Action Alert Archive (107)
Updated 12/27: Temperatures climb and snow melts as bitter cold finally moves out of Southern Appalachians
Written by JJ Stambaugh
The sun breaks through the clouds in a South Knox County neighborhood on Tuesday morning following days-long subfreezing temperatures and snowfall Monday night. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Southern cities emerge from frigid airmass after Christmas weekend of brutal cold and snow
KNOXVILLE — Temperatures rose above freezing on Tuesday for the first time since Dec. 23 following a weekend bout with historic cold, high winds, burst water and sewage lines and power outages. The chaos was punctuated with unexpectedly potent snowfall Dec. 26 on frigid roadways that snarled traffic in the city and metro area.
The snow came in the wake of a brutal cold front that first moved into the region in the early hours Friday morning.
Snow didn’t start falling until Monday afternoon, and by sunrise Tuesday between .5 and 2 inches of the white stuff had blanketed the area, falling upon already frigid roadways.
Public safety officials across the region urged motorists to stay home, and numerous government offices either closed or got off to a late start Tuesday due to icy roads.
Both the Knoxville Police Department and Knox County Sheriff’s Office activated their Severe Weather plans, which meant that officers would only respond to emergencies and wrecks with injuries.
This mighty oak is but one of many growing for decades in South Knoxville. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Contribute to the master plan to grow tree canopy in Knoxville
KNOXVILLE — No matter where you are in the city, you’re not far from a patch or two of trees.
These copses range from small groupings of oaks or dogwoods that are commonly used to mark property boundaries to lush belts of temperate mixed-hardwood forest that sprawl across hundreds of acres.
While Knoxville may be blessed with an abundance of these urban forests, many local residents and leaders believe it’s nowhere near enough.
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- jj stambaugh
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- knoxville
- urban forest
- canopy
- public participation
- stakeholder input
- kasey krause
- urban forester
- tennessee division of forestry
- keep knoxville beautiful
Don’t Let Factory Farms Undermine the Organic Label
Written by The Cornucopia InstituteTell the USDA to implement the Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards rule soon — your voice is needed by midnight ET on November 10, 2022
The proposed Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards (OLPS) rule requires that all poultry receive legitimate outdoor access. This move comes after successive USDA delays and in spite of massive public comment urging the implementation of the previous organic livestock update — withdrawn despite over 40,000 comments in favor of better organic livestock standards. Read the Cornucopia Institute’s complete analysis of how we got to this moment.
Yes, It’s little and it’s late! — But neither too little nor too late to make an important difference
Cornucopia has called out factory-organic poultry operations for over a decade. Instead of dustbathing and cavorting in the sunlight, industrial organic hens are crammed into massive barns with screened porches.
The OLPS specifies the amount of outdoor space required for poultry production and improves some management practices for all organic livestock. Questions remain: How soon must existing operations comply?
How long will factory-organic producers be allowed to deceive you by labeling their eggs as organic?
Help control invasive exotic plants Saturday at Oak Ridge cedar barrens
OAK RIDGE — The Oak Ridge Cedar Barren will again be the site of exotic invasive plant removal on Saturday, Nov. 5 as we conduct our fall cleanup, our third and final cleanup of the year. Located next to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, the Barren is a joint project of the City of Oak Ridge, State Natural Areas Division, and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning. The area is one of just a few cedar barrens in East Tennessee, and is subject to invasion by bushy lespedeza, leatherleaf viburnum, privet, autumn olive, mimosa, Nepal grass, multiflora rose, and woody plants that threaten the system’s prairie grasses. Our efforts help to eliminate invasives and other shade-producing plants that prevent the prairie grasses from getting needed sunlight.
Volunteers should meet in the Jefferson Middle School Parking lot at 9 a.m., with sturdy shoes, loppers, gloves, and water. The work session will conclude at noon with a pizza lunch. For more information, contact Tim Bigelow at 865-607-6781 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Hellbender Press reported in detail on last year’s Cedar Barren spring cleanup.
Don’t get tricked — Halloween is the LAST day to give them your ...
and …
For more information, scroll down on this page.
Advance Knox envisions three trajectories for development in Knox County, wants your opinion by Oct. 31
Written by Wolf NaegeliAdvance Knox proposes three growth scenarios for the future of the unincorporated areas of Knox County.
If you missed the community meetings and the Zoom event during Advance Knox’s “Choices Week,” you can still take the survey online!
