Two Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials will visit with several local leaders to gauge opinions about the proposed wastewater treatment plant that would send effluent into Lick Creek.
According to Keith Nash, chairman of the Hickman County Legislative Body, deputy commissioner Greg Young and regional external affairs adviser Chuck Yoest will collect views from county commissioners whose districts would be affected by the project plus Mayor Jim Bates and economic development specialist Brenda Brock.
Commissioners invited: Matthew Barnhill and Wayne Thomasson, District 3; Steve Gianakos and Nash, District 4; and Dusty Jordan and Ron Mayberry, District 5.
The state officials will meet with each of those local leaders individually on Friday, February 24 at the Centerville CoWorks Center.
“I think these folks are doing their job,” said Nash, an outspoken critic of the Water Authority of Dickson County project. “They want to know what the folks in the county feel.”
Nash said it’s the first time, to his knowledge, that TDEC has reached out to local officials about the utility’s application, which led to the formation of Friends of Lick Creek, which has sought to raise opposition to the project because of its possible effect on an undisturbed stream.
By MICHAEL BUTLER Chief Executive Tennessee Wildlife Federation
Imagine: it’s early fall. The sun is shining. You’re driving west from Middle Tennessee. As you get beyond the cities, you look out the window at the landscape. Trees, a mix of greens and yellows and oranges, are all around. The trees begin to give way to openings with towering stalks of corn and vast fields of soybeans. The land is at its most fruitful — and it brings you a sense of peace.
Hickman County is full of scenes like this. Despite being just an hour away from Nashville, Hickman County is a rural oasis, filled with farmland and natural areas as far as the eye can see.
An essential part of that scene is water.
Flowing east to west across the middle of Hickman County is the most biologically diverse river in North America: Duck River. Its 284 miles flows through seven Tennessee counties and is home to more than 200 species of fish, mussels and snails. The Duck River also provides fresh water for 250,000 Middle Tennessee residents and is a key water source for the farmland surrounding it.
With the rapid population growth and expansion of Middle Tennessee cities, the Duck River and its tributaries are facing new challenges. It appears a choice must be made between the needs of people in the city versus the needs of people in these rural areas.
Lick Creek is an ecologically and recreationally significant tributary to the Duck River, located in east Hickman County. It is classified as an “exceptional Tennessee water” due to the presence of the coppercheek darter, a threatened fish species only found in the Duck River system.
In January 2022, Hickman County residents discovered a plan to build a sewage treatment plant on Lick Creek. The Water Authority of Dickson County proposed the new plant because its current plants in neighboring Dickson and Williamson counties are nearing capacity and will not sustain the projected population growth of those counties.
However, the proposed plant is designed to eventually discharge up to 12 million gallons of wastewater every day into Lick Creek, which naturally carries around 8 million gallons of natural flow. The sheer energy of this significant increase is considered a serious threat to the creek’s channel stability and important aquatic habitats.
While the wastewater plant would meet federal and state standards for discharge of monitored pollutants, these plants do experience operational failures from time to time. Factor in the unmonitored pollutants, whose effects on the environment are still unknown, and there exist real concerns that wastewater from this proposed plant could have potentially detrimental impacts on wildlife such as the coppercheek darter, agricultural production and the people of Hickman County who recreate on the river.
This is not the first issue faced by the Duck River in recent years. In 2021, a new water intake facility was planned to be built on the Duck River in Marshall County. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) issued a permit limiting the amount of water the facility could pump out of the river during low water levels. Multiple organizations appealed the permit in an attempt to remove those limitations, but a settlement was reached in May 2022 to keep the limits in place and continue research on the Duck River’s wildlife and habitat.
In addition, several other water utilities along the Duck River have plans to increase water withdrawals from the river to mediate growing populations. But this is not an isolated issue.
According to TDEC’s Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report, less than half of Tennessee’s rivers have been assessed. Of these, 28 percent are considered impaired, meaning they are polluted or their flow is impacted and they are not supporting their designated uses.
As the population continues to grow, the impacts on Tennessee’s water sources could be vast. Since people and cities are not the only ones relying on this water, it’s time for a new approach.
