http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/nov/27/state-company-reach-tentative-deal-on-cumberland/
By- Andy Sher
Friday, Nov. 27, 2009
NASHVILLE -- Tennessee officials tentatively have agreed to pay a Florida-based company $500,000 for partial mineral rights to about 4,200 acres along Walden's Ridge near Soddy-Daisy.
If accepted by the state and the company, Lahiere-Hill LLC of Florida, the agreement would end a nearly three-year court battle over the company's "harvesting," or commercial digging, of what's known as "mountain stone" in and around Cumberland Trail State Park. Such stone has become very popular for use in home patios, fireplaces and facades.
Members of the State Building Commission's Executive Subcommittee unanimously approved the proposed settlement this week.
"We consider this process today to be the first step in that approval process," Elizabeth McCarter, senior counsel in the state Attorney General's Environmental Division, told subcommittee members.
Ms. McCarter said the state is getting what it wanted all along, noting "that was our desire from the very beginning -- to make sure this trail could remain secure for the public and for recreational purposes."
The dispute began in early 2007 when hikers reported that contractors for Lahiere-Hill, which owns mineral rights on the property, had moved front-end loaders and other large machinery into the park to tear rock from ravine walls. The rubble wound up blocking the trail, Ms. McCarter said.
Attorneys for the state, which owns the property's surface rights -- which are different than mineral rights -- marched into Hamilton County Chancery Court with a request for an injunction, arguing that, under Tennessee law, mineral rights did not include mountain stone because the stone is not technically a mineral.
The case has rolled around in various courts ever since, but the lawsuit will be dropped if the tentative agreement is accepted.
The proposed agreement now goes to the full State Building Commission. If approved there, it would require the consent of the governor and the state comptroller of the treasury before going into effect, officials said.
Attorney Rick Hitchcock, of Chattanooga, who represents Lahiere-Hill, said he was unable to comment on the matter at this point.
"This involves litigation and settlement in discussion, and I'm not really in a position to speak," he said.
Joe Sanders, chief counsel for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said of the proposed settlement that "I think it's a very good deal."
Tennessee already owns the surface rights to the land, and the agreement calls for the state to purchase partial mineral rights on about 1,811 acres along the Cumberland Trail.
Lahiere-Hill would retain oil and gas rights and have the legal right to tunnel under the park to reach minerals on other property it owns.
As part of the deal, Lahiere-Hill also would give up its ability to take stone through the mineral rights it holds on another 2,400 acres of land -- also part of Cumberland Trail State Park -- in the North Chickamauga Creek area. The company would retain its other mineral rights on that land.
The dispute put a spotlight on tensions on Walden's Ridge and the Cumberland Plateau as companies or contractors increasingly go onto state or privately owned land where they hold mineral rights, arguing that mountain stone is a mineral and they have a right to claim it.
Attorneys for three conservation groups -- the Cumberland Trail Conference, Save Our Cumberland Mountains and the Sierra Club -- jumped in and filed to intervene legally in the case.
One of the groups' attorneys said, if the claims of Lahiere-Hill were upheld, "it could open the door to this kind of rock extraction on thousands of acres of public and private lands against the wishes of the surface owners."
The issue moved into the Legislature, where the Bredesen administration pushed a bill to protect owners of surface rights, including the state. That drew condemnation from some lawmakers who blocked the measure and accused the administration of infringing upon mineral owners' rights.
This year, lawmakers passed a more limited law covering land on which the state has surface rights. The law requires rock "harvesters" to post a bond to guarantee they will restore the property after they're done.
AGREEMENT DETAILS
* The state would purchase partial mineral rights from Lahiere-Hill on about 1,811 acres along the trail in Hamilton County. The state would own coal rights and the company would abandon its claim to sandstone rights. Lahiere-Hill would retain its oil and gas rights.
* Lahiere-Hill also would give up its ability to take stone through mineral rights it holds on another 2,400 acres of land -- also part of Cumberland Trail State Park -- in the North Chickamauga Creek area. The company would retain its other mineral rights on the land.
Source: State officials, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Both environmentalists and business interests claim legislative victories.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tennessee: Green issues? Call it a split
Both environmentalists and business interests claim legislative victories.
By- Andy Sher
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jun/28/tennessee-green-issues-call-it-split/?local
NASHVILLE — Tennessee environmental groups and business interests clashed repeatedly over water and other environmental issues in this year’s General Assembly, but both sides are walking away claiming some significant victories.
“We started out with 14 bad bills, and we got half of a bad one,” said Renee Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network.
Wayne Scharber, vice president for environmental regulation at the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said, “I think we did well” in the legislature this year, calling it a “responsible year.”
