Tennessee Environmental Agenda

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Ozone Pollution

On April 15, 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated 18 counties in Tennessee as failing to meet health standards for ozone pollution.  That is nearly one-fifth of Tennessee’s counties and represents millions of residents in urban centers across the state.  Ozone (smog) is harmful to the lungs and is dangerous for children, the elderly and those with respiratory illness.  More action is needed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and other precursors to ozone formation.

The University of Tennessee Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering put forth a menu of transportation control measures, and the EPA has issued guidance to the state about efforts to reduce pollutants, all aimed at lowering ozone levels.  The state should begin to adopt the most effective measures, which could include: 

·        Reducing speed limits on urban interstate highway systems

·        Controlling emissions from construction equipment and

other diesel engines

·        Requiring reasonable control technologies from smaller sources

of nitrogen oxides

·        Alternative fuels for mobile sources

·        Controls on natural gas and other compressor systems

·        Expedited improvements to controls on existing power plants

·        Promote better mass transportation and driving patterns,

thereby reducing dependence upon single passenger cars

 The state should move forward with these measures to ensure that all 18 counties come into attainment and to provide healthy air for all Tennesseans to breathe.

Energy Efficiency
There are many ways to improve efficiency in energy generation, and Governor Bredesen and the state legislature can help lead the way.  The State of Tennessee showed leadership by partnering up with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Power Switch to become the first state government in the Southeast to buy green power.  Many states have been leaders in developing and demonstrating new approaches to improving energy efficiency and deploying renewable energy.  For instance, in 1999 Texas created a renewable portfolio standard.  The Texas law created the largest market for new renewable energy development in the country, requiring electricity companies to supply 2,000 megawatts of new renewable resources by 2009.  

Energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are ready to serve us.  We need vision, leadership, and determination to provide a clean, affordable energy future.  Tennessee should set high goals. Energy use in state buildings should be reduced by 20 percent, and new state buildings should be built using LEED United States Green Building Council standards.  All state campuses should model the future by buying two percent or more of renewable energy for their facilities.  All appliances purchased by state government should meet EPA’s Energy Star standards.  The State of Tennessee needs to implement the most recent IEEC energy building code to increase energy efficiency in new construction. The state should have a goal of having solar on all major state park buildings within the next three years.

 Air Pollution Control Board
One concern that continues to be problematic is the make-up of the Air Pollution Control Board.  The Air Pollution Control Board establishes the rules governing the emissions of air pollutants in Tennessee.  A comptroller’s report from March 2000 points to this board in particular as being out of balance.   The comptroller found that “environmental boards could do more to protect the public interest.”   

It is necessary for the public health community to have better representation on this board, and it is the responsibility of the governor and the legislature to see that such representation is provided for in the law.

Alternative Fuels
The environmental, economic and energy security benefits of using domestic alternatives to petroleum are astounding.  Alternative fuels can reduce air pollutants from emissions and help reduce serious health risks connected to poor air quality.  The four main pollutants reduced are Particulate Matter (PM), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Hydrocarbons (HC) and Carbon Monoxide (CO).  Some alternative fuels, like biodiesel and ethanol, can go a step further by using waste products for fuel.  Products that would otherwise end up in landfills, like used cooking oil and agricultural waste, can be turned into biodiesel or ethanol. 

Using domestic alternative fuels can have a tremendous impact on local economies.  The U.S. purchases over $100 billion worth of foreign oil and petroleum products annually.  That’s about $2 billion sent abroad every week that could be cycled back into our own economy instead.  Farmers, fuel suppliers, manufacturers, refiners and other related industries would flourish with the increase of domestic alternative fuel production.  Improved air quality also would add to the positive economic return through fewer air quality related illnesses. 

Energy security is improved through the use of alternative fuels.  The U.S. consumes 25 permit of the oil produced worldwide.  More than half that oil comes from foreign sources.  The fuel line has become the lifeline of our economy.  Any disruption in supply from anywhere in the world, and the U.S. economy suffers.  Diversifying through the use of domestic alternative fuels can help soften the impact of any oil supply interruption. 

