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

December’s devastating coal ash spill that dumped 1.1 billion pounds of toxic material on to an east Tennessee neighborhood and into Emory River has prompted some people to question why coal ash ponds and landfills are not more heavily regulated by the federal government, according to iStockAnalyst. Last week, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing to address a proposed bill that would set uniform design, engineering and inspection standards of impoundment ponds such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) failed pond that caused the massive spill.

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December’s massive coal ash spill in east Tennessee has raised concerns over the safety of a longtime agricultural practice, according to Environmental Health News, a publication of the Environmental Health Sciences.

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.

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Two small leaks that preceded December’s Kingston, Tennessee coal ash spill by years went largely ignored by the Tennessee Valley Authority, according to Forbes/Associated Press. The spill dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic ash and mud on to 300 acres of a rural east Tennessee neighborhood, pouring into nearby rivers and destroying property and wildlife in its wake. What remains are remnants of dangerous materials including arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium.

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A report published today by the Birmingham News says the coal ash retaining ponds at two Birmingham-area coal-fired energy plants contain the highest levels of arsenic in the country, ranked and Nos. 2 and 3 on a list compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). The study evaluates the amount of ash deposited in on-site ash ponds and landfills from 2000-2006, according to the News report.

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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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