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

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has hired a new gun to head up the utility’s cleanup efforts in the town it so badly damaged when a TVA coal ash impoundment pond broke last December sending a wave of toxic material on to homes, property and the Emory River. That hired gun, Steve McCracken, is considered a nationally recognized leader on cleanup and remediation projects who has spent his career removing hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials from large industrial sites, excavating sludge, treating water and restoring landscape. As manager of the TVA coal ash spill recovery effort, McCracken says, “It is my intent to be here until the job is done … done to the satisfaction of the community.”

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Nine months after more than a billion gallons of coal ash tumbled from an impoundment pond at a Kingston, Tenn., coal-firing plant and created one of the nation’s largest environmental disasters, only one-third of the total sludge has been removed from the Emory River, leaving behind 2 million cubic yards in the river and 2.4 million cubic yards in Swan Pond Creek and neighboring land. The cleanup effort is still months – maybe years – away from completion and is expected to cost the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) at least $1 billion by the time it is complete.

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The hits just keep on coming for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). First, a massive spill from its east Tennessee coal-burning site results in a near-$1 billion cleanup, millions in payouts to the county it nearly destroyed, and mounting lawsuits from parties injured by the spill. Now, a Second Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated global warming lawsuits brought by eight states, New York City, and three land trusts against the TVA and other large utility companies, which seek to limit their carbon dioxide emissions, according to The Australian Business.

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is shelling out billions of dollars as a result of the massive coal ash spill from its Kingston, Tenn., fossil fuel plant that dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic sludge on to a neighboring community. But the nation’s largest utility is hoping a federal district court judge will grant it immunity from mounting lawsuits filed by property owners injured by the spill – a move that would leave those victims footing the bill for their own losses.

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It will bring millions of dollars of civic improvements to the tattered community of Roane County, Tenn., and will generate much-needed revenue and jobs for the poor, black Perry County in Alabama. But the toxic-laden coal ash sludge that is bringing so much benefit to the two Southern communities comes with a steep price – a serious risk of life-threatening health conditions and the looming threat of devastating environmental disaster.

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Three environmental groups have filed a notice of intent to sue against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not limiting toxic discharges from coal power plants or revising any of its effluent standards for coal combustion products or other effluents since 1982.

The threat of a lawsuit, filed by the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Integrity Project, comes as part of the wave of criticism on how coal-firing plants are regulated. That debate was spurred by last year’s coal ash spill in Kingston, Tenn. Coal ash, which is produced and stored at coal-firing plants, is not listed as a hazardous material and thus did not fall under federal regulations. However, improvements in pollution controls have kept toxins from leaving smokestacks, thus increasing the amount of toxins in the coal ash.

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The Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Ala., may be the “Cadillac” of all landfills in the industry, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and dumping millions of tons of toxic coal ash recovered from a spill site in Tennessee into the landfill may generate several jobs and millions of dollars in storage fees for the impoverished community, but residents of the mostly black community are hardly thrilled. A standing-room-only crowd gathered Wednesday night to hear plans for the dump in their community. Perry County District Attorney Michael Jackson voiced the concerns of the crowd, saying he was tired of poor areas being dumping grounds for the rest of the nation.

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Roane County, Tenn. is wasting no time to put to good use the $43 million allocated to the city by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for improvements to the county’s infrastructure and other programs to help improve the city’s tarnished image. The county is trying to pull out from under more than a billion gallons of toxic material after a coal ash pond at the neighboring TVA coal-burning plant ruptured last December and sent a wave of dangerous coal ash on to nearby property, destroying houses and contaminating waterways in its wake.

TVA is engaged in a near $1 billion cleanup of the land and said it would also give money to the county to help improve its infrastructure as well as fund projects and campaigns to improve the area’s public image.

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has agreed to spend $43 million on projects to improve Roane County, Tenn., the area that was devastated both physically and from a public relations standpoint when the TVA’s Kingston plant’s coal ash pond breached, sending a 1.1 billion gallon wave of toxic material on to 300 acres of a local community.

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Roane County, Tenn., was once a destination spot for retirees and locals seeking a bit of quiet and some water recreation along the Emory River. That changed nine months ago, when a coal impoundment pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-burning plant in Kingston, Tenn., broke, sending a 1.1 billion gallon wave of toxic material on to the neighboring community. The pile of sludge pushed homes from their foundations, destroyed property and contaminated the Emory and other nearby waterways. The TVA is engaged in a near-$1 billion cleanup, but city and county officials say much more will be needed to renew the community’s tattered public image.

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