Environmental Spill Disaster Devastates Tennessee; 48 Times the Size of Exxon Valdez

[babylonsister]

Environmental Spill Disaster Devastates Tennessee; 48 Times the Size of Exxon Valdez

By Matthew McDermott, TreeHugger. Posted December 25, 2008.

Approximately 500 million gallons of coal ash sludge has broken through a holding pond at a coal-fired plane.



The video (at link) is a shocking helicopter-level view of the immense coal ash sludge spill in Tennessee.

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.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/environment/115323/environmental_spill_disaster_devastates_tennessee%3B_48_times_the_size_of_exxon_valdez/

[lostnotforgotten]

1. Yes - People Really Do Not Want To Face The Problems

When we extract resources on this scale we set ourselves up for problems of this magnitude.

[ensho]

2. are they working at all on stopping it getting into the drinking water?

this is huge news but didn't make Wash. Journal this a.m. - this toxic spill is WAY political.

(was away from the TV for short times so maybe it was)

[NNadir]

3. If this had been the unintentional release of 0.1 mCi of tritium from a nuclear powerplant

it would have generated hundreds of hysterical reactions by now, even though the tritium release would have had zero consequence.

If, on the other hand, it had concerned the known toxicity of solar panels, it would have received http://www.foreignpolicy.com/top10-2008/index6.html">no comment whatsoever.

[quidam56]

4. Appalachia is turning into a toxic waste dump third world America

http://www.wisecountyissues.com They say Bush kept America safe since 9/11 - Hell, he's been a TOXIC TERRORIST to Appalachia. Our water is drying up hence the minerals draining off decapitated mountains into the watershed have been more concentrated as of late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkzmb8bcTcM 25% of Wise County is gone and THE COAL INDUSTRY wants another 33%.