Fish killed in Tenn. pond restoration project

Oak Ridge, Tenn. (AP) – Department of Energy contractors have
poisoned some 30,000 fish at three ponds near the former K-25
uranium-enrichment plant in East Tennessee as part of a restoration
project.

A team from Alabama-based Aqua Services Inc. on Thursday
distributed Rotenone at the ponds. The chemical is lethal to fish
but has no long-term environmental effects.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff collected the fish including
tiny minnows, mammoth carp and trophy-sized bass in nets whose
carcasses floated to the top.

Project manager Jeff Cange told The Knoxville News Sentinel the
fish will be buried in a clay-lined pit.

Instead of the traditional draining and dredging, the plan is to
stock the polluted ponds with new fish and plants.