Southern Middle TN Today News with Tom Price 10-13-25

Cumberland pipeline to Columbia stalled due to project becoming 'increasingly political' (CDH)

Constructing a pipeline from the Cumberland River to Columbia appears to be an unrealistic solution to Maury County's water needs, following a recent letter issued by the Mallory Valley Utility District.

The proposed project's comprehensive study, conducted by Mallory Valley in partnership with Columbia Power & Water Systems, Spring Hill, Mt. Pleasant and Maury County Water, determined such factors as cost, an estimated timeline and long-term required maintenance, if it were to be pursued.

However, on Friday, Sept. 26, Mallory Valley Utility District General Manager Jenny Clarke sent an email to the participating entities expressing that recent conflicting interests have rendered the pipeline project "non-viable".

The reason, she wrote, was due to the issue becoming "too political," and less about how such a project would affect customers.

She explained that during a recent presentation to the Duck River Planning Partnership's subcommittee, "a surprising and concerning situation arose."

"The subcommittee chair, Randal Braker, explained that he had been personally informed by key outside stakeholders that they had privately and recently expressed positions to him that would render our project non-viable," she said.

"The information presented by Mr. Braker directly contradicts what those entities have told us in conversations, in meetings, and what we have included in our study. We were shocked by the information presented in the meeting and told the committee that we would have follow up conversations to confirm his statements."

Clarke continued saying a successful, viable solution would require "a unified purpose" and a shared consensus, stating, "Without that common ground, our project—or any other under this framework—will be difficult."

"Unfortunately, as conversations about possible solutions to the region's water supply have increased, the issue has become increasingly political, seemingly at the expense of our good-faith efforts," Clarke stated in the email. "The actions of certain partners, who are openly attempting to discredit our viable options to advance their own solution, have created an environment that we believe is neither productive nor trustworthy. We will not engage in anything other than transparent, honest, and accurate conversations about how we can work together to help our communities."

The purpose of the study is to explore a long-term solution, she said.

"Our comprehensive study was designed to provide a complete picture of a long-term water solution, from the water's source and treatment to its transmission and long-term maintenance costs and ultimately addressing long-term water needs," Clarke wrote.

"We want to exemplify 'utilities helping utilities' and be a model that our citizens and leaders can be proud of and replicate elsewhere."

Exploring all options

CPWS CEO Johnathan Hardin told The Daily Herald the letter is not necessarily Mallory Valley's resignation from the partnership, but that other options should be pursued, and that in the end "it is about the rate payers."

"The letter is reminding everyone that conversations should be centered around ratepayers and what keeps rates the lowest, making sure due diligence and rigor uncover what is best for our ratepayers, because those are the most important people we serve," Hardin said. "I think a lot of folks realize that an idea like the Cumberland pipeline could pay dividends down the road, but it's not something that can meet needs within the next three years,

And even if the pipeline project doesn't seem likely, at least in the short-term, the study itself could be useful in the future as the information will be readily available for planning purposes.

"When you learn to pump water across great distances like from the Cumberland down to here, what you learn is applicable in any direction you end up going," Hardin said.

"When you learn to pump water over a hill, you've learned how to pump water over any hill. You are learning things that inform what's most effective to use, as well as being mindful of cost, and when you solve a technical challenge that's not wasted knowledge, but important knowledge we will have forever. What we learned coming from the Cumberland could also be applied to the Tennessee River, or some other water source."

The pipeline, while a potential solution to Maury County and Southern Middle Tennessee's increasing water needs, the project had also drawn many concerns from opposing sides calling for another option to be considered.

One of these voices is the nonprofit grassroots group Columbia Dam Now, who has been actively pursuing efforts to revitalize the long-abandoned Columbia Dam project, which was halted in the 1980s and fully dismantled by 1999.

"When the Mallory Valley Utility District feasibility study came back, it was at a cost of $1.7-$1.9 billion," Columbia Dam Now founder Jason Gilliam said. "The reason there was a lack of interest is, like I have been saying for the last five months or so, it is too expensive and we are not going to be able to afford it. That pipeline option is not going to happen, and for obvious reasons."

