Here is what happens when you take a stand for clean water and fight to keep developers from being allowed to pave, culvert and bury streams at the state Legislature.

On April 9, the Stop Work Order bill was up in the House Environment Committee for a vote. During discussion, Rep. McCord asked me to come up and speak on it. Once he got me up there, he turned the subject to the limited resources bill that we worked so hard to kill. I tried to turn his attention back to the Stop Work Order, but he would have none of it.

A couple of notes. Rep. McCord suggests that I am only in this for money. I had a conversation with Rep. Nicely at the beginning of the session. Rep. Nicely told me that because I get paid to do the work I do, it’s not worthy. When I countered that the Farm Bureau lobbyist gets paid to represent farmers, a group he claims to support, he told me that I make more money than she does and therefore what I do is not worthy. I don’t think Rep. McCord thought up the money comment on his own.

I do believe that Rep. McCord got the message.

RvH

This week was pretty exciting at the Senate and House Environment Committees

In the Senate:

The Scenic Vista’s Act was revisited in the Senate.  Last week the Senate Committee Chair deferred to the House Subcommittee’s decision not to pass it out of the House Committee. This week the Senate sponsor and Sen. Jackson, rallied the other senators and the bill passed out of the Senate Committee.

The Limited Resources bill was completely rewritten to delete all the language and substitute in its place language that would require a clean up of the Nolichucky River.  Apparently many years ago, in the dark of night, several tons of tires were dumped into the river and are still there today.  This bill would clean it up. It passed out of Senate with the amendment unanimously.

In the House, Rep. McCord suggested the same amendment for the Limited Resources bill. It was accepted and it passed out of the House Environment Committee unanimously.

WE WON!  This bill is dead.  Though our bills died, their impact would have been greatly reduced had the limited resources bill passed.  We heard from Senator Raymond Finney that there were three bills he heard about the most and this bill was one of them.  Many thanks to all of you who called your representatives and senators to encourage them to not vote for this bill.

This fight is not over.  We have won the battle, but not the war.  We have heard that next year they are planning another round. TCWN will be there and vigilant to protect our right to clean water!

We got some excellent press from the Maryville Daily Times.

This piece leads us to believe that the fight may carry over to the making of rules and regulations.  We have a constant presence at the Water Quality Control Board and we will be watching the opposition’s every move.

If this issue is important to you, consider becoming a member and helping us win this war to protect clean water in Tennessee.  Click here to become a member today!

Many thanks to you all!

RvH

Here’s an update of the bills that we are watching:

Stop Work Order. This bill is dead for lack of a second in the House SubCommittee on Environment.

Limited Resources bill: There were some negotiations that took place on the Senate side. Sen. Southerland introduced an amendment to this bill that wipes out the definition of water and replaces it with a clean up of the Nolichucky thereby making the attempt to change the definition dead for this year. The opposition’s lobbyist stopped me in the hall before committee and told me that they are finished with this bill. We aren’t declaring victory yet, but we think it will be very soon.

Pigeon River: This bill changes the location of water testing for pollution coming into Tennessee from the Evergreen Paper Mill (formerly Blue Ridge, formerly Champion). Amendments for this bill more fully indicate how TDEC will take those samples. This bill passed and is being signed by both Senate and House Speakers. Yay!

We’ll keep you posted!

This year we decided that we wanted a greater presence at the legislature, so we are working our bills and also assisting the Tennessee Conservation Voters. We have been following a number of bills. Some needed to be killed and others passed. Here is a quick summary of what we’ve found.

1. By far the worst bill at the legislature this year is a bill called the Limited Resources bill and its amendment (which is still not online). This bill would strip protection of about 30.000 miles of streams by cleverly stating that any stream not meeting its use would be reclassified as a “limited resource water” and unprotected by the state. The waters that do not meet their uses are found on the 303d list. Therefore, that entire list is up for grabs as is the TMDL program that works to make sure those uses are attained. The sponsors are Representative Joe McCord and Senator Steve Southerland . We are working hard to kill this bill. Help us by letting the sponsors and committee members know that you want water protected, not destroyed. Ask them to take this bill off notice.

2. Stop work orders. Currently, TDEC is unable to issue a stop work order on stormwater construction sites. This bill would give them that authority as well as require fines as stated in the water quality control act. Our primary sponsors are Senator Ketron and Representative Buck . Please thank them for supporting good water legislation. This bill is on the calendar to be considered in both the House and Senate Environment committees on April 9. Please call committee members and ask them to vote for this bill.

Senate Environment Committee:

• Tommy Kilby , Chair
• Dewayne Bunch, Vice-Chair
• Doug Jackson, Secretary

Raymond Finney, Roy Herron, Bill Ketron, Steve Roller, Steve Southerland and Mike Williams

House Environment Committee:

• Frank Buck, Chair
• John Tidwell, Vice-Chair
• Brenda Gilmore, Secretary

William Baird, Willie Borchert, Richard Floyd, George Fraley, David Hawk, Mike Kernell, Joe McCord, Frank Niceley

3. Scenic Vistas Act: This bill would have prevented mountain top removal in this state. Sadly, it died in the house sub committee on environment.

If you’d like to watch the subcommittee and committee hearings, you may do so at:

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/house/video.htm

I will try to post the latest happenings in the legislature on Thurs, so check back then or if you sign up for our RSS feed, you’ll get a prompt in your email directing you to this blog.

Let me know if you’d like updates on other pieces of legislation or if you have ideas of legislation you’d like us to work on next year.

RvH