This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
As a bitingly cold wind blew through the Nolichucky Gorge, raft guides Jubal Roe, Dennis Ashford, and Dale Swanson bushwhacked across the riverbank to see what railroad company CSX has been up to for the past day or so.
Ashford, who is also a professor of chemistry at Tusculum College, pointed out where the rounded stones on the river bank suddenly disappear, at the entrance to an Appalachian Trail trailhead, which follows the river into the Cherokee National Forest.
“This was kind of where we first discovered what was happening,” Ashford said.
The guides pointed downstream, where shallow bars made of rounded, cobbled rock line the riverbank. The rocky riverbed provides a foundation for the river’s famous whitewater rapids, which have become a mecca for the area’s whitewater rafting community, and are also home to rare species of fish and mussels.
The river, which is fed by Western North Carolina’s Cane River and Toe Rivers, saw catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Helene which destroyed a large section CSX-owned railroad. The Nolichucky runs through miles of wild and remote Forest Service land on either side of the state line.
The raft guides led the group across the changed riverbank, where bulldozer tracks crossed the soft, mucky earth. Up where work began, and from there on into the depths of the gorge, the cobbled rock was gone, and the pattern of the rapids changed.
About another mile up, bulldozers were hard at work putting in new railroad ties, about eight feet above the original railroad bed, by the rafters’ estimation.
Jubal Roe, a certified raft guide and firefighter in Kingsport, Tenn., has paddled the gorge for about 40 years and his life has followed this river; his daughter was born in a cabin on the banks of the Nolichucky, which is also where he met her mother, a fellow raft guide.
“They’re removing all that material and replacing it with basically mud,” Roe said.
What Roe described is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the American Whitewater and American Rivers against three government environmental agencies: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and the U.S. Forest Services.
The environmental groups allege that CSX is digging up rock from the riverbed for repairs, which could seriously impact wildlife, flood risk, and the river’s suitability for rafting.
Rather than suing CSX – which is engaging in permitted activity – the lawsuit accuses the overseeing agencies of violating federal law by authorizing the work.
The legal complaint alleges that the work violates multiple federal regulations, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, said Patrick Hunter, an SELC attorney on the case.
“The core issue here, in this case, is that three federal agencies have issued approvals, allowing CSX to move forward with its highly damaging construction activities in The Gorge even though those activities do not comply with those core environmental laws,” Hunter said.
The complaint also alleges that the railroad began its work without first securing necessary authorizations from the government.
CSX, the National Forest Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation.
“CSX fully recognizes the importance of the Nolichucky River and is committed to continue working collaboratively with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, USDA Forestry Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, state and federal agencies, to ensure the rail infrastructure is recovered and restored in the safest and most environmentally responsible way,” CSX said in a statement to Tennessee news station WJHL last week.
The lawsuit argues that the changes in the river’s navigability, the damage to rare wildlife habitat, and other changes caused by dredging and mining make the permits unlawful. SELC unsuccessfully tried to obtain an emergency injunction. A federal court declined the group's request to temporarily stop federal regulatory agencies from approving CSX’s work in the Gorge, noting that the situation is evolving.
CSX is temporarily stopping its work for Thanksgiving.
“Plaintiffs have repeatedly asked federal agencies to put protections in place to ensure the Gorge is not unnecessarily damaged while allowing reconstruction to proceed,” the lawsuit states. “The agencies have also refused to put those legally required protections in place.”
In court filings, the agencies deny any harm by the actions.
"But there is no harm—federal agencies, and particularly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are actively consulting with CSXT regarding work to rebuild the railroad while protecting the environment," attorneys for the agencies wrote.
‘Man-made disaster’
The Nolichucky River flows freely through a deep gorge from North Carolina into Tennessee. This river, and its whitewater rapids, are part of a growing tourism and outdoor economy in Unicoi County.
The river above flood stage washed through the narrow gorge and spat out floodwaters thirty-feet-high into Unicoi County. Nearby, six workers at a local factory were killed, and dozens of people lost their homes.
It took a while for the shell shock of the disaster to wear off, and as it did, the rafting community slowly began to realize what was happening to the river they loved. Roe had spent the first month using his skills for swiftwater rescues and recovery missions. “It was traumatic,” Roe said.
Public officials have also begun to take notice, particularly since as the riverbed is widened, there’s a possibility that future floodwaters could gather more speed as they rush through a widened Nolichucky.
Even without Helene, the river experiences seasonal highs and lows. Downstream in Washington County, Tenn., Jodi Jones, a county commissioner, has tried to communicate that concerns are not just aesthetic.
“As a representative for the county hearing that it could impact our water quality, or whether it could affect the future flooding of this county, “ she said, “it's an imperative for me to start getting involved.”
Unicoi County and Erwin were extremely hard hit by Helene and the largely low-income county lost many of its few major employers.
The bulk of the Tennessee lives lost to Helene were workers at Impact Plastics, a local factory by the river. The other factories in Erwin were also flooded, along with the hospital.
Rafting and tourist-based industries bring nearly two hundred jobs and $18 million in revenue per year to Unicoi County. Erwin was once a railroad town, but when CSX closed its railyard in 2015, it relied on tourism to keep itself going.
The raft guides are concerned their industry may not have much of a future in Unicoi if the project is completed.
“It’s widening in the river out too, which affects the navigability of the river,” said Jubal Roe.
They stress that they have no problems with the restoration of the railroad in general. It’s possible to truck in quarried rock from elsewhere – it just takes more time and is more expensive. Ashford, Roe, and others want the work to be done with the environment in mind, which might cost more money but save the community grief in the long run.
“We have the natural disaster of Helene obviously,” said Ashford. “And that's changed this river forever, but then to see a man-made disaster on top of it, I think makes it even harder.”
