THE TC DEMOCRAT

Rep. Eddie Yokley (D-Greeneville) advanced a proposal to standardize testing the waters flowing through Tennessee’s borders from neighboring Haywood County, North Carolina. The bill is one of the legislator’s several pro-environment and conservation bills to move forward regarding East Tennessee’s Pigeon River.

From the House Caucus:

On Wednesday, House Bill 3482, a bill to establish standards for drawing water samples out of the Pigeon River, passed out of the House Conservation & Environment Committee.

“The pollution problems of the Pigeon River are too important for Tennesseans to be sitting on the sidelines,” said Representative Eddie Yokley (D-Greenville) who is sponsoring the legislation. “This bill will allow us to set specific standards in how we test the water so that we can have definitive, researched evidence of the contamination we’re seeing in our river”

House Bill 3482 would require, under the Water Quality Control Act, that any water sample drawn to test the quality of the Pigeon River be drawn within one quarter mile of the border separating Tennessee and North Carolina, in the center of the river. A water sample drawn from the river must meet both the apparent and true color standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency and be evaluated against Tennessee water quality standards.

“We know there are entities outside the borders of our state that are directly impacting the water flowing into Tennessee,” Yokley said. “Thanks to this bill, we can start building an accurate database of the issues going on in the Pigeon and isolate the culprit.”

(h/t The Donkey's Mouth)

Labels: Eddie Yokley

# posted by THE TC DEMOCRAT @ 9:53 AM