HARRIMAN,
Tenn. — Millions of cubic yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike
at TVA's Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres,
knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge
about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing
downriver.
One
neighboring family said the disaster was no surprise because they have
watched the 1960s-era ash pond's mini-blowouts off and on for years.
About 2.6
million cubic yards of slurry — enough to fill 798 Olympic-size
swimming pools — rolled out of the pond Monday, according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
[There are
200 gallons per cubic yard so this is about 500 million gallon - Dave]
Cleanup will
take at least several weeks, or, in a worst-case scenario, years.
The ash
slide, which began just before 1 a.m., covered as many as 400 acres as deep
as 6 feet. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, covered Swan Pond
Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be
rescued, though no one was seriously hurt.
Much remains
to be determined, including why this happened, said Tom Kilgore, president
and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
"I
fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 10
days, plus the freezing weather … might have had something to do with
this," he said in a news conference Monday on the site.
The area
received almost 5 inches of rain this month, compared with the usual 2.8
inches. Freeze and thaw cycles may have undermined the sides of the pond.
The last formal report on the condition of the 40-acre pond — an
unlined, earthen structure — was issued in January and was
unavailable Monday, officials said.
Neighbors
Don and Jil Smith, who have lived near the pond for eight years, said that
nearly every year TVA has cleaned up what they termed "baby
blowouts."
Ashen liquid
similar to that seen on a much larger scale in Monday's disaster came from
the dike, they said.
"It
would start gushing this gray ooze," said Don Smith, whose home
escaped harm. "They'd work on it for weeks and weeks.
"They
can say this is a one-time thing, but I don't think people are going to
believe them."
The U.S.
Coast Guard, EPA, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation were among agencies that
responded to the emergency.
Toxic irritants possible
Coal is
burned to produce electricity at the Kingston Fossil Plant, notable for its
tall towers seen along Interstate 40 near the Harriman exit in Roane
County.
Water is
added to the ash, which is the consistency of face powder, for pumping it
to the pond. The ash is settled out in that pond before the sludge is moved
to other, drier ponds, Kilgore said.
Coal ash can
carry toxic substances that include mercury, arsenic and lead, according to
a federal study. The amount of poisons in TVA's ashy wastes that could
irritate skin, trigger allergies and even cause cancer or neurological
problems could not be determined Monday, officials said.
Viewed from
above, the scene looked like the aftermath of a tsunami, with swirls of
dirtied water stretching for hundreds of acres on the land, and muddied
water in the Emory River.
The Emory
leads to the Clinch, which flows into the Tennessee.
Workers
sampled river water Monday, with results expected back today, but didn't
sample the dune like drifts of muddy ash.
That could
begin today, officials said, and the potential magnitude of the problem
could make this a federally declared Superfund site. That would mean close
monitoring and a deep, costly cleanup requiring years of work.
"We'll
be sampling for metals in the ground to see what kind of impact that
had," said Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the EPA in Atlanta.
"Hopefully,
it won't be as bad as creating a Superfund site, but it depends on what is
found."
Stephen
Smith, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville, said those
concerned about water and air quality have tried for years to press for
tighter regulation of the ash.
The heavy
metals in coal — including mercury and other toxic substances —
concentrate in the ash when burned, he said.
"You
know where that is now," he said. "It's in that stuff that's all
over those people's houses now."
Chemicals
and metals from coal ash have contaminated drinking water in several
states, made people and animals sick in New Mexico, and tainted fish in
Texas and elsewhere, according to Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice,
a nonprofit national environmental law firm that follows the issue.
"It's
discouraging because this is an easy problem to fix," she said.
Ash could be
recycled by using it to make concrete and at the very least should be
placed in lined, state-of-the-art landfills, she said.
Plant is still operating
TVA's
Kilgore said that chemicals in the ash are of concern, but that the
situation is probably safe. The power plant is still operating, sending the
ash to a larger pond on the site.
"There
are levels of chemicals in there that we are concerned about," Kilgore
said. "We don't think there's anything immediate of danger because
most of that's contained, but that's why we have sampling folks out."
Officials
were monitoring a water intake that serves Kingston City and is only a few
miles downstream from the Kingston plant, but said no problem had been
noted there as of Monday afternoon.
The power
producer, which oversees the Tennessee River system, had slowed river flow
in the area, releasing less water from key dams, so the pollution might be
better contained for possible cleanup.
TVA has
insurance for an event like this, spokeswoman Barbara Martucci said, but
what the cleanup cost is and how much insurance will pay remains to be
determined.
Otherwise,
ratepayers in Tennessee could bear much of the costs. TVA provides
virtually all the electricity in the state, along with parts of six others.
