The Memphis City Council is slated to review actions that could ban the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from dumping some 3.5 million cubic yards of coal ash in landfills here.
Two resolutions were filed by the group in its first August meeting. Both seek to protect the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of the city’s famously pure drinking water. Neither resolution (which is, basically, a formalized opinion of the council) would allow TVA to dump the ash here. They differ only in the scope of location.
One, sponsored by Dr. Jeff Warren, would not allow TVA to dump the ash anywhere in the nine-state Mississippi Embayment. Another, sponsored by several council members (Ford Canale, Chase Carlisle, Edmund Ford, Sr., Cheyenne Johnson, Worth Morgan, and Patrice Robinson) would not allow the ash to be dumped in the Memphis Light, Gas, & Water service area.
TVA announced its plan to remove the ash to landfills here in March 2020. But it paused those plans recently after a presentation surprised some council members.
Here are some clutch statements from the first August meeting likely to shape the debate on the coal ash resolutions Tuesday:
• “Clearly, though, we recognize that we did not do a good job of communicating with [the city council]. This was not our intent. Our intentions were to have open communications, but our execution was a bit flawed.” — Jeannette Mills, TVA executive vice president and Chief External Relations Officer
• “It’s been made over and over that [coal ash] is like dirt, or like other elements in the soil. I think this is somewhat accurate and somewhat disingenuous. I guess toxicity is always about dosage and exposure or over time. …. And that exposure over time, either through leaching into the water or through the air, can have negative impacts on the people that are around it or the people that would have to drink from it.” — Worth Morgan, Memphis City Council member
• “I represent District 3. Since 2016, we have had two applications for landfills just in our district and the citizens have said ‘absolutely no.’
“We have, I know for a fact, a landfill that’s closed on Jackson Pit Road that’s still emitting whatever the gases that come up out of the soil.
“The community has shared with me: they don’t want any other toxic materials in the community.” — Patrice Robinson, Memphis City Council member
• “TVA puts out a contract for the removal of this [coal ash].We can sit here and debate about ‘we’re doing you a favor. We’re not doing you a favor.’
“I’ve explicitly said to [TVA], I wouldn’t go down that road in the middle of [choosing our] power suppliers and the feeling from people that TVA hasn’t been a good partner in and around the community of Memphis. Again, that’s an opinion.” — Chase Carlisle, Memphis City Council member
• Carlisle: “How much [is Republic Services] being paid to transport and store the material?”
Jason West, general manager Republic Services: “Unfortunately, I can’t get into that.”
