Toxic Spill at Kingston Fossil Plant

Playing catch up...last week there was a major spill at one of TVA's coal plants in Kingston, TN. Below is Knoxville News coverage that ran in the Commercial Appeal, with extra reporting by the New York Times. At the bottom is some information on the Allen Steam Plant in Memphis, which is fully owned and operated by TVA.

TVA says ash spill triple amount of original estimate
Emory River polluted beyond drinkable levels
By Rebecca Ferrar and Scott Barker
Knoxville News Sentinel

Saturday, December 27, 2008

KNOXVILLE -- The Tennessee Valley Authority now says three times more coal ash and water escaped Monday from the failed retention pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant than first estimated, and initial testing in the Emory River indicates nearby waters are polluted above regulatory limits for drinking water.

A TVA official said Friday the agency revised the spillage figure after an aerial survey with a radar system using laser light.

Officials initially said 1.7 million cubic yards of ash and water was released from the holding pond. The new estimate puts the number at 5.4 million cubic yards -- enough to fill 450,000 standard dump trucks.

The spill occurred about 1 a.m. Monday when an earthen wall of the holding pond broke. The so-called "fly ash" is a by-product from the burning of coal to produce electricity.

Ronald Hall, manager of the Kingston plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville, blamed the underestimate on the agency's haste in the midst of crisis.

"Folks wanted to know," he said. "We sent somebody to make an estimate. There was no science behind it. That information was given out, and we scheduled an enhanced survey which can really quantify what we've got."

A test of river water near the spill showed elevated levels of lead and thallium, said John Moulton, a spokesman for the TVA, on Friday. But both metals are filtered out by water treatment processes, he said.

Mercury and arsenic, he said, were "barely detectable" in the samples.

Also Friday, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said the spill has contaminated area waters above regulatory limits for drinking water, though none of it has made its way into the city of Kingston's water treatment plant. Residents near the spill have been advised to boil water before using it.

Department spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said water samples collected by TVA show contamination above regulatory limits.

The Emory River flows into the Clinch River near the plant. The Kingston water treatment plant is near the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee rivers. The treatment plant draws water from the Tennessee River, but it's close enough to the confluence with the Clinch that water can eddy upstream and flow into the intakes.

"All samples received to date indicate that the water entering the Kingston Water Treatment Plant meets public health standards," Calabrese-Benton said.

"We have no indication of acute or immediate risk based on contact with the material, as long as it is not eaten," Calabrese-Benton said. "It is premature to speculate on long-term impacts of the material or potential exposure pathways."

She said a sampling plan is being prepared to give all the agencies involved a more detailed understanding of potential methods for exposure and any possible long-term effects.

The department's Division of Solid Waste Management is working with TVA on the cleanup to make sure the material is safely stored. The department will also work with TVA to determine an appropriate final disposal site.

The spill wrecked three homes, affected nine others and clogged the Emory River near its confluence with the Clinch River.

TVA also refined its estimate of the area damaged from 250 to 400 acres to 300 acres.

"Part of it is plant property," plant manager Hall said. "It's a half-square-mile in area. We've got surveyors quantifying how much is private (property)."

Moulton said about 100 workers are working around the clock to remove the sludge.

Environmentalists have condemned the spill, calling for investigations and tighter regulations.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy calls the spill a "historic energy disaster" with undetermined consequences.

"We are saddened by the environmental devastation brought on by the coal ash spill at the TVA site in Kingston, Tenn.," executive director Stephen Smith said.

"This is clearly one of the most severe environmental disasters of East Tennessee," he said.

The New York Times contributed to this story.

Memphis faces 'nowhere near the risk'

The TVA's Allen Fossil Plant in Southwest Memphis stores slurries of coal ash in a tailings pond similar to the one that failed in Kingston on Monday.

John Moulton, a TVA spokesman, said Memphis faces "nowhere near the risk" of the coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant.

The pond that failed has walls about 60 or 65 feet above the surrounding terrain, and the spill rushed downhill, Moulton said.

At the Allen steam plant, near the Mississippi River south of McKellar Lake and Presidents Island, the pond is smaller and the retaining walls are only eight feet high. "The risk at Allen would be not as great as any risk at Kingston because of the elevation," Molton said.

The Memphis plant, while five miles from Downtown, is also isolated compared to Kingston, where a neighborhood road runs through the area, Moulton said.

Generating electricity since 1959, the Allen plant burns about 7,400 tons of coal a day.

-- Kevin McKenzie