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The Clean Water Legal Defense Fund was started in 2009 to hire a staff attorney to pursue clean water act litigation on TCWN's core issues. We hired Stephanie Matheny in April 2009, and she is now working on several cases against developers, industry, and municipalities. TCWN has also used litigation in the past to move clean water issues forward. 
 
One good thing that can come out of litigation is a supplemental environmental project. These are monies the defendant can pay to a local organization working on an issue that will help the community that was harmed by the pollution.  We can continue to support the good work of the environmental community through litigation and clean up pollution at the same time. Lawsuits are expensive and we need help with expert fees and legal costs. Please give to the Clean Water Defense Fund by going here.
 
CITY OF COOKEVILLE - NPDES PERMIT APPEAL

On December 7, 2011 TCWN has filed an appeal petition regarding the NPDES permit issued to the City of Cookeville Wastewater Treatment Plant, alleging the permit failed to conduct the legally mandated reasonable potential analysis or to impose required water quality based limits for nutrient discharges.  Instead of imposing meaningful limits on nitrogen and phosphorous, the permit allows Cookeville to continue doing what it has been doing for years.
 
Unfortunately, this is simply not good enough.  The state determined many years ago that Pigeon Roost Creek is nutrient-impaired, but has declined to impose effective limits in the face of past permit litigation by Cookeville.  Pigeon Roost Creek has a critical low flow of only .65 million gallons per day, while the plant has a design flow of 14 million gallons per day, so this stream is dominated by effluent from the plant.  Effective controls on nutrients are needed to bring the river into compliance with state water quality standards.
 
TCWN is very concerned about excessive discharges of nutrients to Tennessee waters.  These discharges cause excess algal growth and eutrophication, and also cumulatively contribute to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.  Tennessee, like most states, has only narrative water quality standards for nutrients.  Tennessee has also declined to prepare total maximum daily load documents for streams that include sewage treatmetn plants, thus making it difficult to develop appropriate permit limits.
 
NATIONAL COAL, LLC - CITIZEN SUITS AT ZEB MOUNTAIN, MINE 14, AND JORDAN RIDGE

Surface mining of coal is a dirty business, but there are legal limits on what coal companies are allowed to discharge to our waters.  National Coal has self-reported hundreds of days of violations of these limits at three of its Tennessee mines and waste disposal sites, incluidng limits for selenium, manganese, total suspended solids, and iron.  In addition, National Coal has not been monitoring and reporting its discharges as required by its permits.  These violations were readily evident from the permit files, and yet no meaningful enforcement by government authorities had been undertaken.  
 
On October 31, 2011, TCWN, the Sierra Club, and Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment filed suit in federal district court in Knoxville regarding violations at Zeb Mountain (aka "Mine 7" - pictured on the left) and the Jordan Ridge Refuse Area.  The same groups followed up on November 7 with a similar filing for Mine 14. 
 
 
 
 
MASCOT - ZINC TAILINGS SITE
 
On September 27, 2011 TCWN issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue Mine Road Properties, LLC for discharging pollutants without an NPDES permit in violation of the Clean Water Act at its property in Mascot, TN.
 
The Mine Road Site is home to an approximately 100-acre, open, unlined zinc tailings pond.   These tailings are the legacy of past industrial use of the site, and are the byproduct of extensive mining and milling of zinc ores in Mascot in the 1900s.  The tailings consist primarily of crushed limestone, but are also laced with metals, including zinc, lead, arsenic, and copper. 
 
There are no apparant stormwater controls on the site. As a result, the site discharges significant pollutants in stormwater during and after rains.  Because the limestone is white, this discharge is often the color of milk.  The impact of the discharge is clearly visible in Flat Creek, pictured here from the Mascot Road bridge.
 
This is not a secret or hidden problem.  The tailings ponds are noted on topographical maps of Mascot and are visible from space.  TDEC conducted an inspection of this property in 2003, but despite noting the open dumping of industrial waste and the lack of proper permits, TDEC has apparently done nothing to bring the landowner into compliance.
 
