The hearing last night was calm compared to hearings across Appalachia last night.  In Knoxville, the coal supporters, dressed in mostly black tee shirts with slogans of support, enthusiastically clapped and cheered for their supporters when they spoke.   But it was largely a polite crowd.  That wasn’t the same for other hearings in other states. I’d like to extend thanks to Colonel Mitchell of the Nashville ACOE Field Office.  He held us with his steady gaze and we all got the impression that poor behavior was not to be tolerated.

The coal companies apparently bussed supporters to and from these hearings.  Were that we enviros could afford to do the same, but no.  We had good comments made by those supporting the Corps proposal, though. It’s nice to be able to thank them instead of criticize all the time.

There were misconceptions on both sides.  This proposal does not eliminate MTR mining nor does it eliminate coal jobs in Appalachia.  All it does is put some of the mining practices under an individual permit which requires monitoring and public hearings.  This is good for everyone, even the miners. This will not eliminate jobs, but give us more sunshine about the project as well as increase our knowledge about the effects of mining on water quality.  Frankly, the miners who are getting scared about losing their jobs should give the mining companies and associations a collective dope slap for scaring them about losing their jobs because that will not happen.

To get the play-by-play of last nights hearing in Knoxville, until I was unable to Tweet due to an undisclosed limit of tweets that I exceeded.  Some really good people spoke after we went dark. To follow us on Twitter, go to www.twitter.com/tcwn

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Twice a year the state Water Quality Control Board opens up its floor to the public.  This is an opportunity for anyone to speak on an issue relevant to water quality and have the Board listen to you.  The WQCB is responsible for ensuring the TN Water Quality Control Act is implemented properly and has oversight of all water quality issues falling under this Act.  The meeting is October 20th and will be held on the 17th floor of TDEC’s headquarters in downtown Nashville at 401 Church Street.  Come on out and voice your concerns!

Tonight at the Knoxville Convention Center starting at 6:00 the Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a hearing on two proposals related to the Nationwide Permit #21that allows valley fills. This hearing is to consider two options: 1) suspend the nationwide permit #21 to be used in Appalachia; and 2) and then make that suspension permanent when the permit is renewed in March 2012.

We like this.  The coal companies do not and will be bringing in people by the bus load to the Knoxville hearing tonight.

We’ll twitter the goings on so sign up to recieve our tweets at www.twitter.com/tcwn.

For those of you who missed last nights 60 Minutes episode on coal fly ask, click here to see the excerpt. According to Administrator Lisa Jackson, EPA will come out with a decision regarding coal fly ash by December.

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Barring breaking news, “Coal Ash” will be airing this Sunday, Oct. 4^th, on 60 Minutes, CBS.  As they say: check your local listings.

There are a number of Roane County residents and TCWN members featured in this story.  Please tune and and find out the latest about Kingston.