TDEC to examine Horizon Concrete

December 6, 2005
Inspectors with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) will visit Horizon Concrete's Beckwith Road facility in Mt. Juliet later this week, following up on an environmental complaint recently lodged by a city official.
TDEC spokesperson Dana Coleman said Monday the alleged violation had been reported to the state department's water pollution control division by Gary Gaskin, Mt. Juliet's storm water coordinator.
"He reported to the field office … evidence that Horizon Concrete may be washing out their trucks in an area that would allow the wastewater to enter a nearby stream," Coleman said, adding inspectors with TDEC will likely visit the Horizon Concrete facility on Beckwith Road in the coming days to investigate the alleged violation.
According to records on file with TDEC, the Beckwith Road Horizon Concrete facility holds a Ready Mixed Concrete NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) General Permit which identifies Sullivan Branch as the "receiving stream."
Joey Holland, who works in the Nashville field office of TDEC's Water Pollution Control Division, said the wastewater allegedly flowing from Horizon's truck-washing area to Sullivan Branch could pose a threat to the stream.
"That type of wastewater can have suspended solids which will settle out on the stream bottom and smother out aquatic organisms that live on the bottom of the stream," Holland explained. " … It's not just mud. It's not just dirt. It's something that's causing problems for aquatic life that might live on the bottom of a stream."
Holland estimated TDEC inspectors would like schedule a visit to the facility in "just a few days."
However, Horizon Concrete partner Gordon Bone said Monday the alleged violation will no longer exist by year's end because of the company's plans to relocate the existing facility to the rear of the property. The relocation is to make way for the planned Beckwith Road Interchange off Interstate 40, he added.
"The issue won't exist when we relocate," Bone said. "It hasn't existed until recently. The little overflow pond out there where you wash your trucks out when you come back on the job, it's just running over.
Bone said the relocation of the facility is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
Calls to Gaskin and Mt. Juliet City Planner Robert Shearer were not returned Monday.
Staff Writer Brian Harville can be reached at 444-3952 ext. 16 or by e-mail at brian.harville@lebanondemocrat.com.