June 24, 2008
• Did BURNT Help Inspire Mayor Dean to Be More Committed to Improving the Environment?
In April, BURNT brought Dr. Neil Seldman president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance to Nashville and scheduled meetings for him. His meeting with the mayor may have helped to influence Mayor Karl Dean to write his first Executive order to aspire to make Nashville into the "greenest" city in the south. Read the Nashville City Paper article which quotes Seldman at http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=60988. Nashville and Tennessee consistently rank at the bottom of the list nationally for environmental issues.
April 16th, 2008
"Zero Waste In Tennessee"
Recycling for Profit, Protect Our Water, & Stop Environmental Injustice
Dr. Neil Seldman, President of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, will speak Wednesday 16 April at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 1808 Woodmont Avenue at 7:30 p.m. on "Zero Waste In Tennessee--Recycling for Profit, Protect Our Water, Stop Environmental Injustice." The public is welcome at no charge.
Neil Seldman is a national and international expert on managing solid waste as a resource for raw material in business and composting (NOT landfill). Neil Seldman is visiting Nashville from Monday 14 April to Thursday 17 April to speak with government agencies, large solid waste generators, and schools.
For more information, contact BURNT at 615-327-8515.
April 8, 2008
• Working to improve mosquito management in Nashville
Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) made a few changes to their poorly managed Pest Management Department because of pressure from the public, BURNT, and other organizations. They improved their notification policies but then proclaimed that it was not necessary to shut off the spray when pedestrians are near and they also would not allow people to opt out their properties. BURNT has an attorney who has volunteered his time to file a legal appeal. BURNT has agreed to cover the expenses of this appeal to help protect the citizens of Nashville from the department's irresponsible policies.
The MPHD's mosquito management program has a long history of inexcusable protocol failures, policy failures and medically unethical practices that have jeopardized the health and safety of citizens in our community. These failures have risked citizens' health to disease as well as from the misuse of pesticides. These actions resulted in the serious injury of at least 5 citizens and two civil lawsuits. See our link in the column on the top right for more information or www.nospraynashville.org for details about the issue and how to sign up for notification of the department's pesticide spraying.
October 30th, 2007
October 29th, 2007
- Letter: The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program.
Tennessee has joined a new national program to remove and recycle mercury switches from vehicles. Mercury is a toxic metal that can negatively impact our environment if not managed properly. The above letter is a letter to the Department of Environment and Conservation urging the organization to join The National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program.
-
BURNT Flyer to the National NAACP Convention--2007
BURNT attended the 2007 National NAACP Convention in Detroit and distributed approximately 400 copies of the brochure above. It is an encapsulated form of our 2006 Brochure on Environmental Injustice, which is listed on the AOL Search "Environmental Injustice, Landfills."BURNT is active with the NAACP as one of the few national organizations with active Branches and a national policy to fight environmental injustice. In fact, we became active with the NAACP because most of the Nashville pollution problems we fought were in minority and poor neighborhoods. We continue to work on the Dickson County Landfill. Landfill pollution of groundwater is a state wide problem, as is environmental injustice.
October 23rd, 2007
- Zero Waste in a State That Landfills
BURNT is fortunate to have two Board members--Bruce Wood and R.C. Bartlett--participating in the State Solid Waste Reduction Task Force. This group is mostly made up of local public works managers from across the state--urban and rural. BURNT appreciates being part of this planning effort. There is a lot of talent in Tennessee government--our challenge is to work effectively with those involved.
Letter: Solid Waste Reduction Task Force.
BURNT's goals for the Task Force are clear from the above letter--abandon the 1991 Solid Waste Act (which BURNT members went to the State legislature to support) which has become a paperwork exercise of reports, quotas, and landfill, landfill, landfill.
- BURNT Asks State Sanctions Against Metro Health Board.
Following years of air permit appeals based on Health Board denial of public hearings, due process, and citizen participation, in October 2005 BURNT filed a formal complaint with the State Air Quality Control Board. The Board members were interested and instructed State staff to investigate. Following lengthy submittal of documents and interviews, BURNT wrote a letter to the State asking for resolution based on a legal brief filed on 16 October 2007 in the Court of Appeals in the appeal of the North American Galvanizing Permit.
- BURNT at the State Legislature.
For the second year in a row, BURNT helped pass legislation which was used by the Tennessee Conservation Voters (TCV) to rate members of the General Assembly on environmental issues. Visit Tennessee Conservation Voters.
- Burnt: A Day Late for State Water Board Public Comments, Passes Them Along.
