"Congratulations!"

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Written By: Dana Dye

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Hurray for Lick Creek! Hurray for Hickman County!

In his 2/4/26 Order, Administrative Law Judge Steve R. Darnell ruled that the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) had correctly denied the permit application of the Water Authority of Dickson County (WADC) to dump up to 12,000,000 gallons of treated sewer water per day into Lick Creek, a pristine stream in northeast Hickman County which flows into the Duck River.

               In order for the permit to be granted, the WADC was required by law to prove three things:

1.     There was no practical alternative to dumping wastewater in Lick Creek;

2.     The damage to the stream was necessary for important social and economic development in the area where Lick Creek was located; and

3.     The dumping of the wastewater would not “violate the water quality for uses existing in the receiving waters.”

As to the first issue, WADC failed to prove that there were no practical alternatives to its proposed dumping. In fact, it acknowledged that there were other options that were technically feasible but argued that dumping into Lick Creek should be permitted because it was the cheapest option. This is not the law. Before you degrade a Tennessee stream, you must prove that there is no practical alternative.

In further finding that WADC had not proven that the degradation of the stream was necessary because it benefitted the Lick Creek area, Judge Darnell referenced by name Mayor Jim Bates, former Economic Development Director Brenda Brock, and Commissioner Keith Nash and, based in part on their testimony, determined that the degradation of Lick Creek was not necessary to support the type of economic development Hickman County residents desired. He pointed out that Hickman County’s growth plan proposed that new development concentrate on smaller designated development sites in order to permanently preserve open space, quoting the plain language of the plan:

Hickman County will ensure that the land resources are allocated for uses that will enhance the rural character, [and] protect the natural and historic resources…while minimizing the negative impacts of growth, traffic, land use, stormwater, [and] environmental loss of community character… Hickman County will protect unique resources from the negative impacts of development, including but not limited to water quality.

Significantly, WADC made no showing beyond rank speculation that the discharge of the treated sewer water into Lick Creek would benefit the Lick Creek area at all. WADC’s own submission acknowledged that “nearly 93% of the long-term economic benefit of WDAC’s proposal would benefit Dickson and Williamson Counties,” while all the degradation would occur entirely in Hickman County. Why did WADC not submit proof of any benefit to Hickman County and Lick Creek?  To put it plainly and in the words of my late friend and neighbor Bessie Gunter: ‘Cause they ain’t none!

In 1981, Hickman County and the citizens of the Brushy community stood up against a proposed toxic waste dump, forming HALT (Hickman Against Lethal Trash) and fighting tooth and nail for two years to stop it. The victory to save Lick Creek ranks right up there as a time when I’ve been most proud of my home County. So, let’s take a moment to be proud and pat our neighbors on the back.

Congratulations to the Friends of Lick Creek! To everyone who put up a Save Lick Creek sign, or came to a meeting, or posted a comment. Who wrote a letter or sent in a donation. Congratulations to native daughter Amanda Mathis who took her skill as a basketball shooting guard and morphed it into the superpower of Getting Stuff Done. She never took her eye off the goal. Congratulations to Rodes Hart, an adopted son of Hickman County, who worked tirelessly to save Lick Creek and who consistently put his money where his heart was. And finally, simply, congratulations to Hickman County! You stood up, stood strong, pushed back, and refused to be bullied.

You are probably going to have to do more of that in the coming years. As Nashville sprawls outward with exploding development, Hickman County will continue to be viewed by the short-sighted as empty space—612 square miles of so-called nothingness where greedy outsiders think they can take what they want and dump what they don’t.

We are not “empty’ space. We are hollers and hills full of trees and wildflowers, forests teeming with life, clear-running springs and creeks, and a big-musseled, free-flowing river. We are full of treasures that are more valuable than money, and we will fight to keep them.

Dana Dye is a resident of Hickman County and a Duck River Conservancy Board member. The Duck River Conservancy wants to hear your Duck River experiences and your thoughts about its future. Please send your stories and ideas to P.O. Box 161, Centerville, TN  37033 or duckriverconservancy@gmail.com.