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Environmentalists Fear Risks From Tennessee Ash Spill
HARRIMAN, Tenn - Environmentalists worry the ash-laden sludge that coated a Tennessee neighborhood when a power plant dike burst could pose a health risk, although initial tests by a public utility company have shown no threat to drinking water.
Crews were expected to work through the holiday weekend to contain the aftermath of Monday's breach at the coal-fired Kingston power plant, run by the nation's largest public utility, about 50 miles west of Knoxville.
Officials at the Tennessee Valley Authority have said preliminary tests suggest that there is no danger to millions of people who get their drinking water from the 652-mile Tennessee River.
And TVA spokesman Gil Francis said crews were cleaning up the sludge.
"The cleanup is making progress," Francis said Thursday, adding that the group was moving from the road to other areas. TVA brought in 30 pieces of equipment and more than 100 workers for the effort, which will take four to six weeks to complete, he said.
A TVA news release Wednesday said there was no threat to the environment from the breach at the plant near Harriman along the Emory River, which joins the Clinch River and flows into the Tennessee River.
But environmentalists have sharply criticized TVA for what they say was something completely avoidable. Hundreds of fish were floating dead downstream from the plant Tuesday, and state and federal agencies have yet to complete water-quality testing. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Laura Niles said some toxic metals could be in the muck, including mercury and arsenic.
Lisa Evans, a Massachusetts attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, said similar spills have happened in Pennsylvania and Georgia, and she blamed the industry and a lack of federal regulation.
"The saddest thing is this is entirely avoidable," Evans said. "These people in these communities don't have to be in harm's way. This is not some complicated problem like nuclear waste. This is something the utilities know how to do."
Lawyer Chandra Taylor of the Southern Environmental Law Center estimated the sludge could have filled 798 Olympic-size swimming pools.
"The holiday disaster shows that there really isn't such a thing as a clean coal plant," Taylor said.
Francis has said the fish may have died from the freezing cold that contributed to the breach, not pollutants.
TVA officials say six inches of rain in 10 days and overnight temperatures in the teens contributed to the rupture of the dike on a retention pond, releasing about 2 million cubic yards of ash, water and mud that covered as much as 400 acres. Three homes were destroyed and several others damaged. No one was seriously injured.
TVA officials were working with the EPA and state environmental officials to determine exactly what caused the flood.
20 Comments so far
Show AllRE: "Francis has said the fish may have died from the freezing cold"
First let me stop laughing long enough to gain my composure. It is sad to see so many fish die, but that excuse to avoid blame takes the cake! We had a day a week ago where the wind chill was -46 C (-40C=-40F). A day when it was not quite that cold (but almost) I saw a tiny little bird perched in my tree outside. I have also heard no news items about fish dying in the local rivers - all three of them which run through the city which I live.
Avi Lewis is Naomi Klein's husband. He reported on so-called "clean coal" in the US for "Inside USA" - figures the term is an oxymoron - but that there are reasons why politicians tend to buy into the oxy moronic:
Inside USA - America's real black gold - 08 Aug 08 - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cxmRACPok
"Half of America's electricity is generated by coal, producing 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gases."
I have to agree. When I read this line the Guffaw splattered up my coffee.
It has been really cold in Tennessee this December - 52 F = 11 C - that is above zero - ie above freezing! No danger of ice storms (where it straddles zero celcius causing the snow to melt then freeze as ice) or water main breaks when it is -35 to -40C.
People have actually had to don sweaters! Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration - maybe just one sweater.
als
Where I live it was MINUS 7 degrees F a couple nights ago. That means 39 degrees BELOW FREEZING. It gets even colder here most winters. We do not have fish dying because they freeze, EVER.
It has been colder and colder every winter. Global "WARMING" is also an misnomer. Climate "DISRUPTION" is a more accurate term. Our atmosphere protects us from EXTREMES. Trees contribute to our atmosphere. This means that Coal is even dirtier because Mountaintop Removal methods destroy the very things that counteract the pollutions caused by burning coal. Trees are better at removing CO2 from the air than hemp, tho they take far longer to grow. Without Forests, there would be no complex life on earth. Forests TERRAFORM the earth. This means that they create and support living systems that can sustain complex life. Trees also remove other pollutions from the air, land and waters.
Continuing the "terminal stupidity" of Coal will ultimately send our planet back to PRE-Stone-Age conditions.
Phytoremediation is what needs to be done now they need to plant Hemp to clean up the soil
TVA officials were working with the EPA and state environmental officials to determine exactly what caused the flood.
Its still called "Negligence"! I don't care how you doctor it up.
Sad part of this story is THE COAL INDUSTRY will be more concerned about what this will do to their image than what this is doing to people. Bush/Cheney are TOXIC TERRORISTS ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com Kept us safe my ass !!!
Image is always important. First you are delusional, then you are "threatening", then you are proven right.
Looking at your link, seems that there is a wide array of companies that put image ahead of both quality and safety.
