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

More pollutants and carcinogens were dumped into waterways near the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tenn., plant in 2008 than were released to waterways by the entire U.S. power industry in 2007, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency. The report showed as much as 140,000 pounds of arsenic and nearly 60,000 pounds of metals poured into the Emory River, which runs near the plant.

The report was released ahead of congressional hearings this week on the coal ash spill in Kingston that occurred last year. That spill dumped about 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash on to 300 acres of rural land and into nearby waterways, and prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the safety of coal ash and the facilities that store the waste.

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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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Concerned citizens and environmental activists are opposing plans to expand a coal ash pond along the Ohio River in northern Kentucky because they say if the pond ruptures, it could contaminate drinking water. The proposal from LG&E would build 100-foot-tall walls around an existing coal ash pond, giving it more capacity than the coal ash impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tenn., plant, which failed last year and dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic waste on to a neighboring community.

That spill, called one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history, knocked houses off their foundations, damaged property and contaminated waterways. The TVA is currently undergoing an estimated three-year, $1.2 billion cleanup effort to restore the land.

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Coal ash produced and stored by fossil fuel plants kills fish and other wildlife, damages their reproductive capacity, and contaminates wells, according to a report released this week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The 230-page report culminates months of research triggered by last year’s massive coal ash spill from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston, Tenn., plant. That spill dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic material onto a neighboring community where it knocked houses from their foundations, damaged property and contaminated nearby waterways.

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Toxic coal ash recovered from a massive spill site in east Tennessee was deemed too dangerous by the state of Pennsylvania to be stored there, but some Alabama officials welcomed that coal ash with open arms. One U.S. Representative from Alabama is standing up for the people, urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish consistent standards at the federal level that would fully address legitimate concerns about the content of coal ash waste.

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Three environmental groups have filed a notice of intent to sue against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not limiting toxic discharges from coal power plants or revising any of its effluent standards for coal combustion products or other effluents since 1982.

The threat of a lawsuit, filed by the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Integrity Project, comes as part of the wave of criticism on how coal-firing plants are regulated. That debate was spurred by last year’s coal ash spill in Kingston, Tenn. Coal ash, which is produced and stored at coal-firing plants, is not listed as a hazardous material and thus did not fall under federal regulations. However, improvements in pollution controls have kept toxins from leaving smokestacks, thus increasing the amount of toxins in the coal ash.

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The Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Ala., may be the “Cadillac” of all landfills in the industry, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and dumping millions of tons of toxic coal ash recovered from a spill site in Tennessee into the landfill may generate several jobs and millions of dollars in storage fees for the impoverished community, but residents of the mostly black community are hardly thrilled. A standing-room-only crowd gathered Wednesday night to hear plans for the dump in their community. Perry County District Attorney Michael Jackson voiced the concerns of the crowd, saying he was tired of poor areas being dumping grounds for the rest of the nation.

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Indiana and Kentucky have the most coal ash ponds in the country and many of those ponds have numerous deficiencies and were built without trained engineers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA conducted the survey on the nation’s coal ash ponds following last December’s massive spill in which a coal ash impoundment pond at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-firing plant in east Tennessee broke, sending 1.1 gallons of toxic sludge onto 300 acres of a neighboring community. The coal ash destroyed homes, damaged property and contaminated nearby waterways, and is being blamed for making many locals sick.

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Following protests by environmentalists to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has upgraded four of its coal ash sites to a high hazard rating, according to the New York Times. The news comes a month after the EPA released a list of 44 “high hazard” coal ash dump sites across the country, meaning if a dam failure occurred, it would put human life at risk. Utilities were asked to evaluate their own sites. Coincidentally, none of the TVA’s 12 coal ash storage sites made the list.

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More than half of the toxic coal ash spilled on to an east Tennessee community can be stored in a landfill in Perry County, Alabama, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will begin immediately shipping the coal ash by rail.

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