Residents weigh in on future of Bull Run site

At a recent Zoom conference of the group Bull Run Neighbors, residents of Oak Ridge, Powell and Claxton weighed in on the future of Bull Run Fossil Plant and its coal ash storage.

While many expressed a desire to make sure everything stayed safe with the site’s fly ash, bottom ash and gypsum, collectively called coal combustion residuals or CCR, they differed on whether it is safer to keep it in place or move it to another location. At present, these materials are in various places around the plant, including storage areas near the Clinch River and near Claxton Community Park.

They also had different ideas on how best to use the area after the plant's planned closing.

New Market resident Axel Ringe, a member of the Harvey Broom Group Sierra Club, as well as Bull Run Neighbors, started the meeting by saying the future ownership and development of the Bull Run Fossil Plant site will depend on “what you as a community want.” 

TVA has previously stated it plans to close the Bull Run Fossil Plant by 2023. The utility recently presented what it called a “potential” re-development timeline, with decisions on coal ash storage “under the direction” of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation happening in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the demolition and deconstruction would start and the final closure of coal ash, “if stored in place,” would be in 2028. The utility stated this schedule would be longer if TVA decides to ship the coal ash from its current areas to somewhere else, rather than sealing it where it is currently located. TVA has yet to formally commit to any plan for these materials. 

Bull Run Neighbors, which hosted the Zoom conference, is a group that has, in its newsletter and official statements, been critical of TVA. No representatives from TVA were present at the meeting. However, Adam Hughes a community organizer with Statewide Coalition for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) showed screenshots from the utility’s recent virtual open house on Bull Run's future, which included TVA statements.

Chuck Head, the TDEC Bureau of Environment assistant commissioner, explained at the Zoom conference that TDEC, a state environmental regulatory agency, required that TVA study the effects of these coal-burning byproducts on the environment. He said TDEC is collecting duplicate samples alongside TVA, but won’t make any decisions until the study is complete. He said TDEC hadn’t gotten all of the results yet. 

He said TDEC’s order also included other coal ash storage sites across the state, including the Allen Plant near Memphis. At that plant, he said, TDEC advised TVA to dig up and move the coal ash at that site. He also said at the Gallatin Fossil Plant, the state had requested TVA put its ash stored there in a “new, well-designed landfill.” 

Hughes showed the group an image of one TVA proposal for using the Bull Run Fossil Plant area, which included park areas, bike trails, a future industrial site and solar panels covering the current CCR storage areas. TVA has stated the image is not a final plan.

“The actual development may not look like what’s in the rendering now, depending on decisions that TVA and the community make, but we believe it’s important to start the process early, while being respectful of the employees at Bull Run,” John Bradley, TVA’s senior vice president for Economic Development, stated in a news release that was previously published by The Oak Ridger.

The image of the artist's rendering, which has been published several times in The Oak Ridger, received some negative reactions from those attending the online Bull Run Neighbors meeting.

“They have made it look like it’s going to be so easy-peasy to cover this up and put in biking trails and letting our kids swim in the water, but you might as well say, ‘Welcome to Cancerville,’” said Powell resident Lori Arwood. “I think it’s a load of crock.” She also criticized TVA’s current coal ash storage for being near a public park.

TVA officials have stated in comments to The Oak Ridger and The News Sentinel newspaper in Knoxville that coal ash is not toxic under Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

“Posting nice graphics or pictures is just kind of pulling wool over people’s eyes … We want to see actual work done and the cleanup done properly,” said another person attending the Zoom meeting.

Anderson County resident and environmental activist John Todd Waterman said he would prefer TVA move the coal ash from the site.

“All that stuff needs to be excavated; it needs to be moved some place where it can be stored safely,” he said, adding it should be moved in barges or trains “to somewhere where there aren’t a lot of people around.” 

Powell resident Julie Bledsoe, earlier at the meeting, said she also wanted the ash moved although she said she wanted to make sure workers stayed safe during the process. Her husband, Ron Bledsoe, is involved in a lawsuit against Jacobs Engineering Group, charging that he wasn't protected by Jacobs while he was involved in the cleanup process following the 2008 coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant. The News-Sentinel reports Bledsoe as having suffered a mild stroke since leaving the cleanup and has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

The Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill occurred on Dec. 22, 2008. As reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its website, a dike failed and about 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash fell into the Swan Pond embayment and the Emory River channel. Attorney Theane Evangelis, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which represents Jacobs Engineering Group said her group did provide protection and that in the current phase of the lawsuit workers will have to prove damages to health were connected to Jacobs Engineering Group. She added she was "confident" they would not prove any of the health effect were connected.

Waterman said he didn’t want it moved to a “down-and-out African American Community in Alabama,” he said, referring to Uniontown, Ala., where he said ash from the Kingston ash spill was moved.

“There are plenty of places where it could be stored away from people,” Waterman said.

Oak Ridge resident Nancy Murno, who said she had worked evaluating materials for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also said she agreed the ash should move to a better landfill.

However, Oak Ridge resident Chris Wetherall said moving the ash is “extremely dangerous” and instead favored stabilizing it in place. He said he had worked with the material in the past. He spoke of the material’s dangers, saying it contained radioactive elements. He said its classification as non-toxic had to do with where it came from, not its level of danger.

“If it were from a cookie baking factory, it would be a hazardous waste,” he said.

Anderson County Commission Chairman Tracy Wandell also expressed some reservations at the meeting about moving the ash from where it is currently stored. He not only lives in Claxton, the community around the Bull Run Fossil Plant, but represents the area on County Commission.

“If we’re going to dig it up, I’m not sure that’s safe in itself,” he said. He said, however, he would prefer TVA monitor and take care of the ash storage site “in perpetuity” if it stays where it is.

“I’m just interested in ensuring everything is environmentally safe as possible,” he said.

Plans for future uses of Bull Run Fossil Plant also varied among the virtual attendees.

Wandell said he would like to see a server farm that might work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to generate “upper level paying jobs.” Oak Ridge resident Jan Berry said she would prefer something that would create jobs like an Amazon distribution center. Another attendee, Ron Bridges, proposed a veteran farm, while other proposals involved trails, green space and wetland. 

Ben Pounds is a staff reporter for The Oak Ridger. Call him at (865) 441-2317 and follow him on Twitter @Bpoundsjournal.