2009.01.07
Back to the coal ash
It's been a while since we've checked in on the Tennessee coal ash flood. Though a story about the Giles County coal ash project ran in The Roanoke Times on New Year's Day.
The New York Times has a story today (Jan. 7) about how unregulated coal ash is. The story outlines a lot of what you already know. There aren't many regulations. The ash has all sorts of toxic stuff in. It's a bad idea to mix it with water. One thing was new to me, though. "In 2007, according to a coal industry estimate, 50 tons of fly ash even went to agricultural uses, like improving soil’s ability to hold water, despite a 1999 E.P.A. warning about high levels of arsenic." The story also says 131 million tons of coal ash was used for what's officially called beneficial uses in 2007.
NPR's morning edition had another story this morning, too.
Alternet added its take on the clean up.
A coalition of local residents and environmental groups is asking that a federal court oversee the cleanup and remediation and that the responsible parties compensate local residents. And even though, as Bloomberg.com reports, Kingston Mayor Troy Beets drank tap water at a press conference, locals -- and the others -- seem less likely to trust the Tennessee Valley Authority in the wake of the disaster. One reason may be reports that the TVA pretty much ignored earlier problems with the dikes that held in the sludge.
Living on Earth did a story in which someone living near the spill described the sludge as "Charcoal, gray, gooey, nasty, gummy."
This story suggests the spill might be bad for the sturgeon the Tennessee Aquarium and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are reintroducing to the state's river system.
Knoxbiz.com has a whole passel of links.
Our previous blogging on the flood is here and here.
Closer to home, the Concerned Citizens of Giles County plan to take another list of complaints and questions about the seven-acre coal ash pile being constructed on the banks of the New River in Narrows to the board of supervisors on Jan. 8. Stay tuned.
-- Tim Thornton
I saw the ash piles along the New River last time I was in Giles County. How incredibly foolish of Virginia officials to allow this. I have been at the TVA disaster in Tennessee, its the worst environmental disaster since Chernobyl. Why would Virginia want to dump this arsenic and heavy-metal laden ash along one of the most beautiful whitewater streams in America? It boggles the mind.
Comment by Dave Cooper — January 7, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
[...] Our previous blogging on the subject is here. [...]
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