The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia

Air (46)

ForWarn Helene 2 Screenshot 2024 10 30 120938The ForWarn vegetation tracking tool shows areas of red where extreme disturbance to the forest canopy occurred in Western North Carolina, East Tennessee and southern Virginia as a result of Hurricane Helene in late September 2024.  Jitendra Kumar/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Information will help timber gleaning, fire-hazard mitigation

Stephanie Seay is a senior science writer and communications specialist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

OAK RIDGE — A visualization tool that tracks changes to the nation’s forests in near-real time is helping resource managers pinpoint areas with the most damage from Hurricane Helene in the Southeast.

The ForWarn visualization tool was co-developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the U.S. Forest Service. The tool captures and analyzes satellite imagery to track impacts such as storms, wildfire and pests on forests across the nation. 

When staff with the Forest Service’s Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center in Asheville, North Carolina, were unable to work in the immediate aftermath of Helene due to utility outages, the ORNL-hosted ForWarn system continued monitoring the storm’s impact and providing reports. ForWarn indicated areas of severe disturbance to the forest canopy that were later confirmed by aerial photography. 

“ForWarn helps quickly identify areas that may need remediation such as timber harvesting or prescribed burns as piles of felled trees dry out and potentially pose wildfire hazards,” said ORNL’s Jitendra Kumar.

Last modified on Friday, 22 November 2024 00:29

462488639 8961191437226763 607069345985306525 n 1Debris hangs from trees on the banks of the French Broad River near the main building of Hot Springs Resort and Spa. The river gauge at Hot Springs was offline during the main rain events immediately preceding the Sept. 27 floods but registered a peak just under 21 feet. The record stage is 22 feet, but that record will likely fall after review of provisional weather-gauge data by the National Weather Service.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Two weeks after epic floods, a far cry from normalcy; utility repairs continue; Del Rio still reels; Hot Springs limps; outpouring of help and mountain grit as battered communities take stock

This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below. We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to our earlier reporting and updates.

GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park staff continue to assess the damage sustained by the country’s most-visited national park during Tropical Storm Helene. (The storm was at tropical storm strength when it struck the mountains Sept. 26-27, prompting a rare tropical-storm warning for Western North Carolina).

The Cataloochee and Big Creek areas on the North Carolina side in Haywood County were particularly hard-hit, and significant damage was reported to park cultural resources and road and bridge infrastructure. Those areas remain closed. Most roads and trails on the Tennessee side of the national park are open. Cataloochee is a valuable tourist draw during the fall rutting season of elk populations successfully reintroduced to the park in the 1990s.

 HeleneCataloocheeTropical Storm Helene destroyed Upper Cataloochee Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and damaged other park infrastructure and historical resources.  National Park Service

Here’s an update from the National Park Service:

“The park experienced substantial damage, particularly in North Carolina, including Balsam Mountain, Big Creek and Cataloochee Valley.

“Within the park, the Cataloochee Valley saw the most significant impacts from Hurricane Helene and will be closed until further notice as staff address damage. Flooding from Rough Fork Creek washed out several roads in the valley. Upper Cataloochee Valley Road saw the worst damage and is not drivable. Various levels of erosion and flooding impacted all trails in Cataloochee Valley and nearly all footlog bridges in the area were washed away during the storm. Cataloochee Valley also experienced fallen trees, flooding at campsites and damaged power lines. There were impacts to historic buildings, particularly the Caldwell Barn, which park staff are currently working to stabilize.
“The Balsam Mountain and Big Creek areas are also currently closed until further notice because of storm damage and safety concerns.

“Most trails on the Tennessee side of the park are open; several trails on the North Carolina side are closed. The park continues to assess the trails on the eastern end of the park to find the western edge of the damage in the backcountry. Examples of trails that were severely impacted include Big Creek Trail, which saw damage throughout its length and lost a 70-foot steel bridge and its abutments. Gunter Fork Trail experienced a landslide that took out 100 feet of trail.
“While there has been some significant damage in the eastern area of the park, many miles of trails in western sections of the park have low impacts and few downed trees. Visitors planning to hike in the Smokies are encouraged (as always) to check the park website and/or talk to staff in visitor centers or the backcountry office about current trail conditions.”
Last modified on Monday, 14 October 2024 01:06

Screen Shot 2024 10 08 at 10.28.58 AMToxic smoke from the Sept. 30 BioLab fire pours across Interstate 20 just east of Atlanta, shutting down the vital artery for hours and complicating evacuation efforts during the chemical fire. YouTube

Fourth chemical fire at pool-chemical plant since 2004 prompts widespread evacuations

ATLANTA — The eastern side of the Atlanta metropolitan area was blanketed the morning of Sept. 30 with a fog of smoke and chlorine-scented gases, surprising residents already rattled by Hurricane Helene and an unrelated failure at the Adamsville Pumping Station

The heavy, blue-green mist was coming from BioLab, a pool chemical manufacturing facility in Rockdale County, 23 miles southeast of downtown.

