KNOXVILLE (AP) — A federal judge is expected to rule on the terms of an injunction that regulates how the Tennessee Valley Authority removes trees along right of ways while TVA works on an Environmental Impact Statement.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports residents of a Knoxville subdivision filed a lawsuit against the TVA in 2014, claiming the TVA changed its policy from cutting down trees that posed immediate danger to power lines to one that cut down "an extremely large number of trees." Plaintiffs also said the TVA hadn't completed an EIS before beginning the project.
TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said on Tuesday they recognize the appropriate environmental review wasn't conducted and that they're preparing to publish an EIS.
U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan is expected to make a ruling within a month.