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Volkswagen still not explaining how pollution scandal happened

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This is an article about the lead poisoning in Chattanooga.

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Public health officials are concerned about the impact elevated lead levels across the Southside Chattanooga Lead Site will have on children, they said at a Thursday community meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The agency and health experts are warning residents of Cowart Place, Jefferson Heights, Southside Gardens, Richmond, Highland Park, Oak Grove and East Lake to get their children tested.

"It's very important we take this seriously and do the best we can to limit our children's exposure to lead," said Rebecca Gotham, with the Tennessee Department of Health's Lead Poisoning Prevention Group.

Lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, slow growth, learning, behavioral, hearing and speech problems in children. The EPA believes children have a 90 percent probability of suffering from elevated lead levels if they played in the most contaminated yards.

Other lead poisoning experts attended the meeting to learn about the ongoing problem and see what the EPA is doing to fix it. Faye Ralston, program manager for the city's lead safe and healthy homes program, and Dawn Ford, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who researches childhood lead poisoning, attended and are asking residents to be aware of the problem and get their children tested. The two are pleased with the EPA's response and working with the neighborhoods to encourage testing.

"We're trying to make the community aware of the lead poisoning potential of this situation," Ford said. "We've surveyed residents over the last several years, and they still seem largely unaware of the situation. It's critically important that they get their children - especially those under the age of six - tested for lead poisoning, and many of them have not."

Residents interested in testing their children should reach out to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department or Tennessee Department of Health, Gotham said.

The full remediation of the Southside Chattanooga Lead Site could take three to five years and cost up to $26 million, according to the EPA, but it stands by its decision to remediate all properties with elevated lead levels in the Chattanooga neighborhoods.

"We have seen very high concentrations of lead in some of these yards," site project manager Robenson Joseph said.

The agency gave an overview of its plan at a public meeting Thursday evening at the South Chattanooga Community Recreation Center. Officials are now asking for public feedback as they move forward with remediating the most affected properties.

The proposal involves excavating impacted yards, dumping the soil off-site and replacing it. Soil would be excavated up to two feet to ensure lead contamination is fully removed. It then would be taken to a yet-to-be-determined EPA-approved site after testing to determine if the soil needs to be disposed of as a hazardous waste. The clean replacement soil will then be graded and fully restored.

There are about 3,600 sites in the neighborhoods that need tested. So far, the agency has tested about 400 properties and found elevated lead levels in 80, according to Joseph. In total, they estimate about 1,100 yards will need to be excavated.

However, the EPA needs approval from property owners or tenants before testing. Residents can sign up for testing on the EPA website.

The Southside Chattanooga Lead Site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List -a list of the country's most polluted places - in September. The designation opened additional funding opportunities and gave agency officials the ability to remediate more properties. The threshold for remediation that sat at 1,200 mg/kg was then lowered to 360 mg/kg, meaning all yards with lead levels above the EPA safety benchmark will be cleaned.

"I think each and every area with contamination needs to be cleaned up," Terry McCullough with the Southside Oak Hills Neighborhood Association said. "I think EPA will be a good force to enforce the cleanup concerns, to spearhead this."

The EPA's proposed plan was finalized Nov. 1, which began a 30-day public comment period. The agency will issue a record of its decision once the public comment period ends Nov. 30. At that point, officials will go in front of a national priority panel that will determine how to proceed; then comes remedial design and action.

The agency plans to continue excavation on properties in the spring or early summer of 2019.
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.

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Parents in Southside Chattanooga Lead Site urged to test children for elevated lead levels

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Public health officials are concerned about the impact elevated lead levels across the Southside Chattanooga Lead Site will have on children, they said at a Thursday community meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency and health experts are warning residents of Cowart Place, Jefferson Heights, Southside Gardens, Richmond, Highland Park, Oak Grove and East Lake to get their children tested.

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This article is about waste polluting the Chattanooga creek.

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CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Experts at the Tennessee Aquarium are concerned about trash in our creeks.

They shot video of Chattanooga Creek.

They say kayakers on the stream have noticed a massive increase in rafts of trash, predominantly discarded single-use plastic items like bottles and straws.

Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute Watershed Educators say this is a danger to the waterway and its wildlife.

