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The Impact of Coal on the Clinch

East Tennessee's Natural Treasure—The Clinch River Valley has been named “One of the Last Great Places on Earth” by The Nature Conservancy because of its unusually high level of biodiversity of aquatic species. Clinch-Powell RC&D Director, Lindy Turner, has described the Upper Clinch as “a living museum” of all manner of species, some of which can be found nowhere else on earth, have already gone extinct elsewhere, or cannot be found elsewhere in this concentration of diversity.

The 850-acre Kyles Ford Preserve in Hancock County, Tennessee was created in an effort to protect and preserve the endangered species of freshwater mussels and fish inhabiting the Upper Clinch River. If the Clinch River were to become polluted, it would have a major impact on the region—not just the environment and animal inhabitants but the local people would suffer...possibly in health, definitely in quality of life.

Today, the aquatic inhabitants of the Clinch and Powell rivers are in trouble. The Powell has already lost many species due to toxins poisoning the water so that many scientists have already written it off as past the point of recovery. Now the Clinch has begun to exhibit the early symptoms of ecological peril as well and has been declared a threatened water by the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC).

Researchers, conservationists, and interstate conservation agencies have been organizing and coordinating resources in order to preserve and protect the Clinch River and its inhabitants, recently contracting a Memorandum of Understanding to restore the Clinch and Powell Rivers. Over the past decade, with the coordinating assistance of The Nature Conservancy, they've purchased tracts of land, created bioreserves along the Clinch river such as the Kyles Ford Mussel Preserve in Tennessee and several in Virginia and hope to someday close the gap between the two, consolidating them into the Clinch Valley Bioreserve.

At the Kyles Ford Preserve in Tennessee, the Clinch Powell RC&D works with The Nature Conservancy's Clinch Valley Program and other agencies and groups to address any threats to Clinch River's water quality and species in the local area. They've taken a practical and sustainable approach intended to benefit not only the environment but the communities under their watch. They've assisted in efforts to update agricultural equipment and practices that maintain or improve soil and water quality. To help fund Kyles Ford Preserve restoration efforts, Clinch Powell RC&D has developed an ecotourism facility called River Place on the Clinch [www.riverplaceontheclinch.com] to generate interest and awareness of the Kyles Ford Preserve and the recreational opportunities provided by the Upper Clinch River in this remote, often forgotten rural area.

As to the larger picture, while The Nature Conservancy and partnering organizations attempt to conjoin and expand the protected areas in Tennessee and Virginia, a major challenge to cleaning up the river for decades occurs farther upstream—the overall top polluting power plant in Virginia, American Electric Power's aging Clinch River Power Plant and accompanying mining operations.