Tennessee
We must protect our natural resources
Under the current leadership, our waterways have become much more polluted. From 2010 to 2020 our state went from 32.4% of our waterways being impaired to 55.4%. Impaired means that a waterway can no longer serve at least one of its intended functions. About 50% of these waterways are impaired due to e.coli contamination. Of the 39 listed in Knox County, 20 are contaminated with E. coli. This is the result of agricultural waste restrictions being loosened along with runoff and overflow of our existing sewage systems which can no longer handle the load.
This means infrastructure. We must invest in upgrading our sewage systems to not only handle our current population, but also plan for future growth.
We must also address unlined coal ash ponds in our state, like the one at the Kingston Coal Plant that polluted our rivers, the surrounding land and our citizens when the dyke retaining the ash pond failed, resulting in the deaths of over 30 workers.
In 2020 the EPA extended the usage of unlined coal ash ponds through 2038. We have seen what happens when one of these ponds fails and the destruction and deadliness of the materials it releases into the environment right here in East Tennessee. Not only do they pose a higher risk of failure than lined ponds, but they also leach into the groundwater potentially contaminating the drinking water of the surrounding communities. We should not only move away from the use of finite resources with toxic waste products, but ensure that we protect our waterways and drinking water for the people of Tennessee. We can require these operations take measures to protect our citizens.
We must hold companies doing business in Tennessee accountable for what they are releasing into our environment.
I understand profit is the driving principle behind any business, but we should ensure they are doing it the right way and hold any business that operates in Tennessee accountable to a standard that preserves our resources for generations to come.