The TVA Coal Ash Impoundment Spill - Another Risk of Coal

This is a blog post from Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

Today there is sad news out of Roane County, Tenn.: A retention pond at the Kingston coal-fired steam plant burst, sending more than 524 million gallons of coal fly ash and water into the nearby town of Harriman and Watts Bar Lake. One man was injured when his home was swept off its foundation, and the mudslide also affected 15 other homes.

Reports are that the rush of mud, ash and water now covers 400 acres and is several feet deep in some areas – this coal ash spill is also many times more massive than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The cleanup is expected to last weeks, but some lives have already been altered forever - and the full environmental impact is not yet known. Fly ash is known to contain numerous toxic chemicals and it’s being reported that some of the spill made it into the Tennessee River – a water supply source for the city of Chattanooga as well as people in Kentucky and Alabama.

And now we have to wonder if the Tennessee Valley Authority is being fully open about what’s in that fly ash water – bloggers are already taking notice, including in these two Knoxville Sentinel posts here and here. The second post links to this an excellent article about the risks.

While coal company CEOs flog the supposed wonders of “clean” coal – they cannot get around the latest coal industry disaster: massive coal sludge spills. To see more of the destruction, just look at the aerial video of the spill. How many more reminders do we need that burning coal for power is filthy and dangerous? And will those doing the cleanup and those living nearby in the aftermath be properly protected in this possibly toxic environment?

The coal industry’s poor design and maintenance of its sludge ponds has a long and sordid history: In 1972, a giant impoundment collapsed in Logan County, West Virginia, causing a landslide that killed 125 people, injured 1,000 others, and left 4,000 people homeless.

In 2000, a sludge impoundment failed in Inez, Kentucky, spilling more than 300 million gallons of coal-contaminated waste into local waterways.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, this was among the largest environmental disasters ever to occur East of the Mississippi.

There are literally hundreds of these sludge impoundments across the United States.  As coal has dominated Appalachia, it has left behind a toxic legacy for residents, a legacy that will haunt the region for decades. For example, in Sundial, West Virginia, an elementary school sits just 400 yards downhill from a massive impoundment containing 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge.

Next time you hear some PR spin about an imaginary fuel called “clean” coal” ask them about the hundreds of thousands of Americans who struggle to breathe because of air pollution from coal burning, or the latest Americans whose homes have been destroyed or flooded by coal sludge.  

P.S.- There is no air pollution or devastating flooding associated with solar and wind power.

Comments

[Kathy R Selvage]

Thank you Bruce. You began with a sadness and tenderness toward TN and humanity affected by this preventable disaster.

Then, your tone changed, as well it should, to hold those accountable who should recognize a "disaster in the making" in numerous places across this Appalachian Region.

Thank you for pointing out it doesn't have to be this way. This is a choice the US is making--we do not have to freeze in the dark if we choose "not to burn coal".

[Eileen Levandoski]

YouTube video from it... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmVCABMRRQ

[Soylent]

"P.S.- There is no air pollution or devastating flooding associated with solar and wind power."

That's patently false.

Current "solar and wind power" is inseparable from burning huge quantities of natural gas or using hydro power because they're next to useless without back-up by reliable sources.

Hydro power caries with it a serious risk of devastating flooding(there have been many but the worst is the banqiao dam disaster, which killed 170 000 people and destroyed 6 million homes; the dams were used for flood control and hydroelectric power generation).

Natural gas is not quite as dirty as coal, but it does contribute significantly to air pollution. If you replace some natural gas with biomass you get rid of most of the net CO2 emission but you make air-pollution worse, not better.

If you go the storage route to shore up wind and solar you can't make do with any existing batteries, flywheels or SMES; they're way too resource intensive and costly to build the amount of storage we'd need; you can probably do a tiny slice with V2G if you fairly compensate EV owners. Pumped storage is reasonably practical, if environmentally quite destructive on such a gargantuan scale; and it brings back the specter of devastating flooding. If you go via hydrogen you're going to lose much of the hard-won energy you produce and it's unknown whether and when fuel cells will come down in price to something reasonable. If you go via Compressed Air Energy Storage we're back to using natural gas(all two existing large scale CAES plants get most of their energy from natural gas) as well as potentially emitting large quantities of radon gas(not necessarily a problem unless you believe the LNT hypothesis to be true).

