Reporter
Keely Brewer is a Report for America corps member covering environmental impacts on communities of color in Memphis. She is working in partnership with the Ag & Water Desk, a sustainable reporting network aimed at telling water and agriculture stories across the Mississippi River Basin.
There are 322 articles by Keely Brewer :
A week after single-digit temperatures descended on Memphis — wreaking havoc on the city’s power supplier and creating a water distribution crisis — Memphis Light, Gas and Water shared plans to address its shortcomings.
MLGW president and CEO Doug McGowen said Tuesday that the utility had to double the amount of water it pumped from the Memphis Aquifer because of fire protection systems and water mains breaking.
“I think the myth of TVA’s invincibility has been shown here, and I think we need to remember that as we try to figure out where we’re going to go as a system,” Memphis City Council member Jeff Warren said. Millions of gallons of water flooded empty buildings during extreme winter weatherRelated story:
The causes behind late December’s rolling blackouts and the causes for concern they raise for future energy needs, especially with climate change and aging infrastructure.
The EPA included Memphis’ Sterilization Services of Tennessee on a list of high-risk facilities in August, but a pending lawsuit says the agency is moving too slowly; the Memphis City Council is also considering what actions it can take.
During a MLGW board meeting Wednesday, CEO Doug McGowen indicated that load forecasting would be part of the TVA review, “because there were some real issues to talk about there.”
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the program would help lower Mississippi River cities “become more disaster resilient” as the river emerges from a historic drought.
“What we’re doing here is asking them to initiate those same interventions that they’re putting in their other sites across the country and not wait for the EPA,” said Memphis City Council member Jeff Warren.
In the absence of more protective trotline regulations from the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission, the American Canoe Association is sponsoring a bill in the state legislature to help prevent aquatic accidents.
What’s at stake in the case is the federal jurisdiction over the nation’s most valuable natural resource: water.
The demolition of the three 400-foot-tall chimney stacks at the now-defunct Allen Fossil Plant is the final step in a four-phase plan to prepare the site for redevelopment, and repurpose the 500 acres of land it occupies in Southwest Memphis.
The U.S. District Court judge suggested the plaintiffs take their grievances to Congress, not the court system.
A new solar panel array will soon provide 100% of the energy for two county buildings.
The Allen pumping station’s condition is “likely the worst in the MLGW system,” according to a water program delivery manager.
By looking at the cumulative lifetime cancer risk from individual pollutants scientists can glean how much one chemical is contributing to overall risk.
The Southern Environmental Law Center said that EtO pollution in Memphis justifies the use of the Shelby County health officer’s emergency powers. The health department disagreed.
The largest tornado field study in more than a decade kicked off its second round of data collection from Memphis recently.
MLGW’s Smart Meters are failing at a rate that suggests a design flaw, and the problem has delayed about $12.5 million in payments to the utility.
In the meantime, MLGW is replacing some of the broken water registers with analog ones.
The report recommends MLGW revisit the market for energy sources when conditions improve.
While there are real savings if MLGW buys power outside of TVA, according to EnerVision, it’s not a figure that will transform MLGW or the City of Memphis’ budget, but ratepayers would feel its impact.
In an update Tuesday, MLGW’s VP of customer service said MLGW has resolved about half of the initial billing backlog created by faulty utility meters.
When a study last year looked at how much of cancer-causing chemical was seeping into the air, and potentially harming local residents, it used standards better suited to indoor air quality and workers in protective equipment.
The Army Corps is looking at a $50 million, 6,000-acre and 39-mile ecosystem restoration project beginning near Memphis.
Wetland depletion along the Mississippi River has left the region “exposed to disasters that would normally be absorbed by wetland capabilities,” the mayors said in their policy proposal.