The county will reap about $8 million over three years from fees. The project will also help improve the mine where the coal ash will be stored and bring road improvements so that covered trucks can haul the coal ash up the mountain to the landfill. What could be wrong with such a plan?

Plenty, say residents who live near the landfill. “I’ve been here for about three years. It’s just a beautiful place. It’s waterfalls, ponds, nature,” says David Brundage, owner of Black Cat Lodge, a rehabilitation escape for people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. “My concern is everything I’ve built, everything I have here is going to be gone.”

It’s a valid concern. People who lived in the east Tennessee community of Kingston know far too well what can happen in a worse-case scenario. Residents there lost homes and property when 1.1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash tumbled from an impoundment pond from the nearby Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-burning site. The December 2008 tragedy is listed as the largest environmental disaster of its kind in U.S. history. In an effort to restore the land, TVA is undergoing a three-year, $1 billion cleanup of the land. As part of the cleanup, gallons of recovered coal ash are being shipped via train car to a landfill in Perry County, Alabama, for storage, a move that is winning more support from Perry County officials than from the residents who live there.

Once the Alabama landfill is filled to its brim, TVA officials plan to load up covered trucks and move the toxic coal ash to neighboring Cumberland County, atop Smith Mountain. Which begs the question: how do you define a good neighbor?

Source: News Channel 5

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Cumberland residents say ‘no;’ officials say ‘yes’ to coal ash

About 500 people have been working almost nonstop to fill Norfolk Southern train cars with recovered toxic sludge and transport them to a landfill in Alabama. Judging by the vast stretches of gray on the ground, the end is far from sight. But TVA officials vow they will restore the land to its previous condition. Still, residents are skeptical.

Coal ash contains dangerous toxins such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, which have been linked to serious health concerns such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, to name a few. Many residents in the area have complained of respiratory issues and heightened anxiety. Some, including a young child, have tested positive for heavy metal in their blood.

While removing the ash may make the land appear good as new, environmentalists fear that the damage is a deeper problem, that toxins have seeped into the ground and waterways, affecting wildlife and plant life, which ultimately will create more problems for those who go back to live on the land.

Source: KnoxNews

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Coal ash cleanup still months, years away from completion

TVA has been involved in a massive cleanup effort ever since its Kingston, Tennessee coal ash impoundment pond burst last December and dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash on to 300 acres of a neighboring community and into the Emory River. No end seems to be in the near future for the country’s largest public utility, which says it expects to pay upwards of $975 million restoring the property.

That cleanup process has involved locating landfills and storage sites in neighboring states to store the coal ash removed from the spill site. However, residents of those sites have expressed concerns over having toxic coal ash in their backyards. Coal ash has been found to contain dangerous material such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, which have been associated with serious health concerns such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

Smith Mountain Solutions, LLC, says it has an option on a 300-acre site owned by Crossville Coal Inc., located in a remote corner of Cumberland County near the Morgan County line that would accommodate the recovered coal ash. According to the proposal, TVA would pay Cumberland County between $7.5 million and $8.5 million over three years to hold the coal ash. Part of that cost would cover improvements to Smith Mountain Road. The project would also create about 100 jobs for local residents.

Members of Smith Mountain met with residents earlier this week to discuss the proposal, which was met with both support and objections.

While TVA has been told about the proposal, no agreement ha been signed. The plan also would have to be approved by the Cumberland County Commission, and Smith Mountain would have to obtain a state permit.

Source: Knoxville.biz

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Proposal to store coal ash could bring jobs to Cumberland County

Coal ash contains dangerous toxins such as arsenic, barium, chromium and manganese, which have been associated with serious health concerns such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

“I don’t know what Tennessee law is, but under Pennsylvania law it would probably have to go to a residual waste landfill,” said Tom Rathbun, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

A TVA spokesperson says it already had given up on storing the recovered coal ash in the Pennsylvania coal mines as the mines were not properly lined to prevent the toxins from leaching into the ground.

Meanwhile, TVA has located landfills in Alabama and Georgia to store the 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash that poured from a breached impoundment pond, destroying neighboring homes and property. Both sites are Class 1 landfills. One is located in Mauk, Georgia and the other in Uniontown, Alabama.

The TVA’s cleanup effort has caused headaches for the utility, which estimates it will spend as much as $975 million to restore the land. It could be months before the cleanup is complete.