The governor should take the lead in diversifying Tennessee’s fuel infrastructure.  Efforts to make the state automobile fleet compatible with alternative fuels are a good start.  Now, that promotional effort should be incorporated in private sector initiatives.

Land  

Forestry
Tennessee is experiencing a disproportionate ecological burden as a source for the world’s timber consumption.  The United States Forest Service reports that more than two million acres of Tennessee’s native forests were cut between 1989 and 1999, including nearly 600 thousand acres of clear-cuts.   More than 500 thousand acres of forest were converted to other uses between 1989 and 1999, and replanting has created more than 500 thousand acres of non-native species pine plantations. Seventy-five percent of these plantations were planted on land previously occupied by native forest types.                                                             

Nearly all of Tennessee is either globally (East and Plateau regions) or regionally (Central, West Central, and West regions) outstanding based on species richness, species uniqueness or global and regional rarity of habitat and forest types.   

Unfortunately, nearly all of the eco-regions of Tennessee are considered endangered based on the degree of habitat loss already incurred. Tennessee already has lost 60 percent of bottomland hardwood forests, 60-75 percent of cypress-tupelo forest in West Tennessee, and 59 percent of the state’s wetlands.  

In areas outside of our suburban counties, the largest driver of loss and environmental damage to hardwood forests are chip mills and plants that make paper and building panels from chips.  The chip, pulp and paper industry uses unsustainable practices. 

·        drives the increased cutting of hardwood forests

·        requires thousands of acres be clear-cut without regard to

ecological or environmental impacts

·        causes the conversion of hardwood forests to monoculture

pine plantations. 

It is long past time for the State to control the chip, pulp and paper industry mills and unlimited and unregulated pulpwood harvesting.  We call on the legislature and the governor to develop policies commensurate with their publicly expressed concern regarding clear-cutting and pine plantations.

Mining
Last year, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation approved a permit for a 2,100 acres mountaintop removal coal mine in Campbell County, Tennessee.  This mine on Zeb Mountain is the largest of the four mountaintop removal mines that have been permitted in Tennessee since 2000. 

During a mountain removal operation, a company blasts apart the top of a mountain and removes an entire seam of coal.  The coal operator then stores the spoil material from the top of the mountain in the top of small valleys or attempts to pile the spoil back up into a man-made mountain.  The huge surface area that is disturbed creates uncontrollable sediment pollution that chokes streams.  The head of hollow fills and the reconstructed peaks of loose spoil create conditions for increased flooding and the possibility of catastrophic slope failure.   

In Tennessee, the federal government has primary responsibility for regulating coal mining.  The State Government has responsibility for regulating the aspect of mining that impacts the water.  In the past year the Bredesen administration has taken two positions related to mountaintop removal.  In December, TDEC responded to the federal draft environmental impact statement on mountaintop mining saying that it is and will continue to be the State of Tennessee’s position to not allow disposal of mine spoil in streams.  In March, Commissioner Child responded to a federal proposal to weaken the rule that provides a buffer between mining activities and streams by requesting that federal officials either maintain or expand protection of streams from mining. 

In the coming year, the State of Tennessee should move to protect Tennessee’s mountains, streams, and communities from devastation by mountaintop removal.  The Governor should put in place policies that use existing water quality law to stop the spread of mountaintop removal in the state and TDEC should not issue additional permits for mountaintop removal.
 

Sprawl and Transportation
Tennessee’s abundant natural resources, scenic rural landscapes, and productive pastures and cropland are rapidly being lost to suburban sprawl.  An average of more than 80,000 acres are developed each year in Tennessee–the seventh highest amount of land lost in the country—and the Nashville and Knoxville areas have been rated among the most sprawling metro areas in the U.S.  In addition, scattered development, coupled with a transportation program that has focused on road building and slighted other transportation alternatives, has spurred increased driving. Nashville and Knoxville have some of the highest driving rates in the country. Rampant sprawl and escalating driving are among the primary causes of most pressing environmental problems, from air and water pollution to loss of open space, wetlands, and farmland. 

