CSX Nolichucky repairs concern whitewater community

ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Flooding from Hurricane Helene essentially wiped out CSX rail's line through the Nolichucky River Gorge, and the company quickly contacted the Army Corps of Engineers about reconstruction efforts in a rugged space it shares with whitewater rafters.

A month later, some of those whitewater enthusiasts fear the company is putting the river's recreational and environmental future at risk by removing large amounts of river rock from the channel and widened river banks.

"They're essentially mining the riparian area," experienced kayaker Jacob Hauser told News Channel 11 as he stood on Unaka Springs Road with heavy equipment digging away in the river behind him.

"Where that track hoe is sitting used to be a picnic area and a beautiful stand of hemlock forest," Hauser continued. "After Helene, the flood, the forest went away, the topsoil went away and we were left with a big field of ancient riverstone. They see it as an opportunity to save money on all of the many tons of rock they need to obviously repair the railroad."

Hauser, fellow whitewater enthusiasts and American Whitewater, a non-profit, have become increasingly concerned as they've carefully run the river and also seen the work visible at Chestoa, at the gorge's lower end. They've recently begun requesting detailed information from federal and state agencies about what type of permits CSX has to conduct its work.

Several documents provided to News Channel 11 show the oversight involves an alphabet soup of groups, and that so far there's no clear answer to whether an actual written permit for the work has been issued.

An Oct. 31 email from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement officer to Dennis Ashford, another local kayaker, pointed to the Nashville District of the Army Corps of Engineers as responsible for issuing permits "for work within waters of the United States." The email said the Corps had stated "CSX was verbally authorized to start the work and after the fact permitting is ongoing using their emergency permitting procedures."

The email continued, saying CSX "is going back in and pulling material out of the river to rebuild roads, railbeds, etc."

'I've never seen anything like this'

Kevin Colburn, national stewardship director for American Whitewater, said he was "profoundly concerned" about what appears to be happening.

"I have a lot of experience in river restoration and work in rivers, and I've never seen anything like this happen in our country where there's this much work being done in a riverbed without a permit," he said.

(News Channel 11 learned late Monday that at least one permit for some of the work being done actually has been granted, by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)).

Colburn said the intent is not to get into an adversarial relationship with the $64 billion company, which just last week allowed a whitewater representative and a biologist to accompany them through the gorge.

"I'm sure the rail company's working hard, the agencies are working hard," he said. "I think they'll do a good job as far as removing their infrastructure from the river and cleaning that up, so that'll be done and done well."

Those agencies also include the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and TDEC. In a statement, the Corps said it has jurisdiction over "emergency repair and recovery actions" along CSX's 7-mile stretch of its "Blue Ridge Sub" line between Erwin and Poplar, N.C., which it said was "destroyed by the Tropical Storm Helene event."

The Corps began working with CSX Sept. 30 and is working with it and the various agencies "to ensure the emergency repairs to the rail line are conducted in an environmentally sensitive manner," its statement said.

But with rails, bridges and substructure all obliterated, CSX doesn't just have debris removal ahead of it. Colburn and Hauser said they've seen evidence the railroad is pulling more than just the remains of ties and rails and trestles from the river.

"They're removing rock," Colburn said. "It's going to change the way the river functions, the way it kind of evolves over time following the flood."

Colburn has seen major river changes around the country as the result of major storm events, but said changes to the Nolichucky and other area rivers from Helene exceed anything else he's seen.

"It's a total reset," he said. "It's virtually unheard of. I mean, all of the rivers in about 120-mile swath are just profoundly changed. Every rapid is different."

Colburn said he believes the Nolichucky's recreational quality could be as good or better than it was before — even potentially opening to year-round rafting — but added that what he knows of the rail work leaves him "profoundly concerned."

"I would assume it's cheaper and faster is why they would they would take locally sourced rock from the river," Colburn said. "But yeah, they can bring rock from elsewhere. They can build retaining walls."

For its part, CSX said in a statement it's "committed to ensuring the 40 miles of rail and two bridges in this region returns to full operational capacity following historic flood damage caused by Hurricane Helene with minimal environmental impact."

The company said the project is in its early phases and that CSX plans to "work within the regulatory framework" to complete the repairs safely and in an environmentally responsible manner."

The company referred specific questions on permitting, "particularly related to resource extraction or protection guidelines," to the Army Corps of Engineers.