On October 6th volunteers will clean up trash along creeks and the Tennessee River for Tennessee River Rescue.

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Tennessee Aquarium warns about growing trash in Chattanooga Creek - WDEF

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CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) - Experts at the Tennessee Aquarium are concerned about trash in our creeks. They shot video of Chattanooga Creek. They say kayakers on the stream have noticed a massive increase in rafts of trash, predominantly discarded single-use plastic items like bottles and straws.

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A couple neighborhoods have been named one of the most toxic places in America.

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Updated at 6:47 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, with more information.

Several Chattanooga neighborhoods have been added to a list of the U.S.'s most toxic places in an expected move that will open additional funding for cleanup.

The Southside Chattanooga Lead Site was one of five sites added to the Superfund National Priorities List, according to an announcement Tuesday afternoon from the Environmental Protection Agency. The listing gives the site the agency's highest priority for cleanup.

"The addition of Southside Chattanooga Lead to the Superfund National Priorities List will ensure it is cleaned up for the benefit of the residents and communities in the affected areas," according to a statement from EPA Regional Administrator Trey Glenn. "These communities become healthier places to live and redevelopment is made possible."

The approximate boundaries of the site are Main Street to the north, Broad Street to the west, Chattanooga Creek to the south and Central Avenue to the east, according to the NPL listing, and contain properties in Alton Park, Cowart Place, Jefferson Heights, Richmond and Southside Gardens. The area was home to industrial operations throughout the 20th Century that used toxic material as fill and topsoil.

EPA officials held a February meeting to inform residents about ongoing cleanup efforts and listen to concerns - mainly surrounding the EPA's response.

At the time, agency representatives committed to remediating properties where children lived that also tested nearly four times higher than the EPA's benchmark for unsafe lead levels. It meant residents without children living in the home - even if they had grandchildren or young family members who visited frequently - weren't eligible for remediation. It also meant families with children living on toxic sites likely weren't eligible for cleanup unless their property tested nearly four times higher than health benchmarks set by the agency.

However, that would all change if the site was added to the National Priorities List, officials said at the time. Properties on the list are the only sites eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup, according to an agency release.

"We're not going to have all the funds until we get on the National Priorities List," EPA Region 4 National Priorities List Coordinator Cathy Amoroso said during the February meeting. "Then we will clean up every yard over 360 [parts per million], or whatever the threshold may be. Right now, it is 360. There's a possibility that can change, but it won't be higher, it will be lower."

Now, each property with lead readings above the health benchmarks will been remediated if the EPA stands by its February comments. However, the Tuesday release maintained the priority of the project is to protect children "by identifying and cleaning up lead contaminated soil at residential properties and other areas where children may be present." There was no mention whether other properties would be remediated.

When called Tuesday, Amoroso said she was not permitted to talk to the press without the supervision of an EPA media representative. A list of questions sent to the EPA communications department was not returned by press time, and a request to interview a representative involved with the project was not fulfilled.

Southside Chattanooga Lead Site residents have been frustrated throughout the process. They recently learned about a problem that has existed for decades. Many raised their children to play in their toxic yard and grew gardens. EPA officials assured residents the agency worked as quickly as possible after learning about the problem. However, not all residents were convinced.

"My main problem with everything I heard tonight is that it makes no sense that the EPA became aware of this just because someone became ill," Ed Nowicki, who owns property in the area, said at the time. "You had a major industrial area that has historically been an issue for the last 100 years. One would imagine that is a red flag and a possible contamination site."

Agency representatives say they learned of contaminated properties in 2011 when a local resident reported lead poisoning. As a result, the EPA removed contaminated soil from 84 properties located on Read Avenue, Mitchell Avenue, Underwood Street (formerly Carr Street) and intersecting streets after a resident reported lead poisoning.

Once that project was completed, the agency looked at other sites in the area where unsafe levels of lead may be present. That's when the EPA started testing for elevated lead levels in what became the Southside Chattanooga Lead Site, according to several EPA officials at the February meeting.

As of February, more than 300 yards had been tested, and nearly 100 properties were remediated, according to EPA officials. They have not said how many properties in total have tested positive for lead.