City officials were taken by surprise. This was at least the fourth time BioLab had caught fire since 2004, but prevailing winds usually carry the toxic plume across rural counties and into the Georgia mountains. Hurricane Helene had scrambled wind patterns, however, and pushed it into wealthy, suburban DeKalb and Gwinnet counties and parts of Fulton County.

Rockdale County had begun evacuating 19,000 Conyers residents early Sunday morning, when the fire began. Another 90,000 residents were told to shelter in place, with windows sealed shut and ventilation systems turned off.

The fire itself was extinguished by late afternoon, but the sprinkler system had soaked mountains of reactive pool and spa chemicals with water. The resulting plumes of chlorine, particulates and other chemicals spread across Rockdale, prompting the county to close schools and businesses for the following day.

Published in News, Air
Last modified on Sunday, 13 October 2024 01:11

Helene BlackMarbleBYC Sept 26 2024 NOAA20 v2

Helene fallout continues; hundreds still missing; at least 60 dead in NC; flooding and wind damage still widespread in Southern Appalachians; National Guard in action; land access, supplies, communications, water and power still spotty

This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below.
We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to earlier updates, too. So, keep scrolling to glean them after touching the More… button. You may want to bookmark some of the interactive features for your own present and future use.

erwin102Demolished vehicles are seen in the area of what used to be Red Banks Campground in the Chestoa area of Unicoi County.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

ERWIN — The death toll from Hurricane Helene climbed to at least 180 people on Wednesday, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States in 50 years with the exception of Hurricane Katrina, which claimed over 1,800 lives in 2005 in what was also a largely impoverished area.

In one-hard hit community in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, emotions grew high as Spanish-speaking family of missing loved ones accused first responders through an interpreter of showboating, classism and preferential rescues during a tense press conference broadcast live on X.

The mounting death toll and increasingly fruitless searches came as millions of people spent their sixth day without running water or power and an ad hoc army of first responders, volunteers and National Guard troops struggled to deliver life-saving supplies to communities throughout the Southern Appalachians that were cut off by the record breaking flash floods spawned by the storm.

In Erwin, a town of 6,000 in Unicoi County, officials confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the conduct of a manufacturing company that was accused of forcing employees to keep working even as floodwaters rose to dangerous levels.

The alleged decision by the management team at Impact Plastics led to the deaths of at least two employees while four others remain missing, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has been tasked with determining whether there’s enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant criminal charges.

“At the request of First Judicial District Attorney General Steve Finney, TBI agents are investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics,” said TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart in an e-mail exchange with Hellbender Press. 

Earhart referred questions to Finney, who said “there will be no further comment from my office … until the investigation is complete.”

According to the company — which denied any wrongdoing — five employees and one contractor were lost while trying to leave the facility on Friday.

“When water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power, employees were dismissed by management to return to their homes in time for them to escape the industrial park,” said a company press release. “At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility …. While most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises for unknown reasons.”

Several workers tried to escape the premises on a truck but were swept away when the vehicle overturned, according to the company.

“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” said Gerald O'Connor, who founded the company in Erwin in 1987. “Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”

A Spanish-speaking woman clutching a blown-up photo of a missing relative blasted Unicoi County Emergency Manager Jim Erwin through an interpreter.

“My daughter was screaming ‘help, help,’ but the people in the hospital were a bigger priority than she was. I want my daughter! I want my daughter,” she implored in Spanish, referencing the water and air evacuation of Unicoi Hospital on Friday morning.

Officials responded that the Unicoi County 911 dispatch center had received multiple requests for a timeline of Sept. 27 911 calls. They assured her the search continued, and that Erwin had visited with family of all the known missing.

Erwin, who said he was among those trapped at the hospital, appeared flustered for a moment at the woman’s insistent quest for answers, noting that the discussion, practically speaking, was not helping locate her missing daughter.

“If I was white and rich you would be looking for me,” the mother cried through the interpreter. “Labor workers never matter to you, because they work in a factory.”

