Tennessee Coal Ash Flood 3x Bigger Than First Thought
The coal ash spill that contaminated nearby neighborhoods and rivers in Roane County, Tennessee is actually three times bigger than initially estimated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The NY Times reports:
Authority officials initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond breached, 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.
The spill occurred at the Kingston Fossil Plant, one of the authority’s largest electrical generating sites, located on the banks of the Emory River about 40 miles west of Knoxville. The ash ponds were separated from the river only by earthen walls. Environmentalists have long argued that coal ash, which can contaminate groundwater and poison aquatic environments, should be stored in lined landfills. But hundreds of plants around the country, most located near rivers that supply the water they need to operate, have similar ponds and mounds of coal ash on site.
Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal, usually for power generation. The waste contains toxins such as arsenic, lead, and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems.
While this environmental disaster is not directly related to the issue of “clean coal,” it comes at a bad time for the coal industry, which is trying to convince the public that coal can be “clean” and that we should not move away from this abundant energy source. Of course, not everyone agrees that there even is such a thing as clean coal.
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