Roane County is home to Whites Creek, the largest unpolluted watershed outside of the Smokies. We are also blessed with Clifty Creek, and the Emory, Clinch, and Tennessee rivers. Roane County is all about our water.

Some parts of our rivers are actually very impacted by pollution of one sort or another. The good news is that we are below levels that harm us at this point in time. The current trend in Tennessee is not favorable for the near future, however.

The Obed River supplies most water to the Emory River that flows through Harriman and Kingston. The Obed also flows through Crossville and has sections there that are so impacted by pollution they are seriously biologically impaired. That is where Oakdale and Harriman get their drinking water. Everything flows downhill, and being on the Tennessee river means that Roane County should be aware and active in everything that negatively impacts water quality in a large portion of several southern states. The Nolichucky River, for instance, is under threat from a myriad of pollution sources. Why should we care? Nolichucky water flows right into the Kingston water intake.

There is a regulation game that polluters play. They game the allowable limits of pollutants by sending their servants into the legislatures to pass little amendments to bills that sneak in higher and higher levels of pollutants allowed by law. Our own Senator Yager is pretty much a champ at this, though recently he was beaten back by people who care.

Here are a few money quotes:

The fear for many is the levels of ammonia and other chemicals that may be in it--levels they believe could threaten not only their lives but the wildlife that depend on the waters, including three species of endangered mussels.

...The company says the levels of contaminants that would be put into the river are minimal and would meet all regulations.

So why allow ANY pollution into our drinking waters? If you have a business don't you owe it to everyone downstream to send the water on at least as pure as it came to you?. And frankly, with the TDEC commissioner being a former polluter attorney, we certainly can't count on TDEC to keep these guys honest. Water quality enforcement actions have plummeted since Haslam took office. Factory pollution is almost never cleaned up. we have to prevent it from happening in the first place.

This isn't a simple issue and we have to trust environmental scientists to tell us what things are good and what things are bad. There's a lot of easy money in doing bad things. Good people must be diligent.

Here's the story...

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