December, 28 2008, 12:50pm EDT
Tennesse Coal Plant Kills 140+ per Year
United States
A 2002 report found that Tennessee's Kingston Fossil Plant, the site of the
December 22nd coal sludge spilled, has had persistent problems with
public health. The report, written by Abt Associates for the Environmental Integrity
Project and Rockefeller Family Fund, found that pollution from the plant cut
short the lives between 149 and 171 people in 2001. Pollution levels from the
plant since then have remained relatively constant. The report blames
poorly-regulated particulate pollution produced by the plant for heart disease,
lung cancer, asthma attacks, and other impacts.
December 22nd coal sludge spilled, has had persistent problems with
public health. The report, written by Abt Associates for the Environmental Integrity
Project and Rockefeller Family Fund, found that pollution from the plant cut
short the lives between 149 and 171 people in 2001. Pollution levels from the
plant since then have remained relatively constant. The report blames
poorly-regulated particulate pollution produced by the plant for heart disease,
lung cancer, asthma attacks, and other impacts.
"In the last ten years, the Kingston
coal plant could be responsible for more than 1000 premature deaths from air
pollution," said Rick Hind, Greenpeace Legislative Director. "Sadly, that's
typical for coal pollution, which cuts short the lives of at least 24,000
Americans every year and is the leading U.S. source of global warming
pollution.
The report is available at https://www.abtassociates.com/reports/ES-Abt_41_power_plant_report_Nov19.pdf
and the relevant data is on page 6.
The coal sludge spill is now estimated at
over 1 billion gallons (approximately 100 times the size of the 1989 Exxon
Valdez spill) and is thought to have contaminated the Emory and Clinch Rivers
(which feed into the Tennessee) with toxic chemicals like arsenic, mercury,
lead, benzene, cadmium, and others. Dead fish have been washing up on the banks
downstream from the spill. Greenpeace has called for a criminal investigation
of the spill.
Greenpeace called on Congress to rapidly put
a cap on pollution from coal fired power plants and invest in clean energy like
wind, solar, and geothermal power.
"There can be no toxic spills from wind turbines or solar panels," Hind
said.
More
information:
See
attached information on fly ash toxicity.
"False
Hope" - Greenpeace report on "clean" coal: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/false-hope
"Dirty
Air, Dirty Power" - Clean Air Task Force report on health impacts from coal: https://www.catf.us/publications/view/24
"Energy
[R]evolution" - Greenpeace report on transition to clean energy. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/energyrevolutionreport
Greenpeace Legislative
Director Rick Hind available for interviews.
Rick
Hind Bio
Since
1991, Rick Hind has been the Legislative Director of Greenpeace's Toxics
Campaign. He is one of the nation's foremost experts on a variety of toxics
issues, including security issues related to chemical hazards and the chemical
industry, EPA regulations pertaining to toxic incineration, the pulp and paper
industry, PVC plastics, and toxic pollutants.
He has testified before Congress
on multiple occasions and helped lead Greenpeace's successful global campaign
to ban some of the world's most dangerous chemicals and prevent new ones from
being marketed. The campaign culminated in a legally binding treaty, signed by
120 countries (including the United States), that achieved these goals.
Rick
is a go-to source for journalists covering toxics and chemical security issues.
He has been quoted in a wide range of national publications including The New York Times, The Washington
Post, The Wall Street Journalist, CBS News, NPR, FOX, and many
others. His writing on toxics issues have appeared in many newspapers,
including The New York
Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
Rick's
work to expose the vulnerability of U.S. chemical plants to terrorism and
accidents resulted in a feature story on the CBS program 60 Minutes in November
2003. He was also the subject of a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal in
January, 2004.
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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"This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations member state to protect and respect the inviolability of UN premises," said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
Dec 08, 2025
United Nations officials and others strongly condemned Monday's raid by Israeli authorities on a facility run by the UN's office for Palestinian refugees in occupied East Jerusalem—an act one rights group decried as part of an ongoing effort "to undermine and ultimately eliminate" the lifesaving agency.
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"To allow this represents a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world," he added.
Secretary-General António Guterres was among the other senior UN officials who condemned Monday's raid.
“This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” he said.
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In October, the International Court of Justice—which is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel—found that UNRWA has not been infiltrated by Hamas as claimed by Israeli leaders.
Others also condemned Monday's raid, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), which called the action part of an effort "to undermine and ultimately eliminate a United Nations agency providing vital services to millions of Palestinian refugees."
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The US advocacy group Free Press on Monday released a report examining how President Donald Trump and "his political enablers have worked to undermine and chill the most basic freedoms protected under the First Amendment" since the Republican returned to the Oval Office in January, and called on all Americans to fight back.
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The five recurring attack methods that Free Press identified are: making threats of retribution against would-be opponents; emboldening regulators to exact penalties; supercharging the militarized police state; leveraging heavyweight corporate capitulation; and ignoring facts, removing information, rewriting history, and lying on the record.
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Big new report out today @freepress.bsky.social chronicling the Trump regime's war on free speech and free expression. Heroic and harrowing work by @attorneynora.bsky.social and the team. Seeing all of the attacks together is astounding.
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— Craig Aaron (@notaaroncraig.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 11:12 AM
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In May, Trump, among other things, signed an executive order to defund National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service. In June, he deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles. In July, he sued Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over reporting on the president's ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In August, he deployed the National Guard in Washington, DC.
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Today Free Press released a report examining the Trump's efforts to weaken the First Amendment.Analyzing nearly 200 attacks on free speech, it's sobering. But the report also charts a path to resist the censorship campaign w/ collective action. Our statement: www.freepress.net/news/report-...
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— Free Press (@freepress.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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While Barrack's rejection of efforts to force democracy upon Middle Eastern countries drew praise, some Israelis bristled at what they claimed is the suggestion that their country is not a democracy, while other observers pushed back on the envoy's assertion regarding regional monarchies and use of what one Palestinian digital media platform called "classic colonial rhetoric."
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When an American official undermines the universal principles the US itself claims to defend, it sends a dangerous message: that Syrians do not deserve the same political rights as others and that minority communities should simply accept centralized authoritarianism as their fate.
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