Why We Must Fight the Nuclear Waste Dump in West Tennessee
By Roy Herron
One of my happiest memories as a young boy was going duck hunting with Dad. On the way to the hunt, even in the dark, by the moonlight you could see the beauty of the West Tennessee countryside. We would drive by small communities and through towns where business owners soon would be getting ready for a day of commerce.
If you had told me then that the day would come that an outside company and nameless, faceless federal bureaucrats would threaten that beauty and our communities by trying to make West Tennessee a nuclear waste dump I would have thought you were crazy.
Today, that nightmare is on the verge of reality as plans are being laid to move hundreds of jobs from Milan, Tennessee to Middletown, Iowa and to convert the Milan facility to the demilitarization and storage of depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium in West Tennessee? According to the World Health Organization, just inhaling dust from the radioactive substance risks lung cancer and leukemia. I am concerned about those health risks, but I am even more concerned that once the federal government starts dumping depleted uranium in West Tennessee they will then send other even more toxic and dangerous nuclear waste.
The study being used to justify the attempt to move jobs to Iowa and relocate the demilitarization and storage of radioactive depleted uranium to West Tennessee is clearly flawed. In Section 9 of the report entitled “Persons Consulted” they list the “Environmental Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Environmental Scientist and Environmental Coordinator” of the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in Milan, Tennessee. They also list that they consulted with the “Senior Buyer, Environmental Manager and Senior Scientist” at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown, Iowa.
How convenient. Why didn’t they talk to our area business leaders? Why didn’t they consult with the Chambers of Commerce in Carroll County, Gibson County or Madison Counties? Did they bother to talk to the men and women who work at the Milan Arsenal to see how they feel about the plan to destroy their jobs? It seems as if the “report” writers already had their minds made up. They just talked to a handful of bureaucrats and then wrote the report.
According to the study, which can be found at http://www.jmc.army.mil/milan-ea.pdf , the company driving the process, American Ordnance, LLC, says dryly that they estimate “an initial loss of approximately 580 to 605 jobs” at the Milan facility.
The section on potential environmental consequences that is even more galling. On page 10 of the report, those who conducted the study simply state, “there would be no significant adverse direct, indirect, or cumulative impacts to any environmental, cultural, or physical resource.”
Says who? What happens when the Chamber of Commerce is recruiting a new plant and they have to disclose that they would be locating near a dump for depleted uranium? What happens to the hundreds of families who will suddenly find themselves without a paycheck or benefits? What happens to our industrial and business recruiting in the region when it becomes known that Milan is a place where the government has a nuclear waste dump?
Perhaps these bureaucrats should consult their history books about the formation of Reelfoot Lake which is just an hour from Milan. A massive earthquake created Reelfoot Lake when the Mississippi flowed backwards. This area is near the New Madrid fault, where the possibility of earthquakes is very real. I wonder if the people who wrote this study studied the geology of the region and consulted with experts on earthquakes. If they did, it is not in this thin and perfunctory study.
I am firmly and absolutely opposed to this proposal. In spite of the dry language and dismissive tone of the study, losing another 500 plus jobs will be another devastating blow to our area, which has already suffered from the bad trade deals that have killed so many companies and destroyed so many jobs.
If they want to turn the Milan facility into a nuclear waste dump, they will have to do it over my dead body. We need to join together to fight this proposal. We need elected officials, business leaders, workers, working families and small business owners to make clear that we want to keep the jobs in Milan and keep the nuclear waste out. If we stand silently, who knows how much nuclear waste they will ship into Tennessee over our roads, bridges and railways.
You can sound off and weigh in on the issue. You can tell the government and company you oppose the plan to make Milan a nuclear waste dump. You can mail your comments to: Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Highway 104 East, Suite 1, Milan TN, 38358, ATTN: Environmental Assessment. Comments may be emailed to: PublicAffairs-MilanAAP@conus.army.mil. All comments must be submitted on or before July 26.
I have set up a page on my website at www.royherron.com where you can fill out a form and have it will forward your comment directly to their email address. I would be pleased if you would send me a copy of what you send to the bureaucrats. You can mail your comments to P.O. Box 5, Dresden, TN 38225 or email it to me at info@royherron.com.
Together we can protect our homes, our families and future.
Senator Roy Herron represents nine counties in West and Middle Tennessee and has represented Carroll County, where part of the Milan Arsenal is. An attorney, businessman, and former minister, Herron is a candidate for Congress.
