January 27

United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, Matt Landon called all of the regulatory agencies to report the problems of coal ash tracking. Landon called TN Highway Patrol, TN Bureau of Investigation, Bob Alexander of TDEC, EPA criminal division. After speaking with the EPA criminal division Landon was told he would be called by TVA’s OIG in the next week. Landon learned that EPA can’t regulate coal fly ash tracking. EPA doesn’t investigate it because it is not a hazardous waste. After speaking with the TBI, Landon emailed the District Attorney about the tracking problem to file an official compliant.

United Mountain Defense volunteers worked on gathering releases from residents who received heavy metal exposure screening. They picked up disaster photos that were taken to Washington DC. Bonnie and Tom picked up some more human samples for the heavy metal exposure testing. These samples were kept on ice then refrigerated until they were delivered to Internal Balance on Wenesday Jan 28, 2009.
UMD volunteers distributed TVA’s coal fly ash Material Safety Data Sheets to the local residents as they drove around the community.

Matt Landon spoke with a local resident, Judy Scofield, who has had massive asthma attacks since the coal ash disaster occurred. She is now using a steroid inhaler to help her breath. Landon was near tears as she retold her story. He offered to have a call in day to the TVA to politely ask TVA to call Judy Scofield. Judy had not received any phone calls from TVA for nearly two weeks after requesting to be evacuated after a doctor’s suggestion about her respiratory distress being linked to TVA’s coal ash. After the first day of the call in campaign for Judy Scofield she received a phone call from TVA. They informed her they would send CTEH out to check the air quality. Unfortunately CTEH is using inadequate air monitoring equipment. CTEH showed up and after a few minutes told Judy the air was okay.

The call in campaign continues until Judy Scofield is moved to a safer location by TVA. 

January 28

There was a fundraiser set up in Nashville, TN. Local resident, Rick Cantrell attended the fundraiser and spoke about the difficulties his community is facing at this time with TVA’s coal ash disaster. Cantrell reported that nearly 100 people attended the fundraiser where local old time musicians strummed banjos and guitars.

United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, Matt Landon made phone calls reminding local residents about the volunteer meeting on Thursday night. Landon also received his first email from Bob Alexander of TDEC admitting that TDEC was allowing vehicles to drive off site with coal ash on them.

January 29

Bonnie Swinford, UMD volunteer coordinator finalized the water monitoring data with Jeff Stant on UMD’s Google map for 3 hours. Good job, Bonnie!!

Matt Landon, UMD volunteer staff took a boat ride on Emory River with TN Wildlife Resources Agency. Until this point Landon had mistakenly thought that a rock weir had been constructed across the Emory River to contain the coal fly ash. Upon boating up the river he learned that TVA had temporarily abandoned this Emory River rock weir project. The boat shuttled the History Channel’s camera crew, reporter, and Matt Landon up and down the river next to the disaster site numerous times in order to get the best shots and to provide enough time to interview TWRA’s Bobby Brown and UMD’s Matt Landon. Landon used the new YSI digital water monitor purchased with a grant from the NRDC. Thank you NRDC!! We were able to check for specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature.

Once we got off the river and defrosted our hands Landon led the History Channel crew to Lakeshore Drive for an interview with Rick Cantrell, a local resident whose family was evacuated by TVA. Cantrell gave a stellar interview.

Landon called Paul Sloan of TDEC and the TN Highway Patrol after video taping vehicles exiting the disaster site without being washed first.

A community volunteer meeting was organized for the evening at the Roane State Expo Center. At this meeting the volunteers decided on what content to put on their website, what was their group’s name, and when and where the next volunteer meeting would be held. The Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network came into existence. Their website is www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com and they have a blog at http://tncasn.blogspot.com

Diana Anderson of TCASN offered to host the next volunteer meeting. 

January 30

United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, Matt Landon was awoken to a call from a TN Highway Patrol officer calling from Arizona. The officer said he would send out an officer to the disaster site and would further investigate the CFR on solid waste to figure out about the solid waste regulations.

Landon traveled to the University of TN in Knoxville for a PodCast interview that was conducted at the college radio station, WUOT 91.9. The PodCast will be aired by On the Earth, a project of NRDC. Thanks, NRDC.

After the interview Landon did more research about the Mini Volume air samplers from Air Metrics and the different filters available for the sampler. He was also packing his bags at the same time for a flight to Washington DC.

Diana Anderson of TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense boarded a flight to DC and then drove to Deleware for a two day training by the Global Community Monitor (GCM). GCM is a non profit organization that has trained community members around the globe to use various air monitoring techniques and equipment in order to gather independent data on their own. GCM is currently working with 18 impacted communities across the globe and is very excited about beginning to work in Appalachia on the issue of FILTHY COAL.

There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org

Ed note:  Matt Landon, a full time volunteer with United Mountain Defense, is reporting from the ground in Harriman, TN.  Because of his chaotic schedule, we've just received a batch of diary posts from the past week, which we'll be re-publishing in chronological order. Here are all of his posts.