Twice a year, the State Water Quality Control Board has open mic--anyone can say what they want. Unfortunately, due to our work load on North American Galvanizing, BURNT was a day late for the comments--life in the fast lane as a volunteer. However, we passed the comments linked to some employees and will send them to the Water Board. From enforcement to composition of the Board to sewer sludge to impact of agriculture on water, we brought up good issues in a good way EXCEPT.........a day late.
October 8th, 2007
October 1st, 2007
- Burnt in the News.
The Tennessean recently published a 'three star' letter by BURNT President Bruce Wood, explaining how we've "traded the environment for paychecks."
- Letter to the Department of Justice.
BURNT continues battle against the Federal Government secrecy and Consent Decree which covers up years of failure to eliminate sewer overflow and requests that the Department of Justice vacate the Consent Decree with the State of Tennessee and Metropolitan Nashville.
September 24th, 2007
- A column in the Tennessean supporting curb side recycling and BURNT's not-too-thrilled (and yet to be printed) Letter to the Editor .
- State Means Business on Smoke Ban
BURNT congratulates Tennessee government and the people of the State because on "...1 October 2007 smoking will be banned in all public places in the state, including restaurants, hotels, sports arenas, and other workplaces." We have long understood that government--local, state, and national--are agents of change in the environment. Environmental injustice, tradition, and bad science hurt government decision making but BURNT is part of making that process better.
We also understand the broad sweep of changing human behavior to make healthy survival possible. From tobacco to seat belts, we can change our behavior in response to the lessons of public health. Now, we are each confronted with multiple chemicals taking precedence in our environment and bodies and we must recognize this as a serious challenge and an issue not to be taken lightly.
- New Data on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.
A look at how chemicals effect our bodies and acknowledgment that "chemical sensitivity does exist as a serious health and environmental problem..." An early look at a problem which has grown and continues to effect our bodies and the environment.
September 3rd, 2007
- Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee
BURNT is proud to belong to Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee. Taking place November 15-16th at David Lipscomb University in Nashville it is "an opportunity to bring together interested conservation organizations from across Tennessee in order to create, prioritize, and advance a statewide conservation agenda and action plan for implementation." If you are interested in attending visit the website above for more information.
-
- BURNT--Part of 'Commodores in the Community'
BURNT finally made the local establishment when a group of Vanderbilt's finest, the incoming class of 2011, visited with BURNT under the "Commodores in the Community" program. Eighteen freshmen were bussed to Tennessee Waste in Antioch to visit with Phillip Nappi, owner and manager. BURNT worked with Mr. Nappi when he first opened on Georgia Avenue with two bobcats, a few trucks, and a determined commitment that money can be made out of solid waste by reconciling construction and demolition waste. Tennessee Waste now has 50 employees and recycles 62% of the construction and demolition waste it picks up.
The students were next bussed over to Granbery Elementary School where BURNT officer Sherry Force explained her school drop off and food waste composting operation. When told the composting unit at Granbery was a smaller version of a composting unit at Disney World, one of the students said "Is there anyone who does not think that Disney World is the coolest place on earth?" Well, yes, at least one- but BURNT's Bruce Wood has learned to not bust people's chops unless really necessary.
So, BURNT gave the students a broad introduction to multiple chemicals and their effects on our bodies and the environment, what can be done to not only solve but make money off environmental problems, and the pressing fact that we have problems that must be dealt with for the sake of our planet's future. As incoming freshman, whether they realize it or not, our future will soon be in their hands.
August 27th, 2007
- Federal Take-Over of State Enforcement for Sewer Overflow
BURNT learned that the Federal Justice Department and the US EPA intervened in the long running enforcement by the State of Tennessee against Metro Sewer and Water for sewer overflow into the Cumberland River. These led to secret negotiations which violate the Tennessee Open Records Act, which requires all government business be public. BURNT wrote to officials seeking a public hearing. There will be a review in Federal Court, the Consent Decree will be put on the web, and questions are being formed about the process and the penalties. What we really want to know is why the Federal government intervened in State Enforcement against a local government, why Sewer overflow into the Cumberland River has been allowed to continue for 17 years, and is the pattern the same in scores of other cities where the Federal government has intervened?
Read the letter to Governor Bredesen and Mayor Bill Purcell in which, "BURNT requests State and Metro government to hold a public hearing on enforcement of Metro Sewer Overflow, why failing septic tanks were tolerated for years, leakage of sewage into groundwater, and the environmental injustice inherent in this pollution of the waters of the State."
BURNT Calls for a Public Hearing
- Metro Sewage Talks Closed to Public
An article in the Tennessean detailing the federal governments involvement in Metro's secret sewage talks, including commentary from our own Bruce Wood as well as a brief history of Metro's sewage problems from 1980 on.
August 26th, 2007
|
|
|
|
and 