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Environment, Schmironment. A little smog never hurt anyone—it helps clear your lungs out. And what's so bad about sprawl? A man's got to be able to stretch his arms and move his legs. How many trees can one city have?
Sadly, this seems to be the attitude of much of Knoxville. This year the city continued a recent trend of placing on the 10 worst cities list nationally in terms of smog pollution (attributable to old coal power plants, cars, sprawl, etc.). This year we ranked eighth. We're likely to stay at that level until TVA cleans up its power plants (which is unlikely, given new rules proposed by the Bush administration) and cars become cleaner or we drive less. Driving less seems also unlikely, with Knoxville placing eighth in a new study on sprawl, which showed Knoxvillians drive an average 35.6 miles a day.
Coster Shop
The most sensational environmental story of the year centered on the Coster Shop redevelopment area. During the last few years, city officials have been working on redeveloping so-called "brownfield" areas such as the Coster Shop, once a busy trainyard for the Norfolk Southern Railroad. In 2001, the city worked out a deal under which Eagle Distributing would take over 30 acres of the Coster Shop land to build a distribution center there.
That's where things got interesting.
The city paid Burnett Demolition and Salvage Co. nearly a million dollars to demolish buildings and remove that debris from the site. Rather than do just that, Burnett also moved contaminated soil along with the debris into a sink hole area in South Knoxville and a farm in Heiskell. Shortly after that, well water in those areas tested positive for contaminants and pollution. The city denied any responsibility; Deputy Mayor Craig Griffith's statement that "no soils left the Coster Shop for points beyond" about summed up the Ashe administration's reaction. But it has agreed to clean up the South Knoxville site. Meanwhile, Eagle Distributing Co. pulled out of the Coster Shop agreement. Funny, but there haven't been any offers on the property since.
Looming problems
Another serious environmental crisis loomed on the horizon, with the hemlock-feasting wooly adelgids, an invasive species accidentally introduced from Asia in the '70s. Foresters fear the insect could devastate the Eastern U.S. hemlocks, comparing it to the American chestnut blight of the early 20th century. They hope that introduction of a predator beetle might save the trees. So watch out! With West-Nile-Virus laden mosquitoes and fire ants making their appearance in East Tennessee, 2003 may well be the "Year of the Bug."
The year 2002 may have been the most vigorous year in Knoxville preservationist history. It was the year in which the mayor initiated a program of non-voluntary historic protection on threatened buildings and the year in which local preservationist society Knox Heritage hired its first full-time executive director, Kim Trent. It suffered some losses, including the antebellum Maxey House in South Knoxville, razed to make way for condos. But overall, preservationists didn't seem quite as melancholy about lost heritage and opportunity as they have so many years in the past.
December 18, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 51
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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Environment