Last January, just one month after a coal ash pond at the TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., plant broke, sending a wave of toxic sludge on to 300 acres of neighboring property and waterways, contaminated water accidentally leaked from the Widows Creek plant. The TVA recalculated that pond’s rating as “high hazard” and spent $2 million to upgrade the ponds. The nation’s largest utility vowed to convert the ponds from wet to dry storage, considered a safer storage alternative. And, as a precaution, TVA also is buying property adjacent to the coal ash ponds where the leak occurred, land that is also adjacent to McCraw’s farm, property that is also historically significant as the site of the Civil War’s Battle of Bridgeport.

“We definitely don’t want to sell, but it’s scary for us,” McCraw says. “We fought the federal government on this land in the Civil War. I hope it doesn’t come to that again.”

Six weeks ago McCraw talked with officials from TVA and told them he was not interested in selling his land. He says he hasn’t heard from the utility since. But he fears the fight isn’t over. If the TVA doesn’t buy his land, what threat are he and his property under? Could contaminated water leak into the ground again? Could another spill like the one in Kingston occur on his land?

“I don’t know if it is dangerous or not, but we’ve asked and asked both TVA or ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) to check to see if there is a problem,” McCraw said.

Meanwhile, others in the area are not taking any chances. Darren McCloud readily sold 66 acres of his land just north of the Widows Creek ash ponds this summer to the TVA, and used the money to build a new home six miles away.

Sources:
Times Free Press
Gadsden Times

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Families weigh decision to move away from TVA coal ash storage site

The comments from community members were telling:

“TVA says I’m not affected, I’ve never been so affected by anything in my life,” one concerned citizen says. “How are you going to make me whole again?”

“I generally don’t come to these meetings because I get really upset because I don’t believe anything they say,” says another resident.

“We’re still in the dark, everybody’s in the dark, nobody knows what’s going on,” says a third.

Gil Francis, a spokesman with TVA, says the agency is making progress in its cleanup of the area but there is still a lot of work yet to do. The massive cleanup is expected to ring in at more than $975 million, and there is no word when the cleanup will be complete. Some say the damage is too complex to be remedied by removing and relocating the spilled coal ash. Coal ash contains dangerous toxins that can cause serious health problems to humans. It’s toll on wildlife and plant life in the area is anyone’s guess. It already has severely affected the recreational activities that used to flourish in nearby waterways. Those rivers are now posted with warnings of contamination from the spill.

Still, packing up and leaving isn’t necessarily an option for some residents affected by the spill. “I don’t know if it can be made right. I don’t want to move, I love our place,” one resident says.

Source: WTVC NewsChannel 9

SOURCE: Coal Ash Spill › Victims of TVA coal ash spill speak out at town meeting