Read the notice letter here.
 
ZEB MOUNTAIN - NPDES PERMIT APPEAL
 
Zeb Mountain is the largest mountaintop removal mine in Tennessee, and has been the subject of extensive litigation and civil disobedience over many years.  Unfortunately, much of the mountain has already been lost to destructive mining practices, but TCWN is still working to prevent additional stream pollution.
 
TCWN, the Sierra Club, and Statewide Committee for Community eMpowerment settled a Clean Water Act lawsuit in September, 2010 regarding selenium discharges from the Zeb Mountain mine.  At the time,we expected the new pollution discharge permit to contain seleinium limits for the first time.
 
When TDEC finally issued the permit in February 2011, TCWN and our partners were disappointed that TDEC had not followed EPA recommendations about how to apply selenium limits.  We were also troubled by TDEC's failure to notify us that the final permit had been issued, even though we had submitted detailed comments on the draft permit. 
 
On March 28, 2011, TCWN and our partners appealed this NPDES permit to the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board.  Read the appeal petition here.  National Coal, LLC, the owner of Zeb Mountain, also appealed, seeking the elimination of discharge limits on selenium and total suspended solids. 
 
In the meantime, a new company took over ownership of Zeb Mountain in the winter of 2010 and has already been issued multiple notices of violation for exceeding permit limits and for discharging pollutants outside the area covered by the permit.
 

JORDAN RIDGE - NPDES PERMIT APPEAL INTERVENTION
 
National Coal, LLC - the same company that operates the Zeb Mountain surface coal mine - also operates the Jordan Ridge Refuse Area for disposal of coal mine wastes.  TDEC issued a renewed NPDES Permit in September 2009 that, for the first time, set limits on selenium to protect water quality.  National Coal appealed that permit in October 2009, but nothing had been done in that case until August 2011, when TCWN, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, and United Mountain Defense petitioned to intervene. Because of a provision of state administrative law, enforcement of the selenium limits has effectively been stayed pending the outcome of the appeal.  TCWN sought intervention to defend the selenium limits in a timely manner.  An administrative law judge denied intervention, and TCWN and others have appealed that ruling.
 
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY - BULL RUN FOSSIL PLANT NPDES PERMIT APPEAL

On November 1, 2010 TCWN appealed the pollutant discharge permit issued to the Tennessee Valley Authority for its Bull Run Fossil Plant.  TCWN, partnering with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Earthjustice, and the Environmental Integrity Project, appealed this permit because it fails to adequately protect the Clinch River from pollutants associated with coal combustion waste.  TCWN is particularly concerned that there are no  effective limits on metals, including selenium, that are known to be present at elevated levels in discharges from coal-fired power plants. To learn more, read the permit appeal and the comment letter.  In a recent comment letter regarding a similar permit renewal proposed for the Kingston Fossil Plant, EPA agreed with our position that numeric limits on metals in coal combustion wastewater are necessary to protect water quality, feasible, and required by the Clean Water Act.
 
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY - JOHNSONVILLE FOSSIL PLANT NPDES PERMIT APPEAL

On March 11, 2011, TCWN and the Sourthern Alliance for Clean Energy appealed the NPDES permit TDEC had recently issued for TVA's Johnsonville Fossil Plant in NW Tennesssee.  The permit authorizes the continued discharge of coal combustion wastewaters containing heavy metals such as mercury, selenium, and hexavalent chromium, but does not impose effluent limits for these pollutants based on the best available technology economically achievable.  Instead, the permit allows continued use of a settling pond that one TDEC employee has described as a "disaster waiting to happen" and requires only adherance to an undefined future "best management practices" plan to be submitted by TVA.  In addition, the permit authorizes the discharge of nearly 1.2 billion gallons per day of cooling water at a temperature up to 102 degrees based on biological data that is more than 35 years old.  Read the appeal petition here.
 
