ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (WKRN) — As Middle Tennessee continues to grow, one environmental group has claimed that an Ashland City highway property is being used to dump construction debris.
Tennessee Riverkeeper has filed a lawsuit over a spot they’ve named “Dirt Mountain." They claimed that runoff from the property is leading to pollution in the Cumberland River. The suit names two property owners operating under the name “RR Farms.”
Barry Sulkin, who is with Tennessee Riverkeeper, has been an environmental scientist for decades. However, he never imagined his next assignment would stem from an issue in his own backyard.
“I got roped into it and it sort of became my project,” Sulkin said.
Sulkin said that he and other neighbors have grown more and more concerned over piles just down the road from where they live. They claimed that those piles include materials like excavated dirt and rocks and are there without a proper permit.
"At first we were told it was things like a road being built up to a cell tower, somebody doing some farming, but it didn't really make sense," Sulkin said. "It's not just dirt. Then we started seeing truck after truck coming and dumping things that were like concrete and asphalt and other things you see coming from a construction site."
Sulkin said that the bigger problem comes when it rains. Neighbors have reported excess mud accumulating in Sulphur Creek, which then flows into the Cumberland River.
A neighbor sent News 2 a video of water in a creek on his property after a storm. The video showed the neighbor filling up a glass with brown, murky liquid from the creek. Tennessee Riverkeeper has also said that it received a complaint from a man who struggled to get his boat to his boat dock.
“In terms of just the environmental science of it, it smothers the bottom. Anything that lives there, like small bugs that become fish food, and eggs of fish and other aquatic life can get smothered out by the mud," Sulkin said. "Aside from that, there are likely various chemicals associated with construction debris which we have not yet tested for because it shouldn't be happening."
The front of the property displayed compliance documents showing its right to operate. Tennessee Riverkeeper said that it is suing to have the site designated as a landfill, which would impose stricter regulations on how the property deals with waste.
"They can still build it legally, but we shouldn't bear the burden," Sulkin said. "We, the neighbors, people around these other sites, should not have to bear that cost in how they live."
News 2 reached out to the legal counsel listed in the lawsuit for RR Farms and is still awaiting a reply.
