Coal Ash Spill is Much Larger Than First Described
The environmental disaster first disclosed a few days ago is growing much bigger than authorities described:
A coal ash spill in eastern Tennessee that experts were already calling the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States is more than three times larger than initially estimated, according to an updated survey by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Officials at the authority initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, gave way on Monday. But on Thursday they released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep.
The amount now said to have been spilled is larger than the amount the authority initially said was in the pond, 2.6 million cubic yards.
But don't worry, we don't know for sure that it will kill the victims:
Mr. Moulton said on Friday that the levels exceeded safety limits for drinking water, but that both metals were filtered out by water treatment processes.
Mercury and arsenic, he said, were “barely detectable” in the samples.
The ash pond was adjacent to the Emory River and near a residential area, where three houses were destroyed by the tide of muddy ash. Water sampled several miles downstream from the spill was safe to drink, but its iron and manganese content exceeded the secondary drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which govern taste and odor but not potential health effects, Mr. Moulton said.
Neither the authority nor the E.P.A. has released the results of tests of soil or the ash itself. Authority officials have said that the ash is not harmful, and the authority has not warned residents of potential dangers, though federal studies show that coal ash can contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and carcinogens.
“You’re not going to be endangered by touching the ash material,” said Barbara Martocci, a spokeswoman for the T.V.A. “You’d have to eat it. You have to get it in your body.”
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation also released a statement saying there was no indication of risk unless the ash was ingested.
"Ingested." You mean, as in "inhaled"? Because it seems to me it will be almost impossible for residents to avoid breathing it in. Oh well. Thanks, BushCo!
I hope the new Democratic Congress and the corporate media continue to do their bit for more "clean coal"!
Sorry, it's the Bogdanovich/Obama connection (they are trying to establish) 24 f*&%! 7. No time to report on anything else. There's a whole war crimes worth of stories of the last 8yrs to report on but nnnnnnnoooooooooooooo. Absolutely nothing else is happening for the MSM. That's why the MSM has an approval rating only slightly higher than Bush......well deserved too.
Don't forget the grand importance of the Casey Anthony case for one second! Never you mind those Pakistani troops amassing on the borders of India.
Oh,put those blinders on folks when it comes to Israel's final solution as they bomb the shit out of Gaza with U.S. made missiles and helicopters while they actually prepare to enter in on land as well.
Guess that whole kill 'em all by starvation and attrition thing was too slow a go for these humanitarians for the ages. *snark*
But back to Casey Anthony.
I thought they were busy reporting on the Obamamessias workout schedual and vacation in Hawaii.
happen in, say, Vermont.
Tennessee, a red state, can take this sort of thing. Like a man.
Weak, ineffective liberals and latte-sippers never could.
"...showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep."
"...though federal studies show that coal ash can contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and carcinogens."
“You’re not going to be endangered by touching the ash material,” said Barbara Martocci, a spokeswoman for the T.V.A. “You’d have to eat it. You have to get it in your body.”
WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE FUCKING KIDDING?
Paging Erin Brokovich....
the same people Christine Todd Whitman thought she was kidding.
dont worry--the republicans have kept you safe--i'm sure they will continue to do so until the 20th.
Does anyone remember "The air is safe to breathe at Ground Zero"?
You beat me to it. That whole thing has turned into a nightmare. I've read there are more than 50,000 people who are dealing all kinds of potentially fatal lung diseases and breathing problems.
Her first.
As Environment Secretary, she bore the responsibility.
She fucked it up.
Let her plead to lesser charges if she turns on the White House.
From Wiki: "In April 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the district court, holding that as EPA head Whitman could not be held liable for saying to World Trade Center area residents that the air was safe for breathing after the buildings collapse.
The court said that Whitman had based her information on contradictory information and statements from President Bush. The U.S. Department of Justice had argued that holding the agency liable would establish a risky legal precedent because future public officials would be afraid to make public statements."
I mean, what the fuck with these people.
Hey y'all "Heckuvajob Brownie!"
To know that the air quality in New York that day and the following weeks wasn't healthy.
ughhhhhhhhh, what a fucking nightmare.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Coal is supposedly worse than anything else for releasing trapped radioactive crap over a large area.
pity those poor people living there.
Does anyone remember what constituted "safe" or "unsafe" air in Los Angeles about 20 years ago?
