Why did the coal ash spill spill from the TVA facility?
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 ju
An estimated 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston Fossil plant near Harriman in the early morning of Dec. 22. TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore has said TVA is throwing all available resources at the problem and is in the reclamation phase of the cleanup operation. Nearby residents have been left homeless and fretting about the possible health effects. Sources: www.nationalincidents.
Related Questions
- What will prevent a disaster like the coal ash spill in Tennessee described as "one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in the United States history"?
- What were the environmental impacts of the huge coal ash spill in Tennessee this past December?
- Why did the coal ash spill spill from the TVA facility?
