SACE Joins SELC and Advocates to Request that the National Park Service Protect the Obed WSR from Ridgeline Expansion

The Ridgeline Expansion pipeline project will subject the Obed Wild and Scenic River corridor to significant degradation and risk.

Reed Winckler | October 22, 2024 | Position Statements

The Obed River is Tennessee’s only federally designated Wild and Scenic River, and many Tennesseans have experienced its wild beauty. Enbridge/East Tennessee Natural Gas’ ill-conceived and dangerous 122-mile pipeline project will irreparably harm the river corridor both during and after construction. On behalf of SACE, Appalachian Voices, Sierra Club, and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, the Southern Environmental Law Center has petitioned the National Park Service to make a determination under Section 7 of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that the pipeline project will “invade and unreasonably diminish the free-flowing character and protected outstanding resource values in the Obed Wild and Scenic River.”

Read the comment letter here.

The pipeline project, crossing Trousdale, Smith, Jackson, Putnam, Overton, Fentress, Morgan, and Roane counties, would serve only the proposed Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston Gas Plant. This plant was approved by the TVA Board despite deficiencies and concerns expressed by the EPA.