State regulations and investments play a tremendous role in shaping transportation and land use patterns, and there are significant opportunities for policy changes that can enable Tennessee to capture the benefits of economic growth while reducing the mounting fiscal and environmental costs of sprawl. 

We urge the Governor and the General Assembly to:

·        Make smarter growth and more sustainable transportation
 a top priority

·        Increase land conservation by strengthening tools to encourage
 private land conservation and provide funding to protect farms
 and land.

·        Promote community revitalization by revising state policies such
as building codes that can make revitalization more costly and
direct the location of state offices to existing communities and
historic buildings

·        Provide greater planning resources to localities, since cities and counties have primary responsibility for planning communities, neighborhoods and rural areas, but often lack the necessary resources.

·        Provide a greater range of transportation choices by increasing funding for alternatives such as public transit, freight rail, walking, bicycling, and ridesharing.

Conservation Fund

Between 1986 and 1991 the proceeds from a dedicated fund (Recordation Tax or Real Estate Transfer Tax; $.28 per $100 valuation on property taxes) have gone to purchase wetlands and parkland and funded city park projects and soil conservation projects (finding solutions to non-point pollution problems).  In the fiscal year 2003, the Governor Bredesen’s budget eliminated the fund (approximately 18 million dollars) and diverted the Recordation Tax into the general fund permanently – though the legislature later limited that through 2006.  The legislature reallocated three million dollars back toward conservation purposes, and the governor has reinstated ten million dollars in this year’s budget.  However, more needs to be done to protect Tennessee’s best conservation areas. 

All Tennessee Counties benefit from one or more funds.  From the Wetland Acquisition Fund, 40 counties have received a total of more than $1.5 million of payment in lieu of property taxes; farmers have sold otherwise useless land, and communities have netted many millions of dollars in benefits from hunting.  The Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund provides farmers with a 75% (government)-25% (individual) match for non-point pollution control projects on their land.  Companies that serve farmers have received more than $2.5 million for heavy equipment operators, materials haulers, coops, seed companies, and farm supply.  State and Local Park(s) Acquisition Funds have been used successfully to match federal, local and other grants.  For example, state funds were used to protect 9000 acres in the Bridgestone Firestone Wildlife Management Area, 74,000 acres for International Paper WMA, and 11,000 acres for the John Tully WMA. Since its inception the fund has allowed the acquisition of nearly 190,000 acres of wetland and state park areas.

 We ask that the state restore the Recordation Tax to its original purpose—that of providing funds for wetland acquisition, local parks projects, soil conservation projects and scenic land acquisition.  A bill is pending that would restore the diversion as early as 2005-2006 so it can begin to replenish the fund.  Also, we urge the state to set up revenue bonds that would be used to purchase conservation land that becomes available.  Last year Weyerhaeuser optioned more than one million acres of land in upper middle Tennessee.  Efforts to get the state to purchase much of that acreage went unheeded. 

Water 

Wetlands
Tennessee has a wealth of natural wetlands, but more than half have been lost because of human activities and destruction, including activities permitted by the state and federal governments.  Like all states, Tennessee wetland alterations are covered by the Corps of Engineers’ Clean Water Act section 404 permit program and the state’s ability to approve, deny, or place condition in permits.  Additionally Tennessee has aquatic resource alteration permits (ARAP) to deal with these resources; however, these permits don’t always work to avoid or minimize impacts or save wetlands.  Too often permits to alter or destroy wetlands are granted because of political or other pressures, or without seriously considering alternatives and the public need, not private profit for the activity. 