Legislators Discuss Regional Concerns (MSM)

The state legislators who represent parts of Spring Hill attended a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Sept. 25 at the UAW Local #1853. Sen. Joey Hensley (District 28) and Reps. Scott Cepicky (District 64) and Todd Warner (District 92, covering part of Williamson County) sat on a panel and answered questions from Spring Hill Alderwoman Jaimee Davis. Rep. Kip Capley (District 71) joined them, though he doesn’t represent Spring Hill.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Matt Fitterer spoke about the first public meetings held to get input on Spring Hill’s long-range capital improvement plans. After identifying all their possible projects, the city found that the cost would be approximately $500 million.

“It’s a big number to wrap our heads around, but there’s a lot of ways to accomplish those projects,” added Carter Napier, the new city administrator. He asked people to participate in the feedback process by checking the city calendar and social media for surveys and other meeting dates.

Road infrastructure

Davis started out with a pointed question about roads. The legislators have repeatedly stated how proud they are that Tennessee doesn’t take on debt to build and maintain roads, but she claimed that this “fiscal conservatism” just passes the buck to municipal governments like Spring Hill, which has had to borrow millions to pave its roads.

“Is it really the most responsible thing to do, considering we are decades behind on infrastructure?” she asked the men on the panel.

Hensley and Warner indicated that if necessary, they were willing to borrow money to move along the $30 billion backlog in transportation projects, but Cepicky and Capley were adamantly against it. Capley pointed out, as he has before, the deep hole into which the state of Georgia has dug itself by taking on $19 billion in road debt.

Cepicky favored asking for more federal subsidies for roads, since the $600 million the state now receives (half of it set aside for new roads, half for maintenance) doesn’t go as far as it used to. He also argued that they should promote vocational training for road workers, pointing out that even if the state legislature gave TDOT $30 billion tomorrow, they wouldn’t have the manpower to do all the needed projects.

“We need a new generation of people who want to build roads, who want to get into heavy construction,” he said.

Meanwhile TDOT is responsive to Spring Hill’s needs, setting aside $247 million to widen Highway 31 and consulting with a private-equity firm who want to build a “choice lane” for I-65. (TDOT held public hearings the week after on another choice-lane project on I-24.) Hensley also reminded people that the legislature had added several billion dollars to the road budget in the last few years.

Warner theorized that long-term transportation projects tend to be lower priorities because they can take longer from start to finish than the maximum gubernatorial time in office; he endorsed speeding up the 12-to-15-year projects somehow, to make them feel more achievable. He was also willing to consider any means to pay for these projects: raising taxes (though none of the legislators liked that prospect), reappropriating revenue, borrowing money, or something else.

Water and wastewater

Asked about solutions to water and wastewater issues which affect Spring Hill — like the TDEC sewer moratorium that Fitterer claimed is holding up $100 million in development — the legislators cited the regional options for water supply.

Hensley sits on the board of the Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership, which will have to recommend a long-term water source to Gov. Bill Lee by January; for now they seem to agree that the walls of Normandy Dam should be raised five feet, which will take 4-5 years and capture a few billion more gallons of water. The Partnership will hold its next workshop event at the Fly Arts Center in Shelbyville from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Nov. 4.

More drastic and long-term options include the $1.7-1.9 billion Cumberland River pipeline, which the four legislators didn’t favor, and the Columbia Dam prospect, which three of them did.

“The [Cumberland] pipeline is a pipe dream, to be honest with you,” said Warner. “In my opinion, the only real answer to the problem is to put that dam back in Columbia.”

Solid waste

With landfills filling up across Middle Tennessee, the legislators gave their ideas about where to dump solid waste. All of them agreed that whichever counties took on a solid-waste facility would be entitled to dictate rates to their customers.

“We’re going to have to make a sacrifice somewhere, and it’s going to have to be a big one,” Capley said. He informed the audience that his constituents in Lawrence County are now paying triple their former rates to send trash to Mississippi, and that the rest of middle Tennessee is staring down the same barrel.

Warner, whose Marshall County constituents have a dump that takes in waste from Maury County, warned that they would be entitled to charge through the nose for solid-waste services when they become scarce.

“If you’re too good to have a dump in your community,” he said, “you’re gonna pay dearly for it.” He added that he wished every community could deal with their own garbage, perhaps by incinerating it or using it to generate power.

