E-M:/ Coal ash disaster, larger than the Exxon Valdez

[Nikki <elansingcwa@cleanwater.org>]

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Enviro-Mich message from Nikki <elansingcwa@cleanwater.org>
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Dirty, dangerous and unjust forms of power continue in part, because the 
associated truths that would appall most energy consumers are rarely 
reported or discussed. Yesterday's disaster in Tennessee should not be 
overlooked by the rest of us for several reasons:

-Michigan also stores coal ash near residential areas and waterways.
-The headwaters of Appalachia supply the entire east coast and the 
eastern side of the Midwestern United States with drinking water.
-All water is shared.
-Coal is dirty, dangerous, and unjust on many levels, none of which 
should be left out of our discussions or decisions for future energy 
sources.


Friends,

There was a huge and terrible environmental disaster in Tennessee yesterday.
photo 
<http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?template=zoom&Site=DN&Date=20081223&Category=GREEN02&ArtNo=812230370&Ref=AR&Profile=1001>

The Tennessee Valley Authority, better known as TVA, has a coal-burning 
power plant located near Harriman, Tennessee, along Interstate 40 
between Knoxville and Nashville. The stuff that is left over after TVA 
burns their coal is called coal ash.
Coal ash contains mercury and dangerous heavy metals like lead and 
arsenic - materials found naturally in coal are concentrated in the ash.

TVA has a huge mountain of this coal waste material stored in a gigantic 
pile next to their Harriman (Kingston) power plant, alongside a 
tributary of the Tennessee River.

On Monday morning Dec. 22 around 1:00 am, the earthen retaining wall 
around this mountain of coal ash failed and approximately 500 million 
gallons of nasty black coal ash flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee 
River - the water supply for Chattanooga TN and millions of people 
living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.
This Tennessee TVA spill is over 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez 
spill in Alaska, if local news accounts are correct.
*** This is a huge environmental disaster of epic proportions.
To see an amazing aerial video of the spill - the big hunks and chunks 
in the river are mounds of coal ash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmVCABMRRQ
There is better aerial footage but you have to watch an Applebees 
commercial first - go to the link below, then scroll down to the "Most 
Popular" section and find the button that says "aerial footage"
http://www.wbir.com/video/default.aspx?aid=74330

The local media are downplaying the spill, but the Nashville newspaper 
(The Tennessean) has a decent article, posted below.
When I first saw the 300 million gallon Martin County coal sludge spill 
in Kentucky in October 2000 I was outraged. I was sure that it would be 
a national news story, but it never was, because the coal companies and 
local law enforcement blocked the road leading to the spill and kept the 
media out. The national media was confused because they didn't know what 
"coal sludge" was. And ....the big national environmental groups didn't 
do enough to bring media attention to the Martin County disaster.
Thats not going to happen this time, because we have
1. You Tube
2. Bloggers
3. Digital cameras
4. You!
Please help - we need volunteers to take pictures and video of the spill 
and post them on the web. We need first hand accounts and documentation 
of the spill. We need letters to the editor. We need calls and emails to 
our leaders in Washington and Nashville and Frankfort and to 
President-Elect Obama.
Please fwd this email to other concerned people and the news media.
*** There is no such thing as clean coal! Look at the video of this spill.
"Clean Coal" is The Big Corporate Lie.
This horrific disaster in Tennessee can be the turning point in our 
nation's struggle to build a new network of clean modern renewable 
sources of energy, like wind and solar power - but we have to raise 
awareness of this disaster immediately. Thanks for reading.
Here is the Tennessean's coverage:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081223/GREEN02/812230370/1001/RSS6001


