Posted 3/2/23

A bill to designate a stretch of the Duck River in Maury County a scenic waterway advanced in the Tennessee Legislature on Tuesday, a measure that may come into play with local efforts to fight a for-profit mega trash complex along its banks.

The bill would designate a portion of the Duck in western Maury County a Class II scenic waterway, a category intended to protect river quality as well as vistas, shorelines and adjacent lands.

Under state law, a scenic waterway designation also comes with restrictions on commercial timber harvesting, parallel roadways and landfills for up to two miles from the center of the river.

The bill comes as residents and county officials are pushing back on a plan by a Louisiana-based Trinity Business Group to establish a 1,300 acre waste complex on a federal Superfund site adjacent to the river.

The company is fighting back with new legal arguments that neither the city nor the county have the authority to restrict their plans, which include two landfills, a recycling facility, metal salvage, tire shredding and other waste operations, along with a solar farm.