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Cancer rates among people living near coal ash ponds are “disturbingly high,” according to Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice, nonprofit organizations that studied Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data from 210 coal ash ponds across the United States. The data is compiled in a report titled, “Coming Clean: What EPA Knows About the Dangers of Coal Ash.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will send its first teams of inspectors to coal ash storage areas across the country within weeks, according to Knoxville Business News. The inspections are the first step in developing new coal ash regulations for an industry not currently overseen by federal regulations.
Lawmakers sit on both sides of the argument about whether lining the coal ash impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston, Tennessee, plant would have prevented the massive spill of toxic material onto neighboring homes and property, but legislation is moving through the Tennessee House and Senate that would require such ponds created or expanded in the future to be lined, according to the Times Free Press.
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.
Southern California community members worried about the ill effects from coal-burning mines and power plants are conducting a 100-day national campaign uniting 100 communities in the area urging lawmakers to phase out of coal-based energy and transition to cleaner, renewable sources that would produce more green jobs, according to the Palm Springs (California) My Desert.
Coal ash ponds similar to the one at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant in Kingston, Tennessee that failed and poured more than a billion gallons of toxic material on to east Tennessee property, are located all across the country, which has some people asking, “Can a coal ash spill happen here?” according to the Gillette News Record.
December’s Kingston, Tennessee, coal ash spill that dumped 1.1 billion pounds of toxic material on to 300 acres of rural east Tennessee property, destroying homes and damaging property in its wake, continues to raise concerns for those living near similar treatment plants in other states, especially Indiana, according to The Bloomington Alternative. Indiana stores more coal ash in manmade impoundments than any other state, which has locals worried what damage would be caused if one of its coal ash lagoons failed and dumped toxic material onto nearby land.
A team of scientists involved in the testing and cleanup efforts in Kingston, Tennessee, following the massive coal ash spill at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) impoundment pond, are proposing that the TVA turn the site into an independent educational and research center rather than try to clean up the sludge, according to the Knoxville Business News. The scientists say that spending $1 million per day to clean the site and restore it to its pre-spill condition is simply not practical.
A team of scientists from Duke University has been testing the land and water in and around the massive coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee. Their results not only underscore the precarious nature of coal ash retaining ponds, but the potentially far-reaching and long-lasting impact such accidents have on the environment, wildlife, and human health.
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.
