Tennessee: Early warnings on ash pond leaks - TVA, state inspections show repairs, suspension …

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jan/05/tennessee-early-warnings-ash-pond-leaks/

Tennessee: Early warnings on ash pond leaks

TVA, state inspections show repairs, suspension of deposits at Kingston ash pond

Monday, January 5, 2009

HARRIMAN, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority knew for the past decade of leaks at the fly ash retention pond that ruptured in Roane County two weeks ago, TVA and state inspection reports show.

In both 2003 and 2006, leaks in the landfill where wet fly ash was dumped were so bad TVA repaired drainage and dikes around the retention ponds and, for nearly a year and half, TVA suspended any ash deposits in the landfill to allow the dredge cell to dry out and stabilize.

The head of TVA’s coal ash disposal program said she was convinced the ash storage problems were fixed and the landfill for coal residue could pile up years more of wet ash. Missy Hedgecoth, a civil engineer who manages TVA’s coal combustion byproducts, said when she got the call early Dec. 22 about a spill from a Kingsport dredge cell she was convinced it couldn’t be that big.

“When I got the phone call in the middle of the night, I actually thought that worst case we might have had two or three dump truck loads that spilled out at the edge of the road, something we could have easily cleared up,” Ms. Hedgecoth said. “What we saw when we got there is something that nobody could have imagined or predicted. This was truly a catastrophic event with no indicators that could have told us this was about to happen.”

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[ensho]

1. may they all end up in prison - how much is HAZMAT on the scene?

nt

[peace13]

2. She must be Condi's long lost sister!!!

'Something that nobody could have imagined or predicted'! I thought that was the job of these folks...to imagine and then plan accordingly! Does she mean that she can't imagine that this happened on her watch?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. EPA, state, public all played role

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090107/OPINION01/901070363/1008

EPA, state, public all played role

By Don Safer • January 7, 2009

The ash-slide disaster at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant should never have happened.

Warnings have been issued about the inadequacy of our treatment of coal-combustion waste for years. The impoundment that failed had been studied for better solutions because of numerous smaller leaks and seeps. This is another example of the oxymoronic nature of the term "clean coal." There is nothing clean about coal.

Primary responsibility certainly lies with TVA. This was their creation. In 2003, they deemed alternate disposal options or fundamental improvement expenditures of $2.6 million to $25 million "too costly." (To put that into perspective, $3.2 million is this year's salary and performance bonus package for TVA CEO Tom Kilgore.) They piled this stuff up to a height of over 55 feet while applying cheaper "Band-Aid" solutions.

Incredibly, TVA claims to have been blindsided by the collapse and blames it on the weather: freezing temperatures and high rainfall. Adding insult to injury in a classic case of TVA-speak, they told the press and public that no health and environmental risk were posed by this toxic mess of materials filled with known carcinogens.

Lax oversight of TVA

The Environmental Protection Agency under President Bush deserves a large share of the blame. EPA has shirked its responsibility to classify coal-combustion waste as hazardous and require safe disposal of the 125 million tons of this slurry of toxicity and radioactivity produced annually in the United States. Polluting industries' preferred way to get rid of toxic materials is to sell them, regardless of the health and environmental consequences. About 40 percent of coal waste is directed into such uses as fill under buildings and roads, agricultural fertilizer, feed, drywall and concrete.

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