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

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) received word Monday that it will be required to pay $11.5 million in fines as a result of a December 2008 coal ash spill at its Kingston, Tenn., coal-fired power plant. The fine was levied by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation after the agency determined the TVA is guilty of violating state clean-water and solid waste disposal laws. The Dec. 22, 2008, spill dumped about a billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge on the Kingston community, located about 35 miles west of Knoxville, spreading across more than 300 acres of land and contaminating the adjacent Emory River.

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People who live near coal-burning power plants have as high as a 1 in 50 chance of developing cancer and have an increased risk of damage to their lungs, kidneys, liver and other organs, according to a 2009 report by environmental legal advocacy group, Earthjustice. Elisa Young, a resident of Meigs County, Ohio, the site of the country’s second-largest concentration of coal-firing plants, says she’s seen the havoc coal waste has wreaked on her family and friends. “I’ve lost neighbors to lung cancer who have never smoked,” she told Huffington Post. “I’ve lost them to brain cancer, breast, throat , colon, multiple myeloma, pre-leukemia. … There isn’t a house on this road that hasn’t been touched by cancer.”

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“Are the people of Perry County, Ala., less valuable than the people in Kingston, Tenn.?” asks Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen. The activist sent a complaint letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson this week in an effort to stop shipments of coal ash recovered from the east Tennessee spill site to a poor, black community in Alabama. Residents near the Uniontown, Ala., landfill say the coal ash is stinking up their town. And they, too, worry that the same toxic sludge that poured down on the community of Kingston causing serious damage and threatening human health, may create problems for them as well.

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It was bad enough when the coal ash impoundment pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tenn., plant holding more than a billion gallons of toxic sludge ruptured, sending a wave of coal ash onto a neighboring community and into nearly waterways. Cleaning it up hasn’t been a walk on the beach. One challenge was locating a landfill that would accept the recovered coal ash. The newest issue is finding a company willing to treat the wastewater from that landfill.

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The residents of Perry County, Ala., were just gearing up to file a lawsuit against Arrowhead Landfill. The landfill had entered into an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to accept coal ash recovered from the east Tennessee spill site, generating millions of dollars and a handful of jobs for the very poor, predominantly black community. But residents argued that the benefits came at too high a price. Coal ash is toxic, containing arsenic and carcinogens that have been linked to serious health problems. To make matters worse, the constant trainload deliveries of coal ash to the landfill were literally stinking up the town.

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If the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that coal ash waste from utility plants should be classified as a hazardous material, the ripple effect could hit Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) customers right in the wallet.

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Ms. Ruby’s smile is infectious, but it is tinged with concern. At 80, she has lived in Perry County, Ala., all her life. But what has happened there these past few months has made her fear for her health.

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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is enjoying record-breaking sales of its energy, setting records in demand for the 7-day period that ended Sunday. Total weekly energy use throughout the TVA’s 7-state region was more than 200 gigawatt hours higher than the previous record, set August 12, 2007. Total weekly energy use was recorded at 4.633 gigawatt hours, another record for the nation’s largest utility. TVA serves more than 9 million customers in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is OK for farmers to spread coal ash on to their fields to fertilize soil, even though the material contains toxins that have been linked to serious health complications such as cancer and liver damage. The agency says that the material contains just a trace amount of toxins that don’t pose a risk to humans through groundwater contamination or by consuming the crops. But environmentalists beg to differ.

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Alabama County Commissioner Albert Turner, Jr. says last year’s disastrous coal ash spill from a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-firing plant that destroyed homes, damaged property and contaminated nearby waterways turned out to be a “godsend” for the poor, black community he represents – an economic boon “unseen since the state of Texas struck oil.” Perry County, Ala., is receiving shipments of coal ash recovered from the east Tennessee spill site and storing it in a landfill. Not only is the county receiving millions of dollars in storage fees, the work has generated several dozen new jobs for people in the area. “I sleep well knowing we’ve got coal ash in the ground and cash in the bank,” Turner said.

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