Key Pipeline Hearing Delayed

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A key hearing on a challenge to the legality of a permit issued for a 12-mile pipeline to the Nolichucky River has been postponed, court records show.
The hearing had been scheduled for Friday (Feb. 12) but will now be held Feb. 26 in Nashville before Chancery Court Judge Claudia Bonnyman.
The suit filed against the Tennessee Department of Transportation challenges the legal basis for the permit granted to the Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County. The pipeline has already been built and will be used by US Nitrogen in the production of ammonium nitrate.
A group of local property owners contend that permits like the one issued to the industrial development board can only be granted to public utilities.
In pending motions to dismiss, the state, joined by US Nitrogen and the development board, contends that the landowners bringing the action lack standing to challenge the permit.