Electrolux to add trees to wetland

Plantings to offset loss from project

plan to mitigate the wetland loss by restoring wetlands to a 3.5-acre parcel near the Wolf River Greenway trail north of Collierville.

A contractor for the firm will restore wetland hydrology to the site by filling in drainage ditches, and it will plant 1,526 tree seedlings — more than 400 per acre — on the site, according to reports filed with the corps.

The Port of Memphis applied for the Clean Water Act permit on behalf of Electrolux, which will be grading and leveling a 586-acre site for the plant in the port’s Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park. Electrolux is expected to employ up to 1,240 people and generate 1,500 additional jobs for area suppliers.

One objection to the proposed Electrolux permit came from the Tennessee Clean Water Network, which questioned the location of the mitigation site — some 25 miles east of where the plant is being built .

The wetlands-restoration work should be done closer to the plant, not in such a distant watershed, said Reneé Victoria Hoyos, executive director of the group.

“We’re not asking them to look in an itty-bitty area,” she said. “We’re giving them a lot of room.”

Elcan, however, said regulators endorsed the mitigation site near Bethany Road north of Collierville because there were no suitable areas near the plant.

With the clean-water permit, the only major environmental approvals needed for the Electrolux facility involve air quality.

But Bob Rogers, pollutioncontrol manager for the Health Department, said that based on what he’s been told, Electrolux probably will be only a minor source of pollution, meaning the company shouldn’t have much trouble receiving permits. — Tom Charlier:

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