Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for Woodland Community Land Trust

In Campbell County, Tennessee, there is a 40.1-acre property that has records dating back to approximately 1891. The Woodland Community Land Trust was used for strip mining and deep coal mining back in the 1970s before mining was ceased in 1978. The Woodland Community Land Trust is the second-oldest community land trust in the United States.

The far northern and southern potions of the subject property are currently and have historically been undeveloped or vacant land. In 1951, an area in the southern portion of the property was converted in a cemetery. After mining was ceased, the land stayed vacant until 1996 when construction on five residential structures started to develop.

Between 1996 and 2003, all five residential structures were developed on the subject property in the area of the former surface mining operations. Two of the structures were burned and demolished while the land has continued to host the residential properties, vacant land, and cemetery.

PM Environmental conducted a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) on the mostly vacant land along with the three residential structures currently in use. Contamination concerns associated with strip mining activities typically include runoff streams and acids which may be released from sulfur rocks.

Other concerns of strip mining include the release of heavy metals which may remail at the site at levels higher than background conditions. No other RECs were found during the Phase I assessment. In 2018, a field hydroponic growing system was installed on a portion of the land. It is used for production of several crops with the goal to become a competitive producer in the Appalachian region.

The Phase I ESA conducted by PM Environmental was thanks in large part to the 2.45 million awarded in United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants in May of 2022. The $450,000 grant in the region is used to conduct 12 Phase I and eight Phase II ESAs around the region most notably known for coal mining operations.