Tennessee coal-ash spill workers file new lawsuit as EPA seeks to kill rules that could have prevented the spill

In the wake of a Knoxville News Sentinel series probing the treatment of cleanup workers at the nation's largest coal-ash spill, at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, more stories of dead and dying workers have come to light. Some workers and their surviving families filed a federal lawsuit in 2014, but since the News Sentinel's series, more workers have come forward and filed a second lawsuit, this one in state court, against Jacobs Engineering, which TVA hired to clean up more than a billion gallons of coal ash and slurry that escaped from the plant in December 2008.

The Kingston disaster spurred the Obama administration to issue regulations that the Trump administration is seeking to roll back, Sue Sturgis notes for Facing South in reporting the lawsuit and recounting the Gannett Co. newspaper's reporting.

The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed changes would affect how ash from more than 400 coal-fired power plants is stored and allow states to alter how frequently they would test for groundwater contamination. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the changes would save companies between $32 million and $100 million annually, Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin report for The Washington Post.