Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will host a community open house in Harriman, Tennessee, today to answer questions about the utility’s cleanup efforts and testing on air, water and soil in the area. The community open house is the second forum hosted by the TVA in an effort to keep those in the area apprised of the utility’s efforts to “right” the environmental “wrong” created when its Kingston, Tennessee coal ash impoundment pond failed late last year and poured more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge on to 300 acres of property in a rural Tennessee community. Coal ash contains toxins such as arsenic and lead which can be hazardous to human health.

The TVA launched a massive cleanup effort which includes dredging the Emory River to remove the ash and spreading grass seed over the affected land to keep the ash from flying about. The cleanup operation is costing the TVA about $1 million per day and is expected to ring in between $525 million and $825 million before the cleanup is complete and the land is restored.

The TVA also admitted publicly that it should have been more forthcoming about the possible dangers of the coal ash from the beginning. Since then, the utility has made efforts to keep the public informed of cleanup efforts through community meetings and the media.

Regardless, the cleanup has come under scrutiny by both environmental groups and community members who want more oversight and environmental studies performed.

Source:
WBIR-TV

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.