Tests after coal-ash spill suggest long-term risks

According to state and federal agencies, air and water samples taken near the coal ash spill at Kingston, Tenn., "have shown no significant health risks," reports Dave Flessner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "But some soil and water samples closest to the ruptured sludge pond taken soon after the spill showed elevated levels of toxic materials, including arsenic, mercury and selenium."

A hundred days after the spill, the Tennessee Valley Authority is bringing in medical experts to asses long-term health risks. There are growing signs that those risks could be significant. "Avner Vengosh, a professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University, who has studied the Kingston ash spill, said part of the Emory River showed arsenic levels more than 100 times greater than what is acceptable in drinking water," writes Flessner. Dr. Vengosh said other samples of the river downstream showed elevated levels of mercury."

"Many people fear that they are poisoning their family by staying where they are," Sarah McCoin, of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network, told the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. "TVA is not listening to us. It’s as if they don’t care."

A separate report by the Environmental Integrity Project says "TVA records over the past decade indicate heavy metals have been detected around all six of the TVA coal plants that use wet ash disposal," writes Flessner. Eric Schaeffer, a former EPA official who heads the EIP, said "TVA plants are routinely discharging toxic metals at levels that are predicted to damage aquatic ecosystems or make fish unsafe to eat." (Read more)