Oil in the Obed

Clear Creek will take 172 years to recover from an oil-well fire in July 2002, according to a damage assessment published by TDEC and federal agencies. Restoration of natural resources was estimated at $28,772, lost fishing and paddling days at $56,446 and costs to public agencies responding to the incident totaled $151,835. The agency recommended the responsible parties contribute about $500,000 toward improving aquatic resources in Centennial Park in Crossville as mitigation for the damage. Pryor Oil, owner of the well, will be given an opportunity to settle the matter before any lawsuits are filed. The fire and spill occurred when a test drill by Highland Drilling Company, Inc. of Kingston struck a pressurized oil pocket about 2,500 feet below the surface. Thousands of barrels worth of oil rose to the surface, catching fire as crews attempted to contain the spill. The fire burned a swath about an acre in area so intensely the soil and seed bank were destroyed. Though the well was capped as soon as the fire was extinguished, oil continues to leak into Clear Creek, particularly when water levels drop. Pryor Oil maintains absorbent booms along the bank, though the report said the equipment appears neglected. The company did not respond to several invitations to participate in assessment. Clear Creek is the major northern fork of the Obed River, and the well was drilled atop the northern bluff between Double Drop Falls and the confluence of White and Clear Creeks. A federal Wild and Scenic River, the entire Obed system is managed as wilderness. In a recent publication, the National Parks Conservation Association cited the Obed as one of ten Park Service units most vulnerable to degradations from inholdings of private land. Oil and natural gas wells are often drilled on such land, and luxury homes built along the rim are often visible to paddlers and hikers. Because of inadequate Congressional appropriations, the Land & Water Conservation Fund sometimes turns away willing sellers of such inholdings. Managers of several state and federal lands in East Tennessee are studying whether to allow new and refurbished wells on public lands, and a Canadian firm began drilling adjacent to the site of the fire last summer, hoping to tap the same pocket of oil, which they believe could produce over 10,000 barrels of high quality oil per day.

How do you like those dumplins

Having spent the past year flattening the hills on either side of a Dumplin Creek tributary, Kodak Land Partners, LLC of Knoxville proposes to restore the stream as mitigation for burying another. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will hold a public hearing at the Sevierville Civic Center on June 6 at 7 p.m. to explain the Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit. Comments will be accepted until June 16. A 665-foot stream will be buried and replaced by underground drains for the parking lot and stores built on top of it, if the permit is granted. A 1,770-foot stream with an earthen-dam farm pond will be restored to more natural conditions. The dam will be removed, and riparian vegetation will be established along the stream, which is currently partially forested. The stream will accept runoff from some of the surrounding development. TDEC has ruled the project will not degrade water quality. Dumplin Creek joins the French Broad River near Kodak and carries runoff from several miles of Interstate 40.

Eagle double bogeys

The Sevierville Public Building Authority proposed filling 17 wetlands along the free-flowing Little Pigeon River to expand Eagle Creek Golf Course and straighten Old Knoxville Highway. The project would relocate more than 2,000 feet of Gist Creek and a tributary, eliminate two unnamed tributaries and culvert additional stream footage. To mitigate this impact, the PBA offered to restore 1,500 feet of a nearby stream and create more than 9 acres of wetlands along the fringes of golf-course water hazards. Other golf course expansion projects included adding fill atop a river island to support fairways and greens.

Leaf falls, may grow next year

The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Act was blocked by the House Environment Subcommittee. In a largely symbolic vote, it passed the Senate Environment Committee with eight votes for and one against, giving sponsors hope for passage next year. The bill was created by an organization called the Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship, formed in memory of Kathy Lindquist by members of her congregation, Knoxville's Church of the Savior. It sought to end surface mining at elevations over 2,000 feet, establish a 100-foot stream buffer as state law and place a moratorium on permits until an Environmental Impact Statement covering modern techniques replaces an older document. Part of the Creation Care movement, LEAF was able to gain support from Christian legislators, including Senate sponsor Raymond Finney of Maryville. East Tennessee legislators supporting the bill were Senators Finney, Southerland, Williams and Bunch. Opposing the bill were Senator Kilby and Representatives Baird, Niceley and McCord. Representative Hawk avoided the committee vote.

