Scared To Speak At A Public Hearing?

Watch This 7-Year-Old Show Support For Her Community At A County Meeting

Anna is a mother of two young daughters living on a small farm in Washington County, Tennessee. She wrote to me recently about her community and how they are facing a threat from a proposed rezoning that would allow a federal nuclear contractor, BWX Technologies (BWXT), to expand depleted uranium manufacturing on land that includes floodplain, sits yards from farmland and homes, and jeopardizes the drinking water supply.

[Watch Diana speak at 0:52 mark in the video]

The Washington County Planning Commission met earlier this month to vote on a proposed rezoning requested by BWXT to expand and build a new facility at its Jonesborough plant to produce high-purity depleted uranium (HPDU).

The public comment portion of the meeting lasted for more than an hour, as community members raised questions about the health and environmental risks of the proposal.

A Seven-Year-Old Shouldn’t Have to Beg Adults to Protect Her Home…

Of note was Diana Wright, Anna’s seven-year-old daughter, who bravely spoke up at the public hearing.

“You are the grownups,” she said. “You are the ones who get to decide what happens to my home, my neighbors, and the beautiful places I love.”

Let that sink in. A seven-year-old child shouldn’t have to plead with grown men and women to protect her from radioactive dust in the air she breathes. She shouldn’t have to worry about contaminated water. She shouldn’t even know what high-purity depleted uranium is.

But here we are.

Gabriel Wilson, co-founder of Protect Jonesborough, told local press, “I don't want Jonesborough to become a dirty uranium town. There are places that have hedged their bet that this would actually work and all that's happened is they become cleanup sites.”

He’s not wrong. History is littered with communities that trusted assurances of safety, that believed economic promises, that were told “this will be done safely”—only to become cautionary tales and Superfund sites.

Wilson didn’t start as an activist. He started as a neighbor who got a letter in the mail and went door to door talking to people. Nobody knew what was happening, and when they found out, hundreds showed up to fight back.

That’s how grassroots movements begin. One person refuses to stay silent and says “this isn’t right” loud enough that others start listening. Then, they go knock on neighbors’ doors.

The Corporate Playbook (We’ve Seen Before)

BWX Technologies wants to rezone land to build a new facility producing high-purity depleted uranium right next to homes, farms, a high school, and the floodplain of Little Limestone Creek, which feeds into the Nolichucky River and the region’s water supply.

Their response to community concerns? A corporate statement praising “national security” and “good paying jobs” while maintaining everything will be “safe.”

Sound familiar?

A former nuclear engineer who spoke at the hearing shared, “Depleted uranium is not the issue. It’s the chemicals that are the issue in our plants. I think this can be done safely. Not necessarily that it will be done safely.”

That distinction—between can be and will be—is everything. The burden of proof should never fall on seven-year-olds or their worried parents.

What You Can Do (Because Silence is Complicity)

If you’re reading this and thinking “this could never happen where I live,” you’re wrong. Corporate interests banking on public ignorance and government complicity are everywhere.

Here’s how you fight back:

1. Know Before They Go: Monitor your local planning commission meetings and rezoning requests. Most people find out too late. Sign up for notifications, check agendas, stay informed. Wilson found out from a letter—many of his neighbors never got one.

2. Organize Immediately: Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment. Wilson hoped for 10 people and got hundreds. Go door to door. Start petitions (Wilson’s has more 5,000 signatures). Create social media pages. Make noise.

3. Make Them Visible: Protect Jonesborough created bright yellow shirts, signs, water bottles, and masks. Visibility matters. When commissioners see a sea of concerned citizens, it’s harder to ignore.

4. Demand Real Answers: Don’t accept corporate PR speak. Ask specific questions: What chemicals will be used? What’s the emergency response plan? Who pays for cleanup if something goes wrong? What independent environmental review has been conducted?

In Jonesborough’s case, while the Planning Commission voted to recommend denial, the final decision rests with the County Commission, set to vote on January 26 without any independent environmental or cumulative-impact review.

5. Use Your Voice (All of Them): Speak at public hearings. Write letters to editors. Contact commissioners directly. Vote. One commenter at the hearing said it perfectly: “You, commissioners, are the last line of defense these people have.”

Make them remember they work for you.

6. Don’t Give Up After One Vote: The Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend denial—a victory, but not the final word. The full County Commission meets January 26, and commissioners have already said their positions could change.

If the rezoning passes, it’s permanent. Families will be forced to leave. The land will be contaminated. And that seven-year-old girl? She’ll learn that sometimes the grownups don’t protect the things we love.

The Bottom Line

This issue isn’t about one community in Tennessee. It’s about every community where corporations believe profits matter more than people, where “jobs” are used as a weapon against legitimate safety concerns, where the burden falls on children to beg adults to do the right thing.

The people in this town are fighting for their farms, their water, and their way of life. They are speaking up because if they don’t, who will?

You can learn more at protectjonesborough.com

Learn more about how BWX Technologies is becoming a nuclear super contractor across defense, energy, and space here.