Regional growth is good for the economy, but if not done responsibly it will have detrimental impacts on the lands, water and wildlife that draw many people to Tennessee in the first place. Adjusting to this growth requires planning that takes all voices and potential outcomes into consideration.
The fact is, the systems currently in place are not sufficient to conserve our natural resources. It’s time to get creative, think outside the box. Developers, resource managers, conservationists and community leaders need to work together to come up with innovative solutions that meet the needs of all involved. We cannot view discharge permits or other proposed changes as individual actions, but rather must think about the collective impacts.
The proposed sewage treatment plant in Hickman County won’t solve the uptick in wastewater disposal needs of neighboring counties. It will just pass the problem along to a more rural county and damage an essential resource of that county in the process.
It is not enough to find a quick, temporary fix to a city’s water sourcing or treatment problems. Adding new facilities, water lines, effluent locations and other measures has impacts beyond that location. The one guaranteed thing is that water does flow, and that means anything put into the water at one spot is going to make its way through the landscape.
Population and infrastructure change over time. Tennessee’s water resources, and the tools to protect them, will need to continue to change with them. Every action taken today will have impacts down the road. Sustaining these vital resources requires collaborative planning and consistent reevaluation to ensure no waterway is depleted or neglected.
The health and abundance of Tennessee’s waterways is worth taking the time and resources to plan and monitor regularly. The quality of life and economic viability of each region of the state depends on it.
It is my great hope that we, the citizens of Hickman County, and especially our commissioners and county leaders, will carefully consider the long-term ramifications of the Water Authority of Dickson County being permitted to build a sewage treatment plant here in our beautiful county.
Some stated that this will provide a tool for much-needed “growth” in the county and that “growth is coming whether we like it or not.” It’s true, growth always will (and should) be a part of any community. If we’re not growing, we’re dying. The question is, what kind of growth do we want? And have we considered what this proposed growth will look like five years from now? Ten? Twenty?
My husband spent his life in Fairview and is fond of saying “four generations on the same piece of dirt.” I grew up in the Northeast and moved many times throughout my life but when I arrived in Tennessee, I knew I was finally home to stay. We planned to live, retire, and die on that “same piece of dirt.”
Fairview managed its water for years but ceded control to the WADC shortly before we built our home on family land. One of the first hurdles we encountered was the requirement to tap into the water and sewer systems. This was not optional and added a burdensome expense on top of already staggering building permit costs. We had available septic but were told that was not permitted due to the “available” sewer lines.
Have we considered the human cost of this “inevitable” growth for Hickman County? Sure, some will win, mainly developers, but some who have called this home for decades will lose, possibly everything. Some will be forced out by rising costs of living and higher taxes, and others will lose property to eminent domain.
In that brave new world, must we simply accept that some are “haves” and some will be “have nots?” Is this just the way things were meant to be? Are we prepared to say goodbye to our neighbors and friends for the sake of growth and progress?
Centerville is named a “Nashville’s Big Backyard” community, “a natural watershed region anchored by 100 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway and made up of 12 connected communities with populations under 5,000 people.” It is significant to note that Dickson, Fairview, Spring Hill and Franklin are not on this list. They may have fast-food chains and big-box stores, but they don’t have what we do — unspoiled land and pristine waters — and, more importantly, they never will again.
Just because we desire a rural lifestyle does not mean we don’t want to see growth and progress. We want sensible growth that is thoughtfully planned and takes into consideration all our neighbors, their concerns, and protects them in their homes and on their land.
I often tell people we live “20 minutes from everywhere.” No, we don’t get to make a quick run to the store if we are out of bread or milk, but it’s okay because we knew this going in. We willingly chose this life. We chose what some consider “less convenient.” It’s funny how convenience always seems to end up not quite so convenient.
“Took me over an hour to get home today and I sure miss Sally, but have you been to the new Starbucks yet?” No, thanks. We have other places in town already with much better coffee, where the proprietors are neighbors and friends that we care about.
Sure, we can’t order tacos at 1 a.m. and have them delivered to our door but I can sit on my porch and not hear a car for hours. We have peace, and for many of us, it is a far more valuable commodity.
We left Fairview seven years ago because “growth and progress” turned it into a place we did not recognize. It’s time to dig deep and look at the true cost of convenience and growth because the decisions we make now will forever change Hickman County, and perhaps not for the better. Change is inevitable, yes, but what kind of change do we seek?
