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

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.

Last fall, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-firing plant in Kingston, Tenn., was far from the minds of Roane County residents. The community welcomed long-time rural residents, retirees and those with second homes that looked out on the Emory River and Watts Bar Lake, and offered pleasant fishing and water recreation. However, that all changed on December 22, 2008, when a coal ash impoundment pond at the TVA plant failed, sending more than a billion gallons of coal ash tumbling on to 300 acres of a nearby community. The wave of toxic material, piled as high as nine feet in some areas, knocked homes from their foundations, damaged property, and tainted the Emory and other waterways downstream.

Coal ash contains dangerous toxins including arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, which have been associated with serious health conditions such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, to name a few. Several residents in the area have complained of respiratory problems and heightened anxiety following the spill. Some residents, including a young child, have tested positive for heavy metals in their blood.

The TVA is undergoing what is expected to be a near-$1 billion cleanup of the property it contaminated. That cleanup includes recovering the fallen ash and storing it in landfills in other states, including the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Ala., in Perry County.

The expensive cleanup did little to improve the TVA’s reputation on a national scale, and worse yet, the spill severely impacted the public image of the town it damaged. In an effort to right itself, the TVA announced last week that it would give Roane County $43 million for improvements. The first projects announced by county officials include doubling the size of Kingston’s wastewater treatment plant, converting an old theater to a regional arts education center, and paving the entrance to the county industrial park. The county’s plan also includes a pricey public relations campaign headed by a Tennessee firm.

Some environmentalists say covering the tainted land with new projects and improvements will only mask what’s really underneath, dangerous toxins now buried deep in the ground that can wreak havoc on plant life, wildlife and even human life.

And what about the thousands of tons of coal ash recovered from the spill site and transported across state lines to Perry County? Some say it is a blessing in disguise. Perry County is predominately black and has one of the highest poverty rates in the state. The storage agreement with the TVA will translate into 30 new jobs for local residents and more than $3 million for the impoverished county.

The Environmental Protection Agency is supporting the relocation of coal ash to Alabama, saying the Arrowhead site is the “Cadillac” of landfills, specially lined to prevent leaching into soil and groundwater and with strength to hold up over time.

But residents of Perry County remain skeptical. “Money isn’t worth everything,” resident Mary Gibson Holley told the New York Times earlier this month. “In the long run they ain’t looking about what this could do to the community if something goes wrong.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am 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.