Environmental group says TVA coal ash polluted water in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama

Coal ash from Tennessee Valley Authority power plants has polluted groundwater in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington ,D.C.-based environmental group, Duane Gang reports for The Tennessean. "The toxic pollutants include arsenic, boron, cobalt, manganese and sulfate, and all are the byproducts of burning coal and storing the coal-ash waste in ponds or landfills."

The reports "comes as the five-year anniversary of the Kingston coal ash spill nears next month," Gang writes.  "In 2008, a dike broke, spilling 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash into local waterways and over 300 acres of land" around a TVA plant in Kingston, Tenn. The federal utility was found liable last year in the spill and fined $11.5 million. To read the full report click here. (Institute for Southern Studies photo: 2008 coal ash spill)