Source: Forbes/Associated Press

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Pennsylvania says no to TVA coal ash storage

The locations were identified through TVA documents and interviews as a landfill in Taylor County near Mauk, Georgia, and a municipal waste landfill in Perry County in west central Alabama. According to landfill officials in Georgia and Alabama, the facilities are lined with both clay and synthetic barriers, which offers more protection than the unlined surface where the TVA stored ash at its Kingston, Tennessee plant.

Coal ash contains toxic material such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, which have been found to cause serious health issues such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

According to The Institute for Southern Studies, the communities slated to receive the coal ash did not have a chance for meaningful involvement in the decision to store the coal ash in its landfills. Neither the TVA nor regulatory authorities provided an opportunity for public comment.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Poor, black counties to receive coal ash from TVA cleanup

Cancer rates

The EPA screening study conducted in 2002 was not made public until March 4, 2009. Numerous attempts to get the information made public through the Freedom of Information Act to the EPA during the Bush Administration were denied or released with the risk estimates blacked out. The data finally made public after seven years shows that cancer risk is substantially higher for up to one out of every 50 Americans living near wet ponds used to dispose of ash and scrubber sludge from coal-fired power plants across the United States.

The analysis focuses on 100 landfills and 110 surface impoundments examined by the EPA that lack effective synthetic liners to prevent leaks as the EPA found unlined and clay-lined waste units present far greater risks to both human health and ecosystems. These high-risk coal ash dump sites are in more than 35 states.

According to the report: “Can living next to one of these dumpsites increase your risk of getting cancer or other diseases? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thinks so, especially if you live near one of those wet ash ponds, or surface impoundments, that dot the landscape near large coal plants, the pond has no protective liner, and you get your drinking water from a well … (N)earby residents have as much as a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated by arsenic, one of the most common, and most dangerous, pollutants from coal ash. And that’s not all. That same risk assessment says that living near ash ponds increases the risk of damage to the liver, kidney, lungs and other organs as a result of being exposed to toxic metals like cadmium, cobalt, lead, and other pollutants at concentrations far above levels that are considered safe. In addition, the danger to wildlife and ecosystems is simply off the charts, with one contaminant—boron—expected to leach into the environment at levels two thousand times thresholds generally considered to be safe.”

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Study: Cancer risk ‘disturbingly’ higher near coal ash ponds

The cleanup is expected to cost more than $975 million and take years to complete and involves some controversial decisions, such as where to dump the mess it cleans up. TVA officials insist that it will involve the public in the selection process.

Members of the Cumberland County Commission’s Environmental Committee plan to meet next week to discuss the utility’s plan to use its strip mine, according to the Crossville Chronicle. The Crossville Coal Mine is an underground thermal coal mine that is owned by Hillsborough Resources Limited from Vancouver, B.C. Commission officials say that moving the fly ash to the strip mine would require a significant number of trucks occupying space and time on Smith Mountain Road to transport the ash.

“My main concern is about the citizens. I would want to be responsive to the needs of the citizens. We would want to have improvements made on that road and proper monitoring afterwards,” Cumberland County Mayor Brock Hill said.

“TDEC has told me that fly ash is used frequently in reclaiming mines. It could potentially be controversial, but this is a process that’s not new. It’s been being done this way a long time. If TDEC says it’s OK, or if it’s safe then I’m comfortable with it. If they (TDEC) say it’s OK, then we can’t say it isn’t safe,” Hill told the Crossville Chronicle.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › TVA considers new sites to bury coal ash from spill

The EPA is expected to prepare a public report for each unit assessed, with the goal of completing all assessments by the end of the year.

The inspections are in response to concerns raised by residents, lawmakers and environmental groups following the December 22, 2008, coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tennessee plant, which dumped 1.1 billion gallons of toxic material on to 300 acres of an east Tennessee community and into the neighboring Emory River. Coal ash can contain dangerous toxins such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, which have been linked to serious health problems such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

More than 125 million tons of coal ash combustion waste is produced by power plants in the United States, most of which ends up in dry landfills or in above-ground coal slurry ponds. That material was classified by the EPA in 2000 as non-hazardous and thus was exempt from government regulations. However, since 2000, improved pollution controls have kept toxins from leaving smokestacks and thus have increased the amount of toxins in coal ash, says Rhon Jones, Toxic Torts Section Head with Beasley Allen law firm.

