Utility Doubles Estimate of Tennessee Ash Deluge
by Kristin M. Hall
The aftermath of a retention wall collapse is seen, Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, in Harriman, Tenn. A retention pond wall collapsed early Monday morning at a power plant run by the nation's largest public utility, releasing a frigid mix of water and ash that flooded 15 homes nearby. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, J. Miles Cary)
About 5.4 million cubic yards of coal fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal, broke out of a retention pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant, Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman John Moulton said.
The TVA, which as the nation's largest utility company supplies electricity to 8.8 million people, first estimated that Monday's breach had spilled less than half that amount.
State environmental officials said Friday that their tests found the ash had not caused any problems near the intake for the local water treatment plant.
Moulton said TVA's first tests also showed no threat to the area's drinking water. The spill damaged 12 homes and covered 300 acres with sludge in Harriman, about 35 miles west of Knoxville.
"We are cleaning it up," he said. "That's where our efforts are focused and we are making some headway. Both on land and in the water, we are containing it and skimming it off the water."
State officials were also trying to stem the flow of the ash by building a submerged dam, or weir, across the channel of the Emory River to allow water to flow while catching the ash at the bottom.
Christopher Copeland, a resident whose land is covered in ash and debris, said he is not drinking the local water and is keeping his children inside until he can send them to a relative's house, "because I don't feel comfortable with them around here."
TVA "has done nothing to address our issues," Copeland said by phone Friday from his home on a road partially closed because of the spill.
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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/27-4