Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Environmental groups cautioned leaders on the effects — especially on electricity and water use — of the xAI facility announced Wednesday.
The tech company owned by Elon Musk plans to build the world largest supercomputer in Memphis. The announcement drew acclaim from area leaders for its promise of economic development.
Protect Our Aquifer, Memphis Community Against Pollution, and Young Gifted & Green said in a joint statement late Wednesday that, while they are thankful of tech industries’ interest in Memphis, facilities like xAI have environmental consequences.
Cloud-computing facilities like these use a lot of electricity for massive air conditioning units and generators, creating a high carbon footprint, the groups said. The Musk facility is expected to use enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.
“Before we welcome xAI with open arms, we must consider how an industry using such a tremendous amount of electricity will further impact communities already overwhelmed with pollution and a high energy burden, such as those around the xAI facility in Southwest Memphis,” reads the statement. “The energy burden measures how much of a family’s income goes to paying their utility bill. The national average is three percent, but in Memphis, the average is 27 percent. Will xAI bear the cost of TVA’s (Tennessee Valley Authority) fuel adjustment fee in times of high energy demand?
“More so, with our recent history of severe weather events and rolling blackouts, TVA and Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) must work closely with this facility to keep energy use off peak demand hours.”
The facility is also expected to need a million gallons of water each day for its cooling towers, they said. That water would come from the MLGW Davis Wellfield in Southwest Memphis, the groups said. The wellfield is where the Byhalia Connection Pipeline was to split and where levels of arsenic have been detected in shallow groundwater, they said.
“We encourage xAI to support investment in a city of Memphis wastewater reuse system to reduce strain on our water supply and drinking water infrastructure,” the statement said.
The air quality impacts of such a facility are unknown, they said. But they called on the Shelby County Health Department to to measure it and other environmental impacts of the xAI facility.
“Lastly, xAI should immediately consider the inclusion of binding community benefits agreements that enshrine its obligations to the local community, including targeted hiring, apprenticeship programs, and funding for neighborhood revitalization efforts,” the groups said. “We encourage Elon Musk and xAI to build solar for the site and invest in a greywater reuse facility to reduce the strain on the water supply and electric grid along with hiring from low-income and disadvantaged communities to boost the local economy.”
Sarah Houston kayaks the Mississippi. (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)
Huge cypress trees rise from placid waters of the Wolf River, moss clinging to their trunks. This land where the Wolf’s channels widen and the flow slows in Fayette County is called the Ghost River. It is one of West Tennessee’s most beautiful natural wonders.
Jim Gafford knows the magic of the Ghost River. As recreation coordinator for the Wolf River Conservancy (WRC), he leads paddling trips on the first Saturday of every month along different sections of the 100-mile-long Wolf. “The water is a natural element to everybody. If you get on the water, it supports you, it relaxes you, it has a calming effect on you,” he says.
Jim Gafford (Photo: Courtesy Wolf River Conservancy)
Nowadays, the Ghost River is a Class I Scenic-Recreational State Natural Area. But it wasn’t always like that. It’s hard to believe that, as recently as 1995, the ancient wetland was almost destroyed. “The Conservancy was founded in ’86,” Gafford says. “In the mid-’90s, we found out that Peter Beasley had sold the Beasley Plantation to a development company. The development company actually published plans to go in and harvest all of the cypress and all the usable timber in the bottom land, and then sell off the land into what they called ‘farms’ — they were just narrow strips of land with river access that would have no restrictive covenants at all. So people could have purchased the land and done what they wanted to with it and just have a little access to the river. Our first conservation effort was to save that 4,000 acres from development. Fortunately, we were able to, and we’re still using it now. It’ll be here for thousands of years and allowed to evolve naturally.”
After that first victory almost 30 years ago, the WRC has continued their mission of protecting the waters of the Wolf and making sure they’re available to everyone. But not all wetlands have the Ghost River’s rizz. Most of Tennessee’s approximately 787,0000 acres of wetlands are swamps, bayous, and muddy creek beds, tucked away in neglected corners of farms or undeveloped land on the edges of suburbs. But that does not mean wetlands are not valuable, says Sarah Houston, executive director of Protect Our Aquifer. In flood-prone West Tennessee, wetlands act as a buffer against too much rain. Less wetland acreage means more and bigger floods.
Sarah Houston (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)
“Wetlands really do us a big favor in absorbing floodwater, holding on to it,” Houston says. “And that water is either going to be slowly released into surface water or it’s going to be slowly released into groundwater. … Housing developments get built in what used to be wetlands or downstream near floodplains, and then they see regular flooding. Those developments probably should have never been approved in those places because the water is gonna keep flowing. Now, it’s just flowing into your house.”
Wetlands also play an important role in mitigating climate change. The trees, plants, and mosses in swamps and bayous absorb carbon dioxide, the buildup of which causes global warming, from the atmosphere. In a regular forest, when the leaves fall and the trunks die, their decomposition can release methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas, into the air. Or they can burn, throwing soot and carbon dioxide high into the atmosphere. But in swampy areas, organic debris falls into the water and is buried in sediment, where it cannot contribute to global warming. Much of the coal and oil we burn today was formed from remains of wetlands buried during the Permian period 290 million years ago.
As wetlands are drained, developed, or paved, they lose the ability to sequester carbon, and some of the stored carbon dioxide and methane is re-released into the atmosphere. A 2016 paper by A.M. Nahlik and M. S. Fennessey, published in the journal Nature, found that “wetland soils contain some of the highest stores of soil carbon in the biosphere.” In some cases, up to 40 percent of wetland soil was carbon, compared to the 0.5 to 2.0 percent found in agricultural soils. The study found that freshwater wetlands were much more efficient at storing carbon than river deltas or saltwater estuaries. All told, the study estimated that the continental United States’ wetlands contain a whopping 11.52 gigatons of sequestered carbon.
Gafford says West Tennessee’s wetlands are valuable in another way. “In the Memphis, Shelby County, Fayette County, Tipton County area, the most important value of that swampy area is what percolates down and actually recharges our water supply. If you talk to any expert, they’ll tell you that Memphis has the best water in the world.”
Houston’s organization, Protect Our Aquifer, watches over that valuable resource. Memphis is built over an underground aquifer containing as much freshwater as one of the Great Lakes. “It is our sole source of drinking water in Memphis, Tennessee,” she says. “It’s also all the water that industry and farmers use, too. It is one of the purest sources of water in the country, and it just happens to be right below our feet, easily accessible. Because of the way it was formed, over millions of years back when this area was actually a shallow ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and through a series of deposits of gneiss, quartz sand, and then thick clay layers, it created what we now call the Mississippi embayment. The majority of the water that’s actually below Memphis in the Memphis sand aquifer fell as rain 2,000 years ago, and has been infiltrating and filtering slowly over time to bring us that pure drinking water. And it is all out of sight, out of mind.”
Fresh water enters the Memphis aquifer through creek beds such as this one, where the Memphis sands are close to the surface (Photo: Courtesy Protect Our Aquifer)
What Is a Wetland?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines wetlands as “areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year, or for varying periods of time during the year.”
That’s a broad definition that has been more or less enforced since the passage of 1972 Clean Water Act. Federal protections for wetlands were expanded during the Obama administration, and then rolled back during the Trump administration. Then, in May 2023, a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Sackett vs. EPA forced the agency to limit its jurisdiction to only wetlands that have “continuous surface connection to bodies that are Waters of the United States.”
“If you can get a boat on it, it’s a ‘Water of the United States,’” says Houston. “If you can’t, then that’s not a federal government issue. What changed was this whole definition of technically isolated wetlands, where they’re not directly next to a stream.”
The ruling removed approximately 63 percent of wetlands from federal protection, including most ephemeral wetlands. The rollback alarmed wetlands fans like Gafford. “The results of the EPA and the wetlands protection acts have been so effective, I don’t think that we need to do anything at all to loosen those restrictions,” he says. “Because of agriculture practices and building practices, we let the water get pretty bad, just from the runoff. It was deemed appropriate to put those protections in place, and I think we need to adhere to them because the results have been, in my mind, fantastic.”
The state of Tennessee has defined protected wetlands even more strictly than the federal government since the 1970s. “The Supreme Court justices actually noted that this should be a state-level regulation because states differ so much in their water resources and their landscapes,” says Houston.
After Sackett v. EPA, Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R-Collierville) introduced HB 1054, a bill which proposed to bring the state’s definition of a wetland in line with the new federal rules. According to a January, 2024 report by the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee, adoption of the bill would result in a 55 percent decrease in the amount of currently protected wetlands, or approximately 432.850 acres of the states’ 787,000 acres of wetlands.
Vaughan is a real estate broker and owner of Township Development Services, which offers site selection, land planning and management, and government relations services to developers. In February, he told a legislative committee, “It’s your property, but a third party is going to tell you if you can use it. And if you can’t use it, then you have to pay another party money for you to be able to use your property. That’s the origins of where this bill came from.”
Houston says, “The main argument was too much bureaucracy and red tape, and there is some validity to the concerns of the sponsor Chairman Vaughan. Sometimes, small wetlands that might have kind of sprung up require a permit, and it can add additional cost [to development] because with our wetlands regulations, you have to get a permit if you’re gonna damage them or remove them, and then you have to pay into a mitigation bank.”
The BlueOval Factor
Much of the wetland acreage which would lose protection under the bill is in West Tennessee. That includes Haywood County, where the new Ford BlueOval City is currently under construction. The $6 billion facility to produce electric vehicles and batteries is the largest single investment in Tennessee history. Houston calls the area “ground zero for this development pressure. … Haywood County is seeing tremendous growth. They’re getting permit application after permit application for these new developments. That is also the county that has the highest number of wetlands in the state. … Originally, the argument was, ‘These muddy tracts with some sprouts in them are being classified as wetlands, but they’re not and we need to get rid of them.’ Then it became more about the pressure for growth and the timeline that we’re on. Getting rid of these wetlands in big tracts, acres and acres at a time, would speed up the opportunity for development to occur right now, especially in West Tennessee.”
The potential impacts of wetland development would go farther than just BlueOval City. “We know that there are connections to the aquifer in that area,” says Houston. “The wells that have been drilled for the [BlueOval] megasite are in the unconfined part, so they’re in the recharge zone of the aquifer. And we know that band of the recharge zone extends into half of Haywood County and pretty much all of Fayette County.”
A big unknown is exactly how much of a role wetlands play in recharging the aquifer. It was long thought that water seeped through the soil in a relatively uniform manner, but recent studies in North Mississippi suggest that most of the recharging occurs in relatively small areas where the Memphis Sands are near the surface. The science remains uncertain, but as the POA puts it in a report distributed to legislators, “It’s not necessarily the type or size of wetlands, but the location that determines how valuable it is to recharge.”
Pushback
Once the stakes of HB 1054 became clear, environmental advocates mobilized against it. “To me, wetland preservation represents one of our state’s most vulnerable natural ecosystems at this moment. Wetlands provide a safe haven for our country’s wildlife and serve as a crucial space for aquifer recharge. The preservation of our wetlands serves as a litmus test for the well-being of our environment,” says Memphis Community Against Pollution President KeShaun Pearson.
The bill’s proponents were also mobilized. Adam Friedman of Tennessee Lookout recently reported on Build Tennessee, a political action committee formed in July 2022 by 18 owners and partners in real estate and construction companies, including Keith Grant, a Collierville developer and the former president of the West Tennessee Home Builders Association. In less than two years of existence, the PAC became the fourth-largest spender on lobbying in Tennessee and donated to 90 lawmakers of both parties.
Protect Our Aquifer led the charge against the bill. “We don’t do a lot at the state level,” says Houston. “So we were planning on playing a supportive role in this. But since the majority of the wetlands were in West Tennessee, our mission is all about protecting the drinking water supply that happens to be underneath all of West Tennessee, and the majority of the House subcommittee members represented West Tennessee, we kind of got shoved into the forefront.”