“Hopefully, these actions by EPA and Congress will either increase safety near these facilities, require alternative methods of disposal, or both,” says Jones.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › EPA to begin inspection of coal ash storage areas

However, the method for the regulation of coal ash has come under scrutiny after a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) impoundment pond failed last December and dumped more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge over 300 acres of an east Tennessee community, destroying homes and damaging property in its wake. Both residents and environmentalists began asking questions about the toxic material that had poured into the neighboring Emory River and heaped as much as nine feet high in some areas.

Since 2000, improved pollution controls have kept toxins from leaving smokestacks and thus have increased the amount of toxins in coal ash, says Rhon Jones, Toxic Torts Section Head with Beasley Allen law firm. The material may contain arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium which can contribute to dangerous health conditions such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, to name a few.

Many residents in the area already have complained of respiratory problems and half reported experiencing increased stress and anxiety. “In addition, EPA has improved testing which reveals toxins are leaching into groundwater more than originally thought,” Jones adds.

To date, EPA has found groundwater contaminated with heavy metals from coal ash dumps at 63 sites. An independent report asserts that nearly 100 coal ash dumps across the United States pose similar or even greater potential dangers than the TVA Kingston plant, Jones says.

“On March 9, 2009, EPA sent a survey to the 163 utilities that manage approximately 300 coal ash ponds in the U.S. The survey calls for plant operators to provide information about coal ash pond design, engineering, and inspections and to list any spills or unauthorized releases within the last decade. While a step in the right direction, EPA’s survey does not ask for information on whether the coal ash ponds are lined, whether the ponds have water collection systems to catch toxins leached from the ash, or whether groundwater monitors are in place near the ponds,” Jones says.

After survey results are reviewed, EPA plans to follow up with on-site visits and order improvements where the ponds are found to be unsafe.

In response to the December 22, 2008 coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee, the EPA committed to propose new regulations governing coal combustion waste by the end of 2009. The EPA also committed to act immediately to prevent accidents such as the TVA spill in Kingston.

“The Kingston, Tennessee, spill and others like it show the need for strict standards on how this waste is disposed. In addition to EPA’s renewed interest in regulating coal ash disposal, the U.S. Congress is looking into the spill,” Jones says. “Hopefully, these actions by EPA and Congress will either increase safety near these facilities, require alternative methods of disposal, or both.”

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Coal combustion sites need government regulations

Homes were destroyed and property was damaged when the coal ash impoundment failed and poured on to the rural east Tennessee community. TVA announced that it plans to buy the damaged properties, including lakeside homes. It will also end wet-ash storage at the plant.

Other efforts include temporarily holding the recovered ash at the Kingston site to allow it to drain before sending it to landfills or possibly recycling it. Officials vow they will work to keep the fly ash from becoming airborne.

Coal ash contains dangerous toxins such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium that has been linked to serious health issues such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications. A survey of 368 residents living in the area of the spill found a third of them experienced breathing problems and half experienced increased stress and anxiety.

TVA estimates its cleanup efforts to total between $525 and $825 million before the land is restored.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › TVA granted permission to dredge Emory River

The coal ash spill is being touted as the worst environmental disaster in TVA’s history. Not only were homes destroyed and property damaged by the massive outpour, the material that was dumped on to the land and flowed into the river contains dangerous toxins that could pose a possible health hazard not only to animals and plants in the area, but also to humans.

A massive cleanup is underway, ringing in at about $1 million per day. Estimates on the total cost of the cleanup could be as high as $825 million. Some environmentalists say it is almost impossible to completely rid the area of toxins, suggesting the spill site be converted to an independent educational and research center. However, TVA officials say they would rather continue to follow the cleanup plan rather than consider turning the damaged land into a research site.

While the proposed legislation is a step in the right direction, activists say it doesn’t solve the whole problem. “The issue of keen importance is fly ash needs to be regulated at the federal level as a hazardous waste,” said Sarah McCoin, a member of the newly formed Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Congressional committee considers regulating coal ash ponds, landfills

Crops in the Southeast and Midwest are grown in soil that has been routinely supplemented with tons of fly ash. Some of the more common crops grown in this amended soil include a variety of vegetables and peanuts.

Fly ash is a fine powder that is recovered from gases created by the burning of coal. Supplementing soil with the fly ash increases crop yields and stabilizes soil, and lessens the burden on landfills. The fly ash also provides phosphorus, calcium and other nutrients that aide in crops’ growth. It also helps the soil retain water.

