[TN-Bird] Off Topic: TVA Clear-cutting and litigation filed to try and stop destruction
- From: Viclcsw@xxxxxxx
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 18:29:08 -0400 (EDT)
This message comes too late for today's meeting and I don't know the
outcome, but this is an important issue to follow and become involved with.
It
involves many states and affects many acres of habitat and the flora and
fauna that live there.
In the enclosed email and attachments you will find many details and
information about where to get more information.
Vickie Henderson
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knox County
----Original Message-----
From: knoxtrees <_knoxtrees@xxxxxxxx (mailto:knoxtrees@xxxxxxx) >
To: knoxtrees <_knoxtrees@xxxxxxxx (mailto:knoxtrees@xxxxxxx) >
Sent: Thu, May 17, 2012 12:38 am
Subject: Re: TVA update 5-17-12
Hi:
The TVA litigation is heating up, to say the least.
I have attached TVA’s Response to Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary
Injunction. Also attached is Plaintiff’s Reply and Affidavits filed by
attorney, Don Vowell.
The Motion for Preliminary Injunction to force TVA to stop cutting trees
and spraying vegetation with herbicide, pending the litigation, will be
heard today, May 17, at 9:30 am, in U.S. District Court before Judge Tom
Varlan. The Court is in the 3rd floor of the Federal Building, 800 Market
Street, directly across the street from the City County Building. You enter
thru the rotunda entrance. The hearing will likely be very contentious based
on the pleadings recently filed. I do not know whether Judge Varlan will
make any rulings from the bench, or just take it under advisement.
I apologize for not being able to give advance notice about the hearing.
TVA had requested a continuance on Tuesday evening and it was unclear until
Wednesday late afternoon that the hearing would definitely take place on
Thursday.
TVA’s legal position as I understand it, at least as related to the Motion
for a Preliminary Injunction is that there is no environmental impact from
their current policy, and what they are doing now is not part of a new
policy. Therefore, TVA claims it was not required to do a full report on the
environmental impact of this policy. Of course, it is a laughable
argument that cutting down millions of trees, harming private and public
property,
killing untold numbers of nesting birds, etc. does not equate to harm to
the environment. I guess TVA does not believe that trees are important to
the community or the environment.
It is equally laughable to claim that this fairly recent massive
destruction of mature trees 15 feet or taller, across 16,000 miles of
transmission
lines in seven states, is not anything new in the way of policy. The fact
that there are old trees still standing proves that TVA did not require them
to be cut down in the past when many other trees were removed. TVA claims
there is no irreparable harm being done at all, and thus, an injunction is
not necessary to prevent them from continuing to cut down the trees and
spreading herbicides everywhere. I’d say once the trees have been cut down,
the shrubs and grass killed with herbicide, or the birds killed, the harm
is certainly irreparable and thus an injunction is required pending the
resolution of the litigation. Yet, with a straight face, TVA denies the
obvious common sense conclusions.
In other words, TVA arrogantly argues that they can do whatever it sees
fit, regardless of the consequences to private and public property, the
environment or wildlife, and regardless of the legal requirements or the case
law.
All of TVA’s arguments are strongly contested in the attached Plaintiff’s
Reply Brief.
If you haven’t already done so, please call or write to the federal
officials. They need to hear from many people requesting that they make
public
statements and directly contact TVA’s CEO Tom Kilgore and Board Chairman
Bill Sansom.
Sen. Alexander—Jane Chedester 545-4253
_Jane_Chedester@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:Jane_Chedester@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) (underline _ between
first and last name)
Sen. Corker—David Leaverton 637-4180 _David_Leaverton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:David_Leaverton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) (underline _ between first and
last name)
Cong. Duncan—Bob Griffitts 523-3772 _Bob.Griffitts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:Bob.Griffitts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Please feel free to continue to contact your local and state officials, as
well as Bill Sansom at 546-1291 or _bill.sansom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:bill.sansom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
In other developments: There is now a web site concerning this issue.
It has been put together by people in Chattanooga who have now joined the
lawsuit. They also are on Facebook.
Please check it out at: _www.sites.google.com/site/ourtenntrees/_
(http://www.sites.google.com/site/ourtenntrees/)
You can also sign the on-line petition on the web site, or at:
_http://www.change.org/petitions/ceo-tom-kilgore-we-request-tva-change-its-policy-on-t
ree-clearing#_
(http://www.change.org/petitions/ceo-tom-kilgore-we-request-tva-change-its-policy-on-tree-clearing#)
. You can see almost all of the
media coverage with a Google search of “TVA Tree Cutting.”
I also suggest if you haven’t been by Deane Hill lately, please check out
what has been done both at Summit Medical’s property, and just to the
east, where many other large trees have now been removed far away from the
lines. Check out the “replacement trees” at Summit Medical, which in fact are
just small shrubs, many of which look like they are already dying, probably
due to lack of water.
If you become aware of TVA cutting trees, please let me know immediately.
Who knows what neighborhood or commercial property will be next on the
chopping block? When will all the trees on Gleason Road on the West Town Mall
property be cut down? When will all the trees along I-40 between the
exits at Papermill and Alcoa Hwy. be cut down? When will the trees next to
Kohl’
s in Deane Hill or Lowe’s on Peters Road be cut down?
The battle continues, and we must build on the momentum we have achieved
so far. We have made much progress in the past couple of months,
especially in bringing this issue some much needed attention and publicity.
TVA now
knows it has a fight on its hands. However, our goal is to get this
policy changed, and so far that has not occurred. We must continue to try to
influence the decision makers at TVA, especially its Board of Directors. We
must spread the word to others and get them to join our campaign.
Please feel free to contact me at any time about this matter. I
appreciate your support.
Larry Silverstein
_knoxtrees@xxxxxxxx (mailto:knoxtrees@xxxxxxx)
693 1256
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