Millions Of Tons Of Coal Ash To Go To Ala.

TVA To Dispose Of Ash From Spill In A Landfill In One Of Alabama's Poorest Counties

(AP)  The nation's largest public utility plans to dispose of millions of tons of coal ash from a massive spill in Tennessee into a giant landfill in one of Alabama's poorest counties, state environmental officials said Friday.

Both the Alabama and federal officials say the ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority's plant in Kingston, Tenn., isn't dangerous despite containing toxic materials like arsenic and lead. Alabama officials say the material can be safely stored in the dump, which most often receives household garbage.

An environmental activist, however, said the potentially dangerous waste was another example of government and industry dumping on poor people who live in a vulnerable area.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management said it received notice from TVA this week that 3 million cubic yards of coal ash from the Dec. 22 spill at Kingston are bound for a privately owned dump in Perry County. Operators say it's one of the nation's largest commercial landfills, located just outside Uniontown about 100 miles from Birmingham. The exact rail route the waste will take to the landfill, more than 300 miles southwest of Kingston, was unclear Friday.

If the Environmental Protection Agency agrees, TVA plans to begin shipping 85 railcars loaded with coal ash every two days beginning June 16. A letter to the state from TVA said shipments of the same size would begin coming daily in early July.

The landfill only has five full-time employees, but as many as 50 could be added to handle the shipments, according to the letter from TVA, which supplies electricity to about 8.7 million consumers in seven Southeastern states.

Documents show the waste contains at least 14 heavy metals and other hazardous compounds. Alabama officials said they will allow the shipments because tests showed the toxins were present in low concentrations considered non-hazardous.

"It's not necessarily what's in there but the amount that's in there," said Scott Hughes, a spokesman with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

An environmental leader said the exact contents of the ash, which spilled into the Emory River and a lakeside neighborhood, remain a "huge issue."

"It's unverified, depending on which sources you go to, what the level of toxicity is," said Michael Churchman, executive director of the Alabama Environmental Council.

"I don't see how they think it should be shipped to Perry County and treated like a banana peel or other items from my house."

TVA said it sent a test shipment of 1,500 tons of the sludge in 15 railcars last month to the Arrowhead Landfill in the mostly black county, where U.S. Census statistics show 31 percent of families live in poverty. A test shipment of the same size went to a landfill near Mauk, Ga.

Jeff Cown, a manager with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said that state hasn't received any information from TVA on additional shipments.

But the Alabama environmental agency said TVA notified the state on Tuesday that the Kingston spill waste was headed to Alabama. Based on the TVA test and figures from Cown, such a shipment would weigh about 3.9 million tons and require about 35,000 railroad cars to transport.

The TVA letter said the initial disposal contract was for a year and could be extended. The value of the deal wasn't disclosed.

TVA spokeswoman Barbara Martocci confirmed that about 2.7 million cubic yards of ash needs to be dredged from waters in eastern Tennessee and disposed of, but she declined comment on whether the utility had selected Alabama for shipments.

"We are working with EPA on that," she said.

An EPA official working on the project did not immediately return messages seeking comment. John Delvac, operations director at the landfill, referred questions about coal ash shipments to TVA.

TVA estimates a total of 5.4 million cubic yards of ash and sludge breached an earthen dike surrounding a water-covered mountain of ash at the Kingston plant. The grayish muck covered 300 acres. The final cost of the cleanup could reach almost $1 billion, and the toxic spill left residents in Kingston worried about water contamination and other problems.

Meanwhile, hazardous materials could escape into groundwater and leave residents with little recourse, said Churchman, the environmentalist.

"I would think that there's not many people in Perry County could afford to pick up tomorrow and move to somewhere else," he said.

"This is another example of how we bear the burden of people in other places benefiting from cheap power."

[OregonJames]

If you really believe in CLEAN COAL and CLEAN NUCLEAR ENERGY, you must be deaf, dumb, and blind. The millions and millions of waste left behind will threaten lives for many generations. We have NO SAFE storage facilities, and our own government says these sites must be kept secret and protected because terrorists could use the waste to kill thousands of our citizens and cause billions of dollars in damage, yet Americans continue to believe the commercials that praise our clean energy. How dumb is that?

America and the world need to move away from dirty fuels like coal and nuclear power. We do not need it.

We need to produce CLEAN ENERGY from solar-thermal energy production, wind and tidal power generation, and other ways of creating REAL CLEAN ENERGY.

[babooph]

That dust can settle in every crack-in a state where there are no toothbrushes to scrub it out .

[ktcchina]

This poison is more akin to the butchery of concentration camps of Nazi Germany when its compared to the environmental and human suffering, illnesses and losses the by products of coal fired plants produce.
How does this even come close to Nazi Germany you idiot!!!!!!!!!!!! The TVA is owned by the US Government and was set up by the God of the Dems. This is not about what side to blame, it's about energy. Coal and Nuclear are the only answer for the next 100 years. If anyone even thinks the U.S. population will accept a massive drop in their standard of living they are mistaken.

[anngw]

Why isn't there a disposal plan where the ash was created? It sounds wasteful to ship it anywhere for disposal. Who is paying for the disposal? If it is the taxpayer, we should be outraged.

[geminispyder-2009]

"Both the Alabama and federal officials say the ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority's plant in Kingston, Tenn., isn't dangerous despite containing toxic materials like arsenic and lead."

Those officials can drink a gallon of that stuff and prove it.

