The Tennessee Valley Authority is seeking public input on plans to change the way coal ash and other coal combustion residuals are stored at Cumberland Fossil Plant in Stewart County, Tennessee.
TVA is considering options for a new dry storage landfill to receive future CCR produced at the plant as well as options for closing the bottom ash and main ash ponds on site. TVA is also evaluating the potential impacts of building a dewatering facility to remove moisture from the bottom ash stream.
These projects support TVA’s goal to eliminate wet handling of CCR storage across its system while meeting state and federal requirements including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s CCR Rule.
TVA will hold an open house for the public on Monday, Dec.12, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. CST, to gather input on the scope of a proposed environmental impact statement for the CCR Management project at Cumberland. The meeting will be held at the Freedom Point Events Center at Liberty Park in Clarksville, Tn. The public comment period will remain open through Jan. 6, 2017.
The EIS will look at potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of various alternatives for the future handling and storage of CCR at Cumberland.
A portion of this EIS will be governed by the results of TVA’s 2016 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement that analyzed methods for closing CCR impoundments at TVA fossil plants and identified specific screening and evaluation factors to help frame its assessment of closures at any of its facilities.
Documents and a comment form can be found on-line at www.tva.gov/nepa. Comments can also be addressed to Ashley Pilakowski at 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11D-K, Knoxville, TN 37902, or emailed to aapilakowski@tva.gov. All comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of the project administrative record and will be available for public inspection.