Environmentalists say one of their major victories was their unexpected, last-minute success on the House floor in blocking coal industry-pushed legislation to relax standards for the release of selenium into streams and rivers.
“The reality is I don’t think the people of Tennessee are really excited about putting pollutants like selenium in water and telling them it’s OK,” said Tennessee Conservation Voters Executive Director Chris Ford.
Selenium, which can be healthful in tiny amounts, is toxic in large doses. Both sides quarreled over the safety of substituting current state standards for other standards proposed but never adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Bush administration.
“Various people have got different perspectives about it,” Mr. Scharber said. “They (critics) want to react to it in an extreme situation rather than analyzing what are the real facts about it.”
The selenium bill failed on a 49-41 vote on the House floor. It needed 50 votes to pass.
“I can understand and certainly empathize with people who want to protect the environment, but it’s not just like there’s something under every rock that will kill us,” said Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, a House Conservation and Environment member who supported the bill. “The amount of selenium that we proposed was not out of line.”
Meanwhile, a coalition compromising the Tennessee Chamber, developers, road builders, the coal industry and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, is celebrating passage of legislation revising what is classified by the state as a stream subject to regulatory oversight.
One section of the bill, signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Bredesen, provides property owners, developers and farmers more guidance on when a watercourse is considered a stream and when it is a “wet weather conveyance” that flows only in response to runoff from precipitation.
“That was great,” said Chuck Laine of the coal industry-lobby group FACTS, noting it would “let us determine what’s a ditch and what’s a stream. If it supports aquatic life, it is a stream.”
But environmental groups are irate over a provision that allows outside hydrologists hired by property owners to decide whether a watercourse is a stream or a wet weather conveyance. The state Department of Environment and Conservation would have 30 days to review the hydrologist’s determination and another 30 days to raise detailed objections and reject it.
“The mainstream environmental community opposed this all the way through. We just lost,” said Tennessee Conservation Voters contract lobbyist Stewart Clifton, calling the hydrologist provision a “crazy scheme” to let privately paid consultants direct state policy.
Mr. Scharber, however, said the issue has “been blown out of proportion in saying that just by hiring a person, you automatically have a right of that being absolute. It’s not.”
“We were arguing a point the department was not being responsive, and obviously, if you look at some of the time frames spent on rendering decisions on applications over the years on these permits ... they were not being as timely and responsive as they should be.”
Rep. Floyd, meanwhile, said he was pleased by passage of legislation aimed at better protecting state parks from “rock harvesters.” The bill was brought in response to the stripping of rock from Cumberland Trail State Park near Chattanooga by Florida-based Lahiere/Hill Partnership, which owned the mineral rights to the land.
It redefines “mineral” to include stone when it is located on state land. The bill says rock miners must obtain a permit and post a bond assuring they will repair damage before they can begin mining on state property. Rep. Floyd said he wanted to include private property owners but he feared it could have caused the Bredesen administration-backed bill to fail as it did last year.
“I’m coming back this next year with bills to protect private landowners to work out something that would protect them like the state parks,” Rep. Floyd said. “I didn’t want to mess their bill up.”
Tennessee: Green issues? Call it a split
Both environmentalists and business interests claim legislative victories.
By- Andy Sher
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jun/28/tennessee-green-issues-call-it-split/?local
NASHVILLE — Tennessee environmental groups and business interests clashed repeatedly over water and other environmental issues in this year’s General Assembly, but both sides are walking away claiming some significant victories.
“We started out with 14 bad bills, and we got half of a bad one,” said Renee Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network.
Wayne Scharber, vice president for environmental regulation at the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said, “I think we did well” in the legislature this year, calling it a “responsible year.”
Environmentalists say one of their major victories was their unexpected, last-minute success on the House floor in blocking coal industry-pushed legislation to relax standards for the release of selenium into streams and rivers.
“The reality is I don’t think the people of Tennessee are really excited about putting pollutants like selenium in water and telling them it’s OK,” said Tennessee Conservation Voters Executive Director Chris Ford.
Selenium, which can be healthful in tiny amounts, is toxic in large doses. Both sides quarreled over the safety of substituting current state standards for other standards proposed but never adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Bush administration.
“Various people have got different perspectives about it,” Mr. Scharber said. “They (critics) want to react to it in an extreme situation rather than analyzing what are the real facts about it.”
The selenium bill failed on a 49-41 vote on the House floor. It needed 50 votes to pass.
“I can understand and certainly empathize with people who want to protect the environment, but it’s not just like there’s something under every rock that will kill us,” said Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, a House Conservation and Environment member who supported the bill. “The amount of selenium that we proposed was not out of line.”
