ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Farmers and neighbors said they’re coming together to fight against a proposed natural gas plant.
Lockertsville Road is filled with land farmed by people like Will Halsey and Pete Krantz.
"We cut the timber. We built this house — my house, another house, and all of our barns and buildings and things. We built them ourselves," Krantz said.
But this way of life could soon change. The Tennessee Valley Authority wants to build a new power plant next door.
"We don’t like it, not a bit," Krantz said.
Powerlines already run through their land.
“And my heart sank, and my stomach turned, and it’s been kind of a rough week,” Halsey said.
They fear their livelihoods are in jeopardy.
"We’re concerned about all the construction, machinery. We’ve been told it’s a long pipeline, and it follows the TVA line," Krantz said.
Krantz hopes to be buried on the property he's taken care of for 45 years. Now their future is unclear.
“This property has been my life, and means a whole lot to me but it pales in comparison to what Pete and other people on this street who’ve grown up here, who’ve been working this land for decades at this point — it’s a big deal," Halsey said.
TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said they want to build a natural gas plant and battery storage system on the site. He noted they would use gas to create a fire to generate electricity.
"To help us pick up capacity when we closed the second unit over at Cumberland Fossil Plant near Clarksville," Brooks said.
Several miles of pipeline would go in too.
"Middle Tennessee, of course as you know is growing rapidly, the entire TVA system is growing six times the national average," Brooks said.
Neighbor Nanette Malher is worried about her property value and eminent domain.
“What are they going to take from us? We are the taxpayers. We pay their salaries, they should be upfront with us," Malher said.
She said there's a lot of mistrust when it comes to pipelines and power plants.
“My main concern is they’re not going to be honest and upfront with what they want to do, and they’ve already been sued for not providing safety information about these plants,” Malher said.
Now, they're rallying the troops to fight back. "They’re doing this in the name of progress, but it’s going to destroy a lot of things," Malher said, "We have a simple life out here we just want some peace, we want to be left alone, this is not the place for a methane gas plant — a combustion whatever — and we don’t want it, and they’re in for a fight."
There was a public meeting at the David McCullough Community Room on Frey Street at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Children held signs outside the community meeting that said things like 'if you breathe air you should care:'
“Natural gas is 50 to 60% cleaner than the generation it’s replacing which would be coal, there’s no byproduct for a natural gas plant,” Brooks said, "Natural gas gets us to where we want to be which is a carbon free, carbon neutral future—we’re aspiring to reach that by 2050, and in order to get there with what we have right now, natural gas allows us to bring more renewable energy online."
But neighbor Tracy O'Neill is worried about water pollution, air quality, noise, and imminent domain.
"Where are those pipelines going to go? We’re talking about a reduction in private property rights, aside from our quality of life, we’re definitely going to experience a reduction in quality of life, these are going to be jet engines blowing off emissions every 30 minutes, or however long they do it, I don’t know," O'Neill said.
Tracy said she feels misled too. She thought the property was originally going to be used for solar energy after TVA bought it years ago.
"I’m very concerned," O'Neill said, "Fragmentation of habitat, bio-diversity, pollution of the water, air quality,"
Residents need to voice concerns publicly by June 27. TVA would like the new plant to be operational by 2028.
Just this month several environmental groups filed suit against TVA in federal court. They want construction on the new gas-fired plant in Cumberland City stopped. Part of the lawsuit claims TVA had already made plans for a gas-fired plant even though they asked for three alternatives to replace the Cumberland Fossil Plant.