The activists found allies on Capitol Hill. “I think it’s an abhorrent bill that is bad for our state,” says Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis). “It’s bad for our environment, and it is showing the influence of private corporations and entities and developers in our Tennessee legislature. It’s bad for democracy when elected leaders are literally carrying legislation for private companies and developers to the detriment of 7 million people’s environment. And as a person who cares deeply about environmental justice, I think this is a complete affront to the causes, the beliefs, the values that many of us share, Republicans and Democrats, people who are progressive and people who are conservative.”
Houston says they were open to revisiting Tennessee’s strict wetlands definitions. “Right now, any type of wetland is considered the same value. But in reality, there are some wetlands that are much higher quality. They’ve got no invasive species. They’re nice and healthy, and haven’t been trampled on by humans. A middle ground we want to find is, how do we categorize wetlands in the state based on low, moderate, and high values that could then determine how much mitigation credits are required, what really needs to be permitted, and what is okay with being removed.”
Houston says when the bill was first introduced in 2023, “it was put on hold because TDEC [Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation] promised that there would be stakeholder meetings to draft a good bill that everyone could agree upon that would create new categories for wetlands and address some of this red tape bureaucracy issue. Well, those stakeholder meetings never really happened in earnest last year.”
A Temporary Victory
Houston and the POA testified in front of both Senate and House committees who were considering the bill. “Our information was really well received,” she says. “No matter where you live in West Tennessee, you have a pretty high regard for our aquifer and the drinking water supply.
“In early March, when the Senate committee heard the bill, the senators on that committee said, ‘Trying to categorize wetlands and create all these new definitions is a really complex process. We’re not gonna get it right this first try. So let’s move this to summer study and actually have the stakeholder meetings.’ Commissioner David Sellers, on record, promised to have the stakeholder meetings. So they, 6 to 2, voted it to summer study. We were like, ‘Holy smokes! We won! It’s dead!’ But then Chairman Vaughan in the House kept pushing the bill despite it being dead on the Senate side, which you don’t really see that.”
Pearson says, “Kevin [Vaughan]’s only aim is to open up more land for development with fewer regulations, especially around BlueOval, and over any potential objections from community members in majority-Black Haywood County or other areas that could be exploited by developers, with building happening that does not take into account environmental justice. … We know environmental justice and racial justice oftentimes coexist and you cannot have one without the other.”
As this legislative session winds down towards an expected late April adjournment, Pearson says he is wary. “It is not likely that this legislation will move forward this session. However, due to [Governor Bill Lee’s school] voucher bill also being sought to be passed by this General Assembly, it may become a bargaining chip for Kevin Vaughan and the Republicans to use to try and get it passed for his vote on the voucher bill. The reason I say that is, a number of Republicans have come out vehemently against the governor’s bill, and they’re operating on a very thin majority when it comes to the passage of that legislation, which is the governor’s signature legislation for this General Assembly. That’s why we must continue to pay attention and be engaged in this process because anything is still possible. I have seen how racism and white supremacy and capitalistic exploitation works here, and if you trust the process too much, then you will likely be duped by it because they don’t care too much about the process here.”
During the final week of committee meetings, HB 1054 was not reconsidered, much to the relief of activists like Houston. “Officially, the wetlands 2024 legislative session saga is over, and there will be a summer study this year to dig into the details and try to refine what our wetland protection laws can look like,” she says. “It’s good news. There’s still work to do, but there is good news.”
In the interest of transparency, we note that the Memphis Flyer is owned by Contemporary Media, Inc., whose board chairman, Ward Archer Jr., also founded Protect Our Aquifer. This reporting was conducted independently and relies on multiple sources.
Ford BlueOval City, photographed while under construction in April 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)
A high-stakes battle over the future of Tennessee’s wetlands has been playing out behind closed doors in recent weeks, with developers and environmental groups furiously lobbying on opposite sides of a bill to drastically roll back regulations.
The bill by Rep. Kevin Vaughan (R-Collierville) would limit state oversight over more than 430,000 acres of Tennessee wetlands. That’s more than half of the state’s critical ecosystems, which serve as a bulwark against floods and droughts, replenish aquifers and are prized by hunters, anglers and nature lovers.
Environmental groups warn that the proposed bill, if enacted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, could inflict irreparable harm on future generations.
“The proposed legislation favors the interests of developers over the safety of future flood victims and pocketbooks of Tennessee taxpayers,” said George Nolan, senior attorney and director of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Tennessee.
“Once a developer fills and paves over a wetland, it is gone forever. This is no time to repeal laws that have protected our wetlands for the last 50 years,” he said.
Vaughan called the measure an overdue check on red tape that costs developers time and money; he has denied weakened wetland regulation could lead to increased flooding.
The proposed legislation favors the interests of developers over the safety of future flood victims and pocketbooks of Tennessee taxpayers.
– George Nolan, Southern Environmental Law Center
He has accused state environmental regulators of “bureaucratic overreach” and “unnecessary inflation on the cost of construction” and pointed to the urgent need for relief from regulation given a building boom in the region he represents, where a new Ford plant is going up in Stanton just 40 miles from the offices of Township Properties, Vaughan’s real estate and development company.
“My district is one that is different from a lot of other people’s districts. We’re in the path of growth,” Vaughan told lawmakers.
Lee’s office did not respond to a question about whether he supports the bill.
West Tennessee Where Wetlands Abound.
There is perhaps nowhere else in the state where tensions between fast-tracking development and protecting wetlands are higher than West Tennessee.
BlueOval City, Ford Motor Co.’s $5.6 billion electric truck plant, has spurred a land rush in the region, with developers buying up properties, designing subdivisions and erecting apartment complexes at a fast clip ahead of its 2025 planned opening.
Restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores are springing up to accommodate an expected 11 percent increase in population by 2045 in the 21-county region surrounding the plant — making it the fastest-growing area in Tennessee.
