December 20, 2007 Roe Junction Residents To City: Clean Up or We Intend To Sue

Numerous residents of Roe Junction filed an environmental lawsuit against Koch Foods several months ago over continuing sewage odors that began when the Koch Foods deboning facility opened in 2005 in the Progress Parkway in the Witt area.

Now these residents have filed a notice of intent to file a citizen suit against the City of Morristown for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act "Unless a Tennessee or federal agency commences and diligently prosecutes an action in court to address these violations within sixty (60) days."

The citizens' December 6th letter of intent which was addressed to the City of Morristown was copied to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

One of the alleged violations of the Clean Water Act is discharging sewage without a permit through overflows of raw sewage from the City's Claude Collins Road pump station onto "neighboring properties...and a nearby creek." The letter states that these discharges have resulted in "public and private nuisances and health hazards." (See NOTE below).

Other allegations cited are the City's (1) failure to "properly maintain" its sewerage system, (2) failure to enforce pretreatment standards, (3) allowing "prohibited discharges by Koch Foods' Progress Parkway facility," (4) failing to take "effective enforcement action" against Koch Foods, and (5) allowing Koch Foods to "continue discharging in violation of its pretreatment permit."

Roe Junction residents reported and complained about sewer odors for two years before filing a lawsuit against Koch Foods for its violations of City sewer ordinances.

Roe Junction residents also reported and complained to the City about sewage overflows onto streets and property in the area prior to filing the December 6th letter of intent to sue if violations of the Clean Water Act are not addressed by a federal (EPA) or state (TDEC) agency.

NOTE: If a recent Citizen-Tribune article is correct, there may have been up to three other sewage overflows of which the Roe Junction citizens were apparently not aware. That same article states that the City has now decided to study options for addressing the overflows.

[UPDATE: The above link to the Tribune article does not work. Apparently, the Tribune deactivates links to its older articles rather quickly. You can access the old Tribune articles/archives on a pay-per-view basis at the Tribune website, or these same articles are also available at the Morristown-Hamblen Library on microfilm for free.]