The fifth Bull Run community meeting that had been scheduled for tonight (Thursday, February 6) has been canceled because Claxton Elementary School is closed due to flooding.
The meeting had earlier been scheduled for Thursday, January 30, but that meeting was postponed one week (to today, February 6) because of illnesses that led to the two-day closure of Anderson County Schools.
[Read more…]The Anderson County Commission has scheduled a public hearing to discuss a request from the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a 60-acre landfill on the Bull Run Fossil Plant site in Claxton.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Tuesday, February 18, in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse at 100 North Main Street in Clinton.
The proposed new landfill is known Site J, and it has been characterized as a three-cell unit capable of holding eight to nine million cubic yards of coal combustion residuals, according to a public hearing notice.
[Read more…]Note: This story was last updated at 4:50 p.m.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday that the material that caused concern in Claxton, near the Bull Run Fossil Plant, is consistent with surface soil.
The material had reportedly fallen on vehicles, houses, mailboxes, and driveways in Claxton near Bull Run, a coal-fired TVA power plant. That raised concerns that the material might be coming from Bull Run.
On Thursday, TVA said it collected 11 samples and received three samples from a home owner and sent them to an independent laboratory for testing. That was in response to the concerns about the airborne materials found on vehicles and property around Bull Run, TVA said.
“Results show the material is not coming from air emissions at Bull Run and is consistent with surface soil in the area,” TVA said. “TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) also sampled material at several locations, and their results affirm that the material is consistent with surface soil.”
[Read more…]Note: This story was last updated at 4:50 p.m.
The vast majority of the material tested in Claxton, after residents raised concerns about an unidentified substance falling around the Bull Run Fossil Plant, was soil, a state official said Thursday.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said it sampled material in the area, and TDEC Deputy Communications Director Kim Schofinski released a short statement Thursday.
“TDEC takes the concerns of citizens very seriously, and in response to their direct requests, we independently conducted sampling of the material in the area,” the statement said. “We also reviewed lab results from samples taken by TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) and citizens…All results indicated the vast majority of the material was soil. As it relates to coal ash, sampling results ranged from non-detectable amounts, amounts too low to quantify, or trace amounts.
[Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority is seeking volunteers as it creates a Community Action Group for the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton.
The volunteers could focus on issues related to TVA’s management of the plant, an email notice said.
“TVA is committed to doing the right thing to handle the legacy of coal generation and ensuring the safety of the workforce and the communities where TVA has or had fossil plants,” the notice said. “As part of its commitment to safety and best practices to protect its workers and local residents, TVA is creating a Community Action Group for the facility (Bull Run).”
According to the notice, the core responsibilities of this volunteer group will be to:
[Read more…]The Tennessee Valley Authority will have two open houses next week to discuss the future of the Bull Run Fossil Plant, a coal-burning power plant in Claxton that is scheduled to close in about four years.
One open house will be in Oak Ridge, and the other will be in Claxton. Both are open to the public.
The first open house is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 16, at the YWCA at 1660 Oak Ridge Turnpike. The second is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, July 15, at Claxton Elementary School at 2218 Clinton Highway.
“This will be an open house format, where the public can interact with TVA staff and experts on the various activities at Bull Run, including the future of coal combustion residuals at the site,” TVA said in an announcement.
[Read more…]The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will attend a June 10 meeting where the planned closure of the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton will be discussed, a county commissioner said.
It will be the June 10 monthly meeting of the Anderson County Commission’s Intergovernmental Committee. The public is encouraged to attend, said Anderson County Commissioner Catherine Denenberg of District 6 in Oak Ridge.
TDEC is the state department that is responsible for monitoring the Tennessee Valley Authority, Denenberg said.
“They will have a Power Point presentation and will be there to answer questions about their involvement with the closing of the Bull Run Fossil plant in Claxton,” Denenberg said.
[Read more…]The Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing changes to plans for closure of a coal ash storage area and wastewater treatment at its Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton. TVA is asking the public to comment on those revisions in a draft supplemental environmental assessment issued on April 22. That document is available at www.tva.com/nepa.
The revised draft supplemental environmental assessment will consider the potential environmental impacts of several alternatives for closure of the main ash impoundment, a press release said. The project would include turning a portion of the impoundment into a temporary process water basin during construction of a permanent basin for wastewater and storm water at the site. The current stilling pond would be closed, with ash removed to an existing onsite landfill, and turned into the permanent process water basin, the press release said.
[Read more…]
There will be a community meeting in Claxton on Tuesday evening to discuss the closure of the Bull Run Fossil Plant. The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors agreed in February to close the coal-burning plant by 2023.
The meeting is scheduled from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, in the Claxton Community Center at 1071 Edgemoor Road. It will include Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) and nonprofit partners, a press release said.
“The meeting’s purpose is to give concerned residents of the community around TVA’s Bull Run Fossil Plant an opportunity to connect and to share their concerns, hopes, and questions around TVA’s recent decision to retire the Bull Run coal plant by 2023 or sooner,” the press release said. “Now is the time to begin a dialog to protect our community’s common interests.”
Organizers said they are urging environmental engineers, scientists, community leaders, officials from Anderson County, the cities of Oak Ridge and Clinton, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and others to be available to share information and expertise, provide support, and address residents’ questions on coal ash, air pollution, health, worker transition, economic impacts, safe demolition and site reclamation, future site use, and property values. [Read more…]
The coal-burning Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton and Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 3 in Kentucky are not economical to operate, and retiring them will offer a savings of about $320 million and avoid more than $1 billion in capital costs, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday.
The TVA Board of Directors voted 6-1 to close Paradise Unit 3 and unanimously agreed to close Bull Run during a meeting in Chattanooga on Thursday. Paradise could close by December 2020, and Bull Run is expected to close by December 2023.
The Bull Run and Paradise closures will be the first 1,700 megawatts of coal plant retirements of the 2,600 megawatts that could be retired through 2033 under a 2015 integrated resource plan, TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson told the board.
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The Oak Ridge City Council and U.S. Department of Energy will discuss a proposed amendment to a historical interpretation agreement on Tuesday evening.
The agenda for the non-voting Council work session does not give the purpose of the proposed amendment or say what it might do.
But it appears that the proposed amendment could be related to historical interpretation at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge because one of the DOE representatives scheduled to talk to Council is Steve Cooke, K-25 preservation coordinator for the U.S. Department of Energy. Also scheduled to talk to Council is Dave Adler, acting deputy manager for DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors unanimously agreed Thursday morning to close the Bull Run Fossil Plant, a coal-burning power plant in Claxton.
The single-generator plant is across the Clinch River from east Oak Ridge.
In another plant retirement, the board voted 6-1 Thursday to close the one coal-fired generator still operating, Unit 3, at the Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro, Kentucky.
The vote on Paradise was 6-1 on Thursday, with board member Kenneth Allen dissenting.
Paradise Unit 3 could be retired in December 2020, and Bull Run could be closed December 2023, TVA said. Bull Run has been reported to be running at about 30 percent capacity for several years. [Read more…]
