Bill to stop landfill passes ... just barely
Plus: PR blitz labels landfill "ecology park," TCAT adds class offerings for jail inmates, and Spring Hiking Challenge begins Friday.
Good Thursday evening! This is The Weekender, a final look at this week’s news from the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) any of these newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t subscribed, please consider doing so!
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Landfill bill passes by razor-thin margin
NASHVILLE | Legislation designed to stop the proposed Roberta Phase II landfill in Scott County stayed alive in the Tennessee General Assembly by the skin of its teeth Wednesday evening.
House Bill 2202, carried by state Rep. Kelly Keisling, R-Byrdstown, survived a vote in the Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee by a razor-thin vote of 5-4 Thursday, following an hour of question-and-answer testimony and debate among members of the panel.
Huntsville Mayor Dennis Jeffers and Knox Horner, the Cleveland, Tenn. landfill developer who is the public face of the Roberta Phase II project, testified on opposing sides of the issue. Representatives of the TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation, which oversees landfills, were also called to testify.
In the end, a bipartisan group of three Republicans and two Democrats voted to send the bill to full committee, despite objections from two Republican members of the panel who vowed that passing the legislation will destine the state for a lawsuit it cannot win.
The bill will next be considered by the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, likely next week, though it had not been scheduled Wednesday evening.
Keisling, who is not a member of the subcommittee, told his colleagues that his bill — which he is carrying with state Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston — is “not really an anti-landfill bill,” but is instead a “pro-conservation bill.” He said the existing Volunteer Regional Landfill has 24 years of remaining life expectancy, and added that every elected body in Scott County has taken a unanimous position against the proposed landfill.
“To my knowledge, no elected official at any level of government (in Scott County) has spoken up in favor of the landfill,” Keisling said. “This is for the people of Scott County. I’m here representing my constituents.”
Huntsville Mayor Dennis Jeffers represented the opposition to the landfill, stating that while his town only includes 1,700 people, he was in Nashville to represent the more than 22,000 people who live in Scott County.
“If our tourism goes away, most of our livelihood goes away,” Jeffers told the subcommittee, adding that the people of Scott County are a resolute people who withstood the end of the timber-cutting and coal-mining eras by benefiting from the recreation and tourism opportunities created by the establishment of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area in the 1970s.
It is the Big South Fork River that the legislation seeks to use to stop the proposed landfill. It designates the river as a Class II Pastoral River under Tennessee’s 1964 Scenic Rivers Act and adds provisions that are written to be specific to Scott County by stating that a landfill cannot be built anywhere in a county with a Scenic River that is formed by two rivers meeting, then flowing through a national river and recreation area before crossing into a neighboring state.
The legislation excludes the existing Volunteer Regional Landfill, which is situated next-door to the proposed Roberta Phase II project.
“We are a resolute people and we will find a way to survive, but this landfill is not needed and not wanted,” Jeffers said, adding that “there is nobody in that coalition (of local governments), of all those governmental officials, that want this landfill.”
Jeffers said Scott County was targeted for a second landfill that accepts trash from outside the county because of its large geographical size and small population number.
“Our beauty and our vastness make us a victim,” he said. “Believe me, people like (Horner) are coming to a town near you.”
Horner, the landfill developer who is leading the effort to develop Roberta Phase II, told the legislators that his company began working on the project three years ago. He pointed out that a local Chancery Court judge ruled in 1992 that a landfill could be located on the property, and that TDEC had issued the Roberta Phase II permit in 2010.
“The landfill was never built because the owner passed away,” Horner said. “Three years ago, we started a recertification process on the permit. We have a valid solid waste permit for a landfill in Scott County.”
Horner added that his company wants to create a recycling solution at the landfill, arguing that recycling is currently only available in Tennessee’s urban areas. Jeffers countered that Scott County already has a recycling center and recycles approximately 38% of its solid waste.
The bill breezed through the Senate, meeting no opposition in committee before unanimously passing when it reached the full body earlier this week.
Early on in Wednesday’s subcommittee debate, state Rep. Rusty Grills, a Republican from rural West Tennessee, indicated that the House proceeding would be different when he stated flatly that he could not support the bill despite his respect for Keisling.