In 1999 Tennessee Technology University conducted a study published by TDEC evaluating the effectiveness of wetland mitigation – the requirement to offset the loss of wetlands where impacts are necessary or “unavoidable”, by creating or preserving wetlands to result in “no net loss”.   This study reviewed at 100 randomly selected TDEC permit sites.  It found that in some cases the mitigation projects were never done or completed, about half had completed mitigation, and there were a number of problems with monitoring or reporting success of the efforts. 

Even while the state is trying to find ways to restore land acquisition funds that would include wetland preservation, TDEC has been permitting the destruction of significant wetlands.  Two recent examples are the permit to allow the flooding of Black Swamp in Northwest Tennessee, and the permit to allow the filling of a wetland next to the Cookeville-Sparta airport.  Both of these permits are in conflict with the state’s rules and appear to be the result of outside development pressures trumping science.

 Rather than allowing the unnecessary destruction of natural wetlands, we ask that the current administration review wetland loss and ongoing wetland destruction.   Wetland alteration or destruction should be considered only where necessary and unavoidable.  The public interest should be protected and alternatives should be sought in every case. Many projects are not necessary, do not serve a social or economic necessity, and re-designs can be made to avoid impacts in many cases.

Permit Appeals
Tennessee Water Quality Control Act does not comply with the Federal Clean Water Act.  Federal regulation requires that third parties be afforded the right to appeal state agency permit decisions in state court, just as third parties may appeal federal permitting decisions in federal court.  Tennessee’s permitting scheme violates this requirement. 

The state does not meet the requirement of 40 CDF section 123.30 because none of the processes outlined are sufficient to provide for, encourage, and assist public participation in the permitting process.  Currently, the process provides a bare minimum for participation with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting but is far from engaging the public in a manner that meets the spirit and intent of the Clean Water Act.   

Tennessee law does not meet the minimum threshold standard to provide an opportunity for judicial review that ‘is the same as that available to obtain judicial review in federal court of a federally-issue NPDES permits’.  Specifically, the federal requirement to provide for judicial review in State court is not met if the state can issue a permit before a third party has the opportunity to seek judicial review. 

We ask that this administration change the provision in the Water Quality Control Act to allow third parties the rights that permit applicants have to appeal permits and have those permits stayed until an agreement satisfactory to both parties is negotiated. 

Enforcement of NPDES permits
Tennessee is doing a poor job of enforcing NPDES permits.  A report released this month by the Public Interest Research Group places Tennessee as 11^th in the nation for permit violations. Those violations exceed the permit’s allowable limits by an average of 400%.   

The Divisions of Water Pollution Control needs to be empowered by this administration of go after polluters, level fines, post civil actions and allow citizen’s suits against polluters.  The water resources of Tennessee are too precious to go to waste.

 CAFO’s
Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s) pose a potential threat to Tennessee waters.  In other states, catastrophic conditions have occurred when waste lagoons have broken, spilling thousands of tons of animal waste into local streams.  We must prevent this scenario from occurring in Tennessee. 

The state is working through the process of adopting rules for medium and large size CAFO’s.  This is a good first step.  But, with the number of CAFO’s on the rise, the state must be diligent in its oversight.  CAFO’s are not normal agricultural operations and should meet stringent requirements. 

Communities must be notified about possible operations; the state should guarantee hearings in these areas, sometimes neighborhoods, and permits must require strict nutrient (animal waste) management plans.  Air and water pollution from these facilities can be excessive and harmful to human health.  Before any CAFO’s are given a permit to allow hundreds and thousands of livestock into confined areas, the operators should have to overcome a significant burden of proof that their facilities will not be a nuisance to the community.  

This agenda has been endorsed by the following organizations that represent thousands of Tennesseans across the state:

American Lung Association, Clean Cities of Tennessee, EarthMatters Tennessee, Kingsport Citizens for a Cleaner Environment, League of Women Voters of Tennessee, League of Women Voters of Nashville, Maury Heritage Land Trust, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Save Our Cumberland Mountains, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Southern Environmental Law Center, Tennessee Clean Water Network, Tennessee Conservation Voters, Tennessee Environmental Council and Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association.