Dorothy Montgomery, foreground, checks a list of addresses that will be affected by the proposed Iron Property mines Thursday in the Rhea County Courthouse at a public hearing. “The mine will pass under my house,” Montgomery said. Bruce Peterson, far left, looks at a map of the area.DAYTON, Tenn. — About 200 people filled the main courtroom at the Rhea County Courthouse on Thursday night to voice concerns, opposition, chastisements and support for two proposed coal mining operations on Dayton Mountain.
Ogden Road resident Dorothy Montgomery, whose home will be above one of the underground mines, said she didn’t get the answers she wanted during an hourlong informal discussion period with state and federal regulatory officials and representatives from the mining company.
She’s worried that the mining tunnels and underground water used by the coal operation will create voids and weaken the ground beneath her home.
And she’s afraid that a parade of coal-hauling trucks — as many as one every six minutes, she says — will pose a danger to residents, overburden the roads and amount to too much traffic on Rhea County roads.
She said she’s also afraid the proposed mines are “a done deal.”