“This company has done everything they’re supposed to,” Grills said. “They have met the process TDEC has laid out. For us to come in and change the rules after the game has started is immoral. It goes against everything we’re supposed to do here. We’re setting ourselves up for a lawsuit and we’re going to get our brains beat out in state court if we change the rules after the game has started. If we change the rules, that’s fine, but you can’t change the rules after the game has started.”
Rep. Chris Todd, the Jackson, Tenn. Republican who chairs the committee where the bill will next land, questioned the landfill’s eight-mile distance from the Big South Fork River. He would later point out that the Scenic Rivers Act is designed to protect a two-mile buffer around rivers. He also quizzed Horner on Roberta Phase II’s proximity to Volunteer Regional Landfill, to which Horner responded that the two landfill properties share a 1.2-mile property line.
Rep. Rebecca Alexander, the Jonesborough Republican who wound up being the deciding vote, said she was concerned when Horner visited her office last week and told her that trash would be transported into Roberta Phase II via train.
“The railway gives me some pause,” Alexander said. “I don’t want (other people’s) waste in my county. I want to be able to take care of my own waste … I don’t live there but I don’t want anyone else’s trash in my county.”
Horner countered that Tennessee has 95 counties and 16 Class I landfills, saying that the current design requirements for landfills require that they accept at least 500 tons of waste per day to break even financially, meaning that it isn’t feasible for each county to have its own landfill.
“The numbers don’t work,” Horner said. “That’s why this business is the way it is. Every county can’t have their own landfill. It just doesn’t work.”
Jeffers countered that Scott County was being considered for a second landfill not because there’s a need but because “it’s a big business.” He added that there’s a shortage of landfills in Tennessee, but that shortage exists in the western two-thirds of the state, not in East Tennessee.
In the end, two competing arguments emerged. Justin Jones, a Williamson County Democrat who was in the spotlight two years ago as one of three members of the House expelled during a gun debate, espoused the right of Scott Countians to decide for themselves what is located in their back yard.
“Many of us believe, whether we live in Scott County or not, that the people that live there should be able to decide what’s best for their community. It’s unfortunate that this is becoming bigger than it is.”
The opposing viewpoint, espoused by Todd and Fritts, is that private property rights are protected by the constitutions of Tennessee and the United States.
“It’s a very difficult situation we’re in here,” Todd said to Keisling. “I understand you’re doing what you’re asked to do by the constituents of your county, but they’ve asked you to come in here and literally trample on the constitution that you and I swore to uphold.”
Todd made a motion to postpone the bill for a summer study session, which was narrowly defeated by a 5-4 vote. Afterward, he sharpened his rhetoric. The 22,000-plus people of Scott County, he said, “want to be a democracy, which means mob rule, and change the rules in the middle of the game for a private company that owns a permit.”
That was a reference to Volunteer Regional, which is owned by Knoxville-based Waste Connections LLC. Todd accused Scott Countians of running interference for Waste Connections to protect it against competition from Roberta Phase II.
“This is not hypothetical,” he said, adding that the legislation’s water quality argument “is a crock.” He finished by saying his objection to the bill had nothing to do with Keisling but was “about a group of people trying to protect a private company that’s already in business. That seems painfully obvious.”
Jones objected, saying that Jeffers and the people of Scott County are owed an apology.
“It is so beneath the dignity of this committee to say that this is about mob rule and to attack their integrity,” Jones said, before being gaveled down by subcommittee chairman Greg Martin, R-Chattanooga, for being out of order. Jones objected to that assessment, saying that Todd was allowed to “attack the people who live in this county” without being interrupted.
Todd, for his part, echoed what Grills had earlier said about a lawsuit.
“This bill literally tramples on private property rights,” he said. “I guarantee you that there will be a lawsuit that this state will lose if this law goes into effect. We’ll all be back here next year writing a check. It is a taking. It is clearly a taking. We cannot do that under the Tennessee Constitution or the U.S. Constitution.”