Do we really want communities slapped up by developers who will be gone before the dust settles? Do we want to look like everyone else? Hickman is a wonderful place with a lot of creative energy. We are capable of meaningful economic growth without resorting to cookie-cutter housing that stresses our infrastructure and obliterates everything unique about our community.
In a recent opinion piece in The New York Times, Margaret Renkl writes: “There is no simple way to banish the ennui of our age, but maybe it would help if we stopped looking at our own faces and turned instead to documenting the vanishing natural world in all its manifestations. Perhaps that change would change us in more essential ways, too. Would we finally learn to love the magnificent planet we were born to inhabit? Would we fight to save it?”
A petition, filed in Dickson County Chancery Court, claims that Water Authority of Dickson County has denied a public records request from Rodes Hart and Friends of Lick Creek, and asks a judge to order compliance under the state’s public records act.
Filed on January 30, the petition claims that it sought documents pertaining to the utility’s Lick Creek wastewater proposal, including any studies and proposals dating to 2015; and its study to provide wastewater service to the three-school East Hickman school campus in Lyles. The requests which offered to pay up to $2,000 for copies, was made November 4.
Lick Creek area residents and landowners, including Hart, have mounted a campaign against the utility’s plan to construct a wastewater treatment plant near Lick Creek and Highway 7, and release treated effluent into it. An application for the project was filed with the state more than a year ago; no decision has been made.
According to the Tennessee Public Records Law, government — including utilities controlled by local governments, which include WADC — must respond within seven working days. WADC’s response to the request came on December 2.
That response by the utility says it “provided what we believe complies with your request” on the Lick Creek project; and that “most” of the documents regarding the sewer line to the East Hickman campus had been provided to the Hickman County Legislative Body.
Hart and the Lick Creek group say in the petition that they received “a limited set of records” on December 2, though “only 35 documents, some of which were duplicates,” and claim that the response is incomplete and exceeded the “seven working day” requirement for response.
WADC’s response says most of the documents requested are on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation website. Hart and the Lick Creek friends.
Hart and Lick Creek claim that WADC “willfully denied” their request by not providing all documents from its own files, regardless of whether they were available from another source.
Hart and the friends group expected, according to the petition, to receive “notes, drafts and internal communications and other preliminary documents” related to the two projects in Hickman County, as far back as January 1, 2015 on the Lick Creek project. Correspondence with county commission members or consultants were requested as well.
WADC “does not have any knowledge” of correspondence, its attorney told Hart and the Lick Creek group.
The petition asks a judge require that WADC appear in court to answer the petition, and require that copies of “the requested records,” also award attorney fees and costs relief.
Friends of Lick Creek is seeking records from the Water Authority of Dickson County.
The group has now challenges the agency in court over access to the records.
The residents oppose a new sewage treatment plant along the creek.
A lawsuit to obtain public records has been filed in the ongoing fight to preserve the Lick Creek waterway in Hickman County.
Friends of Lick Creek, a community environmental group based in Hickman working to preserve the Lick Creek waterway from a proposed sewage treatment plant, announced Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit to obtain public records from the Water Authority of Dickson County after the company did not comply to “several records requests.”
The requested records involve public documents detailing the water authority’s proposed sewage treatment plant in Hickman County and its plans to discharge waste into Lick Creek.
Concerns over the plant gained momentum last year, when it was discovered that the plant has the potential to discharge up to 12 million gallons of waste a day into Lick Creek — raising concerns over possible flooding, contaminated wells, and environmental damage.
According to a statement from Friends of Lick Creek, the lawsuit alleges that water authority erected hurdles and imposed conditions on access to its records, effectively denying the Friends of Lick Creek the public records.
Friends of Lick Creek is asking the court to order the water authority to produce the requested public records.
The Water Authority of Dickson County declined to comment on the pending litigation, but in a statement Wednesday, executive director Michael Adams said the utility has been in communication with Save Lick Creek’s attorney regarding the records and has “responded in good faith to his request for public records falling under” open records laws.
“Given the matter is now before the court, the Water Authority of Dickson County cannot comment about pending litigation,” Adams said.