Cepicky picked up the theme of futuristic trash solutions. On a recent trip to Israel, he saw “state-of-the-art” disposal technology — though he couldn’t reveal details of it publicly — and he sent notice of it to TDEC with the request to start bringing similar tech to Tennessee. He was inspired by the necessary ingenuity of the tiny state, which can’t ship its trash elsewhere and is dense with start-up tech companies, and praised other ambitious joint projects between Israeli and Tennessean businesses.

“We just can’t build these massive mountains [of garbage] that you see in Murfreesboro or Marshall County,” Cepicky said. “We have to use technology to get rid of this… [like they do] around the world.”

Education and workforce development

Cepicky, who specializes in education bills in the State House, first talked up the accomplishments of Tennessee’s students.

“We have systematically changed education in Tennessee, to where our students are performing at unprecedented levels we’ve never seen before,” he said proudly. “Coming out of COVID, nobody’s even coming close to our academic success.”

To capitalize on their performance, he wants to create partnerships between state-funded colleges, Tennessee’s government, and business and economic-development leaders across the state. His concept is to meet business demand for certain skillsets by promoting career paths to students, possibly as early as junior year of high school.

“We have to transform how we fund our public universities,” he argued. “We have to… identify degrees that [employers] are seeking for [their] businesses, and incentivize our four-year institutions, our community colleges and our TCAT centers to push those as [much] as we can.”

He’s even working on a bill for a revolutionary magnet high school concept. Students at the magnet school, according to the bill, would only be required to attend class four days of the week; the fifth day, they would have to do either dual enrollment, career technical training, work-based training or job training.

“If we created something like that here in Maury… or Williamson County, you’d have a waiting list to get in,” he predicted. There’s nothing like it yet in the country, but the proposal will come before the general assembly next year.

Impact fees and infrastructure

The legislators were split on the prospect of impact fees. Cepicky, who favored them, cast them as a responsible way to pay for infrastructure, especially if the election of Zohran Mamdani were to cause another lifestyle- and tax-driven mass exodus from New York City to Tennessee.

“Who’s going to pay for the impact fee? The end buyer, the homeowner,” countered Warner, pleading housing affordability. “I don’t think it’s right for me to impose a tax on people that want to come out here.”

Hensley pointed out that the legislature did pass something like an impact fee last year, a bill which allowed fast-growing areas like Maury and Williamson Counties to keep more of their adequate-facilities taxes for infrastructure. Capley added that an impact fee bill would be impossible to pass in an election year like 2026. The real-estate transfer tax failed to pass last year, but Hensley hoped to push it in the next session.

Delk at Kiwanis Chili Cook-Off

Front Porch Radio owner/operator Delk Kennedy was on hand at Saturday’s Fall Fest and Kiwanis Chili Cook-Off. We’ll hear a report from him now.

And now a look at your hometown memorials, brought to you by Oakes & Nichols…

Edna Agnes Glover Hooie, age 93, of Columbia, Tennessee, died peacefully at home on Sunday, October 5, 2025, after a brief illness.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday, October 12, 2025 at Oakes and Nichols Funeral Home with Reverend Kevin Marston officiating. Burial followed in Polk Memorial Gardens.

Mrs. Linda Elizabeth Kuhn, 76, a resident of Santa Fe, died Thursday, October 9 at Maury Regional Medical Center.A memorial service will be conducted Tuesday at 6:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home. Now a look at the weather, brought to you by Workout Anytime 247:

Columbia is kicking off the week with absolutely beautiful sunny skies all day long, so get ready for a warm afternoon with that autumn sun beaming down. The daytime high will warm right up to a comfortable 80 degrees, making it a perfect day to be outside. You'll feel a gentle breeze from the North at about 6 miles per hour, keeping things pleasant. You can definitely leave the umbrella at home, as there's no chance of rain throughout the day. The clear weather continues into Monday night, with temperatures dropping to a cool, crisp 51degrees. If you're out for an evening stroll, you'll want a light jacket, and you can expect clear skies, perfect for any stargazing!

Now a look at statewide news that affects you.

SNAP changes take place during government shutdown. Here's what Tennesseans should know (CDH)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, underwent significant changes on October 1st, coinciding with the start of the federal government shutdown. These adjustments, stemming from cost-of-living updates by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), include increases in monthly benefits and modifications to eligibility requirements for certain recipients. Further changes are anticipated at the end of the month as part of "President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act."

