EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

April 2006 Meeting


Monday, April 10, 2006
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Pellissippi State Technical Community College
10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville
Lamar Alexander Building
Room 223

APRIL PRESENTATION

Watershed as Brownfield:
The Coal Creek Assessment Process in Tennessee

Berny Ilgner
ARCADIS
Knoxville, Tennessee

Abstract

Faced with the decline of the coal industry and as a result, the decline of their local economy, the Coal Creek Watershed communities had to reinvent themselves. Organized by the vision of the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation and Mr. Barry Thacker, the communities discovered that they had many assets from which to build an economic recovery plan. That is, these communities have their roots in the long coal mining history of the area and now are available to use that history to establish a tourism-based economic model for recovery. To assist these efforts, a brownfields grant was awarded to Anderson County to address environmental concerns in the hopes that removing the negative perception of the mine-scarred lands and correcting real problems would assist in the area&rsquos recovery. The challenge, however, is how to utilize the brownfields program for a watershed with numerous non-point sources. The presentation will address the project to date and how an approach is being crafted to apply brownfields to this mine-scarred watershed.


 

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