Residents Challenge New US Nitrogen Operation

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Several Greene County residents are calling on Tennessee officials to hold a public hearing and fully investigate a new operation at US Nitrogen, the Midway firm which is a subsidiary of a major explosives manufacturer.
The calls for an investigation and a public hearing were registered recently with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the agency being asked to approve US Nitrogen's recent application to begin producing RDR-8, a hazardous and flammable substance used in the manufacture of explosives.
Charging that the new production "constitutes a new use that has not been previously reviewed or approved," Robert Drake wrote that the new operation "only increases the quantities of hazardous materials produced and stored at US Nitrogen."
Bonnie Hilliard wrote in an email that a public hearing was needed before the company begins producing hazardous and flammable materials used in explosives.
"We are watching and aware," she concluded.
In a recent filing with TDEC US Nitrogen said it planned to produce some 43.4 million gallons of RDT-8 a year. The new operation will include four storage tanks with a combined capacity of 128,400 gallons.
The company told the state the operation will require the presence 365 days a year of two rail cars. The rail cars will be used for storage and the oil from tankers will be transferred to a mix tank where the oil and an emulsifier will be combined to produce a bulk ammonium nitrate emulsion.
Veronica Cox, another local resident, wasted no words in her email to TDEC.
"Stop this madness. Here's a news flash," she wrote,"Our lives mean more than a manufacturing plant. We need a detailed technical review."
Susan Craig, who also wrote to express her "vehement opposition" to the project wrote, "I have children and grandchildren who live within a five mile radius."
She said that she received a brief reply to her letter from a TDEC official who told her he would pass along her comments to TDEC's air pollution control branch.
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