EPA Misled Public on 9/11 Pollution
White House ordered false assurances on air quality, report says
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0823-...
White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/136350...
whats not to understand about the debachle of 911? it was imparitive to get the evidence of the bush cheny crimes of that day cleaned up and disposed of right away , the sooner the better , fuck the people and dogs used to sniff out bodys , let them suck on asbestos and murcury till thier lungs bleed piss, we are and have been betrayed for eight years by these slimmy pieces of amphib shit, and it galls me to no ends that they got by with it! both the dumbocrats and repigshits are up to thier eyeballs in the coverup,
has signed on to "clean coal."
Also Oil Shale.
ANYTHING that keeps the wealth and power in the hands of the CorpoRats who already control the energy grid in the USofA is A-OK, with Mr. O.
There's a lot of big talk.
But he's already backed away from rescinding the Bushevik tax-breaks for the wealthy.
There won't be "enough" money to actually pursue the highly touted aganda for 30000000 energy jobs.
There won't be any serious funding for sustainable, alternative, distributed energy production UNTIL the Pols and their Bosses can figure out a way to consolidate the power that energy independence for individuals might incur and keep it OUT of the hands of the People...
Why am I reminded of all the assurances that "The Air quality around the WTC" was "safe" after 9/11?
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
...the same bunch of bastards is in charge telling the same goddam lies.
I'd love to ask Bush lovers: do you really, really, REALLY want republicans to be the ones who make sure your children's water is safe? could you really be that fuckin' stupid?
that says a lot.
No money was harmed in the incident so it wasn't worth reporting.
nothing to worry about...
The people of Tennessee will receive a modest bill for a generous application of fertilizer. More generous than previously thought.
They already lied about the size of the spill, the amount discharged, the amount contained in the pond and said the weather caused the breach. Why break the trend and tell the truth about anything? It's not like the corporate media will investigate any of these claims. The report will go something like this.
The EPA and industry experts says there is no harm presented by the coal ash unless it is eaten. Liberal watchdog groups say waste contains high levels of toxins and presents a serious health risk. We aren't going to provide any specific facts or tell you who is correct. Back to the "war on Christmas".
Ha Ha. Great comment.
So sad but so true.
If it had to happen better in Tennessee than Vermont. Tennessee went for Bush and McCain/Palin and their environmentally destructive policies ni the last 3 election cycles.
I'm waiting for Pat Robertson to come forth and say this was God's punishment on conservative Tennesseans for voting for Republican politicians who rape the environment. Suffice to say I won't be holding my breath. Maybe Robertson will get around to it after he stops fawning over Obama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKk7TDYH_tc
In the meantime I'll see if I can fill in for Pat: "Repent Tennesseans, quit voting Republican or continue to suffer baby Jesus's wrath! Baby Jesus sent this message 3 days before his birthday to drive home the point that you need to repent your evil Republican voting ways! Quit voting for Republicans who trash my planet, kill my people, discriminate against my people and push my animals to extinction! Heed my message or continue to feel my wrath!" There, Pat Robertson doesn't have to say anything, I figured this is what Pat would have said if he had the time so I went ahead and said it for him.
There is more footage here: http://newscoma.com/2008/12/27/tva-disaster/ Sorry to self link but the video from the United Mountain Defense fund is horrific.
Thanks.
"show that coal ash can contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and carcinogens."
now I feel better.
is clean coal? There is NO SUCH THING.
It's kind of like a "compassionate conservative" and just as dangerous
a compassionate conservative similar to a liberal dem? They both seem to be extinct species.
One difference being the latter can speak in complete and properly formulated sentences. Another way you can tell them apart.
that they declared the 9/11 site "clean" was an effort to weasel their way out of paying Worker's Compensation to all of the "everyday heroes" - firefighters, police and EMS.
Then, of course, the insurance companies of the police, fire and EMS refused to cover injuries and illness secondary to the poisoned air, claiming that WC should pay their hospitalization.
It's been a while since I checked, but as of '06 the Emergency Workers were still in limbo and had to pay for their tests, treatments and medications.
This is nothing new; municipalities pull this crap on individual fire/police/EMS more often than one might think.
Can't be having "entitlements" now, can we?
that fly ash is used as a cement binder in mine paste fill systems. A little heat and dry air and this is going to turn into the worlds biggest ugliest parking lot. It'll be a bitch to clean up.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
We just told you it's safe!
