By Becky Striepe •
June 8, 2009
[Creative Commons photo by Jim Combs]
The spill, which dumped over 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic sludge in the area around the Kingston coal plant, was over 120 times larger than the Exxon Valdez. It destroyed homes in the area and contaminated local water supplies. Cleanup is still underway from the disaster six months later.
So why is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) shipping tons of this toxic substance from Tennessee to Georgia and Alabama?
An October, 2002 the EPA-funded study on the health risks from Coal Ash dumps, which showed an increased cancer risk as well as the risk of non-cancer illnesses, was never released to the public.
The predicted cancer risk increase–up to 1 in 50 more cases per site–was due to arsenic leaching into the water table from unlined waste (coal ash) ponds. Non cancer health problems, including liver and kidney damage, were also shown to be at increased risk for residents living within a few miles of the waste ponds. Additionally, neurological damage from lead leaching was also a major risk finding.
The EPA did release an edited version of the study in August of 2007, but, according to environmental groups, it omitted the risks to marine animals. Environmentalist fear that the risk may be even greater than the study predicts, due to the fact that the EPA based its findings on a smaller survey data set (of total coal ash ponds)–40% less than the Industry reported in the subsequent year. Currently, there are at least 427 documented, coal ash waste ponds in the US.
By Alex Felsinger •
March 28, 2009
Residents of Centerville, Virginia have sued Dominion Virginia Power to the tune of $1 billion for supplying 1.5 million tons of toxic fly ash to fill the hills of a nearby golf course.
The attorneys representing 400 Centerville residents claim that Dominion knew that the substance they supplied to the Battlefield Golf Club would eventually seep into the water supply. The suit also names the golf course’s developer and Dominion’s ‘coal-ash management consultant.’
By Becky Striepe •
March 11, 2009
The Maryland Department of the Environment is reporting a coal ash spill, this time on the Potomac River.
[Creative Commons photo by Mikko Itälahti]
How many spills does this make in the past few months alone? There was the devastating
TVA spill in Tennessee, the
January spill in Alabama, and now this. Three spills in three months is a pretty terrible track record that underscores our need to move beyond coal as a primary fuel source.
The Maryland Department of the Environment press release said:
By Caitlin Sislin •
January 9, 2009
On Thursday, a group of senate Democrats led by Barbara Boxer responded to what may be the largest coal-related disaster in history by calling for more stringent rules on toxic byproducts from coal-fired power plants.
By Taylor Shelton •
December 28, 2008
Tuesday’s initial reports about the coal ash disaster in Harriman, Tennessee at the TVA’s Kingston Power Plant turned out to be false. The Tennessee Valley Authority initially estimated the spill to be approximately 500 million gallons, although they have now amended their estimate to 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic waste, which is the equivalent of over one billion gallons.
By Taylor Shelton •
December 23, 2008
Unnatural disasters have become a fact of life dependent upon fossil fuels. The latest of these disasters came early Monday morning when a coal slurry impoundment at the TVA Kingston Power Plant near Harriman, TN burst, allowing approximately 500 million gallons of toxic coal ash to rush into the surrounding community.
