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<H1>Intermodal rail yard opposition organizing </H1>
<H2>New Market residents want farmland saved </H2>
<P class=byline>BY BETH ANN WALKER walkerb@knoxnews.com<BR>Sunday, June 21, 2009
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<P>NEW MARKET - Norfolk Southern isn't interested in buying any of Debbie
Berry's 20 acres.</P>
<P>Her property - which has been in her family for 70 years - lies at the very
end of the proposed site of an intermodal rail yard.</P>
<P>But if it's built, she fears 100-foot-tall floodlights and the thundering of
freight cargo will replace her peaceful nights in rural Jefferson County.</P>
<P>She told her story Saturday morning to more than 100 people gathered at New
Market Elementary School to continue organizing opposition to the proposed
Norfolk Southern rail yard, where freight would be exchanged between trucks and
trains.</P>
<P>Among those in attendance was state Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains,
who said that while he isn't against the facility, he is against destroying good
land when there are other options.</P>
<P>"Don't sign anything, and don't give up," he advised residents.</P>
<P>The proposed site would cover several hundred acres of currently agricultural
land. "We aren't against intermodal transport. What we are against is taking
working farmland and just destroying it," Harvey Young said.</P>
<P>Young was one of 10 residents who spoke before the County Commission about
the issue last Monday. Saturday's meeting attempted to further inform residents
and encourage them to fight to have the project moved to a different
location.</P>
<P>Norfolk Southern has said the facility would mean removing as many as 1.2
million truckloads of freight annually from the highway, helping traffic and air
quality, but Jefferson County residents say the benefits in no way outweigh the
ruin of usable farmland.</P>
<P>The railroad also has said it looked at sites from Knoxville to Greene County
and that New Market offered the best location based on factors including the
flatness of the land and interstate access.</P>
<P>Holly Young Williams, Young's daughter, said proper site selection is key and
pointed to existing industrial sites and abandoned brownfields. "They need to
reuse what's already been destroyed," she said.</P>
<P>More than 75 percent of Jefferson County's farmland has been converted into
other uses in the past two decades, according to The National Agricultural
Statistics Service.</P>
<P>The proposed development will consume almost 5 percent of the county's
remaining usable land.</P>
<P>Opponents say residents without farmland have a stake, too, citing stormwater
runoff, air pollution and destruction of historic graveyards among other
objections.</P>
<P>The rail yard also would be next to New Market Elementary School and upwind
from a hospital, nursing home and two other schools.</P>
<P>"We would never consider building our school next to their rail yard. What
gives them the right to build their rail yard next to our school?" resident Alex
Miller asked, to applause.</P>
<P>Opponents are writing letters to Norfolk Southern executives and government
officials and, instead of passing petitions, are distributing cards that allow
people to make comments in addition to signing their names. The cards will be
posted on the Web and given to the mayor.</P>
<P>Beth Ann Walker may be reached at
865-342-6336,</P></DIV></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>