In response to the lawsuit, TVA has announced that it is going to publish an environmental impact statement that will address changes to its vegetation management policy, including a “border to border” approach by which it would clear the entire right-of-way, including the historic buffer zones, which include vast numbers of 50-100-year-old trees. The Plaintiffs earlier submitted their comments on the scope of the EIS [2017-03-18 Comment on scope of EIS, and yesterday submitted a supplemental comment. 2017-03-22 Supplemental Comment on scope of EIS Also yesterday, the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club submitted its comment on the scope of TVA’s proposed environmental impact statement on its vegetation management program. 2017-03-22 Sierra Club EIS comment
The key thing to realize is that unless there is sustained and widespread opposition, TVA will likely adopt the border-to-border approach and destroy all of the trees in the right-of-way. If you own property on the right-of-way, or know someone who does, now would be a good time to get involved. Go to the TVA Trees Facebook page. Today is the last day to comment on the scope of the EIS but there will be other opportunities to comment, including public meetins all over the TVA region.
