Workers "Little Behind" On Effort To Remove Ash From Emory River
by Judy Frank
posted November 16, 2009
An independent analysis showed that TVA missed the signs that 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash and sludge could breach a storage pond at the TVA plant in Kingston, Tn., a 30-year veteran of the federal agency said Monday in Chattanooga.
That oversight has been costly, Mike Scott told engineers club members, noting the projected total cost of cleanup ranges from $533 million to $1.2 billion. Hopefully, however, all the ask will have been removed from the river by spring 2010.
The spill early on the morning of Dec. 22, 2008, covered 300 acres and affected numerous properties, he said.
A substantial part of the total cost went to purchase almost 150 affected properties, he said, and another $43 million will go for rehabilitation and economic development in Roane County, where the coal ash spill occurred.
The spill has led to proposals that state laws be tightened to force coal companies to create emergency plans for handling such emergencies should they occur.
Although no fatalities occurred as a result of the Kingston spill, similar incidents have led to significant numbers of dead and injured victims.
In 1972, for example, 125 people were killed and another 1,000 injured when a coal waste dam in Buffalo Creek collapsed.
Mr. Scott said there were scare headlines and front page stories about the Kingston ash spill soon after it occurred, but that has died down as tests showed the incident was not as calamitous as originally portrayed.
"People are starting to listen to the science," he told Engineers Club members.
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