Environmental Catastrophe in East Tennessee
A retention pond at the Kingston, Tennessee steam plant holding hundreds of millions of gallons of coal fly ash burst today, spilling toxic sludge into the nearby town of Harriman. At present, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) estimates that 3.1 million cubic feet of fly ash has oozed into the Clinch River. Already, there are reports of dead fish along the banks of the river. The total acreage affected far exceeds the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
A look at the photos shows the devastation already caused to homes in Roane County. This aerial video reveals the scope of the disaster – more than 400 acres are ruined.
Coal fly ash is the residue formed after burning coal in a steam plant. Hundreds of retention ponds across Appalachia hold fly ash generated from TVA plants and other sources. The toxicity of fly ash is very high; it typically contains dangerous levels of mercury, arsenic and benzine. If not safely contained, fly ash can destroy the plant and animal life of the affected area, permanently ruin homes and farms, and contaminate the water supply. The Clinch River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, and the city of Chattanooga gets its water from the river downstream from the spill site.
This is not the first time a major coal ash spill has caused an environmental catastrophe. In 2000 a major spill in Inez, KY, 300 million gallons of waste made its way into local waterways.
Overall, this is a major headache for the coal industry, which is trying to market a non-existent product called “clean coal technology” to the public. This spill, which authorities still cannot determine the cause of, highlights the environmentally damaging effect of coal. From mountaintop removal to CO2 emission, to acid rain, to sludge runoff, to fly ash disposal, the coal industry is nothing but dirty.
Incidentally, it is not the great employer it once was. Coal mining is entirely mechanized now, offering a handful of employees well-paying jobs. Counties in southeastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia still rely on coal mining for tax revenue – but little else. For most people living in Appalachia, coal is as beneficial to life as oil is to the people of Iraq: a poison pill to the extreme.
5 Responses to “Environmental Catastrophe in East Tennessee”
Sorry to hear about this, but the water main break was the disaster yesterday. Imagine the pain of our leaders and shakers in DC being delayed by the break. The bubble headed blondes were all upset…
I agree with Elrod about the problem with the “clean coal” concept. Those who criticize other energy sources like wind and solar are more than willing to point out pollution produced in the manufacturing process. But somehow they don't examine the entire life cycle of coal from mining to waste disposal. Given this story I think it's obvious that the truth is that coal waste disposal has posed more problems than nuclear waste, which is a real kick in the pants to some people.
A little fact checking is in order. The Exxon Valdez effected 10o miles of coastline and square miles of ocean floor, orders of magnitude less area than this spill. Fly ash is not coal processing sludge (Inez, KY), it is a different material. Finally, if you can find any document anywhere, any lab report, that indicates that fly ash contains benzene I'll donate $100 to your blog. Think about it, fly ash is burnt coal, benzene is a component of gasoline. After you burn the coal, why would you have benzene. Yes, its a catastrophy. No need for inventing “facts”.
[...] Environmental catastrophe in East Tennessee [...]
Right – no benzene in fly ash. The ash itself is the main immediate “toxicity” problem; anything in that river is buried and dead by now. The heavy metals (including arsenic) are likely to be 100% bioavailable and will pose very long-term ecological and human health problems. Even it were feasible, removal and disposal of the ash in a properly designed landfill would cost around $100+ a ton. Do the math, ain't gonna happen. Especially given the owner of the site.
As a long-time environmental regulator, I'd like to point out that the articles to date are missing a major point. TVA is a federally-owned corporation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Valley_A…
I can assure you that when it comes to environmental compliance, government agencies are the absolute worst, with only a few exceptions (a nod to my friends in the Air Force). The president of TVA and the current head of the USEPA, TVA's environmental “consultant,” should both go to jail for this one. If they were a privately held company they probably would. But TVA employees a lot of people and brings a lot of money into Tennessee. You can imagine the politics. And to their benefit, TVA has some great scientists and does some great environmental work in the south. But $ is $.