The Southside Chattanooga Lead Site joins Broadway Street Corridor Groundwater Contamination in Anderson, Indiana; Rockwell International Wheel & Trim in Grenada, Mississippi; Donnelsville Contaminated Aquifer in Donnelsville, Ohio; and Delfasco Forge in Grand Prairie, Texas as the latest addition to the Superfund program's National Priority List.

"We are pleased for the city and its residents that an avenue like the National Priorities List exists to clean up this site," Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Shari Meghreblian said via a statement. "This action will provide the funding and framework needed to get this hazardous material cleaned up and remove the threat to the public. It is absolutely the right thing to do."
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.

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Several Chattanooga neighborhoods added to list of country's most toxic places

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Updated at 6:47 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, with more information. Several Chattanooga neighborhoods have been added to a list of the U.S.'s most toxic places in an expected move that will open additional funding for cleanup.

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Some volunteers have gathered to help clean up the Chattanooga creek.

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A small group of Chattanoogans spent the first sunny day in a week volunteering to remove trash from the heavily polluted Chattanooga Creek.

The creek has a long and dirty history with waste that includes federal mandates, local cleanup efforts and a lot of trash.

It is the most polluted in the area.

"We're just going to try to raise as much awareness as we can about a big problem in our community," organizer Randy Whorton said.

The creek was a high-priority site for the Environmental Protection Agency after companies dumped their pollutants in the water a century ago. Much of the site has been remediated but remains a popular place for residents to dump their unwanted waste.

Several such dump sites along the water collect mounds of garbage, but on Sunday, the bulk of the problem was floating downstream. Steady rain during the week swept much of the waste that lined the shoreline into the creek and toward the Tennessee River.

Event coordinators believe the flooding, high creek levels and fast-moving current scared away many volunteers who attended similar cleanups last year. However, about 10 volunteers still came Sunday afternoon.

It was the first of the year and was organized by Whorton - founder of Wild Trails - with the help of TenneSEA Executive Director Mary Beth Sutton and local resident Chris Gehard.

The crew filled bag after bag, but the vast majority of the trash remained behind, too much for a small group to conquer in one day. But that hasn't kept organizers from trying, and hoping, to ultimately eradicate the problem.

Three major cleanups last year cleared roughly 4,500 pounds of trash. They expect to do three more main cleanups in 2019, and those who attended are asking for help to clean up the community eyesore.

"It just really turns my stomach," volunteer Dave Porfiri said of the first time he saw all the waste. "It was depressing to see that people can be so ignorant and so careless of the natural wonders that surround us."

Gehard has been in contact with his local council member to brainstorm ideas that could help prevent littering in the area. He also plans to meet with some North Georgia officials - one popular dump site is just a couple hundred yards upstream of the state line - to figure out ways to give residents better access to proper trash services.

"I live right here, so I drive by two, three, four times a day, and it just breaks my heart every times I see it," he said. "My goal is to hopefully in the next couple of years get this to where this [pollution] isn't happening anymore."

Whorton is working to get a permanent dumpster put behind the nearby Clumpies Ice Cream Co. The dumpster would allow for more cleanups from other community organizations. He's heard from several looking to help.
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.

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Volunteers gather to clean Chattanooga Creek, but work remains

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A small group of Chattanoogans spent the first sunny day in a week volunteering to remove trash from the heavily polluted Chattanooga Creek. The creek has a long and dirty history with waste that includes federal mandates, local cleanup efforts and a lot of trash. It is the most polluted in the area.

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This is an article about a wastewater problem in Chattanooga.

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Millions of gallons of sewage-tainted stormwater runoff flows through Hamilton County's creeks and into the river that provides water to the Tennessee Valley. When there's heavy rain, more waste either spills from the county's sewer lines into people's yards and streets or entirely bypasses the system and freely flows through parts of the county.

The county's sewage system is falling apart in some areas and was underbuilt in others. Now, citizens and county officials are left to deal with the mess. It's the center of a yearslong problem for the county that was largely ignored for decades.

"I would argue sewage is the No. 1 aquatic pollution problem in the Chattanooga area," Tennessee Riverkeeper founder and executive director David Whiteside said.

