Judge Grants Motion in US Nitrogen Suit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Chancery Court judge has approved a motion to compel US Nitrogen to disclose details of how they determined the right of way being used by the chemical firm for the installation of a 12-mile pipeline from Midway to the Nolichucky River.
In a four-page order issued Wednesday Davidson Chancery Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle granted the motion to compel sought by six landowners challenging the legality of the pipeline.
The landowners sought the motion after the chemical firm refused to answer a series of questions relating to how the right-of-way was determined.
The six landowners contend that there was no right-of-way and that the pipeline actually impinges on the property of two of the plaintiffs, Don Bible and Jack Renner.
The plaintiffs had submitted 16 questions to US Nitrogen but the company never answered them.
The controversial pipeline was installed after the Tennessee Department of Transportation granted the company a permit to utilize the right of way.
The other defendants in the case, TDOT and the Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County, have stated they don't have the information needed to answer the questions.
US Nitrogen had argued that the information sought by the landowners was irrelevant.
The pipeline is used to pump millions of gallons of water from the river for use in the manufacturing of ammonium nitrate. Some of the water is pumped back into the river.
Initially the landowners suit was dismissed, but an appeals court later re-instated the case.
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