Oak Ridge Today

Council agrees to buy car wash to build sewer system tank

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Mullins Car Wash

The Oak Ridge City Council has approved the purchase of Mullins Performance Car Wash in south Oak Ridge to allow the city to build a sewer system holding tank.

A car wash in south Oak Ridge could soon be replaced by a sewer system holding tank.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday voted 5-1 to buy the car wash, owned by businessman Terry Mulllins, for $125,000.

The land is at the southern gateway to Oak Ridge, near the intersection of Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue. The city agreed to buy the property so workers can place the proposed tank, officially called an equalization basin, farther away from the busy intersection and make it less visible. The intersection is used by thousands of drivers every day, including workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The tank is one of three equalization basins that the city plans to build in order to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires Oak Ridge to repair all sewer system overflows by September 2015. [Read more…]

Strategy to manage contaminated groundwater on DOE reservation to be discussed tonight

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A citizens’ panel will discuss a strategy document tonight that outlines possible solutions for managing contaminated groundwater on the federal reservation in Oak Ridge.

It’s the focus of a 6 p.m. meeting of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. The strategy document was developed to address problems with contaminated groundwater on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation.

The meeting is in the DOE Information Center in the Office of Science and Technical Information on Oak Ridge Turnpike. The public is welcome to attend. OSTI is between Science.gov Way and Melton Lake Drive. [Read more…]

Shutdown ends: Oak Ridgers relieved, but frustrated with Congress

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Dean's Restaurant and Bakery

Dean Russell, co-owner of Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery in Jackson Square, has put up a sign expressing frustration with Congress over the government shutdown. Pictured above are restaurant servers Cassandra Prater, right, and Andy Tatum.

The end of the government shutdown last week brought relief to Oak Ridge, especially at the Y-12 National Security Complex, where up to about 3,600 workers were expected to be furloughed starting last Thursday unless a deal was reached.

Chuck Spencer, general manager of B&W Y-12, which manages and operates Y-12, told workers on Thursday that a shutdown to minimum staffing had been averted and the furloughs would no longer be necessary. There had been reports that only about 900 workers might have remained starting today.

Spencer said the nuclear weapons plant, which started an orderly shutdown two weeks ago on Monday, Oct. 7, will begin planning to resume normal operations.

Normal operations resumed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, Director Thom Mason said in a message to staff. ORNL had enough funding to continue operating through October and into November, but officials had started preparing for a possible temporary shutdown and unpaid furloughs in case the shutdown continued.

Oak Ridge residents remained frustrated even after Congress and the White House reached a last-minute, short-term spending agreement late Wednesday night that averted the shutdowns and furloughs, just hours before a deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and after some local businesses had already reported that the shutdown had affected their operations. [Read more…]

TVA ash spill cleanup continues despite government shutdown

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Kingston Fossil Plant Ash Spill Cleanup

Cleanup work at the Kingston Fossil Plant, pictured above, continues despite the federal government shutdown. Workers are cleaning up the largest ash spill in U.S. history. Roughly 5.4 million cubic yards of ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell failed.

Work to clean up the ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant continues despite the federal government shutdown, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The partial government shutdown shouldn’t affect the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns and operates the plant, because the public utility doesn’t receive federal funding, spokesman Duncan Mansfield said Wednesday.

Agencies involved in the cleanup project, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Corps of Engineers, have furloughed some workers. But there are still many workers at the Kingston ash spill site, Mansfield said.

“The majority of the work is being performed by contractors,” he said. [Read more…]

Council approves locations for sewer system tanks, county donates land for one

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Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tank

An earlier draft image of what a sewer system holding tank could look like on Emory Valley Road. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

CLINTON—The Oak Ridge City Council had already taken steps to move the planned sewer system holding tanks farther back from major roads or make them less visible, and on Monday, the Anderson County Commission agreed to donate a small parcel on Emory Valley Road for one of the tanks.

Oak Ridge officials have said the tanks are needed to help comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires the city to end all sewer system overflows by September 2015. [Read more…]

Council approves water, sewer rate increases

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved water and sewer rate increases that will take effect January 2014 and January 2015. (File photo)

There was much opposition online, and in phone calls to city hall, but few public objections to back-to-back utility rate increases at a Monday night Oak Ridge City Council meeting.

The Council voted in two separate 6-1 votes to raise water and sewer rates in January 2014 and again in January 2015. The increases range from 8 percent to 15 percent.

