Displaying items by tag: oak ridge pollution
Environmental and legal minds will meld at APIEL conference
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APIEL serves as both a legal forum and space for collective visioning
APIEL serves as both a legal forum and space for collective visioningKNOXVILLE — Now in its 16th year, the Appalachian Public Interest and Environmental Law Conference continues to be critical for environmental and public interest advocates across the Southeast. It is hosted annually at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and brings together lawyers, students, grassroots organizers, scientists, and policy experts to address some of the most urgent challenges facing Appalachia and beyond.
This year’s APIEL conference, set for Oct. 25-26, is free and open to the public and features a wide range of panels and workshops centered on environmental justice struggles that expose the interlocking systems of racial, ecological, and economic harm. One focus is the ongoing resistance to a proposed AI data center in Memphis, which threatens historically Black neighborhoods with toxic waste and unsustainable water usage.
Other highlights include a panel on the lasting effects of the Trump administration on the National Park Service and public land policy, a discussion of emerging “climate-washing” litigation targeting corporations making false sustainability claims, and a groundbreaking session titled “Abolition is Ecological.” This panel will explore how justice systems contribute to environmental violence, and how community defense strategies in places like Appalachia are reimagining what true public safety and ecological care could look like.
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Potentially toxic Oak Ridge landfill won’t be built until cleared by operator’s water research
Potential water runoff issues stall future Oak Ridge landfill construction
OAK RIDGE — A landfill intended to hold potentially toxic debris from the demolition of legacy Oak Ridge research facilities is moving forward but construction won’t start until it is definitively determined whether the site could pollute ground and surface water.
As reported previously by Hellbenderpress, environmentalists fear toxins leaking out of the proposed landfill could contaminate waterways and make their way into fish that people might catch downstream. The landfill’s contractor, however, said leaving buildings full of toxic residue standing may be more dangerous for workers and nearby residents and the landfill will help get the buildings quickly demolished. The contractor is doing a mock-up study this year to see how best to handle water issues on the future landfill site.
This summer, the contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC will choose a subcontractor and do field work. Ben Williams, the Department of Energy’s public affairs specialist, said roads and utilities will need to move to get the site ready at that time. But UCOR stated it won’t build the landfill until after a water study spanning “two wet seasons,” beginning later this year.
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