InSites is a quarterly newsletter that highlights the personalities and projects of the Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) of The University of Tennessee. WMREI is an affiliate of the EERC.

WMREI was created in 1985 as a state-funded Center of Excellence. Research areas include solid-, hazardous-, and nuclear-waste management; waste minimization; and pollution prevention.

Biotechnology is the focal point of the institute's technical research, while issues involving public attitudes and federal/state policies related to waste-management issues are the primary concerns of the institute's policy research.

For additional information about InSites, or to be added to our mailing list, please write InSites, WMREI, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, call 865-974-1156, or fax 865-974-1838. Or, if you prefer, e-mail Constance Griffith cbgriffith@utk.edu.

Chattanooga's "Creosote Creek"

With UT's help, Chattanooga confronts its industrial legacy and persistent contamination.

By Kris Christen

Gooey coal tar and creosote compounds are still surfacing in portions of Chattanooga Creek, which was placed on the National Priority List of federal Superfund sites in 1994. The contamination dates back to the late 1800s and into the industrial era of the 1950s and 1960s, when chemical manufacturing hit its peak in Chattanooga.

Now, the University of Tennessee's (UT) Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) and Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB) will have a hand in helping to remediate an industrial site known as the Tennessee Products site, a historic source of hazardous coal tar and creosote contamination along Chattanooga Creek. The UT researchers hope to expand their initial findings to address contamination at some of the 41 known or suspected hazardous-waste sites dotting Chattanooga's landscape, as well as other contaminated sites across East Tennessee.

At a cost of roughly $12 million, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has dredged up the most obvious contamination along a 2.5-mile portion of the 7.5- mile Chattanooga Creek, excavating some 25,500 cubic yards of coal-tar material and residue deposited in pits along the creek's banks. Cleanup plans for the second half of the creek are expected to be completed within the next year or two, says Nestor Young, the U.S. EPA's Region 4 remedial project manager.

"Before we started the cleanup, you could push a stick down into the sediment where the creek bends and things settle out; when you pulled the stick out, it would be covered with a black, tarry substance," says Young.

Persistent Contamination

Although many of the contaminated shallow soils have been or will be removed, the problem--of deeper contamination emanating from the abandoned 24-acre site--remains in subsoils and underlying rock, says Larry McKay, a CEB hydrogeologist. Historically, coal tar (from coal gasification processes) was stored in tanks, deposited in unlined pits, dumped on the ground, or even tossed into sinkholes. Some coal tar was refined to extract creosote and numerous compounds used in the chemical industry. Many of these compounds contain mixtures of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, many of which are known carcinogens.

The movement of these contaminants through the subsurface wasn't well understood until recent years. "The initial assumption was that because it was a clay-rich soil, the soil should be impermeable, with nothing migrating away," McKay says.

Through research on subsurface contaminant behavior at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), however, McKay discovered the opposite to be true. He found that fine-grained saprolite soils, which dominate the Chattanooga area and all of East Tennessee, are heavily fractured and layered, allowing for the rapid flow of stormwater--and with it the migration of contaminants into the soil, bedrock, and groundwater.

"Once the contamination migrates down into the bedrock, it can go deeper and deeper until the source of contamination finally runs out," McKay says. "Then it can slowly dissolve, creating a plume that can reappear as the groundwater discharges into creeks, streams, or springs." So, even if all the waste in shallower soils is excavated, a large amount of contamination diffused into deeper soil layers could keep re-emerging in the creek for many years.

Environmental Injustice

As is often the case with abandoned industrial sites near downtown areas, housing developments and schools that once served the workers' families--many along the contaminated Chattanooga Creek--are declining.

Kim Davis, WMREI's assistant director, and Mary Rogge, an assistant professor in UT's College of Social Work, have found that a disproportionate share of environmental contamination exposure has been borne by Chattanooga's Alton Park community and surrounding areas, which are predominantly African-American. Their research chronicles the changes that befell these neighborhoods during industrialization and subsequent de- industrialization and the attending social, economic, and environmental impacts. Davis and Rogge identified grievances put forth by community activist groups, such as Stop Toxic Pollution (STOP) and the Alton Park Development Corporation, and the barriers that exist to settling these grievances.

