Advocacy
Essential Infrastructure Designation
TCA was actively involved with a broad construction industry effort to classify construction as Essential so that member companies could continue to operate across Tennessee. From the earliest days of the pandemic, construction was designated as essential in Tennessee and our members continued to provide jobs and income to our employees, and to participate in building physical assets for our communities.
Fly Ash - History of Tennessee's Ongoing Effort
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) 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.
A face-to-face meeting in late November 2019 attended by the Commissioners and senior staff of both the Tennessee Department Of Transportation and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation resulted in a formal acknowledgement of TCA’s position. This in turn led to a joint request from the group (TDEC, TDOT and TCA) to meet with senior TVA management to advocate 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 - Significant Progress in 2020
This meeting was scheduled to be held at TVA’s corporate offices in Knoxville, TN in March of 2020 but the meeting was postponed due to the pandemic. The meeting was eventually moved to a virtual format and was held on July 24, 2020 thanks in large part to the persistence of both TDOT and TDEC to bring TVA to the table. (See agenda here)
The virtual meeting was attended by TVA CEO Jeff Lyash and his senior staff, along with the Commissioners and senior staff of both TDOT and TDEC. The concrete industry was represented by Alan Sparkman (TCA) and Major Ogilvie (Cemex).
A direct result of this meeting was the appointing of Working Group with representatives from TVA, TDOT, TDEC, TCA and the concrete industry. The task of the working group is to explore ways to increase the amount of fly ash available to the concrete industry both now and in the future. This group continues to meet regularly, with TVA already working to change some of their processes to prevent quality fly ash from being wasted in landfills.
Local Building Codes
TCA’s work with local building code officials was mostly paused in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions that resulted in the cancellation of nearly all code-related trade shows and in-person educational events. TCA continued communication with code officials regarding virtual events held by NRMCA and others that dealt with codes, energy-efficiency and resilient construction.
Advocacy with Tennessee Department of Transportation
In addition to the work with TDOT on the TVA fly ash issue, TCA continued to engage with TDOT throughout 2020. Although regional and statewide in-person meetings had to be cancelled, active virtual engagement continued on behalf of ready mix producers throughout 2020. The annual Statewide TDOT/TCA meeting was replaced with a virtual meeting hosted in the Virbela virtual environment and included as part of TCA’s first virtual Concrete Conference.