Migrant laborers live throughout northeast Tennessee, working mainly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Many have very limited resources, and already live within some of the poorest counties in the state.

461841346 8892997500712824 4883749489977696955 nMassive piles of debris, hastily plowed aside, are lining the edge of the Nolichucky River.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Officials said Wednesday that Hurricane Helene killed 91 people in North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 17 in Florida, 9 in Tennessee, and 2 in Virginia.

In Newport, the county seat of hard-hit Cocke County about 45 minutes east of Knoxville on I-40, hundreds of people lined up in parking lots or flocked to grocery stores in a desperate scramble to secure the basic necessities of survival.

As is often the case in such disasters, the storm was a vivid reminder of the value of being prepared for the unexpected. 

The Jenkins family, who lives in the rural Cocke County community of Bybee, said the floods developed so quickly that most residents didn’t have enough time to prepare and those who did still weren’t fully prepared for such a powerful deluge.

“The aftermath was something out of an adventure or post-apocalyptic film,” said Tiffany Jenkins, who lives on Knob Creek Road with her husband, Steve, and his two children from a previous marriage. 

“Cars standing on their front ends, bridges completely washed out, and no safe route to or from civilization,” she said. “Finding ways out of town was almost impossible in itself, even with intimate knowledge of the area and typical flood zones. The problem is this was not a typical flood.”

Most Cocke County residents are still without clean water thanks to damage to the area’s water treatment plant. The Jenkins, however, are grateful to have resources that allowed them to ride out the storm and even help their neighbors in the aftermath.

“Luckily, my family has well water, which allows us to fill jugs of water for our friends and anyone else who needs it who could get to us but couldn’t get to Newport, where they were giving away free supplies,” she said.

“My family bought a used generator we could not afford because emergency services warned us to be prepared to be without electricity for a week or longer, though the power outage only lasted about 24 hours for us personally.”

She added: “The big problem was, and still remains, the lack of city water services.”

According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Cocke was one of 21 counties experiencing problems due to storm damage to their water treatment stations, 17 of which had been forced to issue Boil Water advisories.

Officials from TVA said that all dams in the affected region had been inspected and “were secure and stable.”

IMG 4769 copyUnaka Springs Freewill Baptist Church. The entire paved parking lot was flushed away. The spire lost its characteristic woodwork, merely its concrete scaffolding remains.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

 

During the storm, the most severe crisis faced by TVA was the potential failure of the Nolichucky Dam, prompting authorities to repeatedly warn people living downstream about the potential for a cataclysmic dam failure.

nolichucky damNolichucky dam before Hurricane Helene.  Tenessee Valley Authority

TVA Nolichucky Dam 

“TVA’s River Forecast Center is monitoring all other tributaries in the impacted areas, where rivers are gradually returning to normal levels. The team is also working to manage downstream reservoirs, which are rising. TVA’s focus is on preventing additional flooding and moving water through the system to recover reservoir storage,” a statement posted on TVA’s website website said.

Large segments of the Appalachian Trail were shut down by the storms while the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina sustained “catastrophic damage,” which is still being assessed, according to the National Park Service.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Foothills Parkway East near Cosby and Lakeview Drive remain closed while park staff address storm damage.

Balsam Mountain, Cataloochee and Big Creek roads and campgrounds also remain closed, according to the Park’s website.

“The National Park Service has deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team to assist parks in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina with damage assessments and recovery as conditions allow,” said a statement issued by the Park Service. “The team is coordinating with parks, FEMA, and other agencies on their actions.”

Here’s another look from the federal level

Normally a fairly prolific X user, Rep. Tim Burchett of Knoxville doesn’t represent the worst affected regions but flooding occurred within Knox County and down the road in Newport and other points along the Pigeon River and French Broad River, which joins the Holston to form the Tennessee River, which flows directly through Knoxville. He didn’t post about the disaster or offer any warnings or assistance until late Sept. 27, when his first reference to Hurricane Helene’s effect on the mountains was a repost of a user conflating flood relief and  U.S. support of Ukraine. The worst flooding had occurred hours before. His only other post on that fateful day was another claim of pending election irregularities.

After a flurry of obligatory reposts of aid requests and resources; Burchett wrapped it up late Wednesday with a repost of a follower claiming FEMA was confiscating money and homes. He told the follower he had checked it out, and FEMA denies that is happening.

