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| State gets preliminary approval to build spillway |
By: By JOHN BRANNON Messenger Staff Reporter
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A permit for the State of Tennessee to proceed with building a new spillway and bridge complex at Reelfoot Lake has received “preliminary approval” by the state Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
The news was announced Friday by state Rep. Phillip Pinion at the Obion County Public Library, where a crowd of 25 attended a legislative breakfast. Pinion and state Sen. Roy Herron were guest speakers.
An update on the state’s quest to secure a TDEC permit was one of several items of public interest discussed by Pinion.
“Hopefully, the contract will be let this fall,” Pinion said. “They told us the last permit will be issued this fall and then we’ll be ready to start building the (new) spillway.”
The state Department of Transportation (TDOT) has an ambitious plan to build both the new spillway and bridge, each as separate structures. But TDOT must secure the approval of TDEC and the U.S. Corps of Engineers before it can proceed.
The current spillway structure, built in the late 1930s, also serves as a two-lane bridge on state Route 21 on the south shore of the lake.
“We’ve had a lot of problems trying to replace the old (Hill-Talley) spillway-bridge,” Pinion said. “The big problem has not been with (local opposition) at the lake, but with big farmers in Kentucky and the fact they have a very powerful senator (U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell) who has held up our getting what we need.”
McConnell’s constituents include farmers in the Lower Bottom District of Fulton County, Ky. Portions of Reelfoot Lake extend into the district and encroach lush farmland. The farmers oppose any and all improvements to the lake they perceive as a threat. McConnell, a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Committee, has succeeded in blocking federal funds to build a new spillway-bridge complex at the lake.
In fact, the U.S. Corps of Engineers still feels the heat of the Kentucky connection.
“If every ‘t’ is crossed and every ‘i’ is dotted, we’ll get the permit,” said Pinion, who is chairman of the Transportation Committee in the Tennessee House.
“The (Transportation) commissioner (Gerald Nicely) and I met on this very subject the other day. He said, ‘You cannot believe the kind of garbage they’re putting on us over this, more than on any other bridge we’ve ever replaced. All of a sudden, we’re getting a lot of (flak) out of the Corps that we normally wouldn’t get. But hopefully, we’ll see construction begin next spring.”
Other items of public interest discussed by Pinion and Herron include:
• Predatory lending.
In response to a question from among the crowd, this issue was addressed. A man expressed concern about payday loans.
“I don’t care that much for them,” Pinion said. “But it’s because of banks that they were created. I remember the first one that opened, right here in Union City. A man came to me and said, ‘This will work.’ And it has worked. They’re all over everywhere now.”
He gave an example of the allure of payday loans. Your electric bill is due, you’re already late paying it. You write a check — of course, it’s going to bounce — and it goes through your bank. There’s a $29 (bank) fee on the check, plus a $20 fee when you pick up the check from the electric company. “That’s $49. But you can run down to Payday Loans and borrow it for two weeks for $10,” he said. “Yeah, if you multiply that out, over a year’s interest, that’s a whole lot of interest.
“But if you look at the check and what it costs, that’s what put these places in business, that and the fact that we in banking decided we didn’t want to loan anything below $1,000. You can hardly get a (small) bank loan. Yet they send out credit cards every day. My wife has been dead three years and they’re still trying to give her credit cards.”
Herron said he shares concerns about payday loans. In a sarcastic vein, he said the most recent economic development in Dresden is another payday loan place, “right across the street (from his law office).”
“I share your concern,” Herron said. “The key to doing something about it is if the bankers in Tennessee decide they want something done. I’m not anti-bank. I’m not against loaning people money. But when you loan people money at 400 and 600 and 800 percent, I don’t think you’re doing them a favor. That’s what we’re allowing in Tennessee.”
There was a time in Tennessee when the Legislature was debating a bill cracking down on predatory lending, that those who wanted strict regulation “really could have used some help.”
“I expected the banking industry to step up and be an ally in that,” Herron said. “I thought, ‘It’s good for banking. It’ll get rid of these folks who are messing people over.’ Loans with reasonable interest rates were being transferred to predatory lenders.”
So yes, he and others in the fight could have used some help. A sobering reality check was right around the corner. Bankers were in bed with predatory lenders.
“What I discovered was that some banking institutions in the state and country have subsidiaries that are engaging in those practices,” Herron said. “I couldn’t get help from the banking association, and I’m not taking a shot at them, I’m just being honest with you. I could not get them to weigh in on this issue and crack down on predatory lenders. I couldn’t get it done. I haven’t been able to get any real moves out of the Tennessee Bankers Association.”
• I-69.
“I checked this morning (Friday) on the status of I-69,” Pinion said. “(TDOT) is appraising (land) and acquiring right-of-way, which is the last phase before it goes to contract and we begin building. My hope is, by next spring or fall, we’ll see road graders on this part of it.”
• Highway 45.
“Everything’s moving forward (with the TDOT project to four-lane the last segment of it),” Pinion said. “We beginning the right-of-way process on the first leg from Allie Campbell Road.”
• Industrial park.
“We just got a huge grant — $614,000 — from TDOT for a walking track out there,” Pinion said. “We’re going to have the only walking track that goes under a highway. It’s going under Highway 51 and will connect with Magnolia Place.”
Published in The Messenger on 10.10.07 |
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