"I'm what you'd call an innocent bystander--born and raised in this community," says Deborah Maddox, head of the Alton Park Development Corporation. "And this contamination is a great concern to us." Because the pollution has led to lower property values, disinvestments, and abandoned property, the social and economic fabric of the community has broken down over the years. Maddox' group works to prevent and alleviate the problems resulting from contamination and educates area residents about the pollution surrounding their homes. Her organization and STOP were instrumental in getting the Tennessee Products site placed on the federal Superfund list.

Davis and Rogge's research into the social and economic impacts of Chattanooga's contamination problems helped WMREI researchers gain an understanding of Alton Park residents' primary concerns regarding environmental pollution. "Basically, we documented how the Alton Park community came together to address widespread contamination problems and how they later used newfound political opportunities as a springboard to improve the economic infrastructure and housing," says Davis.

For example, the residents learned to control and use available assets, Davis says. Their input helped to develop a neighborhood plan; garner a federal grant estimated to attract some $97 million in investments through Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, Habitat for Humanity, EPA, and other projects; draw support for various residential redevelopment projects; and construct a "Safewalk" through the community.

Contaminant Fate and Transport

CEB's McKay and Vijay Vulava, a postdoctoral research associate, have already conducted a series of lab experiments on large, undisturbed soil columns. Using soils typical of Chattanooga, researchers mimic what's going on in the field, which helps them determine how fast coal tar and creosote compounds move through fractures.

"We'll flush groundwater through these columns for about six months and look at the contaminants that leach out of the soil," McKay says. The experiments should provide a better understanding of some of the leaching processes. Specifically, CEB hopes to discover the factors that control the downward migration of contaminants, the rate at which contaminants dissolve, and the affinity of contaminants for soil particles.

Following the lab experiments, McKay's group wants to set up contaminated soil cores from the Chattanooga site in similar columns and flush them with water to identify any remaining mobile compounds. "Some of this attachment to soils is time related," McKay says. "The longer the contaminants are there, the more strongly they may be attached. We hope to find microbial processes that can break down and biodegrade some of the contaminants."

McKay and other CEB researchers hope to develop and test improved methods for monitoring organic contamination in fractured soils and rocks; determining the potential for natural attenuation of organic compounds in the subsurface; analyzing the environmental toxicology of coal tar and creosote compounds; and assessing health risks associated with these compounds.

Complicating their research, however, is the vast number of compounds involving coal tar and creosote, McKay says. Within that mix is a range from highly soluble compounds with a greater potential for biodegradation to compounds with lower degrees of solubility and different degrees of risk. Predicting how such compounds will behave in mixtures as opposed to single components is difficult. For example, just because a component dissolves or degrades in the soil alone doesn't mean it will do so in a mixture.

CEB's research into the nature of contaminant behavior in saprolite is expected to help EPA select a remedy for groundwater cleanup. "Their results will help us determine the real nature and extent of contamination, how it affects groundwater, and whether or not a groundwater remedy would be appropriate for this site," Young says.

The project also has political support from the mayor, city council, and congressional delegation. "There are a lot of contaminants in this watershed that have to be studied, and there are a lot of technical aspects to this work that UT's Center for Environmental Biotechnology can help us with," says Congressman Zach Wamp, who represents Tennessee's 3rd District. "I believe the work they're doing is critical to the success of EPA."

Widespread Application

The first phase of the Chattanooga research program is supported through short-term seed funding from WMREI and CEB. To expand the work to a level that will affect cleanup and public safety, researchers currently are trying to obtain longer-term funding from such sources as EPA, the state of Tennessee, and the National Institute for Environmental Health Science's Superfund Basic Research Program.