The organization has monitored the area's sewage problems since its inception in 2009. It works to hold polluters accountable and force cleanup that meets federal regulations. Last year, the foundation sued the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority, which operates the county's sewer system, for illegally discharging more than 20 million gallons of sewage from the Signal Mountain wastewater treatment plant into the Tennessee River.

There has been finger-pointing, public outcry and no shortage of opinions on what happened and what needs to be done.

The problem is now staring the county in the face, and it's going to come with a hefty price tag: $245 million over about 20 years. WWTA is negotiating a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency that would require a system overhaul to meet Clean Water Act standards.

However, some residents argue there needs to be a full overhaul of how Chattanooga and Hamilton County handle wastewater treatment, while county sewer leaders say they just need time, patience and funding to fix the problem.

"Is it true we have overflows? Yes," said WWTA executive director Mark Harrison. "But is it true our sewer systems are 70 years old and should just be taken out to pasture and forgotten? No. They need to be repaired and cared for. We are still better off than we were before the Clean Water Act."

This isn't a problem unique to the Chattanooga area. It's one taking shape across the U.S.

Knoxville and Memphis have sewage problems. Nashville upgraded its system but grew faster than anticipated, and now that area has sewer issues again. Roads, schools, buildings and sewer systems built during and after the Industrial Revolution now need replacement or major repairs nationwide. It's how WWTA leaders explain what's been going on with the sewer system.

"No one wanted to spend the money on the maintenance or didn't think it was necessary," WWTA board chairman Mike Moon said. "We are now in deferred maintenance, and this is where we are today. It's no different than issues we are seeing with our schools and roads."

Harrison compares sewer upkeep to the electric grid. Companies adequately priced the electric grid for years, which allowed the system to grow and be maintained, he believes. However, electric bills generally far exceed sewer costs. For Harrison, that shows communities across the U.S. didn't adequately invest in the maintenance of its sewer systems. If customers want the sewer system to match the functionality of the electric grid, they have to start paying for it.

"Now, that's not popular, but it's true," Harrison said.

That money would be used to repair and replace pipes, size the system to allow for growth, create storage to handle heavy rain, replace manhole covers, seal the system and other upgrades, Harrison and Moon said.

"I don't think it's healthy for WWTA to be the scapegoat for something that's been going on for 70 years," Harrison said. "We've managed some of these for 10 to 15 years when the problem was already 50 years old."

Despite much of the system predating WWTA, which was created in 1993, the entity has updated systems in the northeast area of the county in the not-so-distant past and has run into overflow issues with the newer systems caused by underestimating growth and some bad luck.

Some residents believe it's time to combine the city and county's sewer operations and sell them to a private business with experience running sewer systems. Tennessee American Water has expressed interest in purchasing WWTA.

"If a third party can run things at the same cost or less, it's a win financially for ratepayers," said county resident Brent Smith, who with a group of vocal neighbors persuaded county commissioners to stop WWTA from building a sewage treatment plant on Mahan Gap Road.

"There's got to be a better option," Smith said. "If a third party comes in and says it can come in and do this, that's a win. A private party might be more efficient when it comes to fixing things and having repairs done on time."

However, Harrison argues WWTA just needs time and patience to get things right.

"It's important that we don't play the blame game with people who have tried to make good decisions for the community," he said. "To me, the better approach is for the community to understand we have a problem we are trying to address, and we need their support, understanding and some time to get it right."
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.

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Wastewater worries: Hamilton County faces hefty pricetag in confronting its runoff problem

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Millions of gallons of sewage-tainted stormwater runoff flows through Hamilton County's creeks and into the river that provides water to the Tennessee Valley. When there's heavy rain, more waste either spills from the county's sewer lines into people's yards and streets or entirely bypasses the system and freely flows through parts of the county.

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Here's another article about pollution in Chattanooga creek.

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Plastic grocery bags line miles of Chattanooga Creek, caught high in trees like vines clinging to the limbs along the creekside. The bags are what's left of floating waste caught on branches before the creek subsided. Past the pipelines, the overwhelming smell of human waste and piles of trash, where the water opens to a cleaner space, the bags remain - a constant reminder of the negative impact people are having on local waterways.

"Unnatural art," joked paddler Randy Whorton.