Meanwhile, a coalition compromising the Tennessee Chamber, developers, road builders, the coal industry and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, is celebrating passage of legislation revising what is classified by the state as a stream subject to regulatory oversight.
One section of the bill, signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Bredesen, provides property owners, developers and farmers more guidance on when a watercourse is considered a stream and when it is a “wet weather conveyance” that flows only in response to runoff from precipitation.
“That was great,” said Chuck Laine of the coal industry-lobby group FACTS, noting it would “let us determine what’s a ditch and what’s a stream. If it supports aquatic life, it is a stream.”
But environmental groups are irate over a provision that allows outside hydrologists hired by property owners to decide whether a watercourse is a stream or a wet weather conveyance. The state Department of Environment and Conservation would have 30 days to review the hydrologist’s determination and another 30 days to raise detailed objections and reject it.
“The mainstream environmental community opposed this all the way through. We just lost,” said Tennessee Conservation Voters contract lobbyist Stewart Clifton, calling the hydrologist provision a “crazy scheme” to let privately paid consultants direct state policy.
Mr. Scharber, however, said the issue has “been blown out of proportion in saying that just by hiring a person, you automatically have a right of that being absolute. It’s not.”
“We were arguing a point the department was not being responsive, and obviously, if you look at some of the time frames spent on rendering decisions on applications over the years on these permits ... they were not being as timely and responsive as they should be.”
Rep. Floyd, meanwhile, said he was pleased by passage of legislation aimed at better protecting state parks from “rock harvesters.” The bill was brought in response to the stripping of rock from Cumberland Trail State Park near Chattanooga by Florida-based Lahiere/Hill Partnership, which owned the mineral rights to the land.
It redefines “mineral” to include stone when it is located on state land. The bill says rock miners must obtain a permit and post a bond assuring they will repair damage before they can begin mining on state property. Rep. Floyd said he wanted to include private property owners but he feared it could have caused the Bredesen administration-backed bill to fail as it did last year.
“I’m coming back this next year with bills to protect private landowners to work out something that would protect them like the state parks,” Rep. Floyd said. “I didn’t want to mess their bill up.”
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Rock mining legislation falls short, some say
Sunday, May 3, 2009 , 12:00 a.m.
By: Pam Sohn
Chattanooga Times Free Press
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/03/rock-mining-legislation-falls-short-some-say/
Tennessee legislation intended to protect state-owned property from rock miners is winning limited praise, and many want to know why it doesn’t apply to private landowners.
“I’m glad to see they’re getting what they’ve got. It will help the Cumberland Trail. The only problem is it doesn’t go far enough to protect the private landowner,” said Barbara Levi, a former Save Our Cumberland Mountains president and longtime member.
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said the bill, now on its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature, requires rock harvesters to get a permit and post a bond before rock harvesting on state property.
Before the legislation, the state’s only regulatory authority over rock mining was through water pollution permits.
“We believe this is a good step in protecting the taxpayers’ investment in state-owned land from the effects of rock harvesting,” she said.
John Savage, a landowner in Grundy County, fears the new legislation could be detrimental to private landowners.
“One possible outcome for this bill will be that rock mining operations will turn their attention away from state-owned lands to privately held lands,” he said. “This would not be a desirable outcome.”
Last year, a similar administration bill that did protect private lands was defeated when rock mining interests swamped lawmakers with complaints.
Representatives of the rock mining industry could not be reached for comment Friday.
After the new bill passed last week, Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said he hopes to bring legislation that will provide similar protections for private landowners.
Prompted by the rock-mining destruction several years ago of about 100 yards of the Cumberland Trail, the Bredesen administration-drafted measure redefines “mineral” to include stone when it is located on state land. Rock miners must obtain a permit and post a bond assuring they will repair damage before they can begin mining on state property, according to the bill.
Rock mining, a form of strip mining to obtain Tennessee mountain stone now popular throughout the country for home building and landscaping, has become a point of debate in the Cumberland Plateau region.
In the early age of timbering and of coal mining in the Appalachians, many poor land owners sold those rights. When the property was sold the mineral rights could not be conveyed with it, so many landowners don’t own the mineral rights to their land. Rock miners have used mineral rights to obtain the stone.
“For someone to be able to come in on your land and remove rock is not right,” Mrs. Levi said. “When these laws were written about mineral rights 200 years ago, they were talking strictly about coal and oil.”
