Action Alert for TVA Coal Ash Disaster
Jan 8th, 2009 by admin
From the list servs.
We need your help!
People are sick and someone has to help. On Monday, December 22 around 1:00 a.m.over a billion gallons of ice cold toxic waste burst out of a coal ash waste dam near the TVA Kingston Coal Fired Power Plant in Eastern Tennessee. It covered 400 acres of land up to 6 feet and flooded into tributaries of the Tennessee River – the water supply for millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Take Action Today!
This disaster did not have to happen. Hold TVA — The Tennessee Valley Authority — accountable.
1. Give Resources to impacted citizens for desperately needed health tests. There is a brief window for citizens to get tested to see if they’ve been exposed to arsenic — but these tests cost $500. The initial information sent to citizens told them if they boiled their water it would be safe — but boiling water doesn’t remove dangerous and deadly heavy metals. Independent tests performed by Dr. Shea Tuberty and Dr. Carol Babyak at the Environmental and Toxicology Labs at Appalachian State University have found levels up to 300 times the EPA standard for drinking water (10 parts per billion). Money is needed for health tests, volunteer expenses, bottled water, and more. Please help by visiting www.unitedmountaindefense.org to send checks for copies, paper, gas and general support funds to
United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 Please mark check: “For TVA Spill” or visit their PayPal
- Call for Federal assistance and take immediate action to protect the local citizens. Arsenic and heavy metals have been ingested by people living around the massive spill. They need to be tested and, if positive, treated quickly. Residents should not be forced to fundraise for medical exams following TVA’s terrible mistakes.
- Enact and enforce Coal Ash and Coal Combustion Waste regulations. The EPA has repeatedly avoided regulating TVA and Coal Combustion Waste — despite knowing about coal ash dangers for over 28 years. EPA data shows there are hundreds more coal ash waste dumps across the US — whose community will be next?
- Hold TVA Accountable for their actions. TVA is trying to blame this disaster on the rain — but they should have built the toxic waste holding dam with rainfall in mind. TVA and the State of Tennessee should hold public hearings and investigate the bursting of the coal ash dam and the potential future danger to the local citizens and environment. TVA must upgrade all coal ash ponds to include safety liners and provide education for all residents likely to be impacted by any problems with other TVA ash dumps. TVA must completely clean up and restore the affected properties and water ways and pay restitution for human suffering involved in the ash pond failure. And the Governor must make sure that TVA does these things.
phil.bredesen@state.tn.us
For more info:
Volunteers at www.unitedmountaindefense.org have been working day and night to distribute information, clean water and inform citizens of their rights. Visit http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/ and http://www.ilovemountains.org/tva-spill/ for the latest updates on the TVA Coal Ash Disaster.
Coal ash, slurry or sludge is a byproduct left over after coal is burned. As reported in the New York Times, “‘Your household garbage is managed much more consistently’ than coal combustion waste.”
TVA allowed a huge mountain of this coal waste material stored in a gigantic pile next to their Kingston power plant, alongside the tributary of the Tennessee River.Federal Toxic Release Inventory data requested by the New York Times after the spill reveals that in just one year, TVA placed 45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese into their coal waste impoundment in Kingston. And since the Kingston plant is over 50 years old, and two-thirds of the impoundment actually collapsed, one million pounds of arsenic is a conservative estimate for the total release into the river.
This Tennessee TVA spill is over 40 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. This is a huge environmental disaster of epic proportions.