[Joshua Brown]

Thanks for this piece of news, so far I haven't seen it make national headlines, but this is something that we should all be watching. Just as you say, this is evidence of the true, destructive nature of coal, and is a warning to all.

[Big2bucks]

We have a problem with coal ash in San Antonio Texas also, but not so severe in scope. There is a construction project in town where coal ash was buried from an old boiler on site from back in the 40's. This is ash pre computer, pre scrubber, pre anything. It was removed with an excavator loaded in open top trucks in high winds. The ash was blown into the homes and businesses in the area and we can not get any information from the owners on their labs from years ago. This week I am closing my business because the contents of the ash as well as the ash itself causes me some difficult problems both breathing and a horrible taste in my mouth. Any suggestions on who to turn to, we have contacted all the govt agencies in the state.

[Dr. James Singmaster]

I have posted several times on Sierra's Compass call for for 5-10% "SIN" tax on coal to raise a fund for recovery from the coal companies' transgressions on humans and the environment. That would generate jobs in reforesting the barren coal wastelands to get some carbon dioxide removal with much healthier and safer prospects for younger workers in those areas. With this latest mess perhaps the tax should be 15-20% to force coal cos. to realize how dirty coal is beyond the global warming effects. Dr. J. Singmaster

[Jerry Greer]

Bruce and all,

I'm an environmental and natural history photographers residing only about 2 hours east of the site. I spent sometime on site trying to document the horrible disaster that happened to the residents of Swan Pond near Harriman, TN. I've seen nothing in my life like this! A once beautiful lake cove, with residents living along its banks, is now completely full and overrunning with a toxic coal fly ash sludge. (It's different from the slurry that we have high up on the mountaintop removal sites of Appalachia, for that is from cleaning the unburned coal). This sludge is from what's left over after burning. For a few photos, drop by my website at www.jerrygreerphotography.com and visit the environmental portfolio. I have a few posted with many more to be posted soon.

BTW, we concerned citizens, have been treated as criminals for gathering our photographs, water samples and such. Some have even been detained and ticketed. It really seems that they are trying to limit the collecting of evidence of this environmental disaster. TVA must be held accountable! This will never be cleaned up and cleaned up in weeks is laughable! This will take years and it will NEVER be the same!

[MattC]

I work in the power industry as a supplier to power generation facilities. I have always had my concerns regarding the effects of all industry on our environment as our family enjoys the outdoors, camping, hunting and fishing. But to make up blatent lies about the environmental effects of solar and wind power is irresponsible. I actually just finished another article on the toxic waste dumping going on in China as they gear up for production of solar cells. It is these very statements that you make that draws into question everything that you do, just as with the industries you attack. There will always be compromises in the field of energy production, regardless of the method. Educate yourselves thoroughly. I now know that I can never trust anything Bruce says or writes without further research.

[MattC]

P.S. If you want to stop energy companies from burning coal just stop using electricty.

the answer is always simple when you non-chalantly simplify the problem.

[Cynthia]

The TVA claims it is nearly done with its first phase of the massive fly ash spill catastrophe in Tennessee according to a piece in NewsInferno.com--http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/4625#more-4625; however, with the growing scandals surrounding the accident, I wonder if that's really the case.

[Master mind]

To Jerry. I agree that the plants do a lot to discourage high levels of toxins in the coal ash residue. But still, they are treating their own people differently than the public. They have safety data sheets, the public does not. They have protective clothing, gloves boots and respirators. The public does not and yet they bury this hazard in areas where the public might be exposed. When it happens, where are the safety data sheets, boots, gloves, respirators and protective clothing. What is the difference here between Roane County and Love Canal.

[WhichBurner]

strange we hear of these terrible things in the third world from the media, but not in the so called developed world

[WhichBurner]

Sorry forgot to say thank you for a chilling article. Keep up the work and great sorrow to the relatives