GREASE INTERCEPTOR: EPA Kills Immigrant Business.

The final straw, she said, came in fall: a requirement by Knoxville Utilities Board to add a grease interceptor, which could cost $25,000 or more. Her deadline to respond: March 9.

In 2004, KUB entered into a consent decree with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state, the city of Knoxville and the Tennessee Clean Water Network. That order required KUB to minimize, and eventually eliminate, sanitary sewer overflows or be fined. . . .

Seham had already been to her bank to apply for a loan for the interceptor but said her business hasn’t been profitable enough to qualify her. She looked at the possibility of making the restaurant a coffeehouse that served only beverages and desserts but said KUB said she would still need an interceptor. She thought about other possible uses for the building, which she owns.

She decided she’d need to look for other work. Mo already is working for a local hotel, though he returns to King Tut Grill in the evenings.

Seham saw no point in submitting an action plan to KUB.

“There’s no way I can afford that,” she said. She began preparing to say good-bye.

I liked King Tut’s. But maybe it’s better that they close, before some woke idiot decides the name is problematic.