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

Glen and Lisa Sexton listed their house in Kingston, Tennessee for sale last September and had plenty of out-of-state offers. But since an a coal ash impoundment pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant 16 miles away failed last December and flooded the neighboring community with more than a billion gallons of coal ash, no one seems interested in their home. “Our situation is we can’t sell it. It’s worthless,” Glen says.

To make matters worse, the “tsunami” of fly ash that poured down the river after heavy rains last month exacerbated Lisa’s auto-immune disorder. In short, the environmental disaster has made a disaster of the life they once had in Kingston.

It’s not much better for Gary Topmiller and his family, who live across from the spill site. “We started getting sick as soon as this happened,” he said. “We just keep getting sick … We’re tired of being sick.”

Residents affected by the TVA coal ash spill spoke to U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who came to Roane County last weekend to hear first-hand what residents were suffering through. Johnson heads the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, which has oversight of the TVA.

“This is a bit more serious than we anticipated,” Johnson said. “We didn’t know the frustration is at this level. I think we now have a real good understanding of how the community is being affected. I feel like the reports we’ve gotten have been incomplete. I will give you my commitment that we will look into what we heard today.”

Source: Knox News

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