Tell Tennessee regulators: Protect our waterways!

The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to retire its coal burning power plant in Cumberland City and replace it with a methane gas plant and 32-mile pipeline. In order for its pipeline partner Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. — a branch of gas giant Kinder Morgan — to build the pipeline, it has to receive an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as required by the Clean Water Act.

ARAPs are required when a company wants to make physical alterations, including dredging, rechanneling and excavating, to waterways, including streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands.

TDEC issued an ARAP for this pipeline in the summer of 2023, but the pipeline company is seeking a modification to that permit to account for water crossings that it failed to include in its original application.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company proposes the following additional alterations in its ARAP:

• Temporary impacts to an additional 604 linear feet of stream, added to the already approximated 5,400 linear feet of stream

• Permanent impacts to 20 linear feet in addition to the original 490 linear feet of stream associated with the construction of a 32-mile, 30-inch diameter methane gas pipeline

Waterways provide crucial habitat and services to all residents of Middle Tennessee. Any disturbance can have a rippling effect on biodiversity and water quality. Many of these waterways provide drinking water for livestock and natural filtration systems, and they serve as places of recreation for fishing and kayaking. Many folks living near the proposed pipeline route have expressed concerns about the construction of a pipeline across their waterways. Tell the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation: No amended aquatic resource alteration permit for the Tennessee gas pipeline project!

On March 21, TDEC will hold an information session followed by a public hearing concerning additional stream and wetland alterations associated with the pipeline project that were left out of the original application submitted last year by the Tennessee Gas and Pipeline Co.

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