The law firm of Butler Snow, LLP filed the petition in the Chancery Court of Dickson County on behalf Friends of Lick Creek.
Rodes Hart, Friends of Lick Creek co-founder, said he is not surprised by the water authority’s resistance to complying with the public records requests.
“Transparency has been a problem since the beginning,” Hart said in a statement. “For example, the WADC did not properly disclose their intent to build a sewage treatment plant in Hickman County and has continuously kept vital information from the public including a potential site for the new plant. If the WADC insists on dumping waste from neighboring counties into an Exceptional Tennessee Water, it could at least abide by the law.”
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government supports of the group’s efforts.
“For the sake of citizen’s trust and confidence in organizations, transparency and respect for the law is of the utmost importance,” said Deborah Fisher, the open government group’s executive director.
How did we get here?
The wastewater treatment facility was proposed by the Water Authority of Dickson County following the increasing strain Middle Tennessee’s booming population is putting on the agency’s three other treatment centers.
The water agency has stated that its three other wastewater treatment plants in Dickson and Williamson counties are all nearing 95% capacity, and that a plant in east Hickman is critical for population growth over the next two decades.
While an exact location for the treatment plant has yet to be determined, Lick Creek has been eyed as the best option because of its size as a large tributary. Other options, such as expanding current facilities or building a pipeline under Interstate 40 to the Cumberland River, would be too costly and wouldn’t be enough for future growth, the agency has said.
But a large number of Hickman County residents disagree, advocating for the preservation of Lick Creek, which empties into the Duck River — a major water supply for much of the rural county’s farmlands, and a river labeled as one of the most biodiverse in North America.
Hickman County commissioners have stated that they were never consulted on the potential project.
As of December, the water district’s permit application was pending approval by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which oversees permits for pollution discharge into waterways.
The approval process requires a public hearing where opponents can raise concerns. A hearing date has yet to be set.
Kelly Puente contributed to this report.
The USA Today Network – Tennessee’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham.
WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Long-time Mt. Juliet farmers Bill and Andy Ligon are breathing a sigh of relief after the city’s Board of Commissioners passed a resolution, ultimately shooting down a proposal to put a road through their property.
The father and son said the project would have put a road directly in the middle of their hayfield, disrupting their farm’s entire operation. They told News 2 their ancestors settled the land in the 1700s, before Tennessee was even a state.
“Since I was a little kid, it’s been my dream to be able to continue the heritage, continue the legacy, and continue to be a farmer,” seventh-generation farmer Andy Ligon said.
The Western Connection Project, currently in the planning stages, aims to help alleviate traffic on Mt. Juliet Road and create north-south connectivity for the city. Two of the project’s proposals looked at placing roads through the Ligon’s farm. Ultimately, this week, commissioners decided to opt for the proposal’s third option — widening South Greenhill Road to alleviate traffic, instead.
“That’s my heart and soul, is farming and is agriculture, and being able to continue farming, I can’t ask for anything else,” Andy said.
However, growth is a give and take for Mt. Juliet residents. According to Public Works and Engineering Director Andrew Barlow, widening South Greenhill Road would have varying levels of impact on more than 40 homes.
Any property needed for the project could be obtained through eminent domain, according to Mt. Juliet Public Information Officer Justin Beasley. Property owners would get at least market value, if not more, for the room needed to expand South Greenhill Road.
Destinee Smith lives with her grandmother, Linda, along the route, and said they’d like to hold on to their inherited property, just like the Ligons.
“You can’t put a price on something that’s priceless, on something that means a lot to us, no matter how small of an amount they take,” Smith said.
Andy started putting out a cry for help on Christmas, asking the community to speak up and submit comment cards for the project, hoping to save his family’s farm.
“I had no idea that this many people cared,” Andy said. “So it’s amazing to see just the heart of what Tennessee has and the citizens have for family farmers and local farmers.”
His dad hopes the resolution will stick.
“The bitter part is this was a resolution, meaning it’s nonbinding. This commission, or any other commission in the future, before the road is built, can change their mind,” sixth-generation farmer Bill Ligon said.
Beasley told News 2 the Board of Commissioners listened to the concerns of Mt. Juliet residents and responded through their resolution.