West Tennessee counties also have some of the largest shares of wetlands that would lose protections under Vaughan’s bill.
The bill targets so-called “isolated wetlands” that have no obvious surface connection to a river or lake. Wetlands, however, rarely stand alone, often containing hidden underground connections to aquifers or waterways.
The 10 Tennessee counties with the largest share of at-risk “isolated” wetlands are located in West Tennessee, within commuting distance of the Ford plant.
Haywood County, where the plant is located, has more than 57,319 acres of wetlands that could lose protections under Vaughan’s bill — nearly 17 percent of all land area in the county, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory compiled by the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The region also lies atop the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the primary water supply for urban and rural communities, and farmers in west Tennessee. Wetlands serve to recharge and filter water that supplies the aquifer.
“This is such a unique moment in west Tennessee history,” said Sarah Houston, executive director of the Memphis advocacy group Protect Our Aquifers, noting projected growth data that shows population increases of 200,000 or more in the next two decades.
“But when you’re removing protections for wetlands, you’re cutting out that deep recharge potential for all the water supply West Tennessee relies on,” she said.
Vaughn’s business among those to profit from building boom.
Developers who wish to fill in, build on or otherwise disturb wetlands must first apply for a permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, or TDEC, which can approve or reject the plans.
The process can prove costly; companies must hire lawyers, hydrologists and other experts before filing a permit. And if they get one, TDEC can require developers to pay expensive mitigation fees for disturbing wetlands — potentially adding tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to construction costs. The fees are used to preserve wetlands elsewhere, balancing out what is lost by a single project. The process can add months, or more, to construction timelines.
Vaughan has spoken openly about ongoing frustrations in his own business to comply with the state rules, describing TDEC regulators as overzealous in defining marshy or muddy lands that are created by tractor ruts or runoff as wetlands.
State records show that Vaughan as recently as December received state notice that a project he is spearheading contains two wetlands: one at 1.42 acres and another at 1.51 acres.
Given the presence of wetlands, “any alterations to jurisdictional streams, wetlands, or open water features may only be performed under coverage of, and conformance to, a valid aquatic resource alteration permit,” the Dec. 8 letter from TDEC to Vaughan said.
The project, a 130-acre site of the proposed new headquarters for Thompson Machinery, Vaughan’s client, will have to incur costly remediation fees should its permit to build atop wetlands be approved by TDEC.
It’s one of multiple development projects that Vaughan has been affiliated with that have butted into TDEC wetland regulations in recent years.
PAC money flows in from west Tennessee.
Vaughan also represented Memphis-based Crews Development in 2019 when the company received a notice of violation for draining and filling in a wetland without permission.
Vaughan did not respond to questions from the Lookout, including whether his sponsorship of the bill presents a conflict of interest.
He is not alone among developers in the region who are seeking favorable legislation during a period of rapid growth.
West Tennessee construction companies and real estate firms have spent big on a new political action committee formed in 2022 to influence legislative policy. The little-known Build Tennessee PAC spent $186,000 in the six months before the start of this year’s legislative session, the fourth largest spender over that period, according to campaign finance records analyzed by the Lookout.
Keith Grant, a prominent Collierville developer listed as Build Tennessee’s contact, did not respond to a request for comment.
The measure also has gained the backing of influential statewide groups, including the Tennessee Farm Bureau, the Home Builders Association of Tennessee, Associated Builders and Contractors and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.
Bradley Jackson, president and CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, said last week the legislation — which Vaughan recently amended to make distinctions between different types of wetlands — represents a fair and balanced approach.
Jackson said the chamber convened a working group of five trade organizations last summer that concluded Tennessee’s wetland regulations need adjustment. “We feel this deal strikes a really good middle group. It provides the business community with consistency and certainty. We can ensure we’re being compliant,” Jackson said.
Vaughan offers ‘compromise’ amendment; environmental groups say it leaves wetlands unprotected.
The legislation is scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, with an amendendment that makes distinctions between wetlands.
The amendment would allow developers to build on “low-quality” wetlands and up to four acres of “moderate” isolated wetlands without seeking state permission.
Environmental groups say the proposal continues to place large pieces of Tennessee wetlands at risk.
Rep. Kevin Vaughan, R-Collierville. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“Vaughan’s current amendment is not a compromise as it requires no mitigation for low-quality wetlands regardless of size and no mitigation for large swaths of moderate-quality wetlands,” Grace Stranch, chief executive officer of the Harpeth Conservancy said. “The development resulting from those huge carveouts will likely cause increased flooding, a decline in water quality, higher water bills, and aquifer recharge problems.”
The measure has also drawn pushback from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
“We at TDEC fear the proposal could result in greater back-end costs,” Gregory Young, the agency’s deputy commissioner, told lawmakers earlier this month.
Alex Pellom, chief of staff for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, cautioned the bill could lead to more flooding; the state has already suffered its wettest years in history since 2019, leading to devastating floods, billions of dollars in property damage and loss of life.
“We continue to work with the sponsor to discuss potential solutions,” Eric Ward, a TDEC spokesperson, said last week.
A Supreme Court decision limits federal oversight.
Vaughan’s bill was introduced on the heels of a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that narrowed federal protections of wetlands, leaving it up to states to set their own rules.
The court concluded that only wetlands that have a surface water connection to rivers, lakes and oceans fall under federal oversight and are subject to Clean Water Act regulations.
There is little debate in the stormwater community about the value of wetlands as key instruments of maintaining water quality and mitigating damaging flooding.
– Aaron Rogge, Tennessee Storm Water Association
The majority of Tennessee’s wetlands — 432,850 out of the state’s 787,000 acres of wetlands in the state — do not have a surface connection to a water source, according to TDEC. It is these wetlands Vaughan is seeking to remove from state oversight and protection.
“This is going to be a major change to the way that the state manages its water resources, and likely one that we’ll look back on as a product of our current political climate,” said Aaron Rogge, a Nashville-based civil engineer who is also the current president of the Tennessee Stormwater Association.