According to McKay, "there is relatively little published research on coal tar and creosote contamination, which is surprising given that these types of sites exist in almost every city in the industrialized world."

CEB's longer-term goals include establishing a continuing research presence in the Chattanooga area through collaboration with researchers from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, Tennessee Technological University, and the University of Georgia. The complex problems attending old industrial sites often require a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional approach to research.

Moreover, CEB intends to apply what it learns in Chattanooga to areas across East Tennessee, where little environmental research has been conducted outside ORNL. "So much attention has focused on what happened at Oak Ridge; people often don't realize there are sites all across East Tennessee with essentially the same geology and similar industrial contamination," McKay says.

And with WMREI and CEB's research help, the community's dream of a pristine creek flanked by a greenway trail could finally come true. 

***

For more information contact Kim Davis, WMREI, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, or call 865-974-1847; or Larry McKay, CEB, The University of Tennessee, 306 Geology/Geography Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-1410, or call 865-974-0821.

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The Greening of the Orange

A nationwide movement toward a greener campus environment is taking root at UT.

By Elise LeQuire

Across the nation, colleges and universities are warming to a concept known as "greening the campus." In April, the University of Tennessee's (UT) Committee on the Campus Environment (CCE), with the support of the Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC), hosted a public forum on issues of sustainability in the campus environment. Speakers from three sister institutions in the vanguard of the greening movement were invited to share their expertise with UT students, faculty, and staff.

At UT, where the average number of vehicles traveling to the university daily (37,000) outnumbers the total population of students, faculty, and staff (30,000) and where walking to class can be risky business, creating a pedestrian-friendly environment is a high priority. Indeed, UT's draft Campus Master Plan 2001, endorsed by former President J. Wade Gilley, has incorporated many aspects of CCE's environmental policy. The plan includes recommendations for developing green spaces, fostering a pedestrian-friendly campus, encouraging mass transit, and improving parking to reduce environmental impacts, said Marleen Davis, dean of UT's College of Agriculture and Design, who chairs the Master Plan Committee.

Other positive steps include Gilley's authorization to purchase Green Power-electricity generated from alternative sources such as wind power and other renewable resources-from the Tennessee Valley Authority for a portion of the 189 megawatt-hours of electricity the university uses annually, said Jack Barkenbus, executive director of the EERC and chairman of the CCE, in his introductory remarks. Barkenbus also praised the efforts of the Campus Beautification Committee and of the Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) organization, which has promised to help in UT's recycling efforts. "There's no mystery involved in making a top-tier sustainable institution. It takes high-level administrative enthusiasm, a fully funded sustainability coordinator, and broad-based student willingness to engage in such efforts," Barkenbus said.

Banking on Green

The worlds of banking, agriculture, and finance have embraced the goal of environmentally sustainable operations for good reason: they are good business. Yet, public institutions such as colleges and universities may be the last to achieve a sustainable future.

"Sustainable companies will be tomorrow's winners," said David Newport, the director of the University of Florida's (UF) Office of Sustainability. But unless institutions of higher learning adopt the practices of the business world, students entering the workforce may be at a disadvantage. "Competitiveness will hinge on integrating sustainability into all aspects of life," Newport said.

At UF, support began at the grassroots level and trickled up. Students, faculty, and staff initiated Greening UF in 1997, he said. The university's goal is to improve environmental literacy and to uphold a commitment to making the campus greener in every respect. Institutional support is provided through the Office of Sustainability. In addition, a Sustainability Task Force created through the Faculty Senate will offer specific recommendations to make UF a global leader in the field of sustainability.

"UF is the first university to adopt a business approach to sustainability," Newport said. To that end, the university is performing an internal audit to measure 82 parameters of sustainability. The first draft of that audit found that energy consumption on campus is decreasing, water consumption is falling, and recycling is following a positive trend. In the final analysis, Newport said, "we need to green our curriculum so our grads can supply the needs of the corporate world."

