Monday, December 29, 2008

Why TVA is not trustworthy

R. Neal sums the credibility gap up nicely:

Today's front page KNS report says the EPA has found "very high" levels of arsenic in water samples, along with other heavy metals, one week after TVA said the water samples were fine*.

It says residents should avoid contact with the fly ash sludge materials and gives instructions on what to do if they get contaminated, one week after TVA said the fly ash contained no hazardous materials.

It says area residents who get water from springs or wells should not use the water, one week after other officials told them to just boil their water.

(*TVA still says on their website as of this moment that testing of stream water is within acceptable limits, and they do not mention well or spring water testing.)



UPDATE: Katie Allison Granju chimes in:

A very wise and experienced PR professional - a former government agency Public Information Officer herself -  told me the other day that she predicts that TVA will come to  regret the way they have handled the Roane County dam collapse disaster.

"Haven't they learned anything from the way companies and utilities have handled other environmental disasters? The way to land on your feet in a situation like this is to send your Public Information Officer out there to offer maximimum information with minimum delay," she explained.

No comments:

Post a Comment