Sincerely,
TVA
If you think outside.......I mean inside the box. I see the world's biggest box store complex being built right smack dab in the middle of this big ass parking lot. After all, the people in that area will need jobs and the republican pols from Tennessee will get right on this project as part of their states' stimulus package. Then there will be bus tours from neighboring states for people to come see and shop and drop some serious cash at this gigantic monument to the almighty dollar where the little guys think they're getting a bargain and the fat guys roll in more dough. They can even give it a classy name like Emory River Shopping Mall - sort of like the Mall of America in the south. It's the perfect solution to this whole mess. Yeah.....that's the ticket.
I can think of no downside!
(Well, except that everyone who works and maybe shops there will get cancer, but let's not sweat the small things.)
My partner's dad lives in Kingston. People out there already have a high rate of cancer. :( This disgusts me.
In Memphis last weekend for our family holiday gathering, my husband's cousin was going on and on about how the new coal-fired plant being constructed in Arkansas (the so-called "Natural State") was going to be soooooo clean. It depressed me, because the guy is a bigwig on the state Ad Council and regularly meets with the governor...
I hope he reads the news.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/dec...
"One cannot see the truth when his financial position requires he sees otherwise"
That news video was a perfect representation of why TV news sucks. It contains virtually no actual useful information or facts. What do we get instead of actual reporting:
Graphic: (Road Sign) Toxic Mess? Really. It may not be a toxic mess, we aren't sure. Nice start.
Environmentalist say it's 30X larger than exxon valdez spill. Who said? Is it 30X larger? Were there no coal sludge spills to compare this to? What were the long term inpacts of other sludge spills? Who knows, we get incorrect trivia like this. Enough to fill 550 olympic pools.
Local Bill Wright: "It's a disaster, an absolute disaster. You know, to fill this river up, the Emory river, is a disaster."
I'm not sure I follow Bill, are you saying it's a disaster? Did they take you up "by air" so you could get the full scale of the disaster, or is this a ground based assessment?
".........1.8 million cubic yards spilled......" Um, wrongs.
James Sheen was asleep, then he wasn't. James: "Climbed out the winder...and...before the house completely collapsed." Thanks James, the TVA will be "relocating" you shortly to a new sludge pond. Oh, and don't eat of drink the sludge. Some lefty says it's bad for you.
".....testing the water..........urging residents to boil their water......." WTF? Did they really just suggest they boil the sludge water before drinking? I'm no expert, but I don't think you can boil out heavy metals.
Oh look, dead fish, that can't be good.
"Jodie Miles doesn't expect to be fishing here for a long time. Jodie: They're done, I mean, they can't breathe in that". Top notch! How long was the set up for this earth shattering quote?
Did you know the TVA is government owned?
CEO TVA: Glad no one was hurt. We have "impacted" a lot of "property" and for that I am filled with "regret".
As long as your filled up, I forgive you. Now run along a destroy all the documents that will prove you knew about the problem for years, but were filled with hope nothing would happen.
OUTRAGED ENVIRONMENTALIST!!!!!!!!! Elliot Negan (Nerd Alert!), Union of Concerned Scientist (Egghead Wimps Alert): "Clean coal is an oxymoron, it doesn't exist..........." No, clean coal is a lie. No need for the big word. Jodie, James and Bill may not understand. Just call it a lie. BTW, nice turtleneck.
Final thought: "The fear? That the Emory River may never be the same." Um that's not a fear jackass, that's a fact.
That was awesome.
I am of the opinion that the newspeak is so rampant in the US news media, that we should plug 2 terminals to Orwell's casket and harness the incredible amounts of energy that his constant spinning must be generating during the past decade.
Another success for the George Bush administration and its deregulation ideology, spearheaded by Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Phil Gramm.
aren't we all just a bunch of whiners? We shouldn't blame this on the Bush administration. They really have our best interest at heart. Oh wait they don't have a heart. My bad.
and the various Repugs who kept quiet in return for brown envelopes, cushy well paid jobs, and turned a blind eye.
I smell a prime location for a new Super Wal Mart with the world's largest parking lot. No, shit, I know the prefect use for this new slice of heaven. How about a Clean Coal Theme Park? It's already paved with the valuable coal byproduct, ash-phalt (trademark pending). Bring the kiddies.
??
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
...and will no doubt do an interview in the next couple of days.
He will introduce us to somebody he appointed, and we the people never heard of, who is doing "a heckuva job".