Square Peg, Square Hole

At Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, Al Matyasovsky has helped find solutions tailored to Penn State's particular challenges. "Penn State does what it does to meet its waste management challenges because of its diverse waste management program," said Matyasovsky, who is an18-year veteran in the Office of the Physical Plant and front-line supervisor of a 24-man crew. Greening a campus can become a reality when you "work for an extraordinary place like Penn State, with a wonderful, supportive university community. You can't buy this type of support; it comes from within," he said.

From a practical standpoint, recycling is a clear economic choice. There are no active landfills in Centre County, and it's 60 or 70 miles one way to the landfill in Somerset County, where the fee is $48.00 a ton for refuse. The recycling tipping fee ranges from $5.00 to $7.50.

Also working in favor of recycling is the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Act 101, which mandates municipal waste planning, recycling, and waste reduction in the state. "This is why recycling works so well in Pennsylvania," Matyasovsky said. Penn State has recycling stations on every floor of its buildings, and individuals take the recyclable materials to those stations themselves. He said this promotes ownership of the process of recycling.

One of the more successful programs at Penn State is the Beaver Stadium Recycling Effort, initiated in 1995. Local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were deployed to encourage zero-waste tailgating, and post-game volunteers pitched in to recycle 34 tons of material. In six years, 188.6 tons have been diverted from the landfill. Money earned from these recycling efforts goes to the Centre County United Way-which builds even more community support for the recycling effort.

Rebuild America

The United States, with just 7 percent of the global population, accounts for 25 percent of the world's energy consumption. "It looks like we're greedy-and we are," said J. Michael MacDonald, senior staff member in the Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. MacDonald works in the U.S. Department of Energy's Rebuild America program, which helps retrofit buildings, save money, and promote energy efficiency in target sectors, including K-12, higher education, state and local buildings, commercial buildings, and housing.

Colleges and universities typically lag behind the commercial sector in improving energy efficiency, MacDonald said. In fact, U.S. colleges and universities, with 4 billion square feet in 300,000 buildings, use a staggering amount of energy, in part because 80 percent of those buildings were constructed before the 1980s. The total energy bill for higher education is $5 billion per year. There is a potential savings of more than $1 billion to $2 billion annually.

"Energy efficiency is an important part of addressing green issues," MacDonald said, "but it is typically the hardest." Campuses in general use a lot of energy, and big research institutions are heavy users. Yet, thanks to early efforts at increasing the energy efficiency of its buildings in the 1970s, UT has a head start. In fact, UT's energy efficiency ranks in the 80th percentile among research institutions of higher learning. "However, UT could still get a one-third reduction of energy consumption with the right motivations for efficiency," he said.

Nevertheless, greening the campus is more than a technical challenge. "It's 30-percent technical, and 70-percent political and public relations," MacDonald said.

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The Acid Test

Drastic reductions in emissions are needed to protect the Smokies' sensitive ecosystems from the adverse effects of acid deposition.

By Elise LeQuire

Editor's Note: Each issue of InSites will feature an article from Sightline, a semiannual publication that focuses on the environmental health of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Sightline is a collaborative effort among the University of Tennessee's Energy, Environment and Resources Center; Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park; and Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association. The following article will appear in the summer edition of the publication. To receive a complimentary copy of Sightline, contact Constance Griffith at cbgriffith@utk.edu or 865-974-1156.

Rising from 2,000 feet to over 6,000 in elevation, the Noland Divide watershed is not the highest point in the Smokies-that distinction belongs to nearby Clingmans Dome-but it sets another, less impressive record. It has the highest rate of chronic acid deposition of any monitored site in the United States.

Noland Divide is one of eight watersheds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park monitored since 1980 to determine trends in the health of complex ecosystems. To track trends of acid deposition, researchers measure acidic input-from rain, snow, dry particles, and clouds-and output, based on soil and water samples.

