TVA Coal Ash Spill + 2.6 Million Cubic Yards of Toxic Coal Ash Slurry Released in TN Dike Burst

Dandelion Salad

mountainjustice

Dec 23, 2008

TVA spills over 500 million gallons of toxic coal waste into the Tennessee River

more about “TVA Coal Ash Spill Dec 22 2008“, posted with vodpod

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2.6 Million Cubic Yards of Toxic Coal Ash Slurry Released in Tennessee Dike Burst

By Matthew McDermott
TreeHugger
December 25, 2008

An environmental disaster of epic proportions has occurred in Tennessee. Monday night, 2.6 million cubic yards (the equivalent of 525.2 million gallons, 48 times more than the Exxon Valdez spill by volume) of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at TVA’s Kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train.

According to the EPA the cleanup will take at least several weeks, but could take years. Officials also said that the magnitude of this spill is such that the entire area could be declared a federal superfund site.

Toxic Sludge Got Into Tributary of Chattanooga Water Supply

Apart from the immediate physical damage, the issue is what toxic substances are in that sludge: Mercury, arsenic, lead, beryllium, cadmium. Though officials said the amounts of these poisons in the sludge could not be determined on Monday, they could (at the mild end) irritate skin or trigger allergies or (longer term) cause cancer or neurological problems.

This toxic sludge got into the Emory River, a tributary of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers: The water supply for Chattanooga, Tennessee as well as millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. TVA says that as yet the spill (which they are characterizing as a mudslide or landslide, but frankly it’s still toxic…) has not affected the water quality in the Emory River.

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via Treehugger

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