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
That is after Bush circles the site in an airplane surveying the damage from above.
on the people suffering down below.
These guys voted for McCain, the clean coal Jesus guy. Why is god punishing these great people of moral superiority?
Well everything happens for a reason, time to shovel your own shit now , I guess.
...it'll come out that some mid-level exec type warned about this 10 years ago & got transferred to Alaska or forced into early retirement or something.
non-radioactive nukes, dry water, cold heat, and clean coal. Next they'll change unemployment insurance to employment insurance. Oh wait, that's been done.
In many states unemployment money is already out or running out fast. My understanding is another way Bush made the federal deficit not look as bad as it really is was by pushing a lot of the debt onto the states to deal with thereby making the federal numbers not look as bad as they really are. I guess that's what Republicans mean by "states rights", the right of the states to bailout the governing incompetence and corruption of Republican governing. Now there is even less money to meet the needs of rank and file Americans on the state level because of Bush.
Thanks again Chimp!
Under the federal Liberal Party there was a massive surplus in the unemployment funds for years and years. So they took it. Spent it. Blew it. Threw it in with normal revenues. Now the Harpo Marxxx government will have to run deficits to combat the rosey economy. Go figure.
Tenneseeans musta been really naughty this Christmas.
____________________________________________________________
"show that coal ash can contain dangerous levels of heavy metals and carcinogens."
_________________________________________________________________
Coal ash contains this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Hv0tsvpyU
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The spill is even worse than I thought!
"Tenneseeans musta been really naughty this Christmas."
They voted Republican in the last 3 presidential election cycles. Baby Jesus isn't pleased about that.
You cant get a more direct 'fantasy voice in the sky' hint than that.
My fantasy voice would sound like Rula Lenska saying, "You've been a bad, bad boy..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SJoIpTPk8
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
some of this too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgd-MMmZGg
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Homeland Security FEMA and Blackwater have arrived on the scene yet?
I assume most of the locals will be provided immediately with some of those leftover mobile homes from the Katrina fiasco.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Blackwater wont do what they did in NO, ie shoot 300 plus angry locals.
O
About what the Blackwater thugs were up to in NO in the aftermath.
S0000000ooooooo much confidence in Offshore Oil Drilling.
Cutting corners again.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
The waste just got into the water table any tests now won't show much. Also I do not trust the Bush EPA remember the all clear after 9/11 Rudy and the EPA gave to 9/11 workers that the site was not dangerous.
started with "the glorious patriotic forces have managed to contain..." like Pravda and the Chinese news agencies used to in the hey day of the cold war, when a major disaster happened and needed to be sneaked under the public opinion.
Chernobyl, according to Pravda, was supposed to be a "minor" hiccup.
The official death toll from Chernobyl according to the Soviets was 52. The real count was probably in excess of 40,000 and the amount of people that will be crippled, maimed, or otherwise permanently compromised will never be known but surely will be in six figures. Like this place in TN there are areas around Chernobyl that will be uninhabitable for centuries. After all, the half life of the nuclear contamination spewed there is 300,000 years.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Immediately fire all republicans who "build and maintain" coal ash retention pond dams!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Looking at all the "clean coal" hoopla that Obama and Co have been touting. I am afraid that just like almost every other disaster, this one is no exception and there are plenty of bipartisan blame to go around.
I feel sorrier for the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian Iraqi men, women and children and the American service members who have lost their lives and limbs in Bush's war that a majority of these people supported in the past 3 election cycles. I'm not a nationalist, so suffering is suffering regardless of the flag people suffer under and because of these redstaters there is a lot more unnecessary suffering in the world today. Yea this is bad, and I hate it for them, but there are a lot of other people in the world I feel sorrier for right now than folks who voted for Bush.
The human race, the most intelligent species on the planet, we continue to knowingly defile and contaminate the same place we eat, sleep and rely on for our very existence. Give it some time. People will start getting sick there. There are people who probably rely on those waterways for the fish to eat. All that is going to find its way into the Gulf which already has a 'dead-zone' where nothing can live because of contamination and is growing larger everyday. It surprises me that we haven't completely killed ourselves off completely yet.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
So not all bad news.
If Tennesse would just ban gay marriage and abortion, this wouldn't have happened.
nt
5.4 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash spilled from a pond of waste that held only 2.6 million cubic yards.
