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

Nearly one year after a coal ash impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tenn., coal-burning plant breached, sending 1.1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash on to 300 acres of a neighboring community, toppling houses, destroying property and contaminating the Emory River, it’s hard to believe that the TVA can live up to its promise to restore the land to its original beauty. Even if it can, whose to say the damage hasn’t already been done? “Concerns have been raised as to the impact of the contamination on groundwater supplies and air quality as well as effects on the local economy and property values,” says Rick Harmon, a writer with Current.com.

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It is not uncommon for industries to sell byproducts for profit. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority sells some of the coal ash it produces, a byproduct from coal-burning, to companies for use as a filler in concrete in roads, bridges and concrete blocks; material for wallboard; granules for roofing shingles; grit for sandblasters; filler for recreation areas such as ball fields and industrial parks; and fertilizer for crops. It is considered safe for those uses even though coal ash has been found to contain dangerous toxins such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium – materials that have been linked to serious health concerns like cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

But sometimes materials that we think are safe for use are in fact harmful to humans. Consider this sad story now being played out in Lawrence County, Alabama.

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The massive coal ash spill from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-burning plant in Kingston, Tenn., that blanketed nearby community last year with toxic material has resulted in a 43 percent cut in pay for TVA CEO Tom Kilgore. In its year-end financial report, Kilgore was paid $1.5 million in the fiscal year that ended September 30, nearly $1 million less than what he was paid the year before.

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A Tennessee state advisory board is calling for tougher regulation of coal ash impoundment ponds and recommending that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) turn over control of its storage ponds to the Dam Safety Group, according to WRAL. The board, which formed in the wake of last year’s massive coal ash spill from the Kingston, Tenn., TVA plant, released a report this week outlining its recommendations. The board also recommended that an independent board oversee the design, construction and closure of ash retention ponds.

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More lawsuits have been filed against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a result of last year’s massive coal ash spill in east Tennessee, bringing the number to 14, according to a report by News Channel 3.

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At 80, Ruby Holmes doesn’t have much fight left in her. So she sits in her home and deals with the deck she’s been given. In her community, which used to be in a place she called a “quiet, beautiful place … nothing but fresh air,” she can no longer open the windows. “That stuff, whatever it is over there, wakes me up, it smells so bad,” she told the Birmingham News. Holmes lives not far from the Arrowhead Landfill in Perry County, Ala., the same landfill that is taking in millions of tons of coal ash recovered from east Tennessee, where more than a billion gallons of the toxic material spilled from a neighboring coal ash impoundment pond.

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Top executives at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have been told not to expect their hefty performance bonuses this year because of lagging electricity sales from a weak economy and the massive coal ash spill that has drained the utility of more than a $1 billion. The utility’s CEO banked more than $1 million in bonuses for fiscal year 2008, and the nine executives who answer to him took home a combined $1.2 million. Those executives and some 3,300 other managers and specialists at the TVA were also told not to expect any raises for fiscal year 2010 unless they are promoted within the company.

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Tina Nicholson walks down her driveway in Cumberland County, Tenn., every afternoon to meet her kids as they get off the school bus. They often detour down the winding Smith Mountain Road to look at wild growing herbs and enjoy the fresh air. The road is so narrow that when cars pass by, the Nicholson family has to step into a ditch that runs parallel to the road to make room. “Two regular cars cannot pass each other on this road as it is,” she says.

But if Crossville Coal Company and Smith Mountain Solutions have their way and are allowed to reclaim a surface mine on top of Smith Mountain to store coal ash recovered from the east Tennessee site of a massive coal ash spill, the narrow roadway where the Nicholsons walk will become even more treacherous with heavy trucks carrying tons of coal ash.

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is putting smokestack scrubbers at its Kingston, Tenn., plant, which will clean a greenhouse gas that comes out of its smokestacks and into the air. But in order to do so, the nation’s largest utility will also have to create a new landfill to store the material left behind.

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Rules regarding the storage of coal ash are expected to come from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before the end of the year, but how the agency plans to categorize coal ash ponds has many environmentalists seeing red. According to a General Accountability Office document listing options currently being discussed, the EPA is considering designating wet coal ash as a hazardous material, but leaving the dry coal ash, or fly ash, categorized as non-hazardous if it is stored in a dry landfill.

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