TVA Coal Ash Disaster Dec 22 2008

TVA spills over 1 billion gallons of toxic coal waste into the Tennessee River - TVA says the spill is 5.3 million cubic yards - the worst man made environmental disaster since Chernobyl

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[racinboy402]

it wasn't 1billion gallons it was 300million big differance. im working on cleaning it up and it isnt toxic no in the least little bit people claimin to have drank the water and vomit later are lieing i live there i drink the same water and work in the ash and im perfectly fine

[mountainjustice]

- Its been routinely reported as 5.3 million cubic yards of ash, which is over 1 billion gallons. I worked in industry for 20 years and was exposed to toxic chemicals and solvents - as you get older, the health effects start to kick in, and you get numbness in extremities, memory loss, etc. You should wear respiratory protection at all times on this job - do it for the people who love you if you wont do it for your own self.

[jeremystalked]

Welp, I didn't hear about this before today. So I guess the cover-up has been working.

[mountainjustice]

- this TVA spill was over 10 times as big as the BP gulf oil spill, which is estimated about 100 million gallons. Granted, the area affected is smaller than the Gulf of Mexico but the coal ash is toxic and went into a major river system. It wasnt exactly a cover up - see the national news coverage I have posted - but in my opinion, this disaster didnt get nearly as much attention as it should have goteen ....

[circusboy90210]

we owe it to ouselves to use as much of this commodity as possible, in a responisble manner. compbined power plants can be very clean. this would reduce our use of foreign oil, & oil period.we also need to drill as much as possible off of our shores . o wait a minute that's one of the firtst things obama did was repeal that one. yet he talks about how we need the stimulus because now will be better than later. we'll guess what mr. hypocrit the same goes for drilling oil. phony & a hypocrit .

[mountainjustice]

coal ash is a commodity? Oh yeah, I forgot - TVA says it can be used in making bowling balls.

Whew! Maybe now the terrible bowling ball shortage will be over once and for all.

[nn123654]

"Clean" coal is insane, even if we manage to get carbon capture to work we still have to deal with the effects of mining the stuff. Instead of pouring our money into coal, why not invest it in things that actually work, like wind, solar, and hydro. Even though hyrdo is destructive its still better than taking the tops off of mountains, and having slurry ponds full of billions of gallons.

[devgowri]

It's horrible to see such a disaster...and sad that earth and it's innocent creatures had to suffer all these... very sad

[davidblankenship666]

oops

[lovelplants]

wow.. what a waste.. some people are so abusive and never care about the effects later..

[danny347]

Check out the movie "Garbage Warrior" Its about a experimental housing development in NM that has no outside utilities running to it. Its working by using solar and wind power!

[tollboothjason]

Then how come some cleanup crews wear hazmat suits and require that all vehicles leaving the site be spray-washed?

[JACKSONSIBLEY]

"A 2007 TVA inventory filed with the EPA showed that in only one year the plant's fly ash by products included '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.' ...the fly ash impoundment in Kingston contained almost five decades of toxic byproducts." (Button; Dewan)

That being said, 'big' is a relative term. The ash spill may have been larger by volume, but not by ecological impact.

[wpatterson017]

This disaster was trivialized by some of the leading energy big wigs like Duke Energy. The Southeastern states, including NC, are the most dependent on coal power. They have used the scare tactics that greedy corporations and political puppets employ by claiming your heating and power bills will rise if we don't continue to use coal. Well...this proves it...they can't properly handle the complete process. (Just like nuclear energy, safely dealing with the waste is an unresolved issue).

[promiseIsaih60]

I heard Erin Brokovitch was going to get involved. Does anyone have an update as to what's being done? I live in Massachusetts & I never heard anything about this.

[xtremegt2]

So...it's 2010. This happened 2 years ago. I think I barely remember hearing about it, but it's on 60 Minutes right now. Ain't that a bitch.

[WARFOX101]

We are killing this planet, our children's children will suffer if we don't stop and open our eyes to what we are doing.