“Many people were concerned about the farm, and our Board of Commissioners certainly expressed that as well, and now you’re seeing a follow-up to the story that’s much different and I appreciate Channel 2, and specifically you, for reaching out to update people that are at home,” Beasley said.
The City of Mt. Juliet hopes to include the Western Connector project in its next fiscal year’s budget, which begins in July.
Beasley stressed that the project is still in the very early planning stages and will likely take years to complete. However, he said, infrastructure is the city’s number one priority, and the city wants to get the project started as soon as possible.
Plans for a future road connection in Mt. Juliet conflict with city’s agricultural roots.
Sheep from Cloydland Farms graze next to Lebanon Road as automobiles zoom by, a daily illustration of past meets present on Wilson County’s west side.
In recent decades, both realities have co-existed in the bedroom community just outside of Nashville. After all, the farm predates Tennessee. Cloydland Farms was established in 1789, seven years before the Volunteer State became a state. The Cloydland property was deeded to U.S. Army Capt. John Cloyd through a Revolutionary War grant.
After a marriage with the Cloyd family, the Ligon family now operates the farmland, which remains a strong and active agricultural supplier.
“The farm doesn’t mean as much to me as my two children, but it’s awful close,” Bill Ligon, 72, said. “And you don’t sell your children.”
But the three Cloydland farms are in the midst of a continually evolving Mt. Juliet community with homes and businesses like Dollar General all around — a city that is seeking more roadways to keep up with traffic congestion as growth continues at a lightning pace. The scenario is common in fast-growing rural areas across the nation, forcing leaders and residents to make difficult decisions: improve infrastructure at the risk of impacting iconic local businesses or continue with foundational failures that irk longtime residents.
As Mt. Juliet leaders surveyed their community, engineers laid out a proposal: cut into a part of the Ligon farm off of Tate Lane, an area used to supply hay for the family’s livestock and other farms.
“I think everyone wants road and traffic improvements,” Mt. Juliet Mayor James Maness said. “For us, it’s finding what we can do that’s best for the community and trying to do the best we can working with people. We realize it impacts a lot of people and is not an easy thing to get through.”
No official actions have been taken or formally introduced, and city officials emphasized the initial proposals were to start the planning process and gather feedback.
“The engineers were looking at a path we could take and looking at input,” said City Commissioner Ray Justice, who said he would not support a road through the Ligon farm. “Local input is don’t mess with anyone’s farm.”
Can the government take land?
In general, local governments enjoy eminent domain authority — as do utilities and railroads — to take land for the overall public benefit, Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson Rebekah Hammonds said.
“So long as the taking (of land) is for the public good, the taking is usually granted, leaving the only issue the value of the taking,” said Gino Marchetti, Mt. Juliet’s city attorney.
The price offered is generally based on market value, according to the Federal Uniform Act. Marchetti estimates 90% of property acquisition cases are resolved through an agreement on the monetary amount. But if an agreement on a monetary amount isn’t reached, the case can go to court for a decision.
The Ligon farm is not in the Mt. Juliet city limits but is in the city’s urban growth boundary, the Ligons said.
The city is aware portions of land involved in its initial study aren’t in the city limits. But Mt. Juliet wants to first look at different scenarios to benefit the entire area, said Andy Barlow, director of Mt. Juliet Public Works and Engineering. Annexation and property acquisition consideration, Barlow said, is “far down the line at this point and time.”
Fellow Commissioner Scott Hefner also emphasized that the planning process was still early and also indicated a desire to look at other options at a recent commission meeting.
“I have no interest personally … in subdividing active farms,” Hefner said at the meeting.
Eminent domain and property acquisition by the government
Eminent domain and property acquisition of private property is done by local, state and federal government to provide public services, according to Dennis Huffer, executive director of the Tennessee Municipal Attorneys Association, who has written a handbook on eminent domain for Municipal Tennessee Advisory Service.
“The more growth you have the more services you need,” Huffer said. “A lot of times it’s more roads, more water lines … more access to services that governments provide – sewer, electricity, gas and so on. It’s unfortunate but necessary.”
There are a number of examples of government getting into property acquisitions:
A project to expand Rossview Road in Clarksville-Montgomery County has included plans to take a portion land at a popular strawberry farm through eminent domain. Owner Billy McCraw has said it would negatively impact the business.