[beach671]

I ain't no scientists but why not mix it with asphalt and repave America? Our roads were made with crude oil mixed with rocks to make our highways and that contained bad stuff. Economically is was our best option and rain run off carried away minimal contaminates in run off. Mix it with concrete to make buildings. Why not? It gets sealed with non-lead paint and poses no health hazard.

Why burry a good product? It's not like were giving aircraft manufacturers depleted uranium from the National stockpile just to get rid of it to use as balasts for aircraft.

Repave America with it. Start with the failing Democrat states. If they don't want it to create jobs, the Republican States will take it.

[loachy01]

I' am a American no ties to either party, read my WHOLE post. I said BOTH parties are destroying this country with out of control spending.
Amazing how stupid people really are. If your against one party, your a extreme member of the other. I'M AGAINST BOTH PARTIES. Bush AND Obama are crooks.

[veils-2009]

Your attempt to throw confrontational politics does not blanket the fact that Republican policies over a 30 year span allowed the TVA to "temporarily" store fly ash stored as a thick gluey sludge in square miles of berms and dams for 30 years. Everyone living near this catastrophe knows it kills all life and now the TVA through remnants of the Bush administration is going to ship this poison to another state? This poison is more akin to the butchery of concentration camps of Nazi Germany when its compared to the environmental and human suffering, illnesses and losses the by products of coal fired plants produce.

[cydygitt1]

the size of the debt they are printing. Its two to four times larger since Jan 20.

Posted by McHineguy
---------------------------

Let's get our figures correct, so that you're not spewing the same, old, tired LIES......

The 2009 budget deficit is 46% larger now than on Jan. 20th, 2009.

The national debt is 5.6% larger than it was on Jan. 20th, 2009.

Neither one is hardly 2 or 4 times as large as you wrongly stated!

[cydygitt1]

You must belong to the party of NO CLUE, since the federal reserve printing presses have been working overtime 24/7 for the past 8 years already! What's the difference?
Posted by cydygitt1
-----------------------

the size of the debt they are printing. Its two to four times larger since Jan 20. But thats ok. Obama has a plan, it just doesnt work. But he has a plan. Im sure he does. He must have one. Hope so anyway.
Posted by McHineguy
---------------------------

Thanks for proving my point hiney, and showing the republican't NO CLUE propaganda.

President Obama was handed a $1.3 Trillion budget deficit on Jan. 20th, 2009, along with a $10.7 Trillion national debt.

Today, the budget deficit for 2009 is $1.9 Trillion and the national debt is $11.3 Trillion.

The size of the debt is an added $600 Billion and not even close to your fantasized doubling or quadrupling of the "size of the debt they are printing." We might be able to say that it is almost 50% larger than what the shrub handed him, but your saying it was 200% or 400% larger is simply ludicrous!

Appears that republican'ts are certainly mathematics-challenged, and that goes right along with their economically-challenged, non-thinking minds as well.

[hungry1968-15]

the size of the debt they are printing. Its two to four times larger since Jan 20. But thats ok. Obama has a plan, it just doesnt work. But he has a plan. Im sure he does. He must have one. Hope so anyway.
Posted by McHineguy at 2:40 PM : Jun 6, 2009





So you oppose Obama's plan to spend the money on America and America's problems, and you prefer the Bush plan which sent TRILLIONS to Haliburton, Blackwater, Iraq's new regime, Israel, Pakistan, etc, etc, etc?

[McHineguy]

You must belong to the party of NO CLUE, since the federal reserve printing presses have been working overtime 24/7 for the past 8 years already! What's the difference?
Posted by cydygitt1 at 2:25 PM : Jun 6, 2009

the size of the debt they are printing. Its two to four times larger since Jan 20. But thats ok. Obama has a plan, it just doesnt work. But he has a plan. Im sure he does. He must have one. Hope so anyway.

[cydygitt1]

Only thing that will be done is either raise interest rates thru the roof or print more funny money

Posted by loachy01
----------------------

You must belong to the party of NO CLUE, since the federal reserve printing presses have been working overtime 24/7 for the past 8 years already! What's the difference?

[cydygitt1]

Again, this story shows that big industry and the government are in cahoots to hide what air and ground pollution is doing to all of us.
Posted by N9VCK
--------------------

Come now dave, you should see what BIG OIL has been able to get away with out west when it comes to fracturing the wells, and all those nice chemicals enter the groundwater for everyone to drink!

[N9VCK]

So, these poor people in Alabama will be infected with all sorts of known carcinogens. The government and the EPA will say because these are poor people and poor people are known smokers, they all are getting cancer and other diseases because of that. More propaganda for the "Nons" and less information about air and ground pollution so prevalent in our country. Again, this story shows that big industry and the government are in cahoots to hide what air and ground pollution is doing to all of us.

[presjfk]

This is change????? It's more like 4 more years of George W. Bush!!!!

HAIL OBAMA???
Posted by walt1944

It's Obama's fault the TVA is sending ash to Alabama? What the frig?

[presjfk]

Send it to New Jersey, they won't be able to tell the difference between their surroundings and millions of tons of toxic ash anyway.

[Ichabod09]

All those toxins will cause Alabama kids to be born retarded!

Oops. Too late.

Never mind.
Posted by DoubleHappiness88 at 11:57 AM : Jun 6, 2009

Python, that was great. See, you do have talent beyond the Religion is poison rant

[wyodutch]

The south loves low wage, non-union jobs.. so this ought to be right up their alley.

[DoubleHappiness88]

All those toxins will cause Alabama kids to be born retarded!

Oops. Too late.

Never mind.