Pilgrims were immigrants

A five-state raid on Pilgrim's Pride meat processing plants included the arrest of 100 workers in Chattanooga. Immigration officials descended on the downtown chicken plant Apr. 16, hauling off workers in vans and two buses. Some were charged with immigration violations and face deportation. Raids in Texas, Arkansas, West Virginia and Florida brought the nationwide total to 311 arrests, but the company was not charged. Pilgrim's Pride cooperated with federal agents for 15 months leading up to the raids and has participated in a Homeland Security worker verification program. Workers arrested in Texas and Florida were criminally charged for using false documents to pose as American citizens or legal visitors, but most of those arrested faced simple immigration charges. An Apr. 1 indictment unsealed on the day of the raid charged 45 Texas workers with identity theft. Like several other national meat processors, Pilgrim's Pride is facing a class-action suit by workers who claim the company suppresses wages by hiring illegal workers. In those suits, workers contend the company knows some of its hires use false documents, and in 2006 Tennessee investigated whether managers at the Chattanooga plant had taken bribes from illegal workers to obtain or retain employment, but no charges were filed. Thirty-six Chattanooga workers were released with ankle bracelets within a day of their arrest so they could tend to children or to health issues. Five of those detained faced criminal charges because of prior violations, including two Guatemalans whose primary language is Mayan. Disrupted families and communities have rallied together as they await trials and hearings. Two days before the raids, Pilgrim's Pride announced a five percent cut in production due to rising costs for chicken feed and has since begun selling stock to cover debts.

Last century's coal industry

Ruins of a coal company town on the Tennessee River below Chattanooga were nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The McNabb Mine operated from the mid-nineteenth century until 1903 and was used by the Union army during the Civil War. At its peak, the mine operated 10 coke ovens that fed the Sequatchie Valley iron industry, but low yields from a thin seam condemned the mine to eventual failure. A Tennessee Supreme Court decision in 1892 doomed the company, which had tried to elude debtors by transferring assets to a different corporation, a practice legal in adjacent states. Only stone foundations survive, but these include remains of a hotel, store and church as well as housing and offices. More than 5,000 feet of rail were salvaged from the site, and three distinct segments of rail bed connecting the dock and store to the mine shafts to the residential settlement are still apparent in what is now Prentice Cooper State Forest. The coal seam was two feet thick or less and mined with the room-and-pillar technique, with a furnace to ventilate the shafts. The mine was founded by David McNabb, a nearby farmer. When he died in 1880, McNabb Coal and Coke formed and convinced local farmers to leave their land and live on scrip in the company town. The company's failure left both the mine and the farming communities in ruins.

Lifting Oconaluftee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park proposed building three new structures at the Oconaluftee entrance in North Carolina. Donations from the Great Smoky Mountains Association and Friends of the Smokies will fund the project, which seeks to add a 7,000-square-foot visitor center, a separate restroom and vending facility and a backcountry permit kiosk. The existing 1,100-foot center, built in 1941 from salvaged chestnut and locally quarried stone, will be preserved but converted to administrative uses. An outbuilding behind it will be removed. Parking will be reconfigured for better flow, and the middle intersection with Newfound Gap Road will be removed during a widening project that will accommodate turn lanes. Only previously disturbed land will be developed, and the Mountain Farm Museum will not be affected. Friends pledged $500,000 for exhibits on culture and ecology, and the Association, beneficiary of gift-shop sales in the Park, will spend $2.5 million on construction. The Federal Highway Administration will fund the road widening. Surveys of the site turned up the first record of a meadow jumping mouse on the North Carolina side of the Park since 1935, a rare stand of montane alluvial forest, a large population of wood frog and a rare salamander, but none are threatened by the project. An archaeological survey last year revealed only minor, scattered artifacts. The public comment period for the Environmental Assessment ends May 27.