By: Pam Sohn
Chattanooga Times Free Press
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/03/rock-mining-legislation-falls-short-some-say/
Tennessee legislation intended to protect state-owned property from rock miners is winning limited praise, and many want to know why it doesn’t apply to private landowners.
“I’m glad to see they’re getting what they’ve got. It will help the Cumberland Trail. The only problem is it doesn’t go far enough to protect the private landowner,” said Barbara Levi, a former Save Our Cumberland Mountains president and longtime member.
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said the bill, now on its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature, requires rock harvesters to get a permit and post a bond before rock harvesting on state property.
Before the legislation, the state’s only regulatory authority over rock mining was through water pollution permits.
“We believe this is a good step in protecting the taxpayers’ investment in state-owned land from the effects of rock harvesting,” she said.
John Savage, a landowner in Grundy County, fears the new legislation could be detrimental to private landowners.
“One possible outcome for this bill will be that rock mining operations will turn their attention away from state-owned lands to privately held lands,” he said. “This would not be a desirable outcome.”
Last year, a similar administration bill that did protect private lands was defeated when rock mining interests swamped lawmakers with complaints.
Representatives of the rock mining industry could not be reached for comment Friday.
After the new bill passed last week, Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said he hopes to bring legislation that will provide similar protections for private landowners.
Prompted by the rock-mining destruction several years ago of about 100 yards of the Cumberland Trail, the Bredesen administration-drafted measure redefines “mineral” to include stone when it is located on state land. Rock miners must obtain a permit and post a bond assuring they will repair damage before they can begin mining on state property, according to the bill.
Rock mining, a form of strip mining to obtain Tennessee mountain stone now popular throughout the country for home building and landscaping, has become a point of debate in the Cumberland Plateau region.
In the early age of timbering and of coal mining in the Appalachians, many poor land owners sold those rights. When the property was sold the mineral rights could not be conveyed with it, so many landowners don’t own the mineral rights to their land. Rock miners have used mineral rights to obtain the stone.
“For someone to be able to come in on your land and remove rock is not right,” Mrs. Levi said. “When these laws were written about mineral rights 200 years ago, they were talking strictly about coal and oil.”
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tennessee: State wants damages for rock mining
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press
By: Pam Sohn
Tennessee officials want to amend a legal complaint over rock mining to seek additional damages now that mining has continued in the Cumberland Trail State Park for more than 18 months.
The request to amend the state’s initial complaint says Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown’s ruling last year not to grant an injunction against mining except on the narrow Cumberland Trail itself — as well as the subsequent wait through the appeals process — allowed unnecessary damage to park property.
“Since the court’s temporary injunction order of April 2007 only protected the trail proper, extensive damage has been caused to the state’s surface estate on that portion of the park property on which this court allowed defendant to continue its harvesting activities unimpeded,” states the motion, filed in the case brought in February 2007 by Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr. and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke.
The mined rock, known as Tennessee mountain stone, increasingly is used for decorative landscaping and home building.
Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, declined comment, noting the case remains under litigation.
The attorney for the mineral rights owner and miners, Chattanoogan Rick Hitchcock, also would not comment.
But the chairman of the Cumberland Trail Conference, a private park support group that funds trail building but is not part of state government, was pleased with the request.
“There’s just an awful lot of damage. It looks very much like a strip mine,” said David Reister. “When I think about it as being a state park — if they did all that damage, it certainly makes some sense” to seek damages.
In August, when the Tennessee Appeals Court sent the case back to Chancellor Brown, jurists said the mineral rights owner had the right to mine minerals from beneath the property, but not the right to damage the surface property. Since rock mining is a strip-mining process and can’t be done by tunneling beneath the surface, the state now wants to seek recompense for all of the mined area.
A hearing is set on Nov. 17 to hear the motion. The case began early in 2007 when Cumberland Trail Conference workers and state officials discovered a portion of the Cumberland Trail near Soddy-Daisy had been destroyed by rock miners hired by the mineral rights owners, Elmer C. Hill and Lahiere/Hill Partnership in Destin, Fla.
The property is owned by the State of Tennessee and is part of the 300-mile long Cumberland Trail State Park. The state, saying more than 450,000 acres of public and private property was at risk, sought an injunction in Chancellor Brown’s court to stop the mining anywhere on state property. Chancellor Brown ruled in favor of the mineral rights owner, restricting the mining only within 25 feet of the Cumberland Trail itself. Earlier this week and on the heels of the case being returned to Chancellor Brown, a group of outdoors and environment organizations — Save Our Cumberland Mountains, the Sierra Club and Mr. Reister’s Cumberland Trail Conference — filed a motion seeking to intervene in the rock-mining lawsuit.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/nov/08/tennessee-state-wants-damages-rock-mining/?local
By: Pam Sohn
Tennessee officials want to amend a legal complaint over rock mining to seek additional damages now that mining has continued in the Cumberland Trail State Park for more than 18 months.
