Landfill to wedding spot?
County looks for DOE help
Kemron, a contractor, continues cleanup for the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency at the former American Nuclear site on Blockhouse Valley Road. The Anderson County Commission voted to seek federal funding to help plan how to use the area. (photo:Dwayne Wilder )
The Anderson County Commission approved applying for a grant from the DOE to help with making plans for the Blockhouse Valley Landfill area, possibly to include conservation area and event center, at its regular August meeting.
County Mayor Terry Frank told the county Operations Committee there are almost 300 acres around the Blockhouse Valley Landfill site the county could use, with the former landfill only a small portion.
Frank said she wants to use the funds to begin gauging what the community and stakeholders want at the site, and making plans based on that.
She spoke of a nature preserve and compared the site to one in Louisville, Kentucky, where a dump had become a garden and event center.
“I know the county passed a resolution that it would be a nature preserve,” she said. “So, what’s envisioned would be walking trails.
“Is there some recreation component?” she asked the Operations Committee regarding Blockhouse Valley.
The DOE plans to give up to $42 million in grants to governments to make up for past environmental damage it’s caused.
Anderson County’s government is eligible to use these funds along with other organizations and governments in Anderson County and the surrounding area. The projects involved must be recreational or environmental to qualify.
Frank spoke of a county dump in Louisville that became a botanical garden with an educational facility and an event space that hosts weddings.
The buildings, she said, sat on top of “platforms and piers” due to the dump underneath them.
“The botanical garden itself was really beautiful,” Frank said, adding that individuals donated most of the plants. “It’s incredibly beautiful. There’s waterfalls. There’s rocks.”
She said people had already planted poplars on top of the old Blockhouse Valley Landfill.
“It’s already lovely in and of itself,” she said of its current state.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been cleaning up radioactive buildings and soil on part of the site, left over from the American Nuclear company’s operations there in the 1960s and 1970s.
Commissioner Tracy Wandell who represents the Claxton area, said he believes the work will be finished in October.
Frank said the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation might like to be involved in the park effort as well.
“They’ve cleaned up the nasty stuff,” she said. “They’ve turned it back over for reuse to recreation.”
The vote to apply for the grant from DOE at Commission was unanimous. Commissioner Steven Verran made the motion, and Smallridge seconded.