Eminent domain was declared on property owners in Memphis for the proposed Byhalia Connection pipeline. Lawsuits were filed against landowners who wouldn’t sell. The Byhalia pipeline, which drew protests over concerns about health risks, including the impact to drinking water, was eventually canceled in 2021 by Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy Corp.
In 2022, a Missouri bill designed to expand protections for farm and ranch families in certain eminent domain cases was signed into law. The bill tries to tighten restrictions on electrical utilities being able to using eminent domain and has a measure that farm owners would be paid 150% of fair market value if land is taken through eminent domain.
Local governments seeking right-of-way for infrastructure is common. Hendersonville, for instance, has two city transportation projects that will need to acquire right-of-way and another state-managed project to realign the Walton Ferry, Old Shackle Island and West Main intersection that is currently in the process of acquiring right-of-way.
Family farms in jeopardy
The Ligon farm off Tate Lane is about 67 acres within the approximate 250 total acres of Cloydland.
Only a few acres of the family farm would likely be considered for the road project, but Ligon and son Andy, 32, are concerned a roadway would create turns and triangles on remaining land, significantly diminishing production.
“It’s the highest yielding part of the farm,” Andy Ligon said.
The entire Ligon farm includes sheep, cattle and laying hens, said Bill Ligon, a former teacher at Westmoreland and Watertown high schools. The specific farm identified as the possible route for the future road is about 67 acres and is used to supply hay for more than 200 sheep and 35 cattle at Cloydland and is a provider for multiple farms in the area.
The decline of family farms as a whole and the impact on food costs should also be paid attention to, the Ligons say.
“If they keep closing family farms, factory farms will take over and they’ll charge whatever they want to … like the oil companies,” Bill Ligon said. “A lot of people have told me they ‘appreciate you not selling out.'”
Other road options
Discussion on the Western Connector has centered on incorporating, extending and realigning existing roads rather than developing one new through road from I-40 to Lebanon Pike as traffic continues to increase alongside the city’s growth.
The next steps would be to determine costs and other logistics, such as utility relocations and what right-of-way would be necessary, officials said. Plans are not final and development could be years in the future. The southern and middle sections of the future Western Connector could also be the priority, as the city anticipates a future Central Pike interchange off of Interstate 40 that is a TDOT managed project with a still unknown timeline.
One of the three plans for the northern leg of the Western Connector involves widening South Greenhill Road. Additional routes could also be considered as the city moves forward.
Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.
There is ample evidence that the U.S. population, 333 million and counting, is already unsustainable. Without a slowdown, the problems will only get worse, and our quality of life will decline.
James Bowen
Guest Columnist
James Bowen, Ph.D. is a nuclear physicist and environmentalist from Lawrence, Kansas.
Endless growth also threatens Americans’ quality of life.
The ever-increasing population has made the consequences of water shortages far worse.
The good news is that Americans want a more sustainable population.
Spring Hill, 30 miles south of Nashville, experienced the 10th-fastest population growth of any city in the country last year — and it was the only Tennessee city on the Top 10 list.
Plenty of other Tennessee municipalities are growing nearly as fast.
According to projections by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Volunteer State could grow by close to a million people over the next 20 years and reach a total population of 7.87 million by 2040.
This growth certainly brings some economic benefits, but it also comes at a severe cost to the environment and existing residents’ quality of life.
A growing population needs more water from rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers — as well as more land to grow food, more residential and commercial buildings, more roads, more landfills, more wastewater treatment plants, and so on.
There is ample evidence that the current U.S. population, 333 million and counting, is already unsustainable. And unless our leaders slow this ongoing growth, the problems will only get worse, and our quality of life will drastically decline.
Our nation is losing vital open space
Since 1970, the U.S. population has grown by 130 million, but our natural resources have only diminished.
Even as per capita consumption has decreased, overall consumption has outstripped conservation efforts.
As a result, the U.S. lost 69,000 square miles of open space between 1982 and 2017, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s an area about 60% larger than the entire state of Tennessee.
Such sprawl destroys forests, meadows, and other wildlife habitats. This is a life-or-death matter for the species that live there.