"We are working with state agencies and public officials to ensure all relevant parties are informed and included, where appropriate, in oversight processes," CSX said. The company has developed a dedicated webpage, "Blue Ridge Subdivision Recovery," to its rebuilding effort in the mountains to keep stakeholders updated, "reflecting our unwavering dedication to both safety and community resilience."

Who's watching the work?

While the Army Corps said it had jurisdiction and EPA noted "after the fact permitting" was pending, they weren't the only agencies answering paddler Ashford's email inquiries.

A program coordinator at TDEC's Division of Water Resources, Franklin Colyer, emailed Ashford on Oct. 31, the same day as the EPA's Joel Strange. Colyer noted that CSX had notified TDEC it required coverage under the "General Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit for Emergency Infrastructure Repair to replace multiple culverts, bridge replacement, and to restore upland areas that was scoured by Hurricane Helene flooding."

That permit, which TDEC spokeswoman Kim Schofinski said in an email was granted to CSX Oct. 10, authorizes stream and wetland alteration when imminent threats to public infrastructure "may pose immediate danger to public health, safety or the environment."

If it's feasible, repairs should "restore the resource to pre-emergency conditions," and the amount of "fill, stream channel and bank modifications, or other impacts associated with the activity shall be limited to the minimum necessary to accomplish the project purpose," Colyer's email to Ashford said.

The permittee "shall utilize the least impactful practicable method of construction," Colyer's email added, citing regulations. He added that CSX notified TDEC on Oct. 25 that it was still collecting field data and "working with their design-build team" to resolve any permitting requirements.

Schofinski said the permit authorizes replacement of one bridge and repair of culverts along a 1.2-mile stretch of rail line inside Tennessee. She acknowledged that TDEC is conducting an ongoing investigation "to ensure compliance with all applicable environmental regulations."

"CSX is expected to work within the general permit's requirements," she added.

'We need to do it in a responsible manner that doesn't damage our river'

As trucks continued to haul material out of the Chestoa area behind him, Jacob Hauser said whitewater advocates weren't going to look the other way. He said some of what CSX is doing, like pulling rail out of the river and drilling it into bedrock to create more robust retaining walls, "is a great idea."

But he said when he saw the contractor digging into gravel bars and hammering on riverstone, hauling it out and using it as fill, "I reached out to American Whitewater, I reached out to (the Forest Service) to inquire, like, "hey, this is going on, do they have rights and a permit to do this?"

"A lot of stakeholders are now heavily involved because we do need to build the railroad back as swiftly as reasonably possible," Hauser said. "But we need to do it in a responsible manner that doesn't damage our river."

Hauser said he's hoping stakeholders have a chance to "team up with CSX and their subcontractors to talk about what compromises can be made, what is reasonable, what is responsible for the river and for this community."

He said in addition to concerns about riparian zones and recovering ecology, any decrease in recreational usability could cost local economies millions of dollars.

Hauser and Colburn said a recent meeting yielded what they interpreted as a verbal commitment to slow the extraction of rock.

"I haven't seen a change in behavior, which is concerning at this point," Hauser said, adding that he believes any change needs to be made "swiftly."

"This excavator behind me can fill up a tandem dump truck in a matter of two or three scoops," he said.

"They've already removed two acres of stone, and that's just here," he added. "This is going on up in State Line Shoals. This is going on on the river left side, which is actually Yancey County up in Poplar. It needs to slow down until everyone assesses and agrees upon what's the right course of action."

Hauser said he didn't want to be "alarmist," and wanted to be "patient and kind towards everyone."

"But we will be monitoring the situation to make sure that the sensitive, very pristine sections up in the gorge are not harmed like we see here."

American Whitewater's Colburn said he believes the railroad can "come back strong" without jeopardizing the river.

"I just hope people start talking about this and the project can slow down," he said. "One of the concerns I've heard is, 'if we don't do this right, it could impact this river for hundreds of years, literally.'

"It might slow the project down two weeks to give the public this river for the next 200 years. Many generations of people could enjoy the river as it is now if we just slow down a little bit, get the agencies involved, really understand how to protect recreation, how to protect the environment, get the public involved, and then move forward."

Colburn said he's not convinced that's the current trajectory.

"There's conversations happening, but nothing has changed with the work in the river as far as I can tell. It's still proceeding unabated."