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY - JOHN SEVIER FOSSIL PLANT NPDES PERMIT APPEAL
 
On May 27, 2011, TCWN and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy appealed the NPDES permit TDEC issued for TVA's John Sevier Fossil Plant.  In addition to the issues raised in the Bull Run and Johnsville appeals, this case addresses water quality-based effluent limits for mercury and arsenic.  Read the appeal petition here.
 
CHATTANOOGA - MOCCASION BEND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT AND COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM
On August 2, 2010, the Tennessee Clean Water Network issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the City of Chattanooga for violating its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant and Combined Sewer System by unpermitted discharges by its West and East Bank Tide Gates; unpermitted Sewer Overflows; exceedances of the maximum E. coli limit; and monitoring and reporting violations.  Compared to Memphis and Knoxville, Chattanooga has experienced significantly more overflows per capita per sewer mile, and a recent spike in volume, as shown in this chart.  But, before TCWN sued the Knoxville Utitilities Board for similar violations, it also had a spike in overflows, as shown in this chart.
 
On October 13, 2010 TCWN filed suit against the City of Chattanooga for violating the Clean Water Act by discharging untreated sewage into the Tennessee River and nearby streams.  To read the complaint, click here.  Exhibits.
 

MEMPHIS - MAYNARD C. STILES & T.E. MAXSON SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS
 
TCWN members in Memphis brought our attention to problems at the M.C. Stiles sewage treatment plant.  In response, we submitted comments on the draft NDPES permit renewal.  But, we thought there was more to the story, so we conducted several file reviews at TDEC and EPA.  We reviewed the plant's discharge monitoring report, and were shocked to see numerous sanitary sewer overflows - basically, discharges of raw sewage to the streets and streams of Memphis.  We were also concerned about the visible discharge of foam to the Mississippi River.  Because there had been no enforcement action at that time. TCWN sent a 60-day notice to the City of Memphis.  On day 60, EPA and TDEC jointly filed suit against the City of Memphis in federal court regarding violations at both of the city's treatment plants and throughout the sewerage system.  TCWN has filed a motion to intervene in that enforcement suit.
 
 
TCWN v. TRANTANELLA - Settled 1-31-11

TCWN has settled its Clean Water Act lawsuit against Knox County developer David Trantenella. The CONSENT DECREE entered on January 31, 2011 imposes a turbidity limit of 280 NTU on stormwater discharges from the site.  The settlement requires monitoring to document compliance with this limit, and imposes stipulated penalties for noncompliance. This is the first construction site in Tennessee to be subject to a numeric limit for its stormwater discharges.  TCWN views numeric limits as a necessary measure to protect water quality, and expects that implementation of this consent decree will demonstrate the feasiblity of this approach. In addition, the settlement requires payment of $7,500 to Conservation Fisheries as a supplemental environmental project in lieu of penalties.  Conservation Fisheries will use the funds to support reintroduction of native, non-game fish to the Holston River.
 
TCWN v. BABELAY FARM, LLC et. al

The Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN) and several individual co-plaintiffs filed a complaint on October 15, 2009 in Federal Court against Babelay Farm, LLC, Clear Creek, Construction, LLC, Sharp Contracting, Inc., The Legends at Washington Pike, LLC, And Hathaway Construction Co., Inc. for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act at the Legends at Washington Pike Subdivision construction site in east Knox County. The complaint charges that water quality violations have continued despite the 60-day notice TCWN sent July 29, 2009.  The complaint also charges that the construction has contaminated the downstream landowner's well water. Trial has been set for October 2009.
 
We received an unexpected response from an attorney for one of the people named in our 60-day notice. This letter threatened Executive Director, Renee Hoyos, personally for talking to the press about the case. This sort of threat is called a SLAPP suit. SLAPP stands for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and is designed to intimidate the public into shutting up. Suits such as these are illegal in Tennessee and violate First Amendment rights to free speech.  TCWN Staff Attorney Stephanie Matheny quickly sent a reply letter, and nothing more has been heard about this baseless threat.