The core purpose of SNAP is to help low-income households purchase groceries. Effective October 1st, maximum monthly allotments increased across all household sizes, though the specific rise varied. For example, a one-person household now receives a maximum of $298 (an increase of $6), while a four-person household receives $994 (an increase of $19). The benefit for each additional person beyond eight decreased by $2 to $218. Other changes included an increase in the shelter cap value and the homeless shelter deduction.

A major focus of the new rules targets "able-bodied adults without dependents" (ABAWDs), defined as individuals aged 18 to 54 who are capable of working and do not live with children under 18. To be eligible for benefits, ABAWDs must now work or participate in a job training program for at least 80 hours per month. This qualifying work can include paid employment, work in exchange for goods or services, unpaid work, or volunteer activities.

Furthermore, several groups that were previously exempt from this work requirement are slated to lose their exempt status on October 31st or November 1st. These groups include adults under age 65 (if age was their only qualification), veterans, individuals under age 24 who were formerly in foster care at age 18, people experiencing homelessness, and adults living with someone under 18. The USDA is currently developing and will soon release updated guidance regarding these work requirements, including changes to exemption criteria and waiver eligibility.

While the government shutdown began on October 1st, no immediate disruption to SNAP benefits was anticipated. SNAP, which assists approximately 700,000 people in Tennessee, is not expected to be immediately affected. However, if the shutdown is prolonged, the USDA may need to utilize its contingency reserve funding to cover program costs, which could potentially affect both SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Pilot, GM surpass 200 EV charging sites (Utility Drive)

Range anxiety — the fear of running out of battery power on the road — has long been viewed as one of the biggest barriers to driving an electric car. Now, a new milestone from General Motors and Pilot Company could finally help put that fear to rest, according to Utility Dive.

According to the outlet, Pilot recently announced that it has opened more than 200 EV charging stations across almost 40 states, nearly halfway to its target of 500 sites and 2,000 fast-charging stalls. The stations are being built in partnership with GM and EVgo, with many located in rural areas where charging options have traditionally been scarce.

"Our collaboration with General Motors and EVgo continues to bring highway-based charging to more routes where this critical infrastructure is needed to enable coast-to-coast EV travel," said Shannon Sturgil, senior vice president of alternative fuels at Pilot.

The new stations are also designed with convenience in mind, placed at busy interstate travel centers — often with restaurants, Wi-Fi, and rest areas available where drivers plug in.

For EV owners, charging up at home remains the most affordable option, saving hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars each year compared to public fast charging. Public chargers can cost double or triple what it costs to recharge from your own outlet, which is why many drivers are also installing Level 2 chargers at home. Companies like Qmerit are helping to make the process simple, offering free estimates after a few quick questions about your electric panel and garage setup.

Nevertheless, expanding the highway network remains key to making EVs practical for everyone, from big cities to farm country. The ongoing adoption and adaptability of EVs is great for the planet as well — every mile driven on electricity helps to reduce the harmful pollution tied to gas-powered vehicles, which harms the health of our communities and increases global temperatures.

National Manufacturing Day comes to Maury County students (MSM)

Comprehensive Logistics, Groove Life, Prinova Nutrition, and Spring Hill High School joined forces on Oct. 3, Manufacturing Day (MFG Day), to host 120 students of Advanced Manufacturing, Mechatronics, and STEAM Engineering from Maury County Public Schools.

The annual event is part of a nationwide initiative organized by The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers, aimed at showcasing the exciting an high-tech world of modern manufacturing careers.

The local Manufacturing Day was coordinated by Maury County Public Schools, Columbia State Community College, Spring Hill High School, and was held in partnership with the Maury County Chamber & Economic Alliance by way of ALIGN Maury. ALIGN is the Alliance’s workforce development initiative dedicated to strengthening talent pipelines and supporting local employers.

MFG Day serves as a platform to inspire the next generation of manufacturers and bridge the gap between education and industry needs. With an increasing demand for highly skilled professionals who can design, program, and operate advanced technologies, events like these help reshape perceptions of manufacturing and emphasize its vital role in solving tomorrow’s challenges.