The residents of Kingston, Tenn., know the scenario well by now. It’s been 14 months since an impoundment pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-burning plant breached, sending a wave of toxic material over 300 acres and into the Emory River. The sludge, piled as high as nine feet in some areas, knocked houses from their foundations, damaged once-pristine property, and contaminated the Emory River, an area once known for its water recreation. Coal ash contains dangerous toxins that have been found to cause serious health problems such as liver damage, neurological problems and cancer. Many in the area have complained of heightened anxiety and breathing problems. Some, including a small child, have tested positive for heavy metal in their blood.

The land may never be completely restored. The residue left behind can still affect wildlife and plants. The TVA is working around-the-clock on what is expected to be a three-year, $1 billion cleanup effort. That cost does not include what the nation’s largest utility is likely to pay in lawsuits against it because of the spill.

The sad fact is that the coal ash spill could have been prevented if the TVA had simply heeded the warnings from engineers who raised concerns of the impoundment pond’s structural integrity just months before the spill.

It’s an all too familiar scenario. Just last year BP suggested that an accident leading to a massive crude oil spill was all but impossible. Yet, it happened. The blowout from a riser pipe a mile below the water’s surface is pouring at least 200,000 gallons of oil into the ocean every day. The spill is so large it is expected to be much bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which 11 million gallons poured into the Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska. The ecological and economic effects could be devastating to an area still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Only time will tell how much damage it will cause or how long it will take for the land, the wildlife, and the businesses that rely on it to be restored. Perhaps it’s time these companies learn a lesson and focus on preventing such disasters rather than waiting until they happen to address them.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Gulf coast oil spill reminiscent of coal ash disaster

A team of scientists from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., have begun collecting water, sediment and fish samples from the Emory, Clinch and Tennessee rivers, and what they have found is alarming.

Many of the fish collected by the scientists had large amounts of ash in their stomachs, and others have swum as much as two miles upstream to find cleaner water. The ash that cakes in the fishes’ stomachs and gills can smother and kill the fish. The scientists summarize that the ash has traveled more than 6.5 miles downstream.

Many families in the east Tennessee rural neighborhood have suffered serious property damage, but there is mounting concern over how the coal ash spill will affect the health of residents there. The ash from the Tennessee spill contains dangerous materials such as arsenic, lead, barium, chromium and manganese, which can lead to serious health problems in humans such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

Authorities are calling the Kingston, Tennessee disaster the largest industrial spill in our nation’s history, having dumped 100 times more toxic waste than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › One month later, impact of spill hard to grasp