Through the creek in the heart of Chattanooga, downed trees act like dams in several areas, trapping single-use plastic, pollution and waste. Thousands of plastic bottles fill the creek alongside a menagerie of waste: a 55-gallon drum that once held automatic transmission fluid, shoes, basketballs, tires, Styrofoam, a shopping cart.

There isn't a single source for the pollution: a person tossing a bottle from a passing car, remnants from several nearby homeless camps, trash collected in the city's stormwater system and dumped into the creek, and the litter blown and washed into the creek during storms.

"This is the biggest problem in Chattanooga, as far as creeks are concerned, by far, in my opinion," Whorton said. "I paddle them all. I've never seen anything get this bad."

Whorton is an avid outdoorsman. He runs, paddleboards, competed in the inaugural Ironman Chattanooga and is the director of local nonprofit Wild Trails, which is focused on promoting active living and the protection of open spaces. The long-distance paddler is preparing for a 300-mile trip for his favorite week of the year: SUP the State.

Whorton paddles the creek at least twice a week. It's close to his home and is a convenient way to get in his early morning nine-mile trips. He's been paddling the creek for four years, carrying a wastebasket on his stand-up paddleboard to clean what he can, but the problem has grown. There are points that are nearly impassable due to the volume of waste.

"On a surface level, our concern is all of the trash and the plastics in the creek itself," Tennessee Aquarium watershed educator Hayley Wise said. "A lot of that is single-use plastic. It's only used once and thrown away. In this case, it's been thrown into our creeks. The problem with that is it all flows down river. It's not just affecting this creek. It's affecting every creek that it's connected to and the rivers."

Whorton is trying to fix the problem. He has been leading small, private cleanup trips this year and will lead a public tour Saturday morning to clear waste.
THE HISTORY
Signs along Chattanooga Creek warn of the dangers within.

"WARNING. THIS WATER IS CONTAMINATED. FISH UNSAFE FOR FOOD. NO SWIMMING OR WADING."

The creek was a dumping ground for more than a dozen industries for at least a half century. The practice led to contaminated groundwater, sediment, soil and surface water, caused mostly when coal-tar waste was pumped into the creek from 1918 to 1987, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA fenced a section of the creek near Workman Road in 1993 to prevent public access and added about 2.5 miles of the creek to a list of the country's most polluted areas two years later.

The designation on the Superfund program's National Priorities List in 1995 led to a five-year, $25 million federal cleanup that removed millions of pounds of coal tar from the creek by 2007. The EPA and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation have spent two decades cleaning the site, monitoring the water and trying to rehabilitate the ecosystem.

TDEC also lists the creek on its 303d list of impaired streams - a list of water bodies polluted to the point that the public's reasonable uses are no longer maintained. The creek is monitored by the city's water quality team, which takes quarterly samples.

While pollutants remain, there are signs cleanup efforts are making a difference. Fish, heron, turtles and other wildlife now call the creek home, an important step in identifying improved water quality.
CLEANUP
Environmental stewards are focused on minimizing plastic waste as a long-term solution to pollution. They warn the problem will continue unless there's a cultural change. Some U.S. cities are attempting to do just that. More than a dozen banned plastic straws, Seattle banned plastic utensils and some private companies are working to do away with plastic packaging altogether.

"We need to start taking responsibility," Whorton said.

Volunteers and public officials are left to deal with the current problem: Chattanooga creeks are filling with plastic.

As a short-term solution, river and creek cleanup initiatives are expanding throughout the city. A class at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recently led a semester-long stream cleanup effort, and the Tennessee Aquarium will lead the 30th anniversary of the Tennessee River Rescue this fall - a community-wide cleanup day for the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

"Tennessee River Rescue is an annual cleanup, but cleaning up once a year isn't the solution," Wise said. "That's where having these smaller cleanups are great, as well."

Community members interested in Tennessee River Rescue are required to sign up for the October event in advance by calling 423-785-4024.

The city's water quality team partners with the Scenic Cities Beautiful Commission to schedule and conduct quarterly stream cleanups. The organizations can provide garbage bags, gloves, a dumpster and supplies to help group cleanup efforts. The commission and the city will continue to facilitate community efforts through the year. To sign up a group for a clean-up or for more information call 423-643-6834 or email jeigelsbach@chattanooga.gov.
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.

