Russell Roper displays a 43-inch striped bass caught at Ft. Loudoun Dam. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is considering the effects of a TVA dam upgrade at Cherokee Lake on striper populations.  TWRA

TWRA assessing potential impacts to popular game fish from changes to Cherokee Dam aeration system

Matthew Cameron is a wildlife information specialist at Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. 

JEFFERSON CITY — The Tennessee Valley Authority has announced plans to replace the current aeration system at Cherokee Dam with new turbine technology by 2026. These upgrades, designed to improve water quality downstream, may have unintended consequences for aquatic wildlife in Cherokee Reservoir — particularly striped bass. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is currently evaluating these potential impacts.

The existing oxygenation lines in Cherokee Reservoir were originally installed to meet TVA’s requirement for minimum dissolved oxygen levels in water discharged below the dam. However, an unexpected benefit of this system has been the creation of a cool, oxygen-rich refuge in the reservoir during summer months — a critical survival zone for large striped bass. These fish rely on cooler, well-oxygenated water to make it through Tennessee’s hot summers, and Cherokee Reservoir provides limited natural options. 

This still image from video shot by a victim of the flooding at Impact Plastics in Erwin illustrates the terror of the flood that killed five employees of the plant at the height of Tropical Storm Helene in September 2024.  Family of Johnny Peterson via WSMV

Victim’s attorney: A jury will ultimately decide what happened during flooding of Erwin plant

ERWIN — State safety officials ruled that Impact Plastics wasn’t responsible for the deaths of six employees who were killed by the catastrophic flash floods caused by Hurricane Helene in September.

But while company representatives were pleased with the outcome of the findings released April 3 by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA), both state law enforcement officials and private attorneys representing the victims’ families said that Impact Plastics hasn’t been cleared of wrongdoing just yet. 

For instance, a criminal probe conducted by the TBI was still underway and District Attorney General Steven R. Finney declined on Thursday to exonerate the company. Finney called in the TBI after the six employees were killed on September 27, 2024, to determine if criminal charges should be filed in connection with their deaths.

“At this time, the investigation concerning Impact Plastics is still pending,” Finney’s executive assistant, Chrystie Kyte, said in an e-mail to Hellbender Press. “General Finney has no comment at this time.”

The dead included five Impact Plastics employees and one independent contractor. They have been identified as Sibrina Barnett, Monica Hernandez, Bertha Mendoza, Johnny Peterson, Rosa Maria Andrade Reynoso and Lidia Verdugo. 

Tennessee lawmakers are considering a bill that would roll back regulations for “isolated” wetlands that don’t have surface connections to waters of the United States.  John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

Legal firm’s representative’s testimony focused on property rights in midst of pro-developer legislative push in Tennessee

This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

NASHVILLE — A representative from the legal firm that fought for deregulation of American wetlands at the U.S. Supreme Court spoke Wednesday in support of a Tennessee bill that would roll back protections for up to 80 percent of the state’s isolated wetlands.

Tennessee lawmakers are considering a bill that would significantly reduce requirements for development on wetlands, swampy lands that support diverse ecosystems, soak up floodwaters and recharge groundwater.

A state House subcommittee voted 7-2 to advance the bill to the full House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, where it will be heard on April 1. 

The state’s current regulations predate the federal Clean Water Act, which imposed the first federal protections for wetlands in the 1970s, requiring developers to compensate for destroying wetlands by preserving or restoring them elsewhere.

But the erosion of federal regulations in the last two years has given states more power to decide how they will define and protect wetlands. 

Trichloroethylene is among the chemicals deemed a serious public health risk by way of the Environmental Protection Agency’s IRIS database. Legislation in Congress could bar the use of IRIS and its associated scientific methods from being used to calculate the environmental and human health risks of chemicals such as TCE, a proven carcinogen.  ChemLibrarian/Wikipedia Commons

Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement.

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For decades, Republican lawmakers and industry lobbyists have tried to chip away at the small program in the Environmental Protection Agency that measures the threat of toxic chemicals.

Most people don’t know IRIS, as the program is called, but it is the scientific engine of the agency that protects human health and the environment. Its scientists assess the toxicity of chemicals, estimating the amount of each that triggers cancer and other health effects. And these values serve as the independent, nonpartisan basis for the rules, regulations and permits that limit our exposure to toxic chemicals.

Now IRIS faces the gravest threat to its existence since it was created under President Ronald Reagan four decades ago.

Legislation introduced in Congress would prohibit the EPA from using any of IRIS’ hundreds of chemical assessments in environmental rules, regulations, enforcement actions and permits that limit the amount of pollution allowed into air and water. The EPA would also be forbidden from using them to map the health risks from toxic chemicals. The bills, filed in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives earlier this year, are championed by companies that make and use chemicals, along with industry groups that have long opposed environmental rules. If it becomes law, the “No IRIS Act,” as it’s called, would essentially bar the agency from carrying out its mission, experts told ProPublica.

“They’re trying to undermine the foundations for doing any kind of regulation,” said William Boyd, a professor at UCLA School of Law who specializes in environmental law. Boyd noted that IRIS reports on chemicals’ toxicity are the first step in the long process of creating legal protections from toxic pollutants in air and water.

“If you get rid of step one, you’re totally in the dark,” he said.

If the act passes, companies could even use the law to fight the enforcement of environmental rules that have long been on the books or permits that limit their toxic emissions, environmental lawyers said.

Debris 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, 2024 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. Much of the debris generated by flooding on the French Broad River in Western North Carolina made its way downstream toward Douglas Lake in Tennessee.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Volunteers needed for 36^th Ijams River Rescue set for March 8

KNOXVILLE  — The thousand-year rains brought by Hurricane Helene flushed incalculable amounts of garbage from multiple major watersheds in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina in late September 2024. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Tennessee Valley Authority, for instance, resorted to booms and cranes to corral and collect thousands of tons of garbage along more than 200 miles of Douglas Lake shoreline. The cleanup continues.

High water downstream also carried debris and detritus of every description into Knox County via the French Broad River, which then deposited it along urban and regional lake and stream banks.

Removing this pulse of pollution and flotsam from the Tennessee River, already known as a conduit of microplastics, could take years or generations. You can start the process March 8 along multiple TVA lakes in the area. We all live downstream.

Here’s the release from Ijams Nature Center, one of the main sponsors of the annual event:

Volunteer and make your community a cleaner, healthier place to live, work and play during the 36^th annual Ijams River Rescue from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8. A severe weather date is set for Saturday, March 15.

Ijams Nature Center’s annual cleanup event brings together hundreds of individuals, families, Scout troops, businesses and church groups to remove tons of trash and tires from sites along the Tennessee River, creeks and streams. Sites are typically located in Knox, Anderson and Blount counties.