I-26 at ChestoaThe Nolichucky River deposited entire mature hardwoods on both sides of I-26 in Tennessee near the North Carolina border in the Chestoa area during extreme flooding Sept. 26-27.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Last modified on Wednesday, 20 November 2024 22:34

State your case in local quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

KNOXVILLE — The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization seeks the public’s feedback on greenhouse gas emissions in East Tennessee. Take this brief survey and make your voice heard:

  • The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and covers topics like climate change, energy efficiency and transportation to shape ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region. The survey is open through Sept. 30 at www.knoxbreathesurvey.com
  • Residents of all nine counties within the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) ­— Knox, Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Loudon, Morgan, Roane and Union — are encouraged to take the survey and make their voices heard. 
  • The Knoxville MSA was one of 82 metropolitan areas in the U.S. selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to receive a planning grant to create a regional emission reduction plan as part of the agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. “BREATHE” is the name for the Knoxville region’s CPRG initiative. 
  • More information on “BREATHE” can be found at knoxbreathe.org
Tuesday, 17 September 2024 19:23

Nov. 2: Talk about the weather with NOAA scientists

Nov2 OpenHouseFlyer

This event was rescheduled from a previous date.

MORRISTOWN — The regional office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hosting a free open house featuring tours, scientific discussions and chats with area forecasters intimate with the intricacies of Southern Appalachian weather.

Stop by the regional office, 5974 Commerce Blvd. in Morristown, any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2 to learn about the National Weather Service as a whole, tour operations and learn what a typical work day looks like at the weather-service office.

Highlights include chances to meet meteorologists and weather-service partner agencies; explanations of when and how severe weather alerts are issued; an introduction to weather radar and radio; hydrology discussions; and hands-on science activities for children.

Last modified on Friday, 08 November 2024 00:47
Friday, 13 September 2024 13:40

Join the Rally for the Valley 2.0

TVA protest

NASHVILLE — Join the rescheduled Rally for the Valley on Sept. 21 2024 at Centennial Park for a day filled with fun, music, learning and community spirit.

The rally, organized by the Clean Up TVA Coalition, which includes Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other allies, calls on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to stop its gas buildout and lead the way to a fossil-free future.

The decisions in front of TVA are significant. They will impact the health and safety of our communities, how much we pay to keep the lights on, and whether we meet our climate targets and achieve energy justice. We are mobilizing with communities from across Tennessee to urge TVA leaders to change course before its too late. 

Are you in? Register today!

Last modified on Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:03

Power line 1536x1022The state of Tennessee will partner with the Tennessee Valley Authority to carry out a federal home energy efficiency rebate program that was included in the federal Inflation Reduction Act.  Getty Images via Tennessee Lookout

What might Tennessee’s energy-efficiency rebate plan look like, and when?

This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

NASHVILLE — More than $8 billion flagged for home energy rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act is beginning to trickle out of federal coffers, but Tennessee residents will likely have to wait until the spring of 2025 to start applying for their chunk of change.

Each state must shape its own plan to dole out the funding, which can put money residents spend on energy efficiency upgrades back into the households’ pockets if they meet certain requirements. New York and Wisconsin became the first states to begin offering federally funded home energy rebates to their residents in mid-August, two years after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act and its many energy-focused subsidies into law.

In total, the rebate funds are expected to impact between 1 to 2 percent of households across the nation.

Tennessee submitted its application to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the more than $167 million earmarked for the state in mid-August. Tennessee’s 2025 rollout timeline largely depends on how quickly the DOE approves the state’s applications and when Tennessee can execute a contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority — its chosen implementer — to put the program into action. 

Last modified on Tuesday, 10 September 2024 01:01

debby goes 20240805Hurricane Debby made landfall near the town of Steinhatchee, Florida, at 7 a.m. Aug. 5, 2024, as a Category 1 storm. As it moved northeast, the storm stalled over the U.S. Southeast and delivered torrential rainfall. Some areas of South Carolina and Georgia recorded more than 20 inches of rain as the storm crawled northeast toward a second landfall (this time as a strong tropical storm) near Myrtle Beach, S.C.  NOAA

A warming climate means more water vapor, which means bigger and wetter tropical storms

(This story was originally published by The Conversation.)

Tropical Storm Debby was moving so slowly, Olympians could have outrun it as it moved across the Southeast in early August 2024. That gave its rainfall time to deluge cities and farms over large parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. More than a foot of rain had fallen in some areas by early Aug. 7, with more days of rain forecast there and into the Northeast.