If you are unfamiliar with the Advance Knox project, you may find it helpful to watch the first 19 minutes of the Choices Week webinar recording before taking the survey.
“Advance Knox is a process to prepare a land use and transportation plan for Knox County that is informed by research and community input,” according to its website.
In March 2022, Advance Knox offered a first round of public input opportunities during its “Ideas Week.” As reported in Hellbender Press, community meetings were held all over the county. Participation opportunities at special group presentations, a Zoom webinar, and individual commenting on the website were similar to those of Choices Week.
Celebrate the wild ties that bind Americans on Public Lands Day 2022 — Saturday, Sept. 24
Written by Thomas Fraser
GATLINBURG — The director of the National Park Service is expected in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Saturday to celebrate National Public Lands Day.
Director Chuck Sams plans to make some remarks in appreciation for the volunteers who help backstop national park maintenance costs before citizens fan out for various tasks across the park. Sams is the first Native American to head the park service, and he will be joined by Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Richard G. Sneed.
Last chance for comments in support of saving the country’s best remaining forests
Old Growth U.S. National Park Service
On July 14, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of the Interior opened a public comment period following President Biden’s Executive Order to conserve mature and old-growth forests.
The deadline for comments is Tuesday, Aug. 30. Now is the time to protect our federally managed forests to safeguard our communities from the future impacts of climate change. Make your voice heard and submit a comment to the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
The mature and old-growth trees in our federally managed forests are one of this country’s greatest resources. These forests provide critical habitats for wildlife, prevent erosion and flooding, protect our drinking water, and are an essential climate solution.
United States forests cover about 290 million hectares of land and make up the fourth largest forest area of any country in the world. In 2019, the carbon sequestered in these forests offset approximately 12 percent of United States greenhouse gas emissions.
— Sierra Club
Climbers can clean their crags during Obed event
Volunteers are needed to improve and maintain climbing and approach areas at the Obed. National Park Service
WARTBURG — The Obed Wild and Scenic River will host the park’s annual Adopt-a-Crag event on Saturday, Sept. 11 in cooperation with the East Tennessee Climbers Coalition.
Volunteers are needed to help with a variety of projects, including general trail maintenance and litter pickup. Participants should meet at the Lilly Pad Hopyard Brewery at 9 a.m. to register and receive a project assignment. Carpooling is suggested, and volunteers should bring their own lunch, water, hand tools and gloves.
When the work is done, volunteers are invited to spend the day climbing, kayaking or hiking. The ETCC plans a volunteer appreciation dinner that evening at the Lilly Pad.
For more information, contact the Obed Wild and Scenic River at (423) 346-6294.
That ain’t country: Activists protest proposed downtown tree removal in Knoxville
Written by Thomas FraserKNOXVILLE — People assembled at 6 p.m. Aug. 19 to speak for the trees threatened by development of an art installment at the half-acre Cradle of Country Music Park at the corner of Gay Street and Summit Hill Drive downtown.
The Harvey Broome Chapter of the Sierra Club organized the protest against the removal of five mature oak trees to make way for the sculpture and its base, which was originally commissioned to a New York City artist in 2018 and will cost the city $600,000, according to reporting from Compass. The online news outlet also reported Friday that Councilwoman Seema Singh has requested a pause in the project to determine whether there are alternatives to removing the trees.
Activists urge TVA to take advantage of historic US climate bill for energy-efficiency improvements
Written by Dulce Torres Guzman
A hopper car on a train filled with coal to be delivered to a TVA coal-fired plant. John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
Climate bill designates TVA as a potential recipient of clean energy investments and loans
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
KNOXVILLE — Clean-energy advocates are urging the Tennessee Valley Authority to use funds provided through the Inflation Reduction Act to deliver environmentally friendly energy to Tennessee customers.
The massive bill Congress passed Friday includes $370 billion for clean energy investments and listed TVA as an entity that is eligible to take advantage of clean energy credits and loans to significantly reduce the cost of energy-efficient infrastructure.
On Aug. 12, the Clean Up TVA Coalition, including the Sierra Club, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Appalachian Voices, urged TVA to take advantage of the legislation and make funds available to its affiliated local power companies, which can then offer energy-efficient options for customers.