One of my happiest memories as a young boy was going duck hunting with Dad. On the way to the hunt, even in the dark, by the moonlight you could see the beauty of the West Tennessee countryside. We would drive by small communities and through towns where business owners soon would be getting ready for a day of commerce.
If you had told me then that the day would come that an outside company and nameless, faceless federal bureaucrats would threaten that beauty and our communities by trying to make West Tennessee a nuclear waste dump I would have thought you were crazy.
Today, that nightmare is on the verge of reality as plans are being laid to move hundreds of jobs from Milan, Tennessee to Middletown, Iowa and to convert the Milan facility to the demilitarization and storage of depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium in West Tennessee? According to the World Health Organization, just inhaling dust from the radioactive substance risks lung cancer and leukemia. I am concerned about those health risks, but I am even more concerned that once the federal government starts dumping depleted uranium in West Tennessee they will then send other even more toxic and dangerous nuclear waste.
The study being used to justify the attempt to move jobs to Iowa and relocate the demilitarization and storage of radioactive depleted uranium to West Tennessee is clearly flawed. In Section 9 of the report entitled “Persons Consulted” they list the “Environmental Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Environmental Scientist and Environmental Coordinator” of the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in Milan, Tennessee. They also list that they consulted with the “Senior Buyer, Environmental Manager and Senior Scientist” at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown, Iowa.
How convenient. Why didn’t they talk to our area business leaders? Why didn’t they consult with the Chambers of Commerce in Carroll County, Gibson County or Madison Counties? Did they bother to talk to the men and women who work at the Milan Arsenal to see how they feel about the plan to destroy their jobs? It seems as if the “report” writers already had their minds made up. They just talked to a handful of bureaucrats and then wrote the report.
According to the study, which can be found at http://www.jmc.army.mil/milan-ea.pdf , the company driving the process, American Ordnance, LLC, says dryly that they estimate “an initial loss of approximately 580 to 605 jobs” at the Milan facility.
The section on potential environmental consequences that is even more galling. On page 10 of the report, those who conducted the study simply state, “there would be no significant adverse direct, indirect, or cumulative impacts to any environmental, cultural, or physical resource.”
Says who? What happens when the Chamber of Commerce is recruiting a new plant and they have to disclose that they would be locating near a dump for depleted uranium? What happens to the hundreds of families who will suddenly find themselves without a paycheck or benefits? What happens to our industrial and business recruiting in the region when it becomes known that Milan is a place where the government has a nuclear waste dump?
Perhaps these bureaucrats should consult their history books about the formation of Reelfoot Lake which is just an hour from Milan. A massive earthquake created Reelfoot Lake when the Mississippi flowed backwards. This area is near the New Madrid fault, where the possibility of earthquakes is very real. I wonder if the people who wrote this study studied the geology of the region and consulted with experts on earthquakes. If they did, it is not in this thin and perfunctory study.
I am firmly and absolutely opposed to this proposal. In spite of the dry language and dismissive tone of the study, losing another 500 plus jobs will be another devastating blow to our area, which has already suffered from the bad trade deals that have killed so many companies and destroyed so many jobs.
If they want to turn the Milan facility into a nuclear waste dump, they will have to do it over my dead body. We need to join together to fight this proposal. We need elected officials, business leaders, workers, working families and small business owners to make clear that we want to keep the jobs in Milan and keep the nuclear waste out. If we stand silently, who knows how much nuclear waste they will ship into Tennessee over our roads, bridges and railways.
You can sound off and weigh in on the issue. You can tell the government and company you oppose the plan to make Milan a nuclear waste dump. You can mail your comments to: Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Highway 104 East, Suite 1, Milan TN, 38358, ATTN: Environmental Assessment. Comments may be emailed to: PublicAffairs-MilanAAP@conus.army.mil. All comments must be submitted on or before July 26.
I have set up a page on my website at www.royherron.com where you can fill out a form and have it will forward your comment directly to their email address. I would be pleased if you would send me a copy of what you send to the bureaucrats. You can mail your comments to P.O. Box 5, Dresden, TN 38225 or email it to me at info@royherron.com.
Together we can protect our homes, our families and future.
Senator Roy Herron represents nine counties in West and Middle Tennessee and has represented Carroll County, where part of the Milan Arsenal is. An attorney, businessman, and former minister, Herron is a candidate for Congress.
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