Alexander and Jones were joined in their vote to send the bill to the full committee by Johnny Shaw, D-Bolivar, and by Republicans Greg Vital of Chattanooga and Monty Fritts of Kingston.
Joining Grills, Martin and Todd in voting against the legislation was Tom Stinnett, a Blount County Republican.
All nine of those legislators are part of the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee that will determine whether to send the bill to the House floor for an up or down vote. They’re joined in the committee by Nashville Democrat Aftyn Behn, Greenfield Republican Tandy Darby, Pulaski Republican Clay Doggett, Kingsport Republican Bud Hulsey, Halls Republican Chris Hurt, Erin Republican Jay Reedy, and Dayton Republican Ron Travis.
Scott County’s various government entities remain steadfastly opposed to the landfill. County Commission passed a resolution of support for the Yager-Keisling legislation when it met on Monday, and Scott County Mayor Jerried Jeffers said his office has also penned a letter of support for the legislation.
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A landfill by any other name…
Residents throughout Scott County began receiving robocalls Thursday evening warning them that a “proposed ecology park in Scott County” that would bring new jobs to the community and split $2 million annually between Scott County and the Town of Oneida is in danger of being “shut down” by government representatives in Nashville.
As it turns out, however, “ecology park” is just another term for “dump.”
The call — which urged local residents to contact their elected officials to tell them “Scott County deserves this economic opportunity” — directed residents to a website stating that the “ecology park” will contain a materials recovery facility, a landfill, and a railroad.
That is a reference to the proposed Roberta Phase II landfill in the Bear Creek area of north Oneida, which has faced stiff opposition from local governments and residents alike.
The robocall campaign comes on the eve of a vote in a state House of Representatives subcommittee that would advance legislation aimed at stopping the landfill development by classifying the Big South Fork River as a Tennessee Scenic River and applying new provisions that would only impact Scott County: not allowing a new landfill in a county where two rivers meet before traveling through a national river and recreation area and then crossing into another state.
That legislation, sponsored by Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, and Rep. Kelly Keisling, R-Byrdstown, has already sailed through the Senate, meeting no opposition and passing unanimously earlier this week.
A similar vote of approval in the House — which can only happen after the legislation clears a subcommittee vote tomorrow and a committee vote later — would pave the way for Gov. Bill Lee to sign it into law.
The website touted by the robocalls states that the “ecology park” will result in 50 permanent jobs in Scott County, increased revenue from property tax payments, $1 million in contractual fees to both the Town of Oneida and the county, and other benefits.
The website states that “this new development would bring in millions of dollars to our community but big business interests are trying to shut it down.” It adds: “We have to make our voice heard, our community should not be passed over.”
In reality, the fight against the landfill has been almost completely waged at the grassroots and local government levels. A coalition of local governments that includes Scott County, the towns of Oneida, Huntsville, and Winfield, and McCreary County, has spent nearly $100,000 in legal fees to build a defense against the landfill. One small business, Timber Rock Lodge, which is located adjacent to the proposed landfill, has filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court.
Ironically, the biggest business interest involved in the landfill fight has been the National Waste & Recycling Association, which sent lobbyists to the state capital last week to argue against the Yager-Keisling legislation.
It isn’t clear whether the National Waste & Recycling Association was also behind Tuesday’s spurt of robocalls; the caller was not identified, and the economicopportunity4scottcounty.org domain name — which was registered on Tuesday — uses a proxy registrar that allows the domain owner to keep its personal information private in the WHOIS database, which is a relatively common tactic.
Landfills have been termed “ecology parks” by public relations campaigns in the past. However, the term — sometimes shortened to eco-park — usually refers to land set aside for conservation efforts and education. Often, an eco-park is a former landfill that has been repurposed as a green space, with walking trails, wildlife habitats and recreational areas.
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TCAT expands class offerings for jail inmates
HUNTSVILLE | Tennessee College of Applied Technology Oneida/Huntsville is offering a second program for inmates at the Scott County Jail, President Dwight Murphy and Scott County Sheriff Brian Keeton announced Monday.