“There is little debate in the stormwater community about the value of wetlands as key instruments of maintaining water quality and mitigating damaging flooding; in fact, many cities and counties choose to actively construct wetlands to manage their runoff,” he said.
Tennessee is not alone in targeting wetland regulation after the high court’s decision, according to Jim Murphy, director of legal advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation.
Legislatures in Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado are considering expanding wetland protections in light of the court’s decision while Indiana is among states considering a developer-backed bill similar to Vaughan’s.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” Murphy said. “In a lot of ways, it mirrors the politics of a state. But as you get down to state-level realities of what’s being lost, people are seeing what unregulated development means and often that means that their special places get paved over.”
Reporter Adam Friedman contributed to this story.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.
“You don’t miss your water,” croons local music auteur Susan Marshall in a recent YouTube video, “till your well runs dry.” It’s an especially apt rendering of William Bell’s 1961 hit on Stax Records, tying together two inextricably linked themes: Memphis and water. Marshall posted the video to promote an upcoming show that aims to celebrate both through music. Acoustic Sunday Live, produced by Bruce and Barbara Newman, is now a 20-year tradition in Memphis, a songwriters-in-the-round event that has always brought the finest folk singers to town in support of a worthy grassroots organization. In recent years, that organization has been Protect Our Aquifer, and the list of world-class performers eager to rally around both Memphis and its water has always been impressive. This year’s show (see acousticsundaylive.com) takes place on Sunday, December 3rd, at the First Congregational Church and will include Shemekia Copeland, Tracy Nelson, Tim O’Brien with Jan Fabricius, Loudon Wainwright III, and Will Kimbrough, along with local favorites Marshall, John Nemeth, Reba Russell, and Joe Restivo.
For newcomers to the cause, Protect Our Aquifer spells it out on their website: “Memphis is the only city in the US to rely 100% on groundwater. With people power, we’ve stopped a pipeline, landfills, and TVA wells from poisoning our water. Now, the latest science shows our protective clay layer is more like Swiss cheese and modern water is sinking down, threatening our water with industrial pollution.” The organization is a sentinel of sorts, guaranteeing that the ancient freshwater below us stays pure.
Shemekia Copeland, for her part, is down with the cause. “You know, we live on Earth,” she says. “This is where we live. We have to take care of it.” Protect Our Aquifer, in her eyes, goes hand in hand with that. “For me, it’s about clean water. And whatever politics are involved, what they’re trying to do is a great thing.”
Yet she also appreciates Acoustic Sunday Live from a purely musical perspective, as much as a fan as a star performer. “I’ve listened to all of them, especially Loudon and Tracy Nelson,” she says. “So I’m really looking forward to it.” And part of the magic, she notes, is the freewheeling atmosphere shared by all the performers who are on stage. She feels free to simply wing it, and that suits her just fine. “It’s a running joke with my band. They laugh at me and say, ‘There’s no point to her trying to make a set list because she’s not going to follow it anyway!’” She prefers to be in the moment, especially in a song-swap type of show, saying, “I don’t know who’s going to be singing before or after me, so I try to find things that mesh well with everybody. I want the show to flow nicely.”
Music has always come naturally to Copeland, whose father, Johnny Copeland, was a guitarist and singer inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. His daughter, though, forged her own path into the music. “We are completely different,” she says. “My dad was born and raised in Texas and I was born and raised in New York City. But everybody migrated from somewhere, right? A lot of Chicago artists came from Memphis or from Mississippi. There’s Southern roots and there’s a little bit of everything everywhere. I’m a good mix of everything, my dad being from Texas and my mom being from North Carolina. And then I was born and raised in Harlem, right smack dab in the middle of it.”
Her upbringing in a city not necessarily known for the blues has shaped her to this day. “I was not your typical kid,” she says. “I always had very different interests, but I also have different interests as an adult. One of my biggest fears in life is being like other people.”
That makes her a perfect match for a city where Sam Phillips once decreed, “If you’re not doing something different, you’re not doing anything.” And, having won multiple Blues Music Awards and worked with Steve Cropper, Copeland is no stranger to Memphis and its history. “I think this is my third time to play Acoustic Sunday Live. Memphis is a great city. Great food. Great music. Great people. And it’s a lot of fun to do concerts like this because you get to hang out and play with other musicians.”
The Memphis Sand Aquifer will get continued scientific oversight with a new five-year contract awarded to a group at the University of Memphis (U of M) and a new science director at Protect Our Aquifer (POA).
Researchers with the Center for Applied Earth Sciences and Engineering Research (CAESER) at the U of M will continue to monitor the aquifer’s water quality for the next five years. The group recently won an updated contract from the city of Memphis, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) worth $9.75 million.
Earlier this year, the group reported that the protective clay layer that protects the Memphis-area’s drinking water was once thought to “have a few holes in it” but they thought at the time that “it’s looking more like Swiss cheese.” Before the study, the aquifer was thought to have two to six breaches, now researchers believe the figure could range from six to 36.
“In the past, we probably thought of this clay layer as protective of our groundwater supply,” CAESER’s director, Dr. Brian Waldron, said during an MLGW meeting in April. “It was a continuous layer of clay with a few holes in it. Well, we’re starting to believe that it’s looking more like Swiss cheese.”
Results of CEASAR’s full study of the layer is expected next month.
City leaders and MLGW officials hired the group in 2018 to study water quality and the protective clay layer, concerned about impacts to water quality. While the water “is safe for now,” Waldron said, the clay layer is not as protective as once thought. For this, he suggested a proactive approach to leaders and they awarded his group the renewed contract.
The money will support programs to develop technology to remotely sensing breaches in urban areas, developing computer models to better understand the movement of water and contaminants, and the movement of water between the many aquifers below the city’s surface.
The aquifer will have another scientific eye upon it as POA recently hired its first scientific director. The group hired hydrogeologist and state licensed professional geologist, Dr. Scott Schoefernacker earlier this month.
