Environment
Report: $126M price tag for cleaning up Tennessee’s abandoned coal fields
Tennessee has more than 14,000 acres of abandoned coal fields, but the cost of remediation —such as replanting trees and improving water quality — far outweigh the federal funding available to the state, a new report shows. The report by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a think tank dedicated to examining Appalachia, concluded that the […]
Tyson Foods’ expansion in west Tennessee is pitting longtime farmers against one of the nation’s biggest protein suppliers
BEECH BLUFF, TN — Larry Blankenship and his wife, Monica, lived in a trailer on his father’s farm for more than 30 years while saving for a home of their own. They finally did in 2019, moving into a pretty one-story ranch built where their trailer used to be. But their joy was short-lived; the […]
For-profit sewage providers are seeking access to public funds, a move environmental groups oppose
Last spring, neighbors in the River Rest Estates subdivision in Williamson County made an unpleasant discovery: a sewage-smelling sludge surging out of a manhole cover next to soccer fields in the community’s recreational areas. Strewn around the manhole were blobs of soiled toilet paper. In the nearby Cartwright Creek, some of the fish were dead. […]
Board denies landfill expansion plans in northwest Davidson County
Nashville’s Solid Waste Board has denied plans for the expansion of a controversial landfill that has, for decades, been the source of anger and frustration in Bordeaux, the largely African-American suburb northwest of downtown. The decision at the end of the four-hour meeting on Wednesday is not likely, however, to be the last say on […]
Elected officials add voices to debate over Nashville landfill in Black neighborhood
A public oversight board will meet Wednesday to weigh the future of a landfill in northwest Nashville that takes in 90 percent of all construction waste generated in the city but will reach capacity within the next three years. For decades, the Southern Services landfill has been the final destination for debris from commercial and […]