Lawsuit to halt coal ash dumping held up by landfill’s bankruptcy

Jennifer Walker-Journey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:55:04 +0000

The residents of Perry County, Ala., were just gearing up to file a lawsuit against Arrowhead Landfill. The landfill had entered into an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to accept coal ash recovered from the east Tennessee spill site, generating millions of dollars and a handful of jobs for the very poor, predominantly black community. But residents argued that the benefits came at too high a price. Coal ash is toxic, containing arsenic and carcinogens that have been linked to serious health problems. To make matters worse, the constant trainload deliveries of coal ash to the landfill were literally stinking up the town.

But before the citizens of Perry County could file their lawsuit, the owners of Arrowhead Landfill filed for bankruptcy, a move that stops the residents’ planned lawsuit in its tracks. No new litigation can be brought against entities in bankruptcy proceedings.

Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC (PUV), also known as Perry County Associates, the company that owns the landfill, filed the documents last week in Mobile. PUV claims it owes $3.9 million to Phillips & Jordan Inc., (P&J) $779,837 to the Perry County Commission, and $11,000 to the Alabama Department of Revenue. PUV claims P&J and Phill-Con Services have withheld money paid by the TVA.

An attorney for the residents says that while the planned litigation cannot go forward until the bankruptcy matter is cleared up, other options are being examined.

Beasley Allen attorney Rhon Jones, who represents residents of east Tennessee who have lost property in the TVA coal ash spill, told the Selma Times Journal that he is uncertain whether the landfill’s bankruptcy would have any effect on his clients’ cases.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Lawsuit to halt coal ash dumping held up by landfill’s bankruptcy

Engineers raised questions about coal ash pond walls decades ago

Jennifer Walker-Journey — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:00:52 +0000

For decades, engineers raised questions about the walls of an impoundment pond containing toxic coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston, Tennessee coal-burning plant, according to the KnoxvilleBiz.com. They questioned the way the walls were built and argued that they were not initially designed to stand as tall as they did. Those concerns fell on deaf ears then, but now have a voice after the walls of the pond broke loose last December and dumped 1.1 billion gallons of toxic material on to 300 acres of an east Tennessee community and into the waters of the Emory River.

The engineers concerns about the stability of the pond walls are detailed in documents released earlier this year by the TVA. The documents were requested by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in an effort to pinpoint why the pond breach occurred in the first place.

The documents show that the dikes making up the coal ash pond were in frequent need of maintenance and re-engineering. TVA officials made decisions based on opinions of both in-house engineers and consulting engineers. The pond’s most recent stability inspection – which showed nothing that would indicate failure – occurred just two months before the spill.

So far, the utility has spent more than $68 million cleaning up the mess, and that cost is expected to rise to as high as $825 million. The utility also has spent $11 million to buy out property from locals affected by the spill. Additional expenses are expected to cover litigation, penalties and settlements.

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Engineers raised questions about coal ash pond walls decades ago

Coal Ash Spill » litigation

Lawsuit to halt coal ash dumping held up by landfill’s bankruptcy

Engineers raised questions about coal ash pond walls decades ago