I do agree. We need to get together and form a plan that will work; not one we just talk about. There are a lot of good ideas out there. I have been pushing one myself. Coming together to share each idea, then putting them all together is what we need. We also need some people who can present it to TVA in a manner that will make them, maybe listen.
I have been to the recent meetings. Some who post here know who I am and what I have been doing.
I am not officially associated with any group any longer, but I continue to help the group I was involved with. I am sure that group would love to take the lead in this. They have great research. They have good ideas.
It's obvious that our elected officials (except for a few) either don't know what to do, or they just do not care. So, it has to be our time now. It is our community. We need to take it back.

But the County Commission still wants what TVA does. That is our major problem now. There is still a possibility that the commission will vote to ust the landfill. That issue has just been shelved. It isn't dead. I know that many of them, if they voted on it today, would vote it in. Oh, they would use the excuse that it would be the last option, but they would still do it.
I agree that presenting a plan through them would be the best way. But we have to make them listen to us first. We have about as much chance with the commission right now as we do with TVA.

had the same thoughts and we had a preliminary organizational meeting of what we called K.A.R.E.R.C.
Kingston and Roane Economic Recovery Council. The idea was to put together a group of business people and community members to brainstorm and formulate a wish list to be presented to TVA. About the same time, Farmer organized his Long Term Recovery Committee which was supposed to accomplish the same thing. Since we were starting to look redundant, we (mistakenly) let it die.

I talked to Roane Alliance and they were very interested in participating as well. Brad Parish, who knows everybody, had started to develop interest from some fairly high level contacts. Perhaps we could reconstruct it. I love the idea of a petition and going directly to the County Commission and TVA at the same time.

I guess I am off base on this. Let me know if I can help.

are on the right track.

CC, my way of thinking was just the opposite. This time, what would be good for the averag Joe, would be good for business. That's why I want it to come from us. It's about getting our community back. We do that and the businesses that may be suffering would benefit. Put money first and we get left out.
Why do most think about money all the time? I live on a fixed income, don't stand to make a dime out of this, but have never stopped working since day one.
And my opinion is probably worth a penny.

You get citizens and different groups meeting, to decide on wording of a petition.

Tva will end up purchasing more then enough land in Swan Pond to permanently store it there. We do not want it in a landfill in Midtown. And we do not want trucks tearing up our roads and causing accidents that could take lives.
However, TVA said just yesterday, in a metting with two mayors (that I know of) they didn't want to store it on the farm they are going to purchase because it was a "green friendly" piece of property. Then why buy it?
They do not want to keep it there. Think about it. They can purchase all of that land. Then they can haul it out of there, clean up the purchased properties, then sell it to developers, the county, or whoever they want. So down the road, they can actually make money on a disaster they caused.
I would vote for them to store it in industrial waste storage ponds on property they have bought or will buy. I use the term pond, however it would be stored dry. After one pond is filled, cap it and seal it. After a few years, they can test the soil to see if it has leaked any contamination. If not, they can do the same thing they did before, make soccer fields, baseball fields, ect. There would be enough property for parks or whatever you wanted it used for. Of course, there would be around the clock monitoring if they did that.
But if things keep going the way they are, TVA again does things their way and they will be the only ones who benefit. Just think of what that property would go for in years to come.
Well, that would be an outline of my idea. Anybody else?

And I'll shut up. TVA will still make millions on the lakefront property alone, they have purchased. In 8 to 10 years, they will have it cleaned up as good as it was before, if not better, so they can sell it.
So, I ask this. Why can't we get together with a plan and try to convince them that they should give back to a community they destroyed?

That makes no sense at all. Buying that property with future profit motives in mind doesn't wash. It will be many years before they get their money back. I think that at this point they just want everybody out of the area to avoid health and property related law suits down the road. That would also give them enough seclusion to do as they please on their own land. Pressing them to store and cap the sites on their own land makes a lot of sense. Why couldn't the pond where it came from be lined, refilled, dried and capped?

I moved this to another thread: (link...)

The Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network could take on this task. We would need to make sure everyone is in agreement to do so. I'll email the listserv and see what they say and get back to this thread with an answer.

Petitions are a good way to show what the community wants. Hopefully the officials will listen.

County-Commissioner, Chairman-Mayor Beets sold us out to the TVA by choice (he couldn't miss the chance to kiss up to the VIPS).

County Executive Farmer sold us out to TVA by inaction (he was overwhelmed).

County Commission was AWOL.

Our State and Federal legislative delegations serve their largest constituencies who happen to be outside Roane County (money and votes talk - BS walks).

A handful of people (Randmart and I among them) were pushing everything being advocated on this thread over two and a half months ago.

No one cared then - no one will listen now.

Boss Beets, County Exec., County Commission, and the rest have pretty much aligned themselves with TVA.

The time for planning is past.

You are wrong on that assessment. Many of us cared then. We do have a chance now. Just because we weren't in the public eye doesn't mean we we not doing anything. There were, and still are, more then a handfull of other people trying to do something. I didn't even know about this site until about 3 weeks ago. But there are many intelligent people on it.
You sound like others I know; that it is too late for anything. NEVER underestimate what people can do when they come together as one.
I'm not going to get involved in political inside fighting or point fingers at people and tell them it's too late. It's never too late.
I have not met some that post on here, but I have a feeling that there are MANY intelligent people that do know how to organize quickly. And when they do get started on this, people will take notice real fast. And for the record, I'll be there too if they need me to be.

Just because you never saw anybody in public trying to do things for the community doesn't mean they weren't doing it. Some people stopped their private lives when the disaster happened and started to work immediately. Maybe they did not immediately have the "pull" or "contacts" that our elected officials were supposed to have, but I'd bet, over the long run, they have been in contact with people that our elected officials never even thought about.
Not once, before now, did I ever hear of ANY elected official try to get more water testing from independent agencies. Not once did I hear ANY elected official challenge TVA's air monitoring. That's just two of many things the people have done. And changes have been made.
Just cleaning the coal ash up never was the whole issue. Short and long term health issues, and safety needs are also.
I challange any official to look me in the eye and tell me that they have done more than I, and a lot of other wonderful people have, that were at the REAL site from day one. We didn't fly over or go to places TVA wanted us to go. We did leg work, not just mouth work. We,ve traveled both inside the state and outside the state meeting with people you never thought about.
I have not heard of any elected official going out to Swan Pond and knocking on the doors of people that are sick. And now, when it gets close to the election, you say nobody cared then but you? We didn't do anything then, and can't do anything now? Well, keep your eyes and ears open. There is still a lot more to come that no elected official could ever do. When you see something happening on the news, please don't get on camera and say an elected official did it.
This makes me rethink my choices come election day.
I will not comment on this point of the post again. It's time to do what the original post meant, come together as a group and have done what "We, The People" think need to be done.