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Residents and park officials warn new landfill would threaten Big South Fork; industry says Scenic Rivers Act shouldn't block projects
Summary
Legislators heard extended testimony over HB 22-02 and a proposed Roberta 2 landfill near the Big South Fork. Cumberland Clear warned the ARAP application would destroy streams and wetlands and called the river "one of the last large free flowing rivers in the entire Southeast." Industry witnesses said the Scenic Rivers Act was not intended to stop landfills and defended existing permitting avenues; TDEC explained two permits are active or pending, including a 16-year-old landfill permit and an ARAP application under review.
The committee devoted substantial time to HB 22-02 and a contested proposal for a new landfill near the Big South Fork Cumberland River. Jennifer Shockley, president of Cumberland Clear, urged the committee to protect the river, describing it as "one of the last large free flowing rivers in the entire Southeast" and saying the ARAP application for the Roberta 2 landfill would permanently destroy streams and wetlands feeding the watershed. Shockley said she understood the current county landfill operates and provides jobs, but she and other local speakers warned that the proposed site sits atop numerous streams and wetlands and is less than 0.7 mile from a tributary of Bear Creek.
Industry witnesses from the National Waste and Recycling Association’s Tennessee chapter opposed using the Scenic Rivers Act as a de facto ban on projects, noting local governments have zoning, the Jackson law and regional solid-waste planning processes to evaluate new facilities. "This act was never intended to be used as a way to stop landfills or deprive land owners of using their land for development," Katie Evans of the association told the committee. TDEC legislative staff and counsel explained there are two separate permitting tracks: a class-2 landfill permit issued 16 years ago that is being maintained and recertified by a new project proponent, and an aquatic-resource alteration permit (ARAP) that expired and for which a new application is presently under review. TDEC staff said ARAP consideration includes a determination that alteration would not cause a condition of pollution under the Water Quality Control Act; that determination had not yet been made.
