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By now you've hopefully heard of the coal industry's latest assault on humanity--the incomprehensibly massive coal ash spill in central Tennessee. New reports are measuring the spill at 5.3 million cubic yards, or nearly twice as much ashen waste as was created in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11th. The sludge has leveled three homes, affected 42 properties, and is contaminating two tributaries of the Tennessee River.
The scale of this disaster must be seen to be believed. Cue the aerial video:
The sludge is a combination of coal fly ash and water, and is a bi-product of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant. Local residents are rightfully concerned that their water is contaminated with arsenic and other heavy metals. Dave Cooper, longtime anti-coal activist, arrived quickly on the scene, and his account for the Huffington Post is the best on-the-ground reporting yet.
The Tennessee is a major river system and a drinking water source for millions of people downstream in Chattanooga, plus Alabama, west Tennessee and Kentucky. Coal ash is the waste material captured after the coal is burned for electricity - burning coal generates about half of America's electricity and according to Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Jeff Goodell, there is three times as much coal ash as municipal solid waste generated in America every year. ( "Big Coal," Jeff Goodell page 123). About 130 million tons of coal ash and power plant scrubber sludge are generated annually.
Coal ash contains heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and lead. An article in Scientific American magazine dated Dec 13, 2007 states that coal ash is more radioactive than nuclear waste.
In response to an urgent request from environmental activists, I brought water testing equipment to members of United Mountain Defense working at the spill site. UMD has set up an emergency crisis management center in Kingston, TN to coordinate the citizen response to the disaster and handle the media onslaught. On Saturday Dec 27, a flotilla of citizen water testers in kayaks, including members of UMD and Waterkeeper Alliance, toured the spill site, navigating among huge chunks of coal ash, which they refer to as "ashbergs." "We named the highest peak Mt. Ash," said Matt Landon, UMD volunteer staff person.
TVA has promised to pay for all water and air quality testing, and to clean up the site. But as Cooper notes, the TVA hasn't proven itself a very credible source. They originally claimed the spill was half the size as what is now being reported. And it seems like they're blowing ashy smoke about the ease of cleaning up this mess.
If a dump truck can hold 20 cubic yards of dirt and ash, it will take 265,000 truck loads to haul away all the ash (they are taking it back to the power plant). If they fill one dump truck trip every 5 minutes and work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it will take about 2.5 years to clean up the spill. TVA has been telling the media it will be cleaned up in about 6 weeks - this is a ludicrous claim.
The Associated Press' Kristin Hall has also been reporting on the disaster daily. The accounts from Kingston do reveal a local community that's fed up. Signs deriding the "clean coal" myth are popping up around the area, and just this afternoon the TVA seems to be buckling to the public outcry with statements about how it needs to fundamentally rethink how it deals with waste from the coal plant. We'll be sure to follow this story and make sure they're not just paying lip service.
Are you in Kingston? What do we need to know? Post your personal accounts--photos, videos, written descriptions and stories--here on Greenlight. This disaster needs to stay in the national spotlight, and we will do everything we can to keep it there.
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