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Public Policy

TCA has been active on this critical issue since late 2017. TCA filed a report with the judge overseeing a lawsuit brought against Tennessee Valley Authority for their practices in handling fly ash at their Gallatin, TN power plant. (See report here) TVA lost this suit and predictably appealed the judge's ruling that approximately 12 million tons of fly ash would have to be relocated or otherwise handled to eliminate contamination of the nearby Cumberland River. 

 

TCA staked out a position on behalf of the concrete industry for TVA to manage fly ash as a resource rather than a waste product. We communicated this message to TCA members, Tennessee legislators and other segments of the construction industry. Ultimately, TVA ended its appeal by signing a consent order in June of 2019 - this consent order included the option for TVA to beneficiate and sell fly ash rather than simply move fly ash into lined ponds or pits for long-term storage. See the order here

 

This was a victory but by no means the final battle. TCA’s Board of Directors approved a position statement formally asking TVA to treat fly ash as a resource and we began circulating this document for signatures to demonstrate support to TVA. (See document here. You can still add your name here! ) The Tennessee Road Builders Board of Directors also approved this position statement and both the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Tennessee Division of Environment and Conversation were brought into the conversation to further support the concrete industry’s position.  At a face-to-face meeting in late November 2019, both state agencies (TDOT and TDEC) agreed with TCA’s position and will be advocating for TVA to officially incorporate beneficiation of fly ash into their plans for meeting the terms of the consent order regarding the TVA Gallatin plant.

Fly Ash

As a direct result of our 2017 strategic planning process, TCA hired a local codes consultant in 2018 to help educate the TCA Board and member companies about the codes process as well as to help TCA increase our presence and build relationships in the Tennessee code community. Mr. Terry Cobb, formerly Director of Codes for Metro Davidson County (Nashville) for nearly 20 years, was hired by TCA in mid-2018. One of Mr. Cobb’s first tasks was to help in assembling a current email list of Tennessee code officials – primarily in response to a request from Mr. John Loyer (NRMCA) as part of NRMCA’s efforts to lobby against the Tall Wood code changes that were presented to the International Code Congress in late 2018. Mr. Cobb helped create a local codes strategy that was reviewed by the TCA Board in November of 2018 to guide our ongoing efforts in this important arena in 2019 and beyond, and Mr. Cobb represented TCA and the concrete industry at a December meeting of code officials from several southeastern states. 

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Building on the momentum of 2018 with local codes groups, TCA presented to several Tennessee regional groups in 2019 including presentations to the E TN Building Officials Association (Feb); SW TBOA (April); MD TN TBOA (June) and the TN Fire and Codes Association (Dec). The December presentation included a full day of "Concrete and Codes" information, presented primarily by Mr. Jim Baty of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, who also serves on the ACI-332 Residential Concrete Code committee. 

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