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Plastic waste fills much of Chattanooga Creek

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Plastic grocery bags line miles of Chattanooga Creek, caught high in trees like vines clinging to the limbs along the creekside. The bags are what's left of floating waste caught on branches before the creek subsided.

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Because of air pollution, all burning will be banned for a period of time.

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The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau is reminding Hamilton County residents that beginning May 1, seasonal burning restrictions will take effect and continue through September 30. During this period no burning, commercial or residential, will be allowed in Hamilton County.

Residents of Hamilton County wanting to burn brush and vegetation from their yard for disposal purposes will need to obtain a burn permit from the Air Pollution Control Bureau prior to April 30, 2019.

Anyone burning within the city limits of Chattanooga, Collegedale, East Ridge, Red Bank, and Ridgeside should apply no later than Friday, April 26th to allow time for an inspection by our Bureau Investigator. The permit allows residents to burn on approved days during specified hours.

To obtain a permit application, residents may:
* request one by phone at 423-643-5970;
* download one at apcb.org; or
* pick one up at the Bureau at 6125 Preservation Dr., Ste.

140, Chattanooga, TN 37416.

Residents will be charged a processing fee to help cover the expense of the program. Burning sites within the city limits listed previously, require a $60 fee and an inspection prior to receiving a permit.

Burning sites outside of the above listed city limits pay a $10 fee and usually do not require an inspection.

Recreational fires are allowed during the restriction period. A recreational fire is a cooking or campfire, using charcoal or clean, untreated firewood, that is limited to two feet by three feet in size. These can occur in designated areas or on private property for cooking, pleasure, or ceremonial purposes.

Burning leaves, brush, and other vegetation creates smoke resulting in a number of hazardous air pollutants. In addition to increasing pollution levels, exposure to these pollutants can result in health effects ranging from allergies to cancer. Burning restriction is a proven method of controlling air quality. Residents and companies are encouraged to use alternatives to burning, like chipping, composting and recycling.

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Seasonal Burning Ban To Begin May 1; 12 Days Remain In The Burn Season

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The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau is reminding Hamilton County residents that beginning May 1, seasonal burning restrictions will take effect and continue through September 30. During this period no burning, commercial or residential, will be allowed in Hamilton County.

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This article is about the work being done to prevent unpleasant odors in Chattanooga.

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) - Many people will tell you that they've experienced obnoxious smells in parts of Chattanooga.

"They built all those apartments out there and they expect people to pay like a half a million dollars or what ever it is you know and it stinks," resident Walter Hall said.

"Eating outside and stuff it like ruins your appetite, ruins the whole meal."

On Tuesday night, city council members voted 6 to 2 to pass an amended ordinance tackling noxious odors and nuisances.

Some have said that it targets the poultry plants in the city.

Its sponsor, District 3 Council Member Ken Smith, said it's about animals and fowl, but added that the plants have been an issue with people for a long time.

"A city ordinance has a burden of 50 dollars a day if we tried to fine people. It's not about jobs. It's not about financially burdening a company. It's about saying let's be accountable to each other. You be accountable for what you're supposed to do. We'll be accountable to what we're supposed to do and then we'll be good neighbors," Smith said.

Smith said the Air Pollution Control Board governs organizations like the plants.

He said the ordinance enforces what they already do.

"We're not adding additional burdens. We're not adding additional regulation or requirement. We're simply saying we believe what you should be doing what's already required of you by your permit from the Air Pollution Control Board," Smith said.

He also said the ordinance addresses an issue that was brought to him about a storm drain that was covered in feathers.

"There's actually federal law prohibiting that type of thing. So it's one of those saying you have to contain your materials on your site. Let's make sure you're doing that in a good fashion," Smith said.

The ordinance moves forward for a final vote next week.

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Chattanooga City Council passes odor ordinance on first reading - WDEF

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) - Many people will tell you that they've experienced obnoxious smells in parts of Chattanooga. "They built all those apartments out there and they expect people to pay like a half a million dollars or what ever it is you know and it stinks," resident Walter Hall said.

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This is an article about there are still problems with the our earth and we need to fix them.

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All politics are local, and that has never been more apparent than in Mayor Andy Berke's State of the City address on Thursday.

