Oak Ridge Today

State awards $200,000 grant for lighting at Oak Ridge Municipal Building, Civic Center

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Gov. Bill Haslam Check Presentation

Gov. Bill Haslam announces that Oak Ridge has received $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting at the Municipal Building and Civic Center.

Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday announced that Oak Ridge is receiving $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building and Civic Center Complex.

The money will be used to replace and retrofit existing fluorescent lighting fixtures to LED lighting, a press release said.

It’s the first of 19 grant awards that the governor will be making in the next few weeks, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in the press release. Funding for the projects comes from an April 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]

Price Florist won’t be demolished yet, but declared a nuisance, unfit

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike to be a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use.

Price Florist won’t be demolished yet.

On Thursday, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals declared the longtime business on Oak Ridge Turnpike to be a nuisance and unfit for human occupation or use. It’s already been vacated, and the property owner is cleaning it up.

But the six board members at Thursday’s meeting stopped short of issuing a demolition order. [Read more…]

Charity dog walk on Saturday receives $2,000 donation

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Radio Systems Corp.—home of the PetSafe and SportDOG brands—recently awarded $2,000 to the Mutt Strutt, a charity dog walk created by the Young Professionals of Oak Ridge Community Outreach Committee in partnership with SARG (Shelter Animal Rescue Group).

The Mutt Strutt was created to support the improvement of the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter, and this year’s event will be held at A.K. Bissell Park at 10 a.m. Saturday. [Read more…]

Groundbreaking for Protomet expansion on June 14

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Protomet Corp. is having a June 14 groundbreaking ceremony for a $6.25 million expansion that will more than double the size of its current manufacturing space.

The expansion will add 30 jobs to Protomet, and it is the second multi-million dollar investment in the company’s Oak Ridge facility, a press release said. [Read more…]

B&W Y-12 donates $25,000 to Secret City Festival

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B&W Y-12 Donates to Secret City Festival

B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer, center, presents a $25,000 check to Oak Ridge officials for the Secret City Festival this month during a City Council meeting last week. (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Chuck Spencer presented a check for $25,000 to Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Vice Mayor Jane Miller during a City Council meeting last week.

B&W Y-12 has been a premier sponsor of the Secret City Festival for the past eight years, a press release said.
 [Read more…]

City board will consider demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist

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Price Florist

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The city staff has recommended that the structure, used for a longtime floral business, be declared unfit for human occupation or use and has requested a demolition or cleanup order within 60 days.

The city required an “emergency vacate” on May 1, according to an agenda for the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals. A notice dated May 1 and still posted on the building’s front door said the building is deemed unfit for human occupation or use. It is to remain conspicuously posted until the structure is repaired or demolished. [Read more…]

Woman found floating face down at Civic Center, taken to hospital

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Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.

A female believed to be in her 30s was taken to Methodist Medical Center on Monday afternoon after she was found floating face down in the fountain at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, city officials said.

The woman, who was not identified in a Tuesday statement, is currently receiving treatment at the hospital. She is believed to be in her mid-to-late 30s.

She was found in the 14-inch deep fountain at about 2:45 p.m. Monday by residents visiting the Civic Center, the statement said. Two people reported the incident to the staff at the Civic Center front counter, while a third tried to pull the woman out of the water, said Oak Ridge Electric Director Jack Suggs, who is acting city manager while Mark Watson attends an out-of-town meeting. [Read more…]

Council rejects funding for sinkhole repairs, tax rate reduction; approves Habitat property transfer

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Oak Ridge High School Soccer Field Sinkhole

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to reimburse the school system about $36,000 for repairs to this 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to use red light camera money to reimburse the school system $36,000 for sinkhole repairs made in April at the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

Council also agreed to transfer a small burned-out lot on Hillside Road to Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County and rejected a proposal to lower the property tax rate by one cent.

Asked about the sinkhole repair reimbursement on Tuesday, Oak Ridge Schools Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge said the school system, which expects revenues to fall by about $1 million and is cutting 18 positions, has a tight budget. [Read more…]

Resurfacing of 25 streets starts Saturday

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Resurfacing of parts of 25 Oak Ridge streets is scheduled to start Saturday.

“The project will begin on Wisconsin Avenue with repairs to correct surface and drainage problems, which will be followed by concrete work by city personnel to correct drainage problems,” a press release said. “This project will generally proceed from west to east.” [Read more…]

UPF: World-class engineering problems to work through, but site work has started

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

There are some “world-class engineering problems” to work through, but site preparation work has started on the giant new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a project official said Thursday.

“We’re finally starting to make some traction,” UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg told several hundred people at the two-day Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center.

Eschenberg said the site prep work could last 18 months, and it will include work on power distribution and underground water lines as well as moving a section of Bear Creek Road to the north. Three contracts have already been awarded to East Tennessee small businesses. [Read more…]

House leader’s speech emphasizes research, mixes in politics

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor

Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.

In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.

A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]

Alexander unveils his four principles for clean, cheap, reliable energy

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.

The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.

The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]