I am wondering if there is a link between those companies which make pharmaceuticals and those that make pesticides and airfresheners. I found one link between Novartis (makers of ritalin/methyphenidate) and some small pesticide company by accident once a long time ago. This is important because some doctors are so busy that, instead of reading the research themselves, they just read big pharma's brochures and attend their conferences. If there is such a link, then those who get sick can be labeled crazy and otherwise good doctors can be doing the industry's dirty work. It is just a theory - let's see if there is any proof. Anyone know how to research such things?
As long as the profit machines keep making profit - fuck the people. Presidebt Bush and his buddies love of money matters, not mountains ! I am sure there are links to pharmaceutical and pesticides. Doesn't Bayer have both ?? Fraud, mislead, lie, cheat, cover up, has become The American Way. Change is coming from the bottom up in Appalachia... hope this story has long legs to educate U.S.
"Presidebt bush"
LOL
what a great (intended?) typo!
how about Presideath?
als
My favorite is "Bushit" ...
"Trickery often succeeds but always commits suicide." ~Kahlil Gibran
RE: I am sure there are links to pharmaceutical and pesticides.
What about between those two and the companies that sell fabrese and axe and tag - products which are marketed as being either relaxing or invigorating - if you look at how the actors in the commercials respond to those products?
For me, I get drowsie and dizzy and forgetful, I either black out or pass out, then I am hungover after. That is an extreme version of the "relaxed" that they portray in the commercials.
Hey, even with miner's lung - there were always some people more susceptible to getting it than others - and company doctors who acted like this disease didn't exist.
If you want to keep this story alive - what about a song about the freezing fishes posted on youtube peppered with interviews from people from North Dakota/Minnesota who fish?
"A TVA news release Wednesday said there was no threat to the environment from the breach at the plant --"
Why do newspapers print this same line over and over and over? Put it on my gravestone, there was no threat to my life from this medical problem.
Living in the Four Corners of the USA I know how filthy coal power really is. On many space flights our astronauts mention and photograph the "clear view" through the hole in the atmosphere, perfect to view the landscape through...the hole created due the coal burning power plants causing the ozone to totally disappear over the Four Corners!!!!
It does seem that a lot of Luddites post here. There is a Certain anti- industrial and anti-modernity tone. Yet people here are posting to computers and I bet they use electricity.
You know the original Luddites where not against industry but against what harmed them. There is a difference!
Sometimes environmentalists are totally ridiculous.
What does a toxic pond, laden with heavy metals and coal sludge have to do with being "Modern".?
How is it "technological" ?
What i find absurd is people equating being opposed to the use of coal with being against the prescence of electricity.
This is akin to claiming anyone who is against Rapists and think they should be locked up are somehow against sex then speculating as to why they were even born.
What about the idea that one industry towns are more vulnerable to economic down turns than towns with may different industries. Mining towns tend to be one industry towns. When all the cheaply extracted coal is harvested, the company usually moves elsewhere leaving a big mess.
My electricity comes from Manitoba Hydro - which is cleaner than coal or nuclear. That is what is powering the computer on which I am typing, my brand new kettle and the microwave which I nuked my lunch.
According to Linda McQuaig, the Luddites were concerned with workers and working conditions. She also pointed out that it said something about the greater worth of machines over human life when killing a machine earned one the death penalty. Life is cheap.
als
The point is not that we need electricity to post comments and light our houses, etc. Electricity itself is quite clean. The point is HOW IS THAT ELECTRICITY PRODUCED. We have the ability/technology to produce electricity cleanly. We do not need to depend on Dirty Black Coal-produced electricity (or Nuclear power, which also depends on Coal as well as Gasoline and is equally dirty and unbelievably uneconomical).
It is not a question of being anti-industrial. It is a question of how industry is managed (and in this case and almost all other Corporate cases ... MIS-managed such that ALL Life is endangered, even the lives of those who think that "sometimes environmentalists are totally ridiculous").
As to "anti-modernity" ... Coal Power is a NINETEENTH CENTURY ENERGY DEVELOPMENT! Does Mr. Beyman think Coal Power is "Modern"? I think it is time to move into the 21st century already.
This is really a simple industrial accident. It should be investigated as to when the, if ever, the bean counters were going to let operations repair or improve the pond, and what regulations were not followed, or are needed to prevent it from happening again.
"Clean coal" is capturing the fly ash and using it in construction (if not too radioactive), capturing the sulfur oxides and mercury, and proper disposition of
the bottom ash. "Clean coal" apparently overlooks what mining has done to West Virginia.
The greatest problem with even the "cleanest" coal is CO2 emissions. New designs can improve yields, and CO2 can be (theoretically) sequestered, but the best thing to do is phase it out, and never, ever let anyone tell you coal conversion to oil or gas is worth jobs or energy independence. That means you too, Gov. Ed Rendell.
als
"CLEAN COAL" is like the Corp Pol POTS calling the Black Coal KETTLES "WHITE"! LOL ... I think 'they' are in such addictive DENIAL that 'they' actually THINK 'they' believe that DIRTY BLACK Coal IS white.
Let's face it. Burning ANYTHING is dirty; a bi-product of fire is CO2. Coal just happens to be one of the dirtiest things on earth (burned or not), but not as dirty as the games that sociopathic control-freaks play in order to make their bucks and maintain their images at the expense of all life on earth. I think 'they' need some psychological therapy.