However, fly ash also contains toxins, including arsenic, that if used in high levels can soak into crops and become hazardous. Coal ash is not classified as a hazardous waste by the Environmental Protection Agency and thus is not federally supervised for use in agriculture. Some states do regulate it but guidelines vary from state to state and there is little to no monitoring of its use, according to the report. Environmentalists fear that inadequate monitoring could lead to overuse of fly ash and possible toxic accumulation, which may ultimately harm human health.

The U.S. currently produces 130 million tons of coal combustion waste each year. Experts say as more coal burning is needed to increase demand, that number could likely increase to 150 million tons in a decade.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Environmentalists worry about safety of fly ash supplementing crop soil

In 2003 and 2006, two small leaks occurred at the Kingston plant, which raised the interest of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That agency asked TVA to provide more information about the leaks but did not require a new storage system.

A TVA spokesman says the two smaller leaks were not related to December’s pond failure, and in both cases repairs were made to the ponds to stop the slow leaks. A 2008 inspection report of the Kingston ponds indicated that there were no structural problems with the ponds. However, officials say that the report indicated that TVA was irresponsible for not realizing that the previous spills pointed toward a serious stability problem.

Coal ash ponds are not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because the EPA doesn’t consider the coal ash to be hazardous material. Federal agents oversee coal mines but don’t regulate the burning power plants. Some experts say states have done a poor job of monitoring the coal ash ponds.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said he is working to provide stronger oversight of the coal ash ponds in his state. Other states where TVA has coal ash ponds or landfills include Alabama and Kentucky.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Previous leaks should have signaled warning

The EIP released the report, titled “Disaster in Waiting: Toxic Coal Ash Disposal in Impoundments at Power Plants” yesterday. The report says U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data shows power plants are disposing of high volumes of toxic metals in open lagoons.

There is a lot of attention on this issue now, following a December 22, 2008 disaster when the retaining wall at a coal-fired electric plant in Kingston, Tennessee, failed, dumping more than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash and other waste over 300 acres in East Tennessee. The event is being called the worst environmental disaster since the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

But the Tennessee disaster is just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to its official report, which listed Birmingham-area facilities Gaston Steam Plant in Shelby County and Gorgas Steam Plant in Walker County at No. 2 and 3, the EIP issued a press release stating that other toxic coal pollution dumps around the United States pose a greater potential danger than the Tennessee coal ash spill disaster site.

According to the release, at least 13 states have three or more under-regulated “wet dumps” on the “Worst Of” list for toxic chemicals. One coal pollution dump in Orlando, Fla., is reported to have TEN TIMES more arsenic than the Tennesee disaster site.

The release says the Tennessee facility was found on five of the six toxic chemical lists for the 50 worst coal-fired power plant pollution “wet dumps.”

EIP evaluations were based on industry-reported data collected by the EPA Toxic Reporting Inventory (TRI) data system for 2000-2006. EIP looked at the presence of arsenic, chromium, lead, nickel, selenium and thallium in the waste at Tennessee-style pollution dumping sites across the nation.

Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, says, “The Tennessee eco-disaster has cast a spotlight on what is a very serious national problem – the existence of under-regulated toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired pwoer plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams.” He said the Tennessee disaster is a warning sign of more trouble to come.

The EIP is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. Read the full news release and official report:

EIP News Release

EIP Report: Disaster in Waiting

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Ash ponds at two Birmingham coal facilities top list for arsenic

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.

Coal-fired power plants produce coal ash and other toxic waste byproducts. The waste contains such heavy metals as arsenic, lead, barium, chromium and manganese, which have been shown to cause cancer, liver damage, and neurological complications. The material is usually stored on site at the energy-production facilities in retention ponds or dams. A failure in the dam’s retaining wall, or an overflow, can result in an environmental disaster contaminating surrounding waterways, soil, and wildlife, and endangering human health and life.

There are coal ash retention ponds at nine locations in Alabama, including six coal-fired steam plants operated by Alabama Power Company. The Tennessee Valley Authority (T.V.A.), which operates the Tennessee plant that failed, also has two coal-fired plants in north Alabama that have ash retention ponds; and PowerSouth Energy Cooperative has a coal ash pond at Lowman Power Plant in southwest Alabama.

“Given that the Tennessee Valley Authority has similar ponds at its two coal-fired plants in Alabama, we hope that they are making certain that those ponds are sound so that we will not have another tragedy like the one at TVA’s Kingston Steam Plant,” said Rhon Jones, an attorney with Beasley Allen who specializes in Environmental law. “Residents and property owners near all nine coal ash retention ponds in Alabama are counting on these ponds to be safe and secure. No property owner should have to go through the disaster facing those persons in Tennessee near the Kingston Steam Plant.”

