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TDEC holds public hearing on draft NPDES permit for Watterson Farm Lakes in Coffee County
Summary
Tennessee regulators held a formal public hearing on a draft NPDES permit (TN0070745) for the proposed Watterson Farm Lakes limestone operation in Coffee County. The division limited its review to water-quality impacts and invited written comments through April 6, 2026.
Roxanne Riley, the hearing moderator with the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources, opened a hybrid public hearing to receive comments on a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for Watterson Farm Lakes, a proposed limestone extraction and processing facility in Coffee County.
Riley told attendees the permit applicant is Tara Watterson and gave the draft permit number, TN0070745. She said the draft NPDES permit would regulate the quality of treated mine wastewater and stormwater discharged from the site, but would not address other local concerns such as noise, dust, traffic, blasting or zoning.
Officials said the permit area covers about 60.6 acres. Treated wastewater and stormwater would be routed through settling ponds before discharging at outfalls 001, 002 and 003 to an unnamed tributary of Garrison Fork Creek. Riley said sediment-control structures and best-management practices in the application meet or exceed the division's design criteria.
"This public hearing will consider comments regarding the proposed issuance of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit," Riley said. She also summarized the applicant's technical claim that the proposed activity would cause only de minimis degradation of available parameters and would not cause degradation of parameters that are unavailable.
Riley emphasized limits on the division's authority: it regulates only water quality and the terms and conditions of the draft permit, not zoning, blasting or other local land-use issues. She said the draft permit is proposed for a five-year term and that permit coverage must be maintained until all termination requirements are satisfied.
The division set a five-minute limit for oral testimony and said written comments (including documents and photos) will be accepted and given the same weight as oral testimony through April 6, 2026. Written comments may be emailed to dmgr.publicnotice@tn.gov or mailed to the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources, 3711 Middlebrook Pike, Suite 101, Knoxville, TN 37921. The division also provided a general contact number (865-606-1746) and a staff contact, Jeff Klein, at 865-441-4773.
Riley read an attendance list of in-person commenters and noted several attendees declined to speak. She said the division will review all oral and written comments and may issue, modify, extend or deny the permit application or ask the applicant for additional information. The permit decision and the division's response to comments will be mailed to those on the record and uploaded to TDEC's public data viewer.
The hearing record and related materials (the draft permit, application and supporting documents) are available on the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources data viewer under permit TN0070745. The division closed the hearing and reminded attendees of the April 6 comment deadline.