Researchers consider Noland Divide typical of high-elevation forests in the Park. "Noland appears to be chronically acidic, as are a few other places, and higher episodic levels of acidity occur during major storm events," says Steve Moore, fisheries biologist for the Park. 

While higher-elevation streams and forests are naturally more sensitive to acid deposition than are ecosystems at lower elevations, the dramatic increases in acidity over time can be blamed on humans. "High levels of acidity in precipitation and high acidity in aquatic ecosystems wouldn't be there if it weren't for fossil-fuel combustion," Moore says.

Commonly known as acid rain, a term coined by Scottish chemist Angus Smith in the 19th century, acid deposition is the result of pollutants-primarily sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuel combustion for electric power generation, motor vehicle transportation, and industrial processes-being released into the atmosphere.

These pollutants undergo chemical changes in the atmosphere to form secondary pollutants-sulfates, nitrates, and ozone-that can harm human health, corrode car paint, deteriorate limestone and marble structures, form regional haze, and damage soils, streams, and vegetation. The resulting acid deposition affects soil chemistry and fertility, streamwater quality, and forest health, says Jim Renfro, air-quality specialist at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The National Park Service (NPS) has been monitoring acid deposition for more than 20 years, Renfro says, in part to fulfill the original mandate of the NPS Organic Act of 1916 to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein...by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." The NPS gained more specific powers to enforce that mandate with the 1977 Clean Air Act amendments designating Class I areas-national parks with more than 6,000 acres and wilderness areas with more than 5,000 acres-that deserve special protection from air pollution. Those amendments also direct federal land managers of Class I areas to aggressively protect air-quality related values of land under their jurisdiction and to err on the side of protection.

Sensitive Systems

Acid deposition occurs as wet precipitation in rain and snow; in cloud water that bathes the forests at higher elevations; and as dry particles that fall on vegetation, soil, and surface water. While natural precipitation is slightly acidic with a pH of around 5.5 (a pH of 7 is neutral), the average pH of rain in the Park is 4.5, 10 times more acidic than unpolluted precipitation, Renfro says. In addition, "episodic events such as major rain storms and snow melts can cause huge increases in acidity in streams, and clouds in the Park's high-elevation forests sometimes reach a pH of 2.0," which is more acidic than vinegar and 1,000 times more acidic than normal rainfall.

What happens when precipitation reaches the Earth depends in part on the soil chemistry and underlying bedrock. In the valleys, deeper layers of topsoil, as well as alkaline limestone substrates, help neutralize the acids. At higher elevations, a number of natural conditions-including thinner soils, tree litter, and aging forests-make the streams and soil naturally more acidic. These more sensitive ecosystems are at higher risk of damage from short- and long-term effects of acid deposition.

Terrestrial Effects

As acidity rises, the availability of nutrients in the soil, such as calcium and magnesium necessary for healthy tree growth, declines. High acidity also dissolves naturally occurring toxic heavy metals that, when taken up by plants, replaces calcium and harms vegetation. In addition, the influx of nitrates from acid rain places vegetation in jeopardy. "Trees use nitrogen to grow, but if there's too much, it leaches out of the soil, limits calcium uptake, and increases aluminum levels," Renfro says. In fact, in Noland Divide's spruce-fir forest, soil samples show an unhealthy ratio of aluminum to calcium.

Though there have been no dramatic forest die-offs directly related to acid deposition in the Smokies like those that have occurred in the Northeast, "things don't have to die for there to be a problem," Renfro says. In fact, although the decline of the Fraser fir at Noland Divide is primarily due to an insect infestation of the balsam woody adelgid, scientists agree that acid deposition and nitrate saturation can make trees more vulnerable to stresses of all kinds, including insect pests, disease, and cold.

Aquatic Effects

Changes in stream chemistry can also affect aquatic life. Consider the brook trout, Salvelinus fontenalis. The brookie, known locally as the speckled trout, is technically not a trout; rather, it is a cousin of the brown and rainbow, true trout introduced in the Smokies in the early 19th century after heavy logging had decimated much of the brookies' habitat. "The brook trout is our only native; therefore we are looking at policy and mandates to protect and restore it," fisheries specialist Moore says.

