underway with roughly 20 months remaining in grant timelines. For the Duck River specifically, Salyers said the governor proposed $24.5 million in state, nonrecurring funding this year, with $20 million earmarked to address the Duck River’s engineering and regionalization needs.

- T. O. Fuller State Park: Committee members requested updates on pool and facility work; TDEC said a pool repair was out for bid but had not yet received successful bidders, and that the agency is reclassifying and transferring positions to provide more year-round staffing for the park.

- Mega-site and ARPA: TDEC said it distributed state strategic ARPA grants tied to the mega-site (including an engineering study and a state strategic grant to Tipton County) and that the department will provide a more detailed list of local investments upon request.

Why it matters

TDEC’s budget proposal ties capital and operating spending to specific statewide priorities: parks maintenance and access, regional water planning for stressed basins, and regulatory capacity to support new energy technologies. The Duck River plan and the development of a state fusion regulatory program are both framed as long-term, multiyear efforts that will require further appropriations, federal funding, and local cooperation.

What the department pledged next

TDEC said it will continue to provide documentation on vacancy trends, park-specific capital plans, and a detailed accounting of ARPA-funded projects and strategic grants connected to industrial development sites. The department also signaled continued outreach to local stakeholders for the Duck River watershed project partnership and said it will proceed with a master planning process for David Crockett Birthplace State Park following storm damage.