- tennessee clean energy
- tva fossil fuel
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- us climate bill
- inflation reduction act
- tennessee lookout
- alternative energy
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- sierra club
- southern alliance for clean energy
- sace
- sace utilities report
- clean up tva coalition
- appalachian voices
- sunrise movement nashville
- utility energy efficiency
Doing good deeds for the Tennessee River, and enjoying it, too
Written by Keenan Thomas
Racers of all stripes assembled Saturday for Cheers to Clean Water boat races on the Tennessee River. Keenan Thomas/Hellbender Press
Cheers to Clean Water celebrants race, learn and scrub the river at Suttree Landing Park
KNOXVILLE — Beneath the sound of a beckoning banjo, partiers and athletes alike paddled the shores of Suttree Landing Park, picking up trash as they floated down the Tennessee River.
The fifth Cheers to Clean Water Celebration on Saturday (June 11) featured 4k- and 8k-kayak races, a cleanup in and around the Tennessee River, and a central gathering area punctuated by booths for land- and water-based advocacy organizations.
“It’s both on water and on land, cleaning up this section of the Tennessee River,” AmeriCorps member Madison Moore said on Saturday from the park. “After the boating is over, they’ll come down here for the celebration, where we have a whole bunch of other vendors that are helping us make this day a possibility.”
The celebration promotes the importance of maintaining and cleaning major waterways like the Tennessee River.
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- keenan thomas
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- Tennessee River
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Report Card for U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations: Failing grades in stakeholder engagement and environmental decision making
Written by Virginia Dale
Editor’s note: As reported in Hellbender Press, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) was reprimanded by the Southern Environmental Law Center for neglecting its duty to follow guidelines and proper procedures mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Of immediate concern was OREM’s pretext and information — or specifically lack of pertinent information — released ahead of the public meeting on May 17, 2022 about its project for a new “Environmental Management Disposal Facility” (EMDF).
With regard to NEPA compliance, Oak Ridge Operations has been the black sheep in DOE’s stable because it never prepared the required site-wide environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). At said public meeting, Virginia Dale, Corporate Fellow Emeritus of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, commented on another tangent of shortcomings — not spelled out by Federal law — but matters of common sense, competent decision making and good community spirit.
- environmental management disposal facility
- emdf
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- waste acceptance criteria
- wac
- bear creek
- ground water characterization
- end use working group
- tennessee water quality control act
- comprehensive environmental response, compensation and liability act
- cercla
- environmental management waste management facility
- emwmf
Race your ride and scoop some gnarl this weekend on the Tennessee River
Written by Thomas FraserKNOXVILLE — Knox County and the Water Quality Forum will host the fifth-annual Cheers to Clean Water Celebration and Clean-Up on Saturday (June 11) at Suttree Landing Park across the river from downtown.
The event, which includes a water race for kayaks and paddle boarders, kicks off at 11:30 a.m. and registration is open until 10:30 a.m. the day of the event. Following the race there will be a celebration that includes local vendors and booths, kids’ activities, kayaks for rental, blue grass music, food trucks, rain barrels, and prizes. The celebration and cleanup are free and open to the public. The race costs $15. Local breweries have donated beer for purchase.
“This event is a fun way to promote the importance of keeping our rivers and streams clean,” said Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs.
For a full list of prices and to register for the event click here.
The Water Quality Forum is a coalition of diverse partners including local governments, non-profits, utility companies and businesses that work together to keep East Tennessee waters clean. The Knox County stormwater office is working with the forum to host the event.
— Knox County government
Foundation for Global Sustainability appeals to Knox County Commission to preserve the Dry Hollow heritage area in South Knox County
Written by FGSDear Commissioner {last-name}:
We implore you to vote against the request to strip the Agricultural zoning from the core area of the historic Twin Springs Farm in Dry Hollow.
(11-B-21-SP & 11-F-21-RZ Request of Thunder Mountain Properties, LLC for rezoning from A (Agricultural) ... Property located at 8802 Sevierville Pike and 0 Dry Hollow Road.)
This property is an integral part of a forgotten Knox County heritage area that has unique historical, cultural, economic and ecological values.
More...
Updated: Knox County Commission greenlights Dry Hollow housing, with changes
Written by Thomas FraserOpposition still stands against Dry Hollow housing proposal on Knox commish agenda
KNOXVILLE — Compass reported that Knox County Commission voted 8-3 Monday night to approve a new housing development in South Knox County, “despite fierce opposition from surrounding residents.
