Aftermath of the TVA Coal Ash Spill: Get Ticketed for Taking Water Samples (Video)

The currency EPA more or less gave these guys a licence to pollute.

The video mentioned that the security officer's name was John B. Neil? Can someone post his telephone number so that I can call and leave him a message? I did a quick search but could not find his information.

As a resident of E Tennessee, not very far from Kingston, this incident has been heart-breaking. TVA is dragging their feet with clean-up efforts, making the occasional show of dumping a few rocks, bringing in some bull-dozers, and various posturing stunts for the media, while tons and tons of this toxic sludge settles over land and to the bottom of our waterways, spreading its deadly fingers downstream. No real, concentrated effort is being made to clean things up in a timely manner ... and I doubt that this will change.

If you take a good look at our coal industry - from mining to power production - it's not difficult to see the socio-economic link to why a catestrophe like this was allowed to happen, and why clean-up efforts are marginal at best. Appalachia has been the dumping ground for neglectful industry for decades because these corporations know they can take advantage of the situation and the people. Who among these often poor and disadvantaged population has the power, the will, or the resources to act against them?

Very close to me is a chlorine manufacturer, Olin/Arch Chemical, who has poisoned a local waterway sediment with mercury discharge for years. Despite elevated/hazardous mercury levels, current EPA law lets them continue to operate this way, their technology grandfathered in, despite protests from residents and environmental groups, and concerted effort to enact legislation. The plant threatens to close down, costing the area hundreds of jobs, if they are forced to convert to mercury-free technology. Despite signs warning residents not to consume fish from the river, people still fish there. Poor, powerless, and wanting to hold onto their jobs, nothing changes for these people.

I can only hope that Kingston can be enough of a nationally spot-lighted example to force action. Send the "Clean Coal Clan" down here with some shovels ....

As a resident of E Tennessee, not very far from Kingston, this incident has been heart-breaking. TVA is dragging their feet with clean-up efforts, making the occasional show of dumping a few rocks, bringing in some bull-dozers, and various posturing stunts for the media, while tons and tons of this toxic sludge settles over land and to the bottom of our waterways, spreading its deadly fingers downstream. No real, concentrated effort is being made to clean things up in a timely manner ... and I doubt that this will change.

If you take a good look at our coal industry - from mining to power production - it's not difficult to see the socio-economic link to why a catestrophe like this was allowed to happen, and why clean-up efforts are marginal at best. Appalachia has been the dumping ground for neglectful industry for decades because these corporations know they can take advantage of the situation and the people. Who among these often poor and disadvantaged population has the power, the will, or the resources to act against them?

Very close to me is a chlorine manufacturer, Olin/Arch Chemical, who has poisoned a local waterway sediment with mercury discharge for years. Despite elevated/hazardous mercury levels, current EPA law lets them continue to operate this way, their technology grandfathered in, despite protests from residents and environmental groups, and concerted effort to enact legislation. The plant threatens to close down, costing the area hundreds of jobs, if they are forced to convert to mercury-free technology. Despite signs warning residents not to consume fish from the river, people still fish there. Poor, powerless, and wanting to hold onto their jobs, nothing changes for these people.

I can only hope that Kingston can be enough of a nationally spot-lighted example to force action. Send the "Clean Coal Clan" down here with some shovels ....

I was surprised when Dr John Todd said that it was illegal to get coal sludge and slurry samples for the work he is doing with ecological restoration of coal-ravaged lands and that the testing requires a toxics-rated lab, increasing his preliminary costs astronomically. Now I see that he wasn't exaggerating.

I've been wondering whether his work has been speeded or slowed because of the spill. His Buckminster Fuller Challenge award winning idea of ecological restoration and an alternative, green economy for Appalachia should be remembered as we consider how to clean up this TVA mess.

what i find so shocking is how quiet this has all been, usually a environmental event like this would have every news caster in most 1st world country's screaming out how bad it is..

I suppose because its not oil and we've already gotten what we need from it, it doesn't matter what happens as long as it doesn't affect us.

Ben:

You're right, it's not being reported on because TV channels and the rest of the media are in the business of making money form advertisement. If they make a show about it, viewers will be sad, angry about it, which will adversely affect their response to advertisement.

In other words, they'll rather show you something about Texas from a bird's view than real issues, because what's positive sells goods, but bad news don't.

One media outlet who decides to air bad news might get reprimanded or criticized by advertisers and even dropped.

Matthew, thank you for your intelligent and well-edited informative documentary. I crossed the Clinch river (upstream) on my trips to and from University. This is so sad. (And interestingly, I have not seen any "clean coal" commercials since this incident).

Dave, no one will benefit from you harassing Mr Neil on the telephone. Just leave well enough alone - because honestly if I ever heard that someone was making inappropriate calls, I'd point them to this site and inform them that someone with your IP was instigating a fight.

In reality, I'm sure on a social level Mr Neil did not care the kayakers where there ... but on a professional level, he had his job to do - from time to time it would be nice to quit your job out of principle, but he has his bills. He's just performing the duties of his job as he was told to do them, if someone takes issue with that, they should fault the TVA, not the specific officer. Let the filmmakers fight this the intelligent - and descent - way. All they have to do is contest it in court. The results you want - and you don't get arrested for making inappropriate phone calls.

Matthew, thank you and your friends again for bringing the reality out ... and wash your hands after touching that damn fish.

Heartfelt debt of gratitude to these brave people for documenting this. I am outraged that the TVA has a budget for helicopter surveillance to cover their butts from nosy environmentalists, but they cannot be bothered to even string lines of containment barges to limit the damage.

Why isn't anyone out there cleaning it up? It should be constant. I should see people everywhere working constantly like they did on 9/11 or something. This is ridiculous. Where is all that crap going? Into other rivers? Into the ocean? It's like no one cares. This is a very sad moment for us as a species.

This is one of the biggest disasters to ever be wrought upon the natural world by man. It's time we treated it like that. Shit, hire me. There are millions of unemployed Americans. This is work. Why isn't anybody putting people to work cleaning this up? I'm beside myself here.

The TVA has more problems then just coal ash!

http://tinyurl.com/dc99ey

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