Inmates will now be eligible to enroll in Automotive Technology and work toward receiving a diploma as a certified auto repair technician. The new offering comes on the heels of early success in TCAT’s Welding Technology offering for jail inmates, which launched in December.
As with the welding program, the automotive program will be open for up to 10 inmates from the Scott County Jail. It will be located on TCAT Oneida/Huntsville’s main campus in Huntsville, which is located only half a mile from the jail. A certified corrections officer employed by the Scott County Sheriff’s Office will be on-site at all times. Because the program is being offered at night, no other students will be present on campus while inmates are present. Inmates chosen for the program will be among those who have received trustee status at the jail, meaning they have demonstrated good behavior while being housed at the facility.
Brian Gibson will teach the program. He is the son of Tim Gibson, the day instructor for the Automotive Technology program on the Huntsville campus. A native of McCreary County, he has nearly a quarter-century of experience in the automotive industry. He is a TCAT Oneida/Huntsville graduate, having completed the Automotive Technology program in 2000. He has worked for Chambers Automotive for the past 23 years and has also owned his own shop, Gibson Automotive, for the past six years.
Inmates who participate in the program will be able to work toward receiving their Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certifications in 10 different areas of auto repair. These certifications are the industry standard for demonstrating competence and ability. Once they’re released from jail, inmates who participate in the program will be provided an opportunity to enroll full-time to complete the program and receive their diploma.
“As sheriff, I’m proud to partner with TCAT to provide 10 eligible inmates with an additional opportunity through an automotive class,” Sheriff Brian Keeton said. “Building on the success of our welding program, this expansion reflects our commitment to offering meaningful training that prepares individuals for a successful return to society. These programs provide the skills, encouragement, and hope needed to help them stay on a positive path forward.”
“We continue to be grateful to Sheriff Keeton and Captain Amy Lay for their leadership and partnership,” TCAT Oneida/Huntsville President Dwight Murphy said. “This collaboration helps inmates create a fresh start. Providing a pathway to earn an automotive repair certification can have a meaningful impact as they transition back into the workforce.”
“This initiative is an investment in both our community and in individual members of our community,” said TCAT Oneida/Huntsville Vice President Tim Smith. “By lowering recidivism through education and job training, we can ease the strain on law enforcement while also strengthening the region’s workforce by preparing more skilled workers to meet local needs.”
Hiking Challenge kicks off tomorrow
Friday is the first day of spring. That also means the Independent Herald’s Spring Hiking Challenge will kick off tomorrow! Where are we headed? The first hike will drop at 10:46 a.m. tomorrow (the official start of spring) as part of our Friday Features newsletter. If you need it faster, look for it in our E-Edition that will be published this evening.
The Weekend!
☀️ Weather: Another glorious weekend is in store. We’ll see partly to mostly sunny skies each day, and temperatures that go from around 70° on Friday to the mid 70s on Saturday to the lower 80s on Sunday! Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page— published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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📅 Community Calendar
• Saturday: The U.S.S. Tennessee Battleship Memorial Museum will be open on Saturday, March 21, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The focus area is Peacetime Service. Admission is free. The museum is located on the campus of Scott High School as part of the Museum of Scott County complex.
• Saturday: Third Saturday night worship services will be held at Lone Mountain Baptist Church (6p.m.), Capital Hill Missionary Baptist Church (6:30 p.m.), Black Creek Crossroads Missionary Baptist Church (7 p.m.), High Point United Baptist Church (7 p.m.), and House of the Lord (7 p.m.). For more information, see our Church Directory at indherald.com.
• Sunday: Celebrate Recovery, a 12-step program designed to help with addiction, co-dependency and domestic abuse, will be hosted by Fire & Purpose Ministries from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 27192 Scott Highway in Winfield. There will be food, fellowship, praise and worship. Childcare is provided.
Scenic Sale!
This week’s sale items at Scenic Foods in Huntsville! The sale continues through Tuesday. Sponsored content.
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I am a heir off Johnny King and this means that I have a lawsuit against the state or the county. Someone is liable for the investment Johnny King has in Roberta. Looking for a attorney to get invested assets. Offer 40% just to teach a lesson.