Hey Tennessee Rethugs

[malaise]

How do you like all those deregulations in the coal industry now? Now that your Kool-Aid drinking supporters are victim of that massive hazardous waste spill, will you tell them to drink the tainted water. I think you should make your leaders -Fred Thompson, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander lead the way and drink that water.

Drill baby drill some fucking sense in your heads.

[geckosfeet]

1. Not that I disagree with you, but not too many of your intended audience

will be looking for your post here.

[malaise]

3. True but I'm a GD poster

DUers can add my link to the Tennessee page.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/12/23/tennessee.sludge.spill/index.html

A wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from a coal plant in central Tennessee broke this week, spilling more than 500 million gallons of waste into the surrounding area.
Environmental Protection Agency officials are on the scene and expect the cleanup to to take four to six weeks.

Environmental Protection Agency officials are on the scene and expect the cleanup to to take four to six weeks.

The sludge, a byproduct of ash from coal combustion, was contained at a retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles east of Knoxville, agency officials said.

The retention wall breached early Monday, sending the sludge downhill and damaging 15 homes. All the residents were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, a TVA spokesman told CNN.

The plant sits on a tributary of the Tennessee River called the Clinch River.

"We deeply regret that a retention wall for ash containment at our Kingston Fossil Plant failed, resulting in an ash slide and damage to nearby homes," TVA said in a statement released Tuesday.

[Atman]

5. This is the reality...CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY

I differed with Obama from the get-go on this one, and this only underscores it. Unfortunately, he's from a heavy coal-producing state, so I'm afraid the myth of "clean coal" will continue.

.

[malaise]

6. And it is a myth

Did you know that Al Gore's home is a mile away from this mess. I hope we see him on TV today.

[Atman]

10. The TVA is already saying "Don't worry, your water is still drinkable."

Yeah...sure. And the sludge is safe to let your kids play in. Kids love mud.

.

[malaise]

15. I heard them on GEM$NBC

Well I say let Thompson, Corker and Alexander set the example and drink the water live on TV. Their supporters have been drinking Kool-Aid for long enough.

[geckosfeet]

14. I know - I read the report. It is a travesty - a true ecological diaster.

And it is amazing that the coal industry is rigged so that TVA will skate on this.

Four to six weeks to clean it up? What a lie. There will be permanent ecological damage as a result of this.

I just meant that the fools who allowed this plant to be built are probably not big fans of DU.

[malaise]

16. OK

:hi:

[Atman]

18. This stuff is like nucular waste. Where was it eventually supposed to go, anyway?

So the levy broke...it probably would have eventually, anyway. Obviously, the engineers who thought of this system to deal with the waste weren't relying on hi-tech solutions, so I doubt they even went the extra mile to make the holding levy as strong as it could possibly be. They had to save money, so the bosses could get their bonuses.

But I digress...the point is, where the hell was this stuff EVER supposed to go? So they collect it in a big reservoir, then what? It just sits there, leaching into the ground and/or evaporating into the atmosphere? For how long? What happens when the reservoir is full, do they just start another one?

America needs to open its eyes and resist the "Clean Coal Technology" marketing myth machine. They might be able to find a way to sequester the carbon, but the very act of removing the stuff from the ground does arguably as much harm to the environment, if not more. As this "incident" shows.

They'll be more.

Thanks, Bush.

.

[malaise]

21. CNN has good coverage now

They're interviewing a man whose home and property were damaged. He describes it as incredible. They have lots of video as well. One more clusterfuck that was always going to happen.

[predfan]

2. If there are any east-state DUers out there, is that sludge spill on the Northside of I-40?

I assume it's above the towers we see traveling toward Knoxville.

[indepat]

4. Tennessee Rethugs will never see the wrong-headiness of their ideology, are beyond help, are

beyond redemption, are an abomination. :P

[malaise]

7. You know the spill is much larger than

the power company admitted. Expect no accountability. Expect Corker et al to circle the wagons.

[acmavm]

8. This is a sin. "We deeply regret..."? I doubt it.

[Strathos]

9. Well, I'm a Tennessean, but not a Rethug

It sucks knowing that our representatives don't give a flying fuck about us. I've written countless times about GLBT issues and other issues only to be told, "I am not supporting that" or something to that effect.


I wish we could get rid of all our rethug leaders and just start over, but you know watching The Pelican Brief again last night, just reminds me of exactly how corrupt our government is and I really don't think anything short of a nuclear attack could change that.


Sorry to be so cynical so soon after Christmas, but loving Tennessee as I do and watching it go to the fuckin' dogs is just too much.

[malaise]

13. Must be hard

A Greenpeace guy is on GEM$NBC on now. There is a penalty of jail time for these violations. The spill is triple the original estimate. Greenpeace is calling for a criminal investigation.

[NightHawk63]

24. I'm with you homey!

Even though I'm on the west side of our state, I hate what the whores that "represent" us have allowed to happen to our beautiful state (no offense to sex workers).

[Strathos]

26. LOL!! Exactly!

Whores are a much more reputable bunch than those that run Tennessee.

[n2doc]

11. Problem is, it won't affect them

Oh sure, it will affect the poor out there in the area, but do you really think Corker or Alexander give one rip about them? And Rush will be on the air telling the masses about how it is all the environmentalists fault.

The whole thing sucks.

[underpants]

17. Right-they take coal money and use it to stop those people from voting

its all WIN WIN baby!!!

[Atman]

19. Mr. Obama is a big coal supporter.

Just sayin. Don't expect a lot to come of this, one way or another. Too much money is at stake (isn't that always the case?) and too many people with careers in high places. At best we'll be offered up a scape goat, like the kid they told to hold his finger in the dike until they conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the repair.

.

[underpants]

20. Well you have to pick smart fights

there is a lot of coal operations HQ'ed in Illinois or so I read. That is money talking.

Also if he had really come out against coal completely (like many here want him to do) COAL would have deluged certain races with money and he would have created another unneeded front to fight on--like the NRA owning WVa. and Tenn.. Don't pick an unneeded fight when you are winning.

Biden did have a good point about trying to get China to import "clean coal" technology (and yes I know that there is nothing real about "clean coal" but it can be cleanER)

[valerief]

12. The Rethugs "who matter" will have their water flown in for them. nt

[Uncle Joe]

22. There is no such thing as clean coal, carbon dioxide to the extreme is a pollutant

destroying life on the planet, this sludge is just another example of the fallacy behind the belief that burning coal is clean.

Thanks for the thread, malaise.

[malaise]

23. Dr Stephen Smith is saying the same thing on CNN

right now. Excellent comments. Says this will take months and not weeks and people should not drink the water. What a mess.

Happy Holidays Uncle Joe. :hi:

[Uncle Joe]

25. Peace to you and Happy Holidays, malaise.

:hi: