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

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of academic institutions, will begin addressing the health concerns of residents affected by last December’s coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Fossil Plant in Kingston, Tennessee, by late summer, according to a report by Knox News. The consortium was tapped to head up the response and handle the work. TVA will be monitoring the implementation of the guidelines and has agreed to pay medical expenses for anyone whose health problems are determined to be caused by the coal ash.

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Even though the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is monitoring the air and water near Kingston, Tennessee, for dangerous levels of toxins, Sandy Gupton takes water samples from the flooding on her farm just to be sure.

“Our farm is the largest acreage affected,” said Sandy’s husband Terry in an interview to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “TVA does not want to admit that the spill has devastated our lives, tainted our land and reduced our livelihood to a fraction of what it was before the spill.”

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Power plants in the U.S. produce more than 125 million tons of coal combustion waste each year, most of which ends up in dry landfills or in above-ground coal slurry pounds. In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed that material as non-hazardous and thus it didn’t fall under any strict government regulations.

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Washington lawmakers are now more in touch with the coal ash spill travesty that dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic material on to 300 acres of residential property in east Tennessee last December. Sunday night, a pipeline at a Maryland coal-burning power plant ruptured and leaked about 4,000 gallons of coal ash sludge into the Potomac River, according to the Boston Herald.

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Residents of Roane County, Tennessee who experienced property damage or suffered health complications following the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal ash spill last December continue to give testimony to members of the Tennessee State House Environment Committee, according to MSNBC. Lawmakers are trying to make sure the TVA is doing everything possible to right the situation.

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Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) repeatedly told Penny Dodson that she and her 18-month-old grandson Evan would be safe. They live near the utility’s Kingston, Tennessee, plant where in December a coal ash pond failed and poured more than a billion gallons of toxic material on to 300 acres of rural property and into Emory River. But when Evan started having trouble breathing, Penny took him to the doctor, who tested him for heavy metals.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MONTGOMERY, ALA. – Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., is currently evaluating claims on behalf of property owners affected by a devastating coal ash spill in Tennessee. The disaster spilled thousands of pounds of coal ash and toxic waste across more than 300 acres. The event occurred when an earthen retaining wall at the Kingston Fossil Plant failed, creating one of the largest coal fly ash spills in the United States. The plant is located 40 miles west of Knoxville, Tenn.

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By Shaila Dewan, New York Times

A coal ash spill in eastern Tennessee that experts were already calling the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States is more than three times as large as initially estimated, according to an updated survey by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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By Alex Nussbaum

December 30, 2008

Water samples near a billion-gallon spill of coal ash in eastern Tennessee have found levels of arsenic and other heavy metals higher than drinking-water standards, prompting a warning against using private wells in the area.

Samples taken at the site of the spill in Harriman, 35 miles southwest of Knoxville, “slightly exceed” the standards for some metals, according to a statement from the Tennessee Valley Authority, owner of the coal power plant where the Dec. 22 accident occurred. Results from well-water and air tests won’t be known until later this week, the utility said.

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