What more proof do we need that magical things happen with facts in the Bush administration.
I can hardly wait for further revelations that this miracle is even larger and more toxic than disclosed earlier.
Just like Iraq.
Opps, when I went home for Xmas dinner I saw the flashing yellow light but though it was part of the decorations! My bad.
The article says it's 40 miles west of Knoxville. It's actually 40 miles east.
Okay, the original article I read was wrong. It is west of Knoxville. Fuck me, that's only 40 miles from me.
Well, i remember when this happened, http://www.geotimes.org/oct03/WebExtra101703.... , do you?
"Who could have forseen that the levee (retention pond walls) would break?"
Breaking(?), from CNN:
far left loon >.<
Oops. I forgot to thank BushCo. for deregulating environmental agencies. If no one is glowing radioactive, or mutant, (yet), it's safe.
far left loon >.<
Mmm-hmm, that's some clean coal, there.
This of course highlights one of three fundamental flaws with "clean" coal, said flaw being that just because you can contain some of the viciously nasty crap contained in coal, you can't make it vanish--it's still got to pile up somewhere. And keep in mind this vast amount of sludge is from the power in just one region.
Also note that were this dirty-er coal, which a whole lot of the US and world still uses, some of this stuff would be in the atmosphere, too.
None of this even touching on the fact that no matter how clean coal is it still emits lots of CO2 and is a major contributor to global warming.
Such a complete crock it makes me sick. No, really, I have the flu right now. I blame clean coal.
It's everywhere!
That is what we were told after our son changed overnight from vaccines that contained mercury at levels ~50x over what is considered safe for adults.
And dont by the meme that "it has been removed". Some vaccines still contain it while others make the claim "preservative-free" but they still have residual mercury from the manufacturing process but more wasnt added as a "preservative".
To correct the stupid news report trivia:
5.4 Million Cubic Yards = 1.0906596 BILLION gallons
Enough to fill 1683 Olympic swimming pools at 648,000 gallons each. Or an Olympic width (25 meter)and depth (2 meter) swimming pool that's 52.3 miles long.
Also enough to fill 1.0906596 BILLION one gallon milk juggs. Since most people don't have a clue how much a Olympic swimming pool holds, why not give the conversion to gallons. Most people do know how much a gallon is.
I HATE TEEVEE NEWS!!!!!
Or the area now resembles the La Brea Tar Pits. Enter at your own risk.
far left loon >.<
Whatever happened to Bob Murray? I seem to recall investigators held his mining operation at fault for the disaster with their mines last year.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
What a disaster! Well, that place is pretty much perma-fucked.
"Clean coal" is the biggest oxymoron in regards to the environment!
Just where is our?? elected democrats?? If they are not stopping the problem , then they are part of the problem...
Pelosi ,,, Impeachment is off the table,,,, Pelosi on a talk show.. show me a criminal crime of Bush and I would introduce impeachment..
Why has Pelosi not taking the time to read Kucinich's 35 articles of impeachment that she had put on the shelf...
Also this is the problem with the democratic voters ,,, They are not paying any attention to what their representative are doing in office,,,they just re-elected Pelosi with 72% of the votes...
None
Corporate America has New Companies now. not the people. A Public service? A Public requirement to have Honest journalism for the people? No. Not if you say "These airwaves are ours and not the peoples"
Then they are theirs. We gave them the power over us. So, why do you watch it? Turn it off and find your news from sources dedicated to YOU.
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
Wright should consider his problem as karma for the corruption inflicted by Wrights in the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, from ruining businesses in the next town so their bank could flip foreclosures and profiteer on land, to police corruption, burglaries, and forged documents.
TVA's leadership has long been the bureaucratic equivalent of bailout CEO's, even before Stephen White was caught with both hands enthusiastically plundering the taxpayer's cooky jar. TVA has its own private police force, its own inspectors, and both run roughshod over the valley's civil liberties. TVA heads usually are drawn from local relatives of national media families, so coverups can be arranged. The county has suffered not one, but three train derailments, not always coal-laden--the last one had chem tankers and resulted in mass evacs.
I-Roaneically, the strip mall or big box solution will be a thousand times better for the county than the eventual concrete-over-ash boat ramp constructed for the convenience of TVA's Alabama "little black" helicopters, who were grounded once during the Clinton admin after it was discovered that they were being used for cocaine drops on Watts Bar Lake!
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