It is also vital for the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of humans. Most people crave life in a world of biodiversity and natural wonders, not packed into high-rise apartment buildings cut off from any meaningful relationship with nature.
Moreover, worsening fire seasons are a consequence of increasing human activity in a fragile ecosystem. And it’s not just arid Western states at risk. We’re also seeing those consequences in Southeastern states.
The devastating wildfires that swept across Eastern Tennessee in late March were a grim reminder that all 50 states must heed the warning signs. Our increasing demand for electricity, fossil fuels, fertilizers, and plastics only exacerbate wildfires and other problems associated with global warming.
Unsustainable growth threatens our water supply
Endless growth also threatens Americans’ quality of life. Consider how water levels in Lake Mead, the massive reservoir that supplies drinking water and hydropower to much of the Southwest, just dropped to the lowest level in history.
So low, in fact, that folks have started finding dead bodies — likely the victims of 1980s-era Mob assassins from nearby Las Vegas — along the formerly submerged, now-uncovered shorelines of America’s largest reservoir.
Lake Mead isn’t an anomaly. Lake Powell, another massive reservoir, is also at a record low. Across much of the West, Americans face the prospect of severe water shortages.
The explosive population growth that the region has experienced in recent decades didn’t cause this water crisis, of course. But the ever-increasing population has made the consequences far worse.
Dependency on growth is a ‘Ponzi scheme’
Environmental advocates have been warning about the consequences for decades. Sadly, those warnings often fall on deaf ears in today’s growth-obsessed political environment.
But there was a time when our elected officials had a broader perspective. In 1981, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the Global Resources, Environment, and Population Act, which would have made population stabilization a U.S. government policy.
More recently, in 2019, former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu stated that an economy that is dependent upon population growth is a Ponzi scheme, since that growth cannot go on forever.
The good news is that Americans want a more sustainable population, as evidenced by their choices to have smaller families. Birth rates among native-born Americans have been slightly below replacement level since 1972.
The Washington Post and other media outlets have decried what they call a “Birth Dearth” urging measures to encourage women to bear more children. This is pure folly as we should celebrate women’s advancements to control their reproduction.
The population has only kept growing because of historically high levels of immigration. If the U.S. government would simply, and humanely, reduce future immigration to the levels that America enjoyed during the middle of the 20th century, population stabilization would follow.
But, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, if we maintain the current rate of immigration, the U.S. population is “expected to grow by 79 million people by 2060, crossing the 400-million threshold in 2058.”
Put simply, that rate of growth is not ecologically sustainable. It’ll lead to fewer open spaces, increasingly strained water resources, the widespread loss of wildlife, and, ultimately, water rationing. If we continue ignoring this stark reality and sticking our heads in the proverbial sand, the only thing we’re likely to find are more buried bodies.
James Bowen, Ph.D. is a nuclear physicist and environmentalist from Lawrence, Kansas.
More than six months after the Water Authority of Dickson County filed an application to create a wastewater treatment plant in the Bon Aqua area and send effluent into Lick Creek, there is no clarity about when the state Department of Environment and Conservation will act.
“If and when TDEC decides to issue a draft permit for public comment, a public hearing will be scheduled and publicized,” said Kim Schofinski, the department’s deputy communications director.
Amanda Mathis, a leader of Save Lick Creek, the citizens group that has been formed to oppose the project, said on June 7 in response to a query from the Times that “we are told TDEC has paused this permit approval process to give the citizens of Hickman County time to investigate” the project “and its impact on their way of life.”
Michael Adams, executive director of the water authority, told the Times on the same day, “It is anticipated the draft permit will be issued in the next few months.”
Save Lick Creek, Mathis said, has support from more than 1,000 volunteers and has raised more than $200,000 “to help in our fight.” The contributions include “portions of citizens Social Security checks and even bags of change.”
The funds will support the citizens’ group’s reliance on professional help, including the legal firm of Butler Snow, Cooley Public Strategies and “multiple top-tier environmental and other consulting firms.”
She claims WADC is a “for profit entity,” though Adams said earlier that the water and wastewater operation was created by the Tennessee General Assembly as a public governmental utility whose board members are appointed by public officials in Dickson County and meet in public.