The request to amend the state’s initial complaint says Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown’s ruling last year not to grant an injunction against mining except on the narrow Cumberland Trail itself — as well as the subsequent wait through the appeals process — allowed unnecessary damage to park property.
“Since the court’s temporary injunction order of April 2007 only protected the trail proper, extensive damage has been caused to the state’s surface estate on that portion of the park property on which this court allowed defendant to continue its harvesting activities unimpeded,” states the motion, filed in the case brought in February 2007 by Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr. and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke.
The mined rock, known as Tennessee mountain stone, increasingly is used for decorative landscaping and home building.
Sharon Curtis-Flair, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, declined comment, noting the case remains under litigation.
The attorney for the mineral rights owner and miners, Chattanoogan Rick Hitchcock, also would not comment.
But the chairman of the Cumberland Trail Conference, a private park support group that funds trail building but is not part of state government, was pleased with the request.
“There’s just an awful lot of damage. It looks very much like a strip mine,” said David Reister. “When I think about it as being a state park — if they did all that damage, it certainly makes some sense” to seek damages.
In August, when the Tennessee Appeals Court sent the case back to Chancellor Brown, jurists said the mineral rights owner had the right to mine minerals from beneath the property, but not the right to damage the surface property. Since rock mining is a strip-mining process and can’t be done by tunneling beneath the surface, the state now wants to seek recompense for all of the mined area.
A hearing is set on Nov. 17 to hear the motion. The case began early in 2007 when Cumberland Trail Conference workers and state officials discovered a portion of the Cumberland Trail near Soddy-Daisy had been destroyed by rock miners hired by the mineral rights owners, Elmer C. Hill and Lahiere/Hill Partnership in Destin, Fla.
The property is owned by the State of Tennessee and is part of the 300-mile long Cumberland Trail State Park. The state, saying more than 450,000 acres of public and private property was at risk, sought an injunction in Chancellor Brown’s court to stop the mining anywhere on state property. Chancellor Brown ruled in favor of the mineral rights owner, restricting the mining only within 25 feet of the Cumberland Trail itself. Earlier this week and on the heels of the case being returned to Chancellor Brown, a group of outdoors and environment organizations — Save Our Cumberland Mountains, the Sierra Club and Mr. Reister’s Cumberland Trail Conference — filed a motion seeking to intervene in the rock-mining lawsuit.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/nov/08/tennessee-state-wants-damages-rock-mining/?local
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Hike to raise awareness a success!
Our TTA multi-chapter hike was a great success with 35 hikers coming from 7 different Tennessee Trails Chapters to hike the Soddy Segment of the CT.
Here is a trip report from Don Deakins of the Soddy Daisy Chapter...
Weather on this hike was far from optimum... temperature was high and the humidity was higher. Despite unfavorable conditions, this far ranging crowd from all over middle and east Tennessee was able to tour areas of destruction caused by rock mining and still complete the hike in allotted time. Thanks to Tony and Millette Jones for organizing an excellent event. Excerpts from video recorded during this event are available here.
This is a 6 minute high quality video and therefore a very large 316 meg MPEG-4 file that requires Quick Time Player to view. Everyone should have Quick Time Player, but if not, get it here.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hike to the Soddy Creek Segment- Sept. 13
Join us for a multi-chapter Tennessee Trails Association hike to the Soddy Creek Segment of the Cumberland Trail.We will hike from the Hotwater Rd. trailhead in Soddy Daisy to view the devestation caused by the rock harvesting. The hike will be about 6 miles moderate. Bring water, snacks and a trail lunch. We will eat dinner at the Cookie Jar restaurant after the hike. Wear sturdy shoes and consider long pants to protect from Poison Ivy and hiking poles to help with the loose rock through the section where mining is taking place.
So far we've had people sign up from our Murfreesboro, Clarksville, East Tennessee, Soddy Daisy and Nashville Chapters. For more info contact Millette Jones at 615-397-9588 or millette.jones@comcast.net
Sign up early as there is limited parking space at Hotwater Rd. and we may need to leave some vehicles at the ballfields in Soddy.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Rock Mining Decision
Here is a link to the recent court decision if you would like to read the full text.
State of Tennessee v. Lahiere-Hill, LLC
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddp4xg5k_1c8t6hmsx
State of Tennessee v. Lahiere-Hill, LLC
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddp4xg5k_1c8t6hmsx
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