“Local residents haven’t stopped a development, but they forced some changes,” Compass reported.
“But the conditions imposed by Commission limit the subdivision in the Dry Hollow area to 180 homes on the flattest, most developable part of the property — down from 255 that the Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission had approved.”
Opponents of Oak Ridge waste dump, citing comms breakdown, urge extension of public comment period
Written by Thomas Fraser
Image from a 2018 memorandum authored by experts including former Department of Energy employees in Oak Ridge. EMWMF is the present landfill that has a history of failures and is reaching capacity. Ecologists say, after a decade DOE still is not adequately addressing waste acceptance criteria and feasible alternatives.
Public can comment in person Tuesday night in Oak Ridge on proposed DOE waste dump
OAK RIDGE — The Southern Environmental Law Center blistered the Department of Energy in a letter ahead of a May 17 hearing on construction of a toxic-waste landfill that opponents said poses contamination threats to portions of the Clinch River watershed and downstream TVA reservoirs.
The hearing is set for 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 at the Pollard Technology Conference Center, 210 Badger Ave. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will be accepted through June 7.
The Department of Energy wants to bury contaminated debris from demolition of Manhattan Project-era complexes and associated legacy toxins from the Oak Ridge Reservation. The drawn-out debate about how best to safely store the materials now focuses on the transparency of the decision process and the health of the Bear Creek watershed and downstream pollution threats to the Clinch River.
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Updated: Power line project threatens regionally popular greenway on the Oak Ridge Reservation
Written by Wolf NaegeliOAK RIDGE — WBIR channel 10 News 2-minute video highlighting a controversy that has been brewing for a decade.
Infographics and more details added May 5, 2022
Tree clearing would radically degrade the visual experience and take away shade crucial to enjoyment of a walk during increasingly hot weather
On April 4, TRISO-X LLC, a subsidiary incorporated last August by X-Energy LLC, disclosed plans to build a plant at Horizon Center to manufacture a new kind of “unmeltable” tri-structural isotropic nuclear fuel (TRISO) for high-temperature pebble-bed gas reactors. It will use uranium, enriched to less than 20 percent, to fabricate spherical, billiards-ball sized High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) pebbles.
Horizon Center,
situated among sensitive natural areas, was designed as an upscale light-industrial and office park. Despite its fancy landscaping with sculpture gardens, it failed to attract the many buyers that had been anticipated when it was created a quarter century ago. A principal argument for its establishment was that Oak Ridge needed to attract more private enterprise to reduce dependency on Federal jobs.
Terragenics’ $38 million plant, which was built to manufacture implantable radioactive pellets to treat prostate cancer never went into full production and was abandoned in 2005. 2015, with Governor Haslam in attendance, Canadian CVMR promised 620 jobs, using the plant for it’s first U.S. production site and to move its headquarters to it from Toronto, too.
TDOT wants your input on electric-vehicle infrastructure
Proposed electric-vehicle infrastructure corridors in Tennessee. TDOT
Inside of Knoxville: State seeks input on charging stations, EV corridors
(Update: The survey has now ended.) The Tennessee Department of Transportation’s traveling and electrifying road show made an appearance in Knoxville this week. The intent of the meeting, as others scheduled around the state, was to collect public feedback on proposed charging station networks and other components of EV infrastructure.
Tennessee will receive a significant chunk of change toward developing its own share of National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, provided as part of the infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year. The state will receive $88 million over five years, and has begun drafting some options.
Clean sweep: Volunteers remove tons of trash from Smokies in largest one-day cleanup
Written by Ben Pounds
Volunteers who helped with the Save our Smokies cleanup on April 23 are shown here among their booty. Anna Lawrence/Hellbender Press
Amid the booze bottles and toilet paper, it’s ‘incredible what we found here’
Cleanup crews cleared garbage Earth Day weekend across Great Smoky Mountains National Park from mountain crests to the shores of Fontana Lake.
Save Our Smokies, which organized the April 23 event, called it the largest single cleanup ever attempted in the park. Volunteers wrangled some 5,000 pounds of garbage.
Save our Smokies Vice President Benny Braden said the organization removed 10,133 pounds of trash in all of 2021.
“Litter is a big problem. We can clean up a location and two months later we have to be back there because it’s worse than when we started,” Braden said in an interview Saturday morning at the Tremont section of the national park. “What gives us hope is our volunteers showing up,” he said, citing their tireless dedication.