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By Taylor Schaefer, Writing Project Leader for Save The Water™ | May 9, 2015
The Nolichucky River runs through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and flows into Tennessee before joining the French Broad River. It is home to a variety of wildlife and is an integrated part of the communities that reside alongside it. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claims that a five-mile stretch of this river is one of the last habitats for at least three types of endangered mollusks.
Communities in East Tennessee have been battling construction by a company called US Nitrogen, which is seeking to pump water from the Nolichucky to their industrial chemical plant in Greene County before returning polluted water back to the river. While the company plans to treat the water before it is returned, there will be certain amounts of ammonium nitrate deposited into the river that will affect both the well-being of the river and species that live there.
The added pollution from the plant is especially concerning since nitrogen levels are already increasing due to fertilizer run-off from agriculture, which affects the communities downriver.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation permits US Nitrogen to withdraw as much as 1.9 million gallons of water per day. The company is also estimated to discharge about 500,000 gallons of water per day back into the river.
A major concern involves the company’s lack of acknowledgement of how the river varies in volume in different areas and the seriousness of the cumulative effect of discharge on communities. This will cause an unequal concentration of chemicals in certain areas of discharge. Sierra Club attorney Brian Paddock stated:
“There is a real problem of accurate measurement of the flow and volume of the river at the proposed intake and discharge point.”
The U.S. Geological Survey and Fish and Wildlife Service propose that the areas with low flow levels be more protected.
The pipeline for the plant is already under construction and causing controversy with members of the communities in Greene County, Cocke, and Hamblen. Several families have filed a motion to halt the construction and use of the double pipeline. Residents claim the pipeline is being built on their property without their consent, which violates an agreement created in October 2014. Unfortunately, the pipeline is almost complete, and one of the motions to stop the construction in certain areas has been denied.
Hollie Binkley, the environmental manager at US Nitrogen, claimed that there are no mussels occupying the area of the intake/discharge site at the Conway Bridge and that the mussel populations downstream should not be affected.
While the company welcomes monitoring from official agencies and claims the industry is regulated, will this be enough? Is this the beginning of the end for the Nolichucky River and its endangered species?
After coal ash and chemical spills polluted water sources across the nation, communities’ trust in companies is quickly diminishing. Recent disasters display the need for independent monitoring of bodies of water used by companies in order to protect these water sources.