Displaying items by tag: cleanup
Work is under way to clean up infamous South Knoxville Superfund site
EPA finally capping toxic waste at South Knoxville Superfund site
KNOXVILLE — The Environmental Protection Agency this week began putting a protective cap on the former Smokey Mountain Smelters site to control its pollution.
The EPA said the cap will protect nearby waterways by stopping stormwater runoff from combining with the toxic waste on site. Engineers and workers began the project the week of July 6.
By cutting it off from the stormwater, the EPA hopes to stop toxins from flowing away either through groundwater or runoff. The site is off Maryville Pike in South Knoxville. Caleb Properties purchased two of the site’s three parcels at the Delinquent Property Tax Sale on May 16. EPA is building the cap and storing the waste in the area Caleb Properties purchased. The agency stated Caleb Properties committed to “allocating a portion of the development of the site for community benefit,” and they’ll still have to work with the EPA’s remedy for cleanup.
Hellbender Press has reported on the cleanup sites and environmental legacies.
Infrastructure funding to cover South Knoxville Superfund site cleanup
Aerial view (ca. 2002) of Smokey Mountain Smelters Superfund site, located between two rail lines. At left is the overpass of Maryville Pike, at right a section of Knox County Development Corporation’s Montgomery Village Apartments. The large smelter hall and a few of the apartment buildings have since been removed. Image from TN Dept. of Health
Knoxville’s most polluted former industrial site is slated for a massive cleanup soon thanks to funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill Congress recently passed. The Smokey Mountain Smelters site in Vestal has spent more than a decade on the National Priorities List, commonly called the “Superfund” list, of the most contaminated properties in the U.S.
The work could start within just a few months, said Rusty Kestle, Environmental Protection Agency project manager for the site. He said it’s the top priority in the Southeast for the infrastructure funding because it’s among the most affordable and ready for action.
The coal plant next door: The sad and long legacy of coal ash in Georgia
This story from ProPublica is shared via Hellbender Press under a Creative Commons license. Click here for the entire ProPublica story, including illustrations and photos.
By Max Blau for Georgia Health News
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Mark Berry raised his right hand, pledging to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The bespectacled mechanical engineer took his seat inside the cherry-wood witness stand. He pulled his microphone close to his yellow bow tie and glanced left toward five of Georgia’s most influential elected officials. As one of Georgia Power’s top environmental lobbyists, Berry had a clear mission on that rainy day in April 2019: Convince those five energy regulators that the company’s customers should foot the bill for one of the most expensive toxic waste cleanup efforts in state history.
- coal ash
- cleanup
- georgia power
- kingston coal ash spill
- toxic waste
- mark berry
- energy regulator
- public service commission
- coal ash pond
- disinformation
- eminent domain
- radioactive coal ash
- electric utility
- trace metal
- cancer risk
- drinking water contamination
- human health hazard
- leaching
- groundwater
- water well
- erin brockovich
- chronic illness
- heavy metal
- plant scherer
- propublica
- lobbyist
- hexavalent chromium
- cancer cluster
Chickamauga Lake cleanup
Mar 6 9 a.m.–1 p.m. EST
Cleanup at Chickamauga Lake of the Tennessee River
Possum's Creek, Harrison Bay State Park
Keep the TN River Beautiful with Chickamauga Fly, Bait, & Casting Club
Hands-on volunteer activity
Keep the TN River Beautiful coordinates with TVA, Keep TN Beautiful, TDOT, Keep America Beautiful, and Yamaha Rightwaters