The new rate hikes, which will be considered on second and final reading in October, would result in water bills that could go up by a minimum of $1.35 per month in January 2014 and then another $1.19 per month in 2015. Sewer bills would increase a minimum of $2.78 per month next year and then rise another $2.13 per month the following year. [Read more…]

Guest column: Council member proposes alternatives to raising water, sewer rates

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Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

On Sept. 9, your Oak Ridge City Council will likely vote to approve additional water and sewer rate increases. When combined with the last two increases, the average user’s bill will have spiked 62 percent in just 34 months. Subsequently, should council adopt the fully proposed schedule through 2019, most residents and businesses will be paying double what they were paying prior to the initial increase imposed in May 2012.

These increases are to pay for the $33 million of debt that the city incurred in the last two years in addition to a projected $15 million more that Public Works says is still needed. We are continuing to borrow without limits and without regard for your ability to pay such astronomical bills.

Much of this debt could have been reduced or avoided all together had your city government taken the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency up on the many opportunities they gave us to make corrections. (See my Feb. 24 post at trinabaughn.com entitled, “The Rest of the EPA Mandate Story.”) Unfortunately, we’ve screwed up so many times that we were too fearful to pursue leniencies that are now being afforded to many cities across the nation. So, while others have 20-25 years to comply and can spread out costs to minimize the hit their ratepayers will take, Oak Ridge has just five years and is forcing the entire burden on its residents and businesses. [Read more…]

Council to consider utility rate increases, sewer tanks, new fire trucks

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Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tank

A draft image of what a sewer system holding tank could look like on Emory Valley Road east of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center. The proposal could change based upon input from Oak Ridge City Council members. (Images courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Oak Ridge officials are considering utility rate increases that could cost many residents another $6.87 per month, and they have also proposed building three large sewer system holding tanks, including two near busy roadways, in response to a federal order requiring the city to stop all sewer system overflows by September 2015.

Council could consider those proposals, as well as a request to buy three new fire trucks, during its Sept. 9 meeting. [Read more…]

Emory Valley Road land could be donated for Oak Ridge sewer system tank

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Emory Valley Equalization Basin

Anderson County commissioners have endorsed donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for an Oak Ridge sewer system holding tank.

CLINTON—Despite a few concerns about whether the tank would be an eyesore, Anderson County officials on Monday endorsed a request to give up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge for a sewer system holding tank.

The tank would be east of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center, and it would be used to help Oak Ridge stop all sewer system overflows by 2015, as required by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order.

The Anderson County Commission endorsed the land donation in a voice vote Monday night. [Read more…]

Anderson County Commission considers coal mining museum tonight

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Bank of America Lake City

Bank of America has agreed to sell this two-story brick building on Main Street in Lake City for $100,000 for a Coal Miners’ Museum and county storage space and satellite offices.

The Lake City Council on Saturday developed a plan for operating and maintaining a coal mining museum, a proposal that will be presented to the Anderson County Commission this evening, a nonprofit organization said this weekend.

The Commission will consider buying the former Bank of America building in Lake City as a home for the Coal Miners’ Museum during a meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge asks for county land on Emory Valley Road for sewer system tank

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Emory Valley Equalization Basin

Oak Ridge officials have asked Anderson County to consider donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for a sewer system holding tank.

Oak Ridge officials have asked Anderson County to consider donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for a sewer system holding tank east of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Oak Ridge to stop all sewer system overflows by 2015, and studies have shown that several holding tanks are required at critical locations “to equalize and detain excess flow during heavy rain events,” Public Works Director Gary Cinder said in a July 26 memo. One equalization tank would be required near the county-owned Daniel Arthur Center, which is used by satellite county offices, the Oak Ridge Senior Center, and the Emory Valley Center.

The Anderson County Operations Committee will consider the request during a Monday evening meeting. [Read more…]

TVA finishes excavating spilled coal ash at Kingston plant, starts covering disposal area

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Kingston Fossil Plant Ash Spill Cleanup

Ash that spilled into the brown embayment pictured above has been removed, and workers are placing a black liner over an ash containment cell, pictured at center, preparing to close it late next year. More than 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell used by the Kingston Fossil Plant, back left, failed.

KINGSTON—It was the largest ash spill in U.S. history. A dike failed on a storage cell on a cold December night more than four years ago, and roughly 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash surged out, covering about 300 acres of land and water near the Kingston Fossil Plant.

No one was injured, but 40 homes in the area were affected. The ash filled three embayments north of the coal-fired plant, covered Swan Pond Road, and flowed into the Emory River. Three homes became uninhabitable because of structural damage.

The work to clean up the gray sludge, which had been four to six feet deep, has been under way since the Dec. 22, 2008, spill. On Friday, officials paused to celebrate two milestones in the six-year, $1.2 billion project. [Read more…]