According to Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management, all nine coal-fired power plants in Alabama were inspected following the Tennessee disaster, and all passed inspection with no problems. However, there is some debate about how coal ash is stored and regulated. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate these types of retention ponds or the materials contained in them. Surprisingly, the EPA does not consider the coal ash hazardous material. There is a great deal of debate over whether state regulations are sufficient to regulate these retention ponds, as evidenced by this most recent disaster. For the greatest protection to the public, we recommend coal ash should be buried in lined landfills rather than retention ponds or dams, to prevent it from leaking out and contaminating waterways, groundwater and soil.

SOURCE: Beasley Allen Press Release

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Beasley Allen evaluating claims resulting from Tennessee coal-ash spill disaster, eyeing safety of Alabama plants

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.

Officials at the authority initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, gave way on Monday. But on Thursday they released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep.

The amount now said to have been spilled is larger than the amount the authority initially said was in the pond, 2.6 million cubic yards.

A test of river water near the spill showed elevated levels of lead and thallium, which can cause birth defects and nervous and reproductive system disorders, said John Moulton, a spokesman for the T.V.A., which owns the electrical generating plant, one of the authority’s largest.

Mr. Moulton said Friday that the levels exceeded safety limits for drinking water, but that both metals were filtered out by water treatment processes.

Mercury and arsenic, he said, were “barely detectable” in the samples.

The ash pond was adjacent to the Emory River and near a residential area, where three houses were destroyed by the tide of muddy ash. Water sampled several miles downstream from the spill was safe to drink, but its iron and manganese content exceeded the secondary drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which govern taste and odor but not potential health effects, Mr. Moulton said.

Neither the authority nor the E.P.A. has released the results of tests of soil or the ash itself. Authority officials have said that the ash is not harmful, and the authority has not warned residents of potential dangers, though federal studies show that coal ash can contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and carcinogens.

“You’re not going to be endangered by touching the ash material,” said Barbara Martocci, a spokeswoman for the T.V.A. “You’d have to eat it. You have to get it in your body.”

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation also released a statement saying there was no indication of risk unless the ash was ingested.

But residents like Deanna Copeland were thinking further into the future.

“Our concern is, what happens if this liquid dries out?” Ms. Copeland said. “There are huge health concerns. It’s going to get in our house. We’re going to breathe it in. It would be like walking through a dust bowl, and we don’t know what’s in the dust.”

A round-the-clock cleanup effort continued on Friday, much of it clearing roads and railway tracks that were blocked by the sludge. Several booms, or skimmers, were installed on nearby rivers to catch floating cenospheres, a valuable component of the ash used to make bowling balls and other manufactured goods. A weir, or underwater dam, that would keep settled ash from moving downstream was about one-fifth completed, T.V.A. officials said.

Some nearby residents said that the authority had done little to address their concerns.

“We’re terribly frustrated,” said Donald Smith, 58, a laboratory facilities manager who lives in the affected area. “It seems like T.V.A. is just throwing darts at the problem, and they don’t have a clue how to really fix it.

“It was nice that they came by to talk to us. They’re making an effort. But what upsets me is they didn’t have a plan in place. Why hadn’t anybody thought, ‘What happens if this thing bursts?’ ”

Residents said they were stunned by the new figure for the size of the spill.

“That’s scary to know that they can be off by that much,” said Angela Spurgeon, whose dock and yard are swamped with ash. “I don’t think it was intentional, but it upsets me to know that a number was given of what the pond could hold, and the number now is more than double.”

Authority officials offered little explanation for the discrepancy, saying the initial number was an estimate based on their information at the time.

Ms. Spurgeon said the scope of the disaster was difficult to fathom, even from photos.

“This is not a thin coating of ash,” she said. “These are boulders. There’s one in our cove that’s probably the size of our home.”

The spill has reignited a debate over whether coal ash should be federally regulated as a hazardous material.

Environmentalists have long argued that coal ash, which can contaminate groundwater and poison aquatic environments, should be stored in lined landfills. The ash ponds at Kingston were separated from the river only by earthen dikes. Coal plants around the country, most near rivers that supply the water they need to operate, store coal ash in unlined embankments and ponds, and in some areas coal ash is recycled as fill material.

The T.V.A. is still investigating the cause of the breach, but officials have suggested that unusually heavy rain and freezing temperatures may have been factors.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Tennessee Ash Flood Larger Than Initial Estimate