Mathew Barlow, a climate scientist at UMass Lowell, explains how storms like Debby pick up so much moisture, what can cause them to slow or stall and what climate change has to do with it.

What causes hurricanes to stall?

Hurricanes are steered by the weather systems they interact with, including other storms moving across the U.S. and the Bermuda High over the Atlantic Ocean.

A hurricane may be moving slowly because there are no weather systems close enough to pull the hurricane along, or there might be a high-pressure system to the north of the hurricane that blocks its forward movement. In this case, a high-pressure system over the western U.S. was slowing Debby’s forward progress and the Bermuda High — which is a large, clockwise circulation of winds that generally runs up the East Coast — wasn’t close enough to be a factor.

That’s similar to what happened with the remnants of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, one of the best-known examples of a stalled hurricane. High pressure over the U.S. blocked its forward movement, allowing it to drop more than 50 inches of rain on parts of Texas.

Slower-moving storms have longer to rain over the same area, and that can dramatically increase the risk of flooding, as the Southeast is experiencing with Debby. 

Published in News, Air, 13 Climate Action
Last modified on Wednesday, 14 August 2024 17:04

Cheatham1 scaled 1 2048x1522 Nanette Mahler, left, and Tracy O’Neill walk along Macon Wall Road in Cheatham County, Tennessee, near the site of a proposed Tennessee Valley Authority gas power plant project. Local backlash against the proposal comes as the federal utility faces bipartisan legislation in Congress seeking to boost transparency in its planning process and scrutiny of TVA’s anemic renewable power growth compared to other utilities. Robert Zullo/States Newsroom

TVA ‘clearly a laggard’ in renewable energy

This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

ASHLAND CITY — When he heard about the sale, Kerry McCarver was perplexed.

In 2020, the mayor of rural Cheatham County discovered that the Tennessee Valley Authority bought about 280 acres of rolling farmland “in the middle of nowhere” in his county, which lies just west of Nashville and is home to about 42,000 people.

He asked another county official who formerly worked for the TVA, the nation’s largest public power company, to find out what it planned to do with the land.

The answer they got was “future use,” and they speculated a solar farm might be in the works.

“It’s kind of the last we thought about it,” McCarver said during an interview in his office in May. “Then a year ago last summer, TVA called here needing a place to have a public meeting.”

The authority was now proposing a 900-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, battery storage, pipelines and other associated infrastructure for the site, which came as a shock to McCarver and many other locals who felt it was wholly inappropriate for the area. 

Last modified on Tuesday, 06 August 2024 00:01
Monday, 08 July 2024 17:49

Welcome to the Heat Dome

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namheat geos5 20240619An area of high pressure lingered in the upper atmosphere over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in June 2024. This pushed warm air toward the surface and trapped it there—a weather phenomenon meteorologists call a heat dome. The heat wave reached the Southern Appalachians, as seen in this model generated from NASA Earth Observatory data.  NASA

How climate change is heating up the weather, and what we can do about it

This article was originally published by The Conversation.

The heat wave that left more than 100 million people sweating across the eastern U.S. in June 2024 hit so fast and was so extreme that forecasters warned a flash drought could follow across wide parts of the region.

Prolonged high temperatures can quickly dry soils, triggering a rapid onset drought that can affect agriculture, water resources and energy supplies. Many regions under the June heat dome quickly developed abnormally dry conditions.

(The average temperature of June was about 7 degrees above normal in Knoxville as reported by Weather Underground).

The human impacts of the heat wave have also been widespread. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses surged. Several Massachusetts schools without air conditioning closed to protect kids and teachers. In New York and New Jersey, electric wires sagged in the heat, shutting down trains into and out of New York City and leaving commuters stranded. 

Published in News, Air, 13 Climate Action
Last modified on Thursday, 11 July 2024 00:33

Excerpt from 1966 Mining Congress JournalThis is an excerpt from a 1966 article in Mining Congress Journal indicating mining interests were already aware of the potential for climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions.

Circuit Court ruling: Private emails on public servers don’t always equal public records

KNOXVILLE — A Knox County judge ruled in a lawsuit that spun off from the “Coal Knew, Too” scandal that emails sent or received by a University of Tennessee professor aren’t public records.

Circuit Court Judge William T. Ailor turned aside a bid made by Knoxville-based writer Kathleen Marquardt to review the emails of Chris Cherry, a professor with UT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, according to court records. 

Marquardt filed the Public Records lawsuit four years ago, but the case didn’t actually make it into a courtroom until a pair of hearings held earlier this year. 