Schoefernacker spent the past 11 years with CAESER investigating, protecting, and sustaining
groundwater resources in Shelby County and West Tennessee. Prior to CAESER, Schoefernacker worked as a geologist for the Memphis-based environmental consulting firm EnSafe conducting various environmental investigations and site assessments across the United States.
“We’ve been fighting with our science hand behind our back since the beginning”, said POA founder and board chair Ward Archer. “Although every decision we’ve made has been science-driven, having a scientist of Scott’s caliber on our team is going to strengthen our organization.”
2021 was twice as deadly as 2020 for Covid-19 in Shelby County. In 2020, 903 died of Covid here. In 2021, 1,807 passed from the virus.
A consent decree forced Horn Lake leaders to approve the construction of a new mosque.
Family members wanted $20 million from the city of Memphis; Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW); and the Memphis Police Department (MPD) for the 2020 beating death of a man by an MLGW employee.
New DNA testing was requested in the West Memphis Three case for recently rediscovered evidence once claimed to be lost or burned.
February
An ice storm knocked out power to nearly 140,000 MLGW customers.
The new concourse — in the works since 2014 — opened at Memphis International Airport.
Paving on Peabody Avenue began after the project was approved in 2018.
Protect Our Aquifer teamed up with NASA for aquifer research.
A prosecutor moved to block DNA testing in the West Memphis Three case.
March
A bill before the Tennessee General Assembly would have banned the sale of hemp-derived products, like Delta-8 gummies, in the state. It ultimately provided regulation for the industry.
The project to fix the interchange at Crump Ave. and I-55 resurfaced. Bids on the project, which could cost up to $184.9 million, were returned. Work did not begin in 2022 but when it does, it could close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (the Old Bridge) for two weeks.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee temporarily cut sales taxes on groceries.
April
The Mississippi River ranked as one of the most endangered rivers in America in a report from the American Rivers group.
Critics lambasted decisions by Memphis in May and Africa in April to honor Ghana and Malawi, both of which outlaw basic LGBTQ+ rights.
The federal government announced a plan to possibly ban menthol cigarettes.
Lawmakers approved Gov. Lee’s plan to update the state’s 30-year-old education funding plan.
Tom Lee Park (Photo: Memphis River Parks Partnership)
May
Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi prepared for the likely overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision, ending legal abortions in the state.
The Greater Memphis Chamber pressed for a third bridge to be built here over the Mississippi River.
Cooper-Young landlords sued to evict the owners of Heaux House for “specializing in pornographic images.”
The Memphis City Council wanted another review of Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plan to remove coal ash from the shuttered Allen Fossil Plant.
June
New research showed Memphis-area women earned 83 percent of their male counterparts income in the workplace from 2000-2019.
Gov. Lee ordered schools to double down on existing security measures in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
MPD arrested four drivers in an operation it called Infiniti War Car Take-Over.
A key piece of the Tom Lee Park renovation project won a $3.7 million federal grant, which was expected to trigger nearly $9 million in additional funds.
Tennessee Republican attorney general fought to keep gender identity discrimination in government food programs.
Jim Dean stepped down as president and CEO of the Memphis Zoo and was replaced by Matt Thompson, then the zoo’s executive director and vice president.
Locals reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
July
Memphian Brett Healey took the stage at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Eating Contest.
One Beale developers returned to Memphis City Hall for the fourth time asking for financial support of its luxury hotel plans.
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) board placed Superintendent Joris Ray on paid leave as they investigated whether he violated district policies with relationships with co-workers and abused his power.
The project to forever eliminate parking on the Overton Park Greensward got $3 million in federal funding.
Tennessee’s attorney general celebrated a win after a federal judge blocked a move that would have allowed trans kids to play sports on a team of their gender.
Tennessee’s top Pornhub search was “interracial” in 2021, according to the site.
August
A panel of Tennessee judges did not give a new trial to Barry Jamal Martin, a Black man convicted in a Pulaski jury room decked out in Confederate portraits, flags, and memorabilia.
Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert caught flak from the Tennessee Comptroller after traveling to Jamaica while her offices were closed to catch up on the controversial backlog of license plate requests from citizens.
MSCS superintendent Joris Ray resigned with a severance package worth about $480,000. Finance chief Toni Williams was named interim superintendent.
Officials said the Memphis tourism sector had made a “full recovery” from the pandemic.
A new bail system unveiled here was touted by advocates to be “one of the fairest in the nation.”
Eliza Fletcher (Photo: Memphis Police Department)
September
Memphis kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted and murdered while on an early-morning run. Cleotha Abston, out of jail early on previous abduction charges, was arrested for the crimes.
MLGW’s board continues to mull the years-long decision to, possibly, find a new power provider.
Ezekiel Kelly, 19, was arrested on charges stemming from an alleged, hours-long shooting rampage across Memphis that ended with four dead and three injured.
A Drag March was planned for the “horrible mishandling” of a drag event at MoSH. Event organizers canceled the show there after a group of Proud Boys arrived armed to protest the event.
October
Workers at four Memphis restaurants, including Earnestine & Hazel’s, sued the owners to recover alleged unpaid minimum wage and overtime.
Shelby County was largely unfazed by an outbreak of monkeypox with only about 70 infected here as of October.
Animal welfare advocates called a University of Memphis research lab “the worst in America” after a site visit revealed it violated numerous federal protocols concerning the care of test animals.
While other states have outlawed the practice, Tennessee allows medical professionals and medical students to — without any kind of permission — stick their fingers and instruments inside a woman’s vagina and rectum while she is under anesthesia.
Joshua Smith, a co-defendant in the election finance case against former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, pleaded guilty in court.
The Environmental Protection Agency told South Memphis residents little could be done to protect them from toxic emissions from the nearby Sterilization Services facility.
West Tennessee farmers struggled to get crops to market because of the record-low level of the Mississippi River.
November
Groups asked state officials for a special investigator to review the “very real failures that led to [Eliza] Fletcher’s tragic murder.”
A group wanted state officials to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional.