The broad-brush topics he talked about are national - even universal: Environment, infrastructure, jobs and wage gaps, housing the homeless, education and safety.

But the emphasis he put on taking action was purely local.

To be sure, those are the same important issues a mayor of Chattanooga 50 years ago was talking about, but times are different now. The topics may be the same, but the nuances are shaped by new challenges and informed by history.

Berke reminds us that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Walter Cronkite's March 1969 newscast that shamed Chattanoogans with the pronouncement of our town as "the dirtiest" city in America, thanks to air pollution. Dirty was measured with years of data collected by the National Air Pollution Control Administration and the air pollution section of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, according to Chattanooga Times news stories at the time. The study was, in part, empowered by the Air Quality Act of 1967, a law which essentially gave state and local governments the primary responsibility for air-pollution control, but did not establish standards for that control, according to "Cleaning America's Air: Progress and Challenges," an online book produced by the University of Tennessee's Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

Many of us who lived here then recall the brown hazes that settled in the bowl of Chattanooga. We remember cars traveling downtown on cloudless, sunny days with headlights on to pierce the acrid, dirty fog.

Chattanoogans, with the nudge of that incriminating data from the federal health study, began making many other improvements, locally and nationally. Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker reached across the partisan aisle to Democratic Sen. Edmond Muskie and led the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act. It was about that time, too, that then-Chattanooga leaders began an effort to turn the city back to the river - something that continues to bring renewed economic success here.

Still, there is more to do. Especially if Chattanooga and other local cities are to remain, as Berke puts it, "resilient" as climate change begins to show its impact in our region.

Berke notes that just since he became mayor, the city has seen historic rainfall, floods, forest fires, and tornadoes - the kinds of extreme weather we'll see more of in coming years.

Fifty years of weather data shows Chattanooga has the 6th fastest rising temperature in the country, and last year, we slogged through our wettest year on record. Happy Earth Day.

With that in mind, Berke and other local mayors in a bipartisan group across county and state lines plan to work together this year to create a new regional resiliency plan for emergency response, disaster prevention and preparedness, business support, development planning and smart grids. We have a great head start with EPB's smart grid power repair system.

In one recent storm, more than 11,000 homes and businesses lost power in East Brainerd, but Berke says EPB's automated power grid technology, within 38 seconds, rerouted and restored power to 10,000 customers. Within seven minutes everybody had power again.

Another part of resiliency, Berke reminds us, is reducing the city's carbon footprint through better building. With its new solar panels, our airport is the first energy-neutral one in the country, and Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant will in the future provide some of its own pumping power from the sun.

Those efforts translate to taxpayer gains, too, saving about a $1 million a year.

"Our federal government is dysfunctional. State government doesn't really speak on some of these issues. I wish it were someone else's responsibility, but the things that I'm talking about are all of our responsibilities, and we can't just shrug them off with a wish," Berke said last week.

He was speaking in that moment about climate change, but his message - that we can't wait for Nashville or Washington to take action - is equally true for a resilient economy that depends on good education, economic mobility, safe communities and solid durable infrastructure.

Al Gore, a former vice president and another Tennessean, writes in the last chapter of the Baker Center's "Cleaning America's Air: Progress and Challenges," of America as a problem-solver.

"At other points in history, the United States has solved problems that many thought were intractable. Many contended that we couldn't stop polio, but we did. Others insisted that we couldn't end segregation or land on the moon. After 50 years we brought Communism down in a bipartisan way. We ended apartheid. We've even solved a global environmental problem - the hole in the ozone layer. We took the lead, and the rest of the world followed.

"It's up to us," Gore continued, "to use our democratic processes and our God-given democratic rights of self-expression and self-governance to make the tough choices - to do what Sen. Howard Baker and Sen. Ed Muskie did on behalf of our country in 1970. We need to force the technology, raise the standards, and take responsibility for the future consequences of our present behavior. And we need to bring people together to do it."

Gore was talking about national leaders.

But the truth is, it has to start locally. Just as it did - and will, again - in Chattanooga.

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Sohn: Chattanooga's message of resiliency perfect for Earth Day week

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All politics are local, and that has never been more apparent than in Mayor Andy Berke's State of the City address on Thursday. The broad-brush topics he talked about are national - even universal: Environment, infrastructure, jobs and wage gaps, housing the homeless, education and safety.

