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

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been slapped with $11.5 million in fines by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for violating state clean-water and solid waste disposal laws following the December 2008 coal ash spill in an east Tennessee community. In a statement released to media, Environment Commissioner Jim Fyke called the fines an appropriate response “to an unprecedented event.”

Since the billion-gallon spill of sludge from the TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., coal-firing plant 18 months ago, the country’s largest utility has been engaged in a massive cleanup of the toxic waste. The spill is responsible for destroying at least three homes, damaging property, and contaminating nearby waterways. Once pristine countryside that encouraged water recreation and fishing, now sits as a monochromatic field dusted with ash and covered with heavy equipment. About 60 percent of the ash has been removed from the Emory River as part of the first phase of the three-year, billion-dollar cleanup effort.

Because coal ash contains dangerous chemicals that have been found to cause serious health problems such as cancer, liver damage and neurological problems, many residents worry that the damage to human and wildlife cannot be repaired. Some people who live near the spill site say they have experienced breathing problems and heightened anxiety since the spill. Some residents, including a toddler, have tested positive for heavy metals in their blood.

TVA has already agreed to pay $40 million to the county for economic develop and to restore the community’s public image. The utility is also facing hundreds of lawsuits from people who lost property or were injured by the spill.

Source: CNN

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