Save Lick Creek, whose yellow roadside signs compete for attention with those campaigning for public office, has asked citizens to write letters to TDEC officials in opposition to the project. On June 7, Schofinski said 177 letters had been received by TDEC.
Those include a letter from Keith Nash, an elected Hickman County Legislative Body member and project opponent whose district includes the proposed area, to TDEC Commissioner David Salyers.
His June 1 letter took issue with the water authority’s statement that it had discussed the project with “community leaders” for several years, gaining agreement that the project is necessary.
Nash said his 16 years on the Legislative Body had included no discussion with WADC. He criticized the application for its reliance on “community leaders’” support, rather than “local elected officials.”
“The WADC has acted as a bad neighbor, in bad faith and has attempted in the darkness of night to bully their way into a community where they have not been invited or their help requested,” wrote Nash, whose letter also says that the project is not necessary for community growth.
Though a 2005 interlocal agreement with the Legislative Body assigns wastewater oversight responsibility in East Hickman County to WADC, Nash wrote that the authority has “assumed a decision-making role not given to them by any action of the people of Hickman County.”
He asked that the commissioner set aside WADC’s application as “bad work product,” deny a permit and consider a review of other WADC filings from what he called “a deeply flawed organization.”
The citizens’ group also has asked supporters to leave comments for TDEC officials at a specific phone number, 931-716-0168. Last Thursday, Schofinski said TDEC has not “received any messages that have been attributed to that phone number.”
On March 17 letter, Butler Snow attorney B. Hart Knight wrote a letter to TDEC Deputy Commissioner Gregory Young, calling the water authority’s application “woefully inadequate” and saying that it “does not and cannot comply” with TDEC regulations.
He says the effluent discharge point into Lick Creek “is not within” the 75-year service area identified by WADC, but is eight miles away from it.
Knight also echoed citizens’ concerns about the effect of effluent release on farming, fishing and recreation, as well as property values. He questioned the effect of the proposed effluent release on trout, a fish that is not stocked in Lick Creek but is evidently prospering, based on photos he submitted.
Adams has maintained that the effluent will cause no harm to Lick Creek. It will not contain bacteria, E.coli or viruses, and will adhere to state limits that would be established by a permit.
TDEC’s Young invited WADC attorney William Penny to respond to Knight’s letter.
He told the state that Lick Creek is “the only feasible alternative” to serve growth needs in the area between Highway 46, I-40 and I-840. Wastewater is projected to increase in Hickman County by 29 percent by 2045.
Adams said earlier this month that Duck River also has been considered as an effluent discharge point, as the Tennessee Duck River Development Agency had suggested in a May letter.
The WADC executive said it would require 10 additional miles of pipeline and cost an additional $15 million.
As proposed now, the project’s initial cost is $40 million — Penny’s letter says it would be $50-million — to create the treatment station and run the effluent discharge line. It is projected to reach $249 million when a 12-milliongallon a-day need arrives at the end of the century.
That, from Save Lick Creek’s standpoint, would be a “mega wastewater plant.” The possibility is at the root of what the citizens group calls “a battle to save Lick Creek and Hickman County.”
Birth defects? Kidney damage? Breast cancer? The article about forever chemicals in last week’s newspaper was shocking, and a wake-up call for all of us to Save Lick Creek.
I did more digging, and learned that this year, the Environmental Protection Agency released new guidelines on “forever chemicals,” known as PFAs, mentioned on page B7 of the Hickman County Times.
The EPA said that there is no safe level of PFAs in water. In fact, any level of PFAs is dangerous to our health. For years, the EPA allowed these toxins to exist in drinking water in small amounts, but now we know that even small amounts can have damaging impacts.
The scary truth is that these chemicals exist everywhere! They exist in dirt that has been fertilized by sewer sludge, in firefighting foam, and in those oh-so-convenient non-stick pans. These chemicals can infiltrate our bodies and stay there for years.
I encourage all Hickman County residents to heed this wake-up call and do their own research on the dangers of PFAs and other harmful forever-chemicals. If the WADC proposal succeeds, we are opening the doors for forever chemicals in our water.
As the country and Hickman County learn more about these chemicals, we must ask ourselves an important question: How can we protect ourselves and our families from dangerous toxins being dumped in our county against our will?
