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Preview: Coal Ash

October 2, 2009 3:19 PM

If coal ash is safe to spread under a golf course or be used in carpets, why are the residents a Tenn. town being told to stay out of a river where the material was spilled? Lesley Stahl reports.

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by mcgrath2831 October 7, 2009 7:33 AM EDT
Our citizens' group in Giles County, Virginia, cheered you on when you exposed the real hazards posed by current disposal methods for poisonous coal ash. It's clear that the coal lobbyists have control of the regulatory bureaucracy, and that the regulations have been scripted exclusively for the benefit of dirty coal.
For several years, now, we've been fighting a 254,000 cubic yard, unlined coal ash dump that has been situated directly in the flood plain of the New River...which is used as a source of drinking water and recreation for tens of thousands of people in rural Appalachia. Though the unlined dump is called Cumberland Park-which allowed it to be permitted as a "beneficial use" that requires no safety liner-the coal dust is constantly exposed to air, water and the surrounding community. The project is sponsored by a not-for-profit that uses the engineers, resources and attorneys of American Electric Power (AEP).
For years prior to the creation of this project, AEP officials and a group of small town bureaucrats worked quietly behind the scenes to ensure all public participation that might be voiced in opposition to the project would never be heard. No public hearings were held before the project began because the project was dubbed a beneficial use of the hazardius coal ash, so none were required. Our government and our laws failed us when we needed them most.
We hope EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson hears our voices, and the millions of other voices who are being systematically poisoned by Dirty Coal in projects like ours all over the country. Coal ash needs to be treated like any other toxic waste-not like an additive for a schoolroom carpet or a kitchen countertop.
James A. McGrath chair Concerned Citizens of Giles County
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by LilBambi01 October 5, 2009 1:29 PM EDT
More comments and longer video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5362297n
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by LilBambi01 October 5, 2009 12:20 PM EDT
There are a lot more comments on this at CBSNews' other video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5356259n
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by senob00 October 5, 2009 11:10 AM EDT
See sceintific report as concerns the toxic elements that were part of the Kingston overflow. See report by Duke Univ scientists: as reported in Environ Sci Technol 2009, 43:6326-6333, and/or contact: vengosh@duke.edu. This report was based on multiple visits to the Kingston site and investigated coal fly-ash effluent in the water and soil deposits. althouhg the background information reported during the 60 minutes segment was informative, several of the statements of the TVA personnel were in error with the sceientific findings of the Duke scientists who visited the Kingston site multiple times. A review of the report provides a stronger background of the toxic elements and radiation the communities surrounding Kingston may come into contact.
thanks, mike foster
PS; i tried several time to load the pdf of the scientific report, but was not able to do so.
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