The brook trout evolved in naturally acidic streams typical of higher elevations, and it is the least acid-sensitive of the three trout species. But brook trout begin to approach mortality when the pH dips below 5.5, Moore says, and even a pH of 5.6 to 5.9 can stress young fish and cause reproductive problems in adults. Aluminum leached into streams is also toxic to fish.

The Park is attempting to boost existing populations of brook trout and reintroduce the fish in suitable streams. Their natural range is between 1,700 feet and  4,500 feet. "Much below 1,700 feet, you lose trout because streams are warmer," Moore says. Moreover, competition from more heat-tolerant rainbows may be putting pressure on the brook trout.

"We have seen a downward trend in the biomass of trout populations over 20 years, concurrent with a drop of pH," Moore says, though acid deposition may not be the sole explanation for this decline. "Confounding factors include more old-growth trees and more acidity, which is the result of an aging forest."

While sulfate deposition has gradually declined since the acid rain provisions of the 1990 Clean Air Act targeted large coal-fired power plants, streams at higher elevations are slow to recover because of their low acid-neutralizing, or buffering, capacity. "Basically, acid-neutralizing capacity is the amount of calcium and magnesium-positive ions-available to neutralize the negative ions from the acids. From an ecosystem perspective, you need more of the positive ions so the critters can thrive," Moore explains.

A number of governmental and nonprofit organizations, such as Trout Unlimited, monitor water-quality. "We don't have as much analyzed as we'd like, but we're making good progress with some of the analyses. Despite improvements in sulfate deposition, water quality hasn't improved," Moore says.

In fact, a report by the University of Tennessee, which analyzes all of the Park's stream water samples, revealed that nine of 90 streams sampled over an eight-year period had median pH values of 5.6-the lower limit for trout viability-or less.

Room for Improvement

Since passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970 and subsequent amendments, public awareness of air pollution's hazards to human health, biotic systems, and historic monuments has grown. At the same time, new technologies have produced more-economical solutions for reducing emissions from stationary and mobile sources. And considering it took several decades to create, recognize, and begin to fix the problems related to industrial, vehicular, and utility emissions, it's not surprising it may take decades to find and implement solutions.

"Thirty to 40 years out, we hope to have the right technologies implemented and to see improvements in the streams and soils," Renfro says. "Lots of preliminary computer modeling shows that aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems will recover if pollution is lowered.

"Nitrates, though, are still a worry, especially at the upper elevations," Renfro says. The computer models project that reducing sulfate deposition by 70 percent and nitrate deposition by 40 percent would prevent increases in acidification effects in Park ecosystems.

In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-recognizing that some regions in the Northeast and Southern Appalachian states receive a heavy burden of pollution from emission sources upwind-ruled that 22 Eastern states must significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from stationary sources. The agency allows states to design their own plans for reducing emissions. This ruling targets emissions of precursors to ground-level ozone, which is seasonal. "But enforcing stricter emissions reductions from May to September doesn't address the year-round emissions that lead to acid deposition," Renfro says.

The Clean Air Act also encourages fuel switching to reduce emissions. "The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and other coal-burning utilities are shifting, to a large extent, to low-sulfur coal," says Stephen Mueller, projects manager with TVA's Energy Research and Technology Applications in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Also, EPA has issued guidelines for refineries to reduce the sulfur in gasoline and for diesel trucks to reduce emissions that contain sulfur," Mueller says.

In addition, several bills pending in Congress aim to close the grandfather clause that allows older power plants to avoid adopting newer, cleaner technologies. And the U.S. Department of the Interior has petitioned EPA to develop rule making to further protect Class I areas. "We want immediate remedial action in Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, and Rocky Mountain national parks," Renfro says.