 Flood of sludge breaks TVA dike


   Collapse poses risk of toxic ash

By Anne Paine and Colby Sledge • THE TENNESSEAN • December 23, 2008

HARRIMAN, Tenn. — Millions of cubic yards of ashy sludge broke through a 
dike at TVA's Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of 
acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting 
environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into 
the ground and flowing downriver.
One neighboring family said the disaster was no surprise because they 
have watched the 1960s-era ash pond's mini-blowouts off and on for years.
Advertisement
About 2.6 million cubic yards of slurry — enough to fill 798 
Olympic-size swimming pools — rolled out of the pond Monday, according 
to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
[There are 200 gallons per cubic yard so this is about 500 million 
gallon - Dave]
Cleanup will take at least several weeks, or, in a worst-case scenario, 
years.
The ash slide, which began just before 1 a.m., covered as many as 400 
acres as deep as 6 feet. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, 
covered Swan Pond Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and 
one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt.
Much remains to be determined, including why this happened, said Tom 
Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
"I fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 
10 days, plus the freezing weather … might have had something to do with 
this," he said in a news conference Monday on the site.
The area received almost 5 inches of rain this month, compared with the 
usual 2.8 inches. Freeze and thaw cycles may have undermined the sides 
of the pond. The last formal report on the condition of the 40-acre pond 
— an unlined, earthen structure — was issued in January and was 
unavailable Monday, officials said.
Neighbors Don and Jil Smith, who have lived near the pond for eight 
years, said that nearly every year TVA has cleaned up what they termed 
"baby blowouts."
Ashen liquid similar to that seen on a much larger scale in Monday's 
disaster came from the dike, they said.
"It would start gushing this gray ooze," said Don Smith, whose home 
escaped harm. "They'd work on it for weeks and weeks.
"They can say this is a one-time thing, but I don't think people are 
going to believe them."
The U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were among agencies 
that responded to the emergency.


     Toxic irritants possible

Coal is burned to produce electricity at the Kingston Fossil Plant, 
notable for its tall towers seen along Interstate 40 near the Harriman 
exit in Roane County.
Water is added to the ash, which is the consistency of face powder, for 
pumping it to the pond. The ash is settled out in that pond before the 
sludge is moved to other, drier ponds, Kilgore said.
Coal ash can carry toxic substances that include mercury, arsenic and 
lead, according to a federal study. The amount of poisons in TVA's ashy 
wastes that could irritate skin, trigger allergies and even cause cancer 
or neurological problems could not be determined Monday, officials said.
Viewed from above, the scene looked like the aftermath of a tsunami, 
with swirls of dirtied water stretching for hundreds of acres on the 
land, and muddied water in the Emory River.
The Emory leads to the Clinch, which flows into the Tennessee.
Workers sampled river water Monday, with results expected back today, 
but didn't sample the dunelike drifts of muddy ash.
That could begin today, officials said, and the potential magnitude of 
the problem could make this a federally declared Superfund site. That 
would mean close monitoring and a deep, costly cleanup requiring years 
of work.
"We'll be sampling for metals in the ground to see what kind of impact 
that had," said Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the EPA in Atlanta.
"Hopefully, it won't be as bad as creating a Superfund site, but it 
depends on what is found."
Stephen Smith, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville, 
said those concerned about water and air quality have tried for years to 
press for tighter regulation of the ash.
The heavy metals in coal — including mercury and other toxic substances 
— concentrate in the ash when burned, he said.
"You know where that is now," he said. "It's in that stuff that's all 
over those people's houses now."
Chemicals and metals from coal ash have contaminated drinking water in 
several states, made people and animals sick in New Mexico, and tainted 
fish in Texas and elsewhere, according to Lisa Evans, an attorney with 
Earthjustice, a nonprofit national environmental law firm that follows 
the issue.
"It's discouraging because this is an easy problem to fix," she said.
Ash could be recycled by using it to make concrete and at the very least 
should be placed in lined, state-of-the-art landfills, she said.


     Plant is still operating

TVA's Kilgore said that chemicals in the ash are of concern, but that 
the situation is probably safe. The power plant is still operating, 
sending the ash to a larger pond on the site.
"There are levels of chemicals in there that we are concerned about," 
Kilgore said. "We don't think there's anything immediate of danger 
because most of that's contained, but that's why we have sampling folks 
out."
Officials were monitoring a water intake that serves Kingston City and 
is only a few miles downstream from the Kingston plant, but said no 
problem had been noted there as of Monday afternoon.
The power producer, which oversees the Tennessee River system, had 
slowed river flow in the area, releasing less water from key dams, so 
the pollution might be better contained for possible cleanup.
TVA has insurance for an event like this, spokeswoman Barbara Martucci 
said, but what the cleanup cost is and how much insurance will pay 
remains to be determined.
Otherwise, ratepayers in Tennessee could bear much of the costs. TVA 
provides virtually all the electricity in the state, along with parts of 
six others.
**
*Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or apaine@tennessean.com 
<mailto:apaine@tennessean.com>.*


Dave Cooper

The Mountaintop Removal Road Show
http://www.mountainroadshow.com/
(859) 299 5669

Call for a volunteer presentation in your community!

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