Canoeing Into Tennessee Coal Sludge (Video)

December 26th, 4:30pm - 4 days after the 1 billion gallon toxic coal ash spill in Harriman, TN.

I'm on the phone with Donna Lisenby, the Upper Watauga Riverkeeper in North Carolina, who was planning to travel to the TVA coal ash spill and collect water samples along the Emory River. I wanted to make sure she had connected with United Mountain Defense, an organization who was in the Harriman area taking water samples and talking with and providing drinking water to local residents.

She assured me she was and then offered me an opportunity I hadn't known I was looking for. She asked me if I wanted to go with her on the river. I paused and thought hard for a moment. It seemed like something tangible that I could do. And it seemed important to go.

So at 11 a.m. the next morning, I found myself paddling up the Emory River. We quickly discovered a sheer film on the water 2 miles from the spill site. As we made our way to ground zero, the damage became more apparent. We encountered numerous dead fish, and worried about the many blue herons we saw, hoping they weren't eating the fish, but knowing otherwise.

WATCH video of the canoeing and finding a dead fish:

The film became thicker as we grew closer to the spill zone, and we discovered the turbidity curtain TVA had raised across a side cove (we later discovered that the cove led to the Kingston Fossil Plant's intake canal, in order to protect the plant from its own coal ash waste).

The turbidity curtain made the sludge collect so thickly we could not canoe into it. We saw more dead fish. We continued past the cranes, barges and other large equipment, not one of them removing the toxic coal ash that was slowly contaminating the river. No one said anything to us as we floated by on our way to the site of the ash spill.

What we saw was unreal. What had been a beautiful free-flowing river just a few days ago was now a barren wasteland of sludge. Huge piles of coal ash, which we termed "ash-bergs," sat in the water.

As we canoed through this sick soup of coal waste, the phrase "Coal can do that" kept running through my head. The saying, from a coal advocacy website, is supposed to be talking about how technology can make coal cleaner. But looking out at the devastation, I thought of the irony of that phrase. This is what coal had done--destroyed homes, killed fish, and altered the ecology of the Emory River for the foreseeable future. Coal can also destroy mountaintops and pollute our air from the smokestacks. Yes, coal can do that.

We were only in the "ashberg" zone a few minutes when we were flagged down by a TVA officer, who gave us warning citations for criminal trespass even though we were in waters of the United States, which are open to the public. He claimed that the US Coast Guard had put buoys indicating the river closure, but we saw no evidence of them on our portion of the river.

The irony of the TVA cop giving us a citation while islands of toxic coal ash were sitting behind him did not escape me. The real criminal act is of TVA's doing -- not implementing "global solutions" to the earlier "blowouts" on the ash containment area, not beginning the process of removing the coal ash from the spill site five days after the incident and, on a bigger scale, not moving away from coal as a electricity source when we know how harmful it is -- from its burning to its waste disposal. The officer should have been writing a ticket to TVA for allowing this coal ash to trespass on waters that belong to all of us. That really is the biggest crime of all.

Another crime is letting this incident escape notice without our society taking a good hard look at what we are willing to sacrifice for "cheap" and "clean" electricity. What this disaster should show us is that coal ain't cheap or clean, anyway you slice it (especially through that sludge).

Watch more on the spill, including aerial photos:

Comments

[Sandra Diaz - Huffpost Blogger]

you can see the test results we obtained from the sampling here: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-ea7c2f75.html

Thanks to all who commented!

[Hoelder]

I heard only two reports on arsenic levels, saying it is high but not dangerous to humans. Is there a place you can get some hard numbers? I don't trust the TVA execs and the local cronies. When will this declared a super fund area to clean up? How did they think to dispose of the ash? In a big trash can? You have to put this somewhere? How about other element like uranium, cobalt, cesium?

[GrayOwl]

Thanks for doing this. How much is the fine for the alleged trespassing charge? Perhaps one of the TVA big shots could pay it with a portion of his/her bonus....

[1differentdrummer]

Where does it all end up? What harm will it do there?

[Emily623]

Thank you for the article, Sandra. And thanks also to the other writers that have written articles about this on HuffPo.

What will it take to get the mainstream media to give this some coverage!?!?!?

Do they think because only 3 homes were destroyed that this is not a big deal?!?

Do they think it's acceptable that the TVA has no plans to clean it up, that they're planning on dumping mulch on it and leaving it?!?

Would this have gotten more media attention if it happened somewhere else?? Somewhere other than a small town in the South?? I remember the 24-hour non-stop coverage of the California wildfires. While tragic to all involved, fire doesn't leave the lasting, long-term health catastrophe that this coal spill has.

Unless someone puts pressure on them, the TVA will cover it up with dirt and pretend it isn't there. And the EPA will continue to do nothing about it.

[LMPE]

In case you assumed that they learned anything from Katrina, they didn't try to.

[3dtrix]

These few are true patriots and American heroes! This is who we are, what we're about and what it's going to take to save our country and this planet - take names and take action! This is what we get if we don't - multiplied a planet-fold.

[Kevin Grandia - Huffpost Blogger]

So disgusting. Kudos to you Sandra for going the extra mile in exposing the dirty side of coal.

[American04]

Again the major American news media has chosen foreign affairs (Israel crap) as the major news coverage and have forgotten the American Public. America In Crises.

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 are 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, it would be equivalent or may be great than the health hazard to people that smoke tobacco.

Thanks for sharing your video.

[ScooterLiddy]

Clean coal is a dirty lie.

[throughtrees]

Check out the bonuses paid to TVA execs:
http://www.wsmv.com/news/18363165/detail.html#

[research]

Thank you for you article and your actions!

[mediamarv]

Too bad this story is not getting the exposure it deserves.

I said last week, on the record, that TVA spokespeople were lying about the damage, and as more and more evidence comes out affirming my beliefs, I get angrier at the lazy corporate media in this country.

[RedneckDem]

Sick! It'll be covered up as it doesn't affect enough people for them to get involved. I can see keeping the plant intake pipes clear because there is no alternative for power in the short term, but not showing any effort to clean up 5 days later is criminal.

[TRYKER]

Thank you for your important post. This is s-o-o-o criminal and we aren't hearing anything about the spill to much of a degree in the MSM...typical.
This irony running rampant during the Bush admin has just about ruined any progress toward realistic programs that protect our environment. This spill is on his watch and he'll do nothing about it but make excuses and run away with his tail between his legs.

[Ohioan4truth]

When will we learn? When will we stop polluting the Earth? When?

[wadenelson1]

When Klaatu shows up and gives us a choice to quit polluting or be exterminated.