Whether these efforts will be sufficient to achieve the goals of protecting Park resources is uncertain. Renfro says population increases, increased demand for electricity, and steady increases in regional vehicular traffic may offset projected reductions in emissions.

Natural Imperative

Acid deposition concerns multiple stakeholders. The U.S. Forest Service, for example, is concerned for the health of its forests. Park visitors expect, and deserve, to breathe clean air and to hike or stroll through healthy forests. Anglers who prize the brook trout for its gaming qualities support Park efforts to safeguard aquatic ecosystems. Even the forest products industry holds an interest, since nitrogen oxide is a precursor to ozone, which affects loblolly pines.

Overall, Renfro is optimistic. He believes the greatest champions for clearing the air are the nation's citizens, who can act by using energy-efficient appliances and transportation and letting government officials know that air quality is important.

***

For more information contact Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, 865-436-1200, or Air Resource Specialist Jim Renfro, 1314 Cherokee Orchard Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, 865-436-1708.

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Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

A new center based in East Tennessee provides one-stop shopping for national transportation research.

By Kris Christen

The new National Transportation Research Center (NTRC), a cooperative effort between the University of Tennessee (UT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), opened its doors in October 2000. Now, with a 90-percent occupancy rate and most of its labs up and running, the NTRC plans to become a one-of-a-kind, world-class facility advancing transportation research in East Tennessee.

A primary focus area of the new center will be the environment. "Although we didn't set out to focus on environmental research, lessening the environmental impacts of vehicles and improving vehicular safety are two of the underlying pins tying the center's labs together," says Bob Honea, NTRC's director. These labs feature research that aims to reduce vehicle emissions, improve fuel efficiency, eliminate traffic congestion, make roads and highways safer, develop new lightweight materials, and improve the durability of asphalt and other pavement materials. "That all translates into a better environment," Honea says.

In fact, the new facility houses all sorts of hardware for transportation analysis, says Don Alvic, director of the Systems Development Institute (SDI) of UT's Energy, Environment and Resources Center. "The concept of the NTRC is really a one-stop shopping center for transportation research all the way from the hardware to the software aspect of it," Alvic says.

Located on a six-acre site in the Pellissippi Corporate Center, the new facility is expected to consolidate the $75-million-plus worth of transportation research being conducted in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge area. The idea for the facility came about as UT and ORNL researchers began to realize that both organizations were doing a considerable amount of work in transportation, with different groups at each location essentially reinventing the wheel so to speak, says Steve Richards, NTRC deputy director and head of UT's Center for Transportation Research (CTR). Working under one roof, these researchers will be able to interact directly, prompting better synergy and cooperation.

Neither Richards nor Alvic sees the new facility changing the direction of UT's CTR or SDI but rather as an opportunity for significant growth and expansion. "Our hope is to expand our client base and significantly increase the scope and dollar amount of research we can conduct," Richards says.

The facility's location, roughly halfway between Knoxville and Oak Ridge, makes it more accessible to the researchers-25 percent of whom are employed by UT and 75 percent by ORNL-and moves it out from behind the fences at ORNL, making it much more accessible not only to government sponsors, but also to private-sector sponsors, Richards says.

A third partner in the cooperative effort is the Development Corporation of Knox County, which sees this partnership as a way to expand economic opportunities in East Tennessee over the long term by attracting new industries and jobs. Tennessee currently ranks third in the nation in automotive manufacturing and sixth in the number of trucks passing through on interstate highways, while Knox County has the second busiest truck weigh station in the country. So the region stands to gain a lot from this collaboration.

The facility was built with private-sector funds, and new equipment is being purchased with monies from the Community Reuse Organization of East

Tennessee (CROET), Richards says, adding that the Department of Energy makes the CROET monies available to communities affected by federal lab downsizing. Funding for operations comes from various research projects and programs already ongoing at both UT and ORNL. 

***

For More information contact Bob Honea, Director, NTRC, 2360 Cherahalla Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37932, or call 865-946-1200.

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