A plan to forever end parking on the Overton Park Greensward was finalized by city leaders, the Memphis Zoo, and the Overton Park Conservancy.
December
The Commercial Appeal dodged layoffs in the latest round of news staff reductions by Gannett.
Federal clean-energy investments will further ingrain Tennessee in the Battery Belt and help develop a Southeast Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (H2Hubs).
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee criticized Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) for canceling gender affirmation surgery for a 19-year-old patient.
State and local officials investigated an alleged milk spill into Lick Creek.
MLGW rejected Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 20-year rolling contract but will continue to be a TVA customer “for the foreseeable future.”
Former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s law license was suspended after he pled guilty to two felonies related to campaign finance laws last month.
Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.
Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) rejected Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 20-year rolling contract Wednesday morning but will continue to be a TVA customer “for the foreseeable future.”
MLGW began evaluating its nearly 80-year relationship with TVA in 2018. The local utility company is TVA’s largest customer. Others (including Siemens) claimed MLGW could save between $130 million-$450 million each year if it left TVA.
MLGW is not leaving TVA, however. It will remain with TVA “for the foreseeable future,” according to an MLGW statement issued after the board’s decision Wednesday morning. But it can more freely keep its options to other power suppliers open after voting down the contract.
The board members ultimately rejected TVA’s now-standard, 20-year rolling contract, which most of its other local power companies have signed, based mostly on the length of the term. Board chairman Mitch Graves said, simply, the 20-year deal was “too long of an agreement.”
TVA accentuated the positives of the move Wednesday, highlighting the fact that MLGW will remain with them for now. TVA said the decision “is a reinforcement of the longstanding relationship with TVA in delivering affordable, reliable, and clean energy to the people and communities across Memphis and Shelby County.”
“We are proud of our partnership with MLGW, and we are excited to move forward,” TVA Chief External Relations Officer Jeannette Mills said in a statement. “We believe the people of Memphis and Shelby County deserve a partner that cares about serving their needs and addressing real issues like energy burden and revitalization of the city’s core communities. Our continued partnership with MLGW provides the best option for making this happen.”
Other groups, like the Southern Environmental Law Center, saw the decision a little differently.
“Big news out of Memphis as the city’s utility rejects a restrictive, never-ending power supply contract with TVA, looking for more renewable energy sources and lower bills for residents,” the group tweeted after the meeting.
Protect Our Aquifer tweeted this on Tuesday ahead of the board meeting:
TOMORROW MLGW Board is expected to vote on TVA's never-ending contract. If you would like to speak at the comment period before the vote, you can sign up on our website. (Action link: https://t.co/Jj0aKxDfhx) pic.twitter.com/3wifTwljBv
The group said it was at the hearing Wednesday to speak against the contract.
Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP) called the move “another win for the people.”
Another win for the People! Thanks for submitting your public comments, sharing our posts to inform others, and supporting the Movement. #betterdeal901pic.twitter.com/dU07bvuWHl
— Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (@MemphisCAP_org) December 7, 2022
Tom Paxton (Photo: Courtesy of Fleming & Associates)
Now 85, Tom Paxton is what you might call an OG folk musician, having made his name as a songwriter in Greenwich Village before Bob Dylan even arrived from Minnesota. And so there’s a certain historical spark in speaking with him about our common love for Woody Guthrie. He surely had that same conversation with countless compatriots at the Gaslight Cafe, back in the day, especially since he’d landed there by way of his native Oklahoma. “I played football against a team from [Guthrie’s hometown of] Okemah, about 26 miles from my hometown,” Paxton remembers today. “But I actually never heard of Woody Guthrie until I went to the University of Oklahoma and started hearing his records, and he quickly became one of my heroes. I think he’s one of my biggest influences.”
Of course, part of Guthrie’s legacy is the tradition of the political or protest song, something that Paxton’s always had at the core of his craft. It’s also at the core of the annual series known as Acoustic Sunday Live, the latest version of which will feature Paxton, Crys Matthews, Susan Werner, The Accidentals, and Terry “Harmonica” Bean on Sunday, December 4th, at the First Congregational Church.
Woody Guthrie’s spirit has been with the concert series from the very beginning, when Bruce and Barbara Newman organized a tribute to Guthrie 28 years ago, featuring Paxton, Richie Havens, Odetta, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Since then, each show has been a fundraiser for a local cause, and in recent years that’s been Protect Our Aquifer.
Paxton, reflecting on the cause of ensuring the purity of the Sparta or Memphis Sand Aquifer, quips, “Talk about a no-brainer! It makes you want to get a bumper sticker: ‘Like Drinking Water? Duh?!’” He’s seen innumerable citizen movements to protect sources of fresh water and feels one of his songs still rings true in that context. “The one I mainly still sing after 50 years is ‘Whose Garden Was This?’” he says. “Everything about ecology is in that song. If you want to enjoy it, you’ve got to preserve it.”
It’s yet another echo of Guthrie’s approach to folk music. “You had no trouble understanding the lyrics when he sang,” Paxton says. “And that’s always been a really important part to me. The way I feel is, I busted my butt writing these lyrics, I want to make sure people understand them.” That’s especially crucial to topical songs, he says. “You know, political and protest songs are as old as America. Now and then you’ll turn up songs that were current before or during our revolution, that were just flat-out protest songs against England and King George. Lots of them! Back during the Vietnam days, we took a lot of heat for writing songs opposing the war, but it’s a very old tradition.”
Old traditions appeal to Paxton, and his appreciation of the late Jean Ritchie spoke to that. “I visited with her in Kentucky two weeks before she passed [in 2015],” he says. “There was a song that was current back in the ’60s called ‘Passing Through’. So I wrote a verse for her: ‘Jean Ritchie of the Cumberlands, her dulcimer in hand/Came singing songs both old and new. … And she sang ’em all while she was passing through.’ She was a good, good person.”