According to Judge Ailor’s opinion, the bare fact that Cherry and freelance reporter Élan Young (who was also employed by UT at the time and currently writes for Hellbender Press) exchanged emails using their UT accounts “does not raise the emails themselves to the level of being public records.” 

The origins of the lawsuit date back to 2019, when Cherry rescued some old coal industry trade journals that a colleague was about to toss in a dumpster after cleaning out an office.

In one of the discarded issues of the Mining Congress Journal was an article from 1966 that contained a statement from the then-president of a coal mining organization explaining that fossil fuel use was causing an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that would cause vast changes in the Earth’s climate through global warming. 

Published in News, Air, 13 Climate Action
Last modified on Tuesday, 25 June 2024 13:26
Thursday, 23 May 2024 17:49

Learn about TVA’s switch from coal to natural gas at June 12 teach-in

 AppVoices 25th anniversary logo horiz white outline
Join Appalachian Voices and allies for a teach-in examining the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to replace coal with natural gas as its primary energy source in many locations.
 
The event is set for 6 p.m. June 12 at the Birdhouse Neighborhood Center, 804 N. 4th Ave. near the 4th and Gill neighborhood in Knoxville. Food will be served until 6:30 p.m. outdoors; attendees are asked to wear masks indoors.
 
TVA is gearing up for the largest gas buildout of any utility this decade, swapping coal for gas. This would include a new gas plant at the site of the Kingston Coal Ash Spill, and the 122-mile Ridgeline pipeline.
 
Ridgeline would be built and owned by the multibillion-dollar company Enbridge Inc., and affect state waterways in more than 400 locations.
 
The TVA Board of Directors could stop this project, and the gas buildout, in its tracks.
Last modified on Monday, 17 June 2024 15:09
Saturday, 13 April 2024 06:34

Momentum builds slowly for TVA’s post-coal plans

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Spherical tokamak plasma turbulenceSupercomputer simulation of plasma turbulence in a spherical tokamak, which is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion.  Image courtesy of Walter Guttenfelder, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Filippo Scotti, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via DOE.

Fusion research, natural gas, solar power and battery improvements at heart of TVA’s plans to wean itself off coal

OAK RIDGE — The Tennessee Valley Authority is phasing out coal and announcing developments tied to other energy sources at two plants that sit on either side of Oak Ridge.

One of the options includes a fusion test site. Scientists have long pursued fusion energy, though the technology remains in infancy and has yet to generate electricity anywhere.

The TVA coal plant on Edgemoor Road in the Claxton community in Anderson County closed Dec. 1 last year. TVA remains uncommitted to any plans for most of the land around the plant. A company recently announced, however, that it plans tests connected to fusion power in a small part of one of Bull Run’s old buildings by 2028. It will be an experiment and not generate power directly.

Meanwhile, TVA plans to retire Kingston Fossil Plant on Swan Pond Road in Harriman by the end of 2027. Its nine coal-fired units power about 818,000 homes. To replace the power generated at the plant, TVA plans to build a new complex at the Kingston plant’s site, combining natural gas, solar power and battery storage.

TVA plans to retire all its coal plants by the 2030s.

Last modified on Thursday, 18 April 2024 23:16
Tuesday, 06 February 2024 00:14

TVA plans for Bull Run Fossil Plant site remain hazy

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Claxton coal plantA public playground near the site of the since-decommissioned Bull Run coal plant in Claxton, Tenn. Tennessee Valley Authority is weighing options for the site’s future.  Abigail Baxter/Hellbender Press

Solar production and public green space remain options; coal ash questions remain

CLAXTONTennessee Valley Authority will demolish most structures at Bull Run Fossil Plant but has not yet shared plans for the ultimate disposition or reuse of the property.

Bull Run Fossil Plant was a coal-fired plant in the Claxton community, located just outside of Oak Ridge in Anderson County, Tenn. The plant opened in 1967. TVA closed it in 2023, and plans to phase out all its coal fired plants by 203.

The utility and its spokesman Scott Brooks have listed the scrubbers, coal handling structures and the large chimney, nicknamed the “lighthouse” by locals, as structures that will likely come down.

TVA has listed some possibilities for the site, including battery storage, park areas, “economic development” and a synchronous condenser, which is a device meant to keep the overall grid's power supply stable without generating any power of its own. This last option would involve keeping and repurposing the turbine building. TVA has not committed to any of these ideas.

Last modified on Tuesday, 06 February 2024 00:37
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