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This is the story of how Chattanooga went from being one of the dirtiest cities in America to clean air.

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The improvement was accomplished partly through industrial investments of some $15‐million in smoke control equipment, and partly through a large‐scale shift from coal to natural gas, electricity and some oil.

Federal officials have not issued air quality rankings of cities for several years, because of the variety of pollutant combinations. But recent semi‐official surveys have indicated that Chattanooga has advanced from one of the worst cities for soot to one of the better ones.

"A few years ago you couldn't walk two blocks without a white dress or a white shirt getting covered withsoot," one housewife said. "There's none of that any more."
Two Main Problems
Chattanooga, a city of 150,000, had two distinctive air problems:

¶It is rimmed by low mountains, which help the formation of frequent atmospheric "inversions," or aerial lids, which trap air below. These inversions exist about one‐third of the time.

6Unlike many cities grappling with an array of pollutant chemicals from industry and cars, Chattanooga's major problem has been particulates, from foundries and other heavy industries. The city gets its electricity from the distant Tennessee Valley Authority, so it does not have the common problem of air pollution from power generation.

But the story of its cleanup efforts follows the same lines as that of many other communities.

By 1966 atmospheric conditions had gotten so bad as to jeopardize its $100‐million a year tourist industry and to play some part in an exodus of municipal population, which dropped from 131,000 in 1950 to 119,000 in 1970.
Series of Articles
The facts of the city's plight were set forth to the public by the Chattanooga Times, in a series of articles by Springer Gibson. He reported that "fallout" averaged 27 tons per square mile annually and that an automobile dealer had had to spend $25,000 on a shed to protect his new cars from "fallout."

A civic committee was formed to take corrective action. Its initial efforts against entrenched polluters were so faltering that in 1968 the Federal Government withdrew assistance grants.

However, in 1969 the city enacted a meaningful air pollution code. It instituted a permit system for fume‐emitting equipment, banned the burning of coal with more than 2 per cent sulphur content and set a fine of $50 an hour on violations.

Jurisdiction over air pollution in the 587‐square‐mile county was placed with a 10‐member board headed by Dr. Marion Barnes, a local college president and a former industrial research chemist. There is only one industrialist on the board.

The city‐county air pollution control bureau, the board's operating arm, has a staff of 22 and a current budget of $278,000, of which $140,000 came from the Federal Government, which resumed grants. Altogether about $600,000 in public funds has been spent in the cleanup, of which $400,000 was Federal money.

The improvement was brought about mainly by persuasion. Only two legal actions are now pending.

One involves the Veliscol Chemical Corporation whose herbicide plant allegedly has been leaking too much of its product and killing surrounding vegetation.

The other action is against an Army ammunition plant, operated by I.C.I.‐America, Inc. It produces TNT and admittedly emits excessive fumes. The plant is in the midst of a $119‐million reconstruction program, of which $16‐million is said to be for pollution controls.

The litigation is over whether the plant, as a Federal facility, is subject to local ordinances, or only to a 1975 Federal cleanup deadline.

Representative of the improvement are the Wheland Foundry, which officials said had reduced its soot emissions from 7,000 tons a year to 35 tons, and the General Portland Cement Company, which has reduced its emissions from 5,680 tons a year to 273 tons.

Chattanooga's relatively small population and lack of traffic congestion have minimized the problem of automobile fumes, the major source of smog in some cities.

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Chattanooga, Once Sootiest City, Attains Clean Air

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Chattanooga, Tenn, once ranked by Fed officials as nation's sootiest city, is making progress in abating pollution; marked 'Clean Air Day' Oct 13 as end of 3-yr grace period given industry to reduce particulate emissions; pollution control bd repts of 200 industrial cos subject to deadline, 160 are in full

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This website provides information on Chattanooga pollution in Chattanooga.

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Illegal sewage discharges are a major source of pollution in the Tennessee River basin. Riverkeeper's findings indicate that partially treated and raw sewage are being discharged into the river and streams throughout the watershed. When raw sewage is discharged into surface water it carries with it bacteria, pathogens, and viruses that can be a threat to public health for many months.

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Important Information. Air Quality Index - What It Is. The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what ...