BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
Lately, everytime I put my boat on the river downstream of Asheville people thank me. Together, we rehash what those stretches of the river looked like after Helene—blanketed with massive piles of PVC pipe from IPEX along the banks and in the river bed. And while I’m incredibly humbled by their thanks, it’s not me that has done that work. Our debris teams have done the work of magicians. The amount of debris—especially pipe—they have gotten out of the river is truly remarkable. They work their butts off every single day doing this for the river and for our community.
To date, we have spent over 44,000 labor hours solely on removing IPEX’s pipe from the river. Despite being 20 months from the storm, in the last 3 months alone, we have removed over 20,000 pounds. And yet, there are thousands of more pipes out there.
The work is hard and technical. I truly believe our teams are the only folks that can tackle a project like this—navigating whitewater with fully loaded boats of pipe and saws. It is a unique skillset.
Over the last several months, we have been pushing IPEX to tell us what they are doing differently to store their product. We don’t blame them for what happened during Helene, but we do expect them to learn from it. As a neighbor to the river, they have a responsibility to protect it and not turn it into an environmental hazard.
Hundreds of you sent letters to IPEX telling them that the French Broad isn’t just a resource to us, it’s the lifeblood of our community, and that their pipe is a threat to that. It seems they have started listening.
Recently, IPEX issued a public statement acknowledging the concerns raised by the community, committing to assess the situation, and share next steps. This moment matters.
I want to be clear: this response is the direct result of collective action—of community members who spoke up, sent emails to their leadership, and demanded better. Your voice helped get us here.
We appreciate IPEX’s engagement and their stated commitment to listen and respond. At the same time, we know that words alone are not enough. Meaningful progress will require transparency, clear action, and sustained follow-through.
While this is an important step forward, the issue is far from resolved.
Every day, our teams and volunteers continue the work of removing pipe from the river. The scale of the cleanup effort underscores the need for long-term solutions that prevent this kind of impact from happening again.
Moving forward, we will continue to hold IPEX accountable to their commitments. We expect to see clear next steps, open communication, and tangible investments in both cleanup and prevention.
And we will continue doing what we do best: showing up for the river.
Thank you for being part of this effort. The progress we’ve made so far is because of you—and the work ahead will be too.
