Tennessee Coal Ash Brought Tidings Of Lead, Selenium, Arsenic

Federal studies have long shown coal ash to contain significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems. But with no official word on the dangers of the sludge in Tennessee, displaced residents spent Christmas Eve worried about their health and their property, and wondering what to do.

The spill took place at the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority generating plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville on the banks of the Emory River, which feeds into the Clinch River, and then the Tennessee River just downstream.

Holly Schean, a waitress whose home, which she shared with her parents, was swept off its foundation when millions of cubic yards of ash breached a retaining wall early Monday morning, said, "They're giving their apologies, which don't mean very much."

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[jetphixer]

11:00 PM on 12/27/2008

I wish i was younger and could help here This is a disaster An the Govt is sleeping at the switch. again
I believe the man from TN AL Gore is very correct There is no such thing as clean coal. If this was wind power well need i say more?? I am Originally from Northern NY an i understand the Mountains the Things are Fragile,, They are removing these Mountains from the top an fowling everything. I could write a giant essay here but that isn't conducive to this media. I feel for these folks i can understand the people who live there and there anguish has just started. I feel the SNARKEY people on here being cruel because of the repb senators against the auto unions & The so called right to work laws. This is a catastrophic event that will harm every one. This should show we need responsibility in govt and we all need to be together as in UNION . An do what we did last election replace the stupids with a responsible bunch of folks This is what unity for the common good means it gives meaning to" WE THE PEOPLE"

[jeffrey678]

11:17 PM on 12/27/2008

The State of Tennessee will have to raise taxes to pay for this disaster. They will have to increase regulations on these companies to prevent this from happening again. Federal Disaster money should be granted with those conditions.

[jetphixer]

08:34 PM on 12/27/2008

The TVA and EPA already told residents there were no dangers!!! I have a real neat bridge in Brooklyn ill put on ebay but ill give you first chance 2 purchace at a reduced rate!!!! NOW the worse has happened, THE TOTAL NIGHT MARE has begun IT IS RAINING run off INTO RIVERS ?? DON'T WORRY FOLKS YoU CAN DRINK THE WATER Now PLEASE DO NOT WORRY AS YOU WILL NOT GLOW IN THE DARK, This only causes cancer among other things.. So PLEASE after the snarly remarks DO NOT DRINK THE WATER!!!! IT IS TOXIC NOW 4 SURE .....BILL

[lmvd3]

01:34 PM on 12/27/2008

Criminal. Only a few states such as this, bear the entire burden of "clean" coal technology, which is no more clean than the barren wasteland that remains behind their accidents. This is grossly unequitable, and bears such a burden on these communities, that their basic rights are violated. Onward to cleaner, renewable technology such as wind, solar, and geothermal.

[American04]

03:59 PM on 12/26/2008

1 in 150 children are born with Autism, 1 in 12 children have mental disorders, every 72 seconds someone in the US is diagnosis with Alzheimer's... google lead, mercury, and you find an association to these disorders/diseases the brain neurons have been damaged.

The unregulated power industry has been allowed to release millions of tons of deadly toxicants into our environment annually. There has been no accountable of the health hazards they have created causing costly medical expenses and irreversible medical problems with millions of Americans every year.

I’m sure if measured the damage they cause to human health, would be equivalent to people that smoke tobacco.

[TJCole]

03:37 PM on 12/26/2008

Is this the clean coal technology, they're talking about..?

[Stilts9]

02:13 PM on 12/26/2008

Tennesseans: don't worry, be happy.

[One more Thing]

07:32 PM on 12/26/2008

Yup. As long as they can vote Republican and have their foreign auto assembly plants they will be happy.

[tnresident]

02:59 AM on 12/27/2008

Vote Republican? Who voted Republican? Where do you live? Where do all of you people live?? Are you people going through any of this?? Are you worried about the air that will be contaminated by the coal/ash dust into our lungs? Or what the birds will be taking off into the environment? All of you people sit back wherever you live and think this is so amusing while other people's lives are being destroyed - I expected more from fellow Americans.

[tnresident]

02:53 AM on 12/27/2008

Don't worry, be happy? Do you live here? No, I didn't think so.

[tompoe]

12:59 PM on 12/26/2008

The spill appears to be some thirty times larger than the Exxon-Valdez spill. The spill continues to flow into the Emory river, which empties into the Tennessee river, and impacts literally millions of people throughout the south that drink the water. Where are my shoes?

[LeeCalif]

11:31 AM on 12/26/2008

Clean coal is a lie the coal industry is trying to feed the public.

Go to ThisIsReality.com

These poor residents. The officials have cleared the road & the railroad tracks and that's it.

The TVA and EPA already told residents there were no dangers. Residents have been lied to for decades.

[tnresident]

02:51 AM on 12/27/2008

I've been reading some of these earlier blogs on here and I can't believe some of them... some even had an "lol" after them and saying that it was "cleaner than poop lol" it's not funny... I'm glad they're finding it so funny - maybe if they lived in in Tennessee and had their whole lives wiped out in an instant because of an inadequate EPA or depended upon the TVA they wouldn't be putting a "lol" at the end of their stupid little "poop" comments - do you have any idea of the ramifications that this could be bring upon perhaps all of us? Do all of us a favor and please grow up and help one another and not be making these kind of comments. ~from a proud Tennessean

[sculptor]

03:20 PM on 12/28/2008

Energy production is dirty, be it coal, nuclear, petroleum, natural gas, hydro-eclectic, solar, tidal, wave or wind. They all have some kind of negative environmental impact. The logical question then is how significant are they and what can be done to reduce them. That being done, coal does not look like a very attractive alternative. Unfortunately, coal is abundant and cheap (when it's environmental impact is ignored) so there is a lot of money to be made by mining it and burning it.