Always generous in his praise of fellow artists, Paxton has leaned into the joys of collaboration of late. “I went for years basically just writing for myself, but the pandemic shut everything down, and if I was going to stay in touch with people, [co-writing on] Zoom was a way to do it. So I really went for it. I’ve been writing with The Accidentals, with Jackson Emmer, with my friend Cathy Fink. And it’s so satisfying that I want to keep doing it. Since the pandemic, so far I’ve co-written over 200 songs.”
He’s looking forward to the songwriters-in-the-round style of Acoustic Sunday Live, he says. “It’s great to be coming back to Memphis, and it stacks up to be a hell of a concert. You’ve got some really good people on there, like Crys Matthews and The Accidentals, and Susan Werner is absolutely dynamite on stage. And I’m bringing a colleague of mine from Colorado to be part of this, named Jackson Emmer. We’ve co-written several songs now. It’s a real kick for me, to hear young people singing a song I’ve helped to write.”
Having a spot of tea with Joel Borton and Matt Baudo at the Rishi Tea & Botanicals booth at Grind City Coffee Xpo
I’m proud to say I’ve attended and covered all three Grind City Coffee Xpo events since it began in 2019.
I love coffee. I drink it black like a film noir reporter. And I make it on the stove in an old-school percolator with the little glass thing on top.
So, attending Grind City Coffee Xpo, held November 5th at Wiseacre Brewing Co. downtown, was like being in coffee — and tea — heaven. I drank carbonated coffee at Comeback Coffee’s booth and tea at the booth for Rishi Tea & Botanicals out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And lots of little cups of hot and cold coffee at other stations.
Dante Baker, Joseph Jenkins, Noah Randolph, and Raegan Jenkins at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ken and Mary Olds and Averell Mondie at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Amy McPherson at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)David Lambert, Drew Smith, Teagan Griffith, Kim Lambert at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Tamer Younis at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)
This year’s event featured 18 vendors, says founder Daniel Lynn. “It was awesome,” Lynn says “I think we’re going to end up with around 600 people. It was incredible.”
He doesn’t yet have the final amount of how much they raised for their charity, Protect Our Aquifer.
Alden Schmidt at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)MIcah Dempsey and Daniel Lynn at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)
They didn’t feature tea at their first Xpo, which was held at the old Memphis College of Art.
The event now features “anything in the coffee community,” including tea, Lynn says.
The Xpo also included Ounce of Hope. “I’m a big believer in wellness, health. And CBD in coffee is a really nice thing.”
Cat Brooks, Collin Bercier, Kyle McFarland at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Ounce of Hope at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)
I asked Lynn what it is about coffee that gets people so excited. Besides caffeine, of course. “It’s so welcoming,” he says. “It not only tastes good, but there’s some incredible science behind it, too. Anyone can make a cup of coffee, whether you’re a novice and you just like your drip machine with your Community Coffee in it. Or you want to get crazy into it and you’re doing a Chemex pour over where you measure out the water and the coffee in grams. It’s a multi-step process. You put the timer on and start the pour and its super relaxing.”
You “let the coffee bloom and then come back and pour the rest of the water over the coffee.”
Making coffee is universal. “Anyone can do it. From the novice to the super nerd. I think it’s very approachable.”
Jessica Diaz, Scott Jackson, Erica Mathis at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Magnolia Pelous and John Cook at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Brian Miller and Wood Rodgers at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Bram Bors-Koefoed, DJ Superman, Eric Scott at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Julie Digeronimo and Evan Winburne at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Will Sexton, Johnny Dowd, Amy LaVere at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)Spencer Kaaz and Matthew Burdine at Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue) Grind City Coffee Xpo (Credit: Michael Donahue)We Saw You
Several Memphis environmental groups want to know what firms are bidding to supply the city’s electricity, but Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) said (again) they don’t have to share the information and won’t until the time is right.
MLGW is in the midst of picking a power provider, either staying with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) or selecting a new company. The local utility is now the largest customer of the TVA and has been with the authority for more than 80 years. The idea to move away from TVA has been around for a long time, but last year MLGW formally began a process to possibly find other suppliers with a request for proposals.
Bids came back from nearly 20 companies, but when Sam Hardiman, a Commercial Appeal reporter, asked for company names earlier this year, MLGW declined to provide them, citing state law that says MLGW can keep the company names and their proposals secret.
The laws in question say MLGW can hold the records until recommendations for awarding the contract are submitted by staff to the MLGW board. MLGW said Friday it would adhere to that process.
But several Memphis groups asked MLGW to see the proposals again this week. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) asked for the records in a Thursday letter to MLGW on behalf of the Sierra Club, Memphis Community Against Pollution, and Protect Our Aquifer, known collectively in the letter as “Community Groups.” The decision is a big one, the letter says, and the public should know who is involved.
”Community Groups — and the Memphis community generally — lack access to crucially important information related to the more than 20 bids MLGW has received in response to the [requests for proposals]. Shutting the community out of the process is profoundly concerning in light of the significance of MLGW’s impending decision.”
In a Friday statement, MLGW again refused to provide that information.
”In accordance with state law and MLGW policy, the proposals received in response to those [requests for proposals] “shall not be open for public inspection’ until notices of an intent to award are issued,” the utility said. “Once recommendations for award are submitted by MLGW staff to the MLGW Board regarding an RFP, all proposals submitted in response to that RFP will be available to the public for inspection, except to the extent that any information included in those proposals is protected in accordance with federal and state law for proprietary and system security proposes.
”Members of the public will have further opportunities to provide comments and input as recommendations are considered by the MLGW Board and the Memphis City Council.”
MLGW said public input was “instrumental” in completing its integrated resource plan to decide what sources of power it wanted to use. SELC’s letter agreed and urged that MLGW be as transparent as possible in its current proposal process.
The SELC was concerned that by keeping the other contenders secret, TVA’s incumbent status would be given an “unfair advantage” with the public. It noted that group members have received emails from TVA touting its proposal, read multiple news stories about it, and even saw ”TVA’s high-visibility co-sponsorship with MLGW to provide drinking water at the Beale Street Music Festival.”
SELC asked MLGW to make a decision on sharing the records within a week.
