Coal lumps don't compliment pearls

While there may be a lot of venture capital to collect, is there really a net environmental gain in Phil Bredesen's "string of solar pearls" when coal-burning TVA, which is behind the curve on solar financing and leasing, provides power to these green industry producers?

TVA has too much too lose not to remain willfully, blissfully self-ignorant

Sour Persimmon has a theory on the probable cause of the Kingston ash spill last Christmas that also likely explains why it's not TVA's theory:

When there is a hard freeze, ice forms on the surface of mud or soil. The expansion of water as it freezes causes a pressure drop that pulls water from below the surface. As the photo above illustrates, this pressure can draw out a considerable amount of water, which freezes into crystals or ribbons. The rupture in the ash pile started in the northeastern corner of the pile where the curvature maximized the surface area, providing more exposure to the cold air. The wicking pressure would be strongest in the corner, and the flow created as ice formed on the surface of the pile is just the sort of trigger engineers were looking for. Since they failed to consider the cold weather, they were unable to find a cause.

Why does it matter? Just a couple years prior to the spill, an outside consultant warned TVA of this danger and recommended that they lower the water content in the pile during winter months to prevent a freeze-triggered collapse. They did this the previous year, but TVA cycled managers to other plants during a reorganization in 2008. Apparently institutional memory was lost and the pile was not dewatered last winter.

One of the latest aerial photos of clean up of TVA coal ash spill disaster site

From the EPA website via RoaneViews via R. Neal:


More photos after the jump.

That Road to Hell Sure As Heck Ain't Paved with Bad Effects

What the Tennessee Valley Authority actually intends doesn't matter much when toxic coal ash moves from white affluent communities to poor African American ones:

TVA reportedly considered moving the coal ash to two communities in eastern Tennessee that are predominantly white and with lower poverty levels, but the company sought regulators' approval only for the Georgia and Alabama sites. TVA's announcement regarding the Alabama landfill's selection said the choice was made after an evaluation process involving more than 30 companies.

In a letter to Facing South following publication of our May report, Peyton T. Hairston Jr., TVA's senior vice president for corporate responsibility and diversity, took issue with the story:

To write that TVA has made decisions on where to transport ash from the Kingston coal spill based on the racial composition of a community is simply wrong.

For the record, the story did not say TVA made its disposal decision because of the community's racial composition. But the effect is the same: TVA -- with EPA's approval -- has chosen to move toxic waste from a predominantly white and relatively well-off community in Tennessee to a poor and majority-black community in Alabama.

Does it truly matter whether or not TVA is a racist organization when their actions are effectively prejudiced in consequence?

Kingston's Going to Smoke the Ash Spill Today

Wouldn't holding an Independence Day roman candle to your face be a quicker form of death than rafting and swimming through TVA's spilled arsenic, mercury, and selenium? Roane County is also farming their ash spill out to other less fortunate communities for their own future holiday fun. TVA's Christmas gift just keeps on giving during any holiday.

How the "Faux-Eco-Activist" Mantra "Clean Coal" Came to Be Repeated by a President

Have you seen the June issue GQ's piece on TVA's December coal ash spill in Kingston? It's a good one, and it has a recount of the influence of the "clean coal" lobby on public opinion and on President Barack Obama:

THE TERM clean coal entered the lexicon in its current faux-eco-activist incarnation—with the implication that coal can be a source of nonpolluting fuel, that it can be scrubbed of its toxins and its carbon dioxide rendered harmless—with stunning speed, largely in the past two years through the expensive efforts of two groups: the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a lobbying group for coal-burning industries, and the Hawthorn Group, a marketing firm hired by ACCCE.

They are quite proud of their success, too. In December, about the time of the Kingston disaster, Hawthorn posted a newsletter on its Web site extolling the “highlights of a recent grassroots campaign Hawthorn created and managed” for ACCCE. Leaving aside the fact that grassroots campaigns typically are not created and managed by hired flacks, Hawthorn did have much glad news to report. Throughout the presidential campaign, it had focused on “finding creative ways to increase the visibility of the issue and…demonstrating strong voter support,” which is marketing-speak for littering crowds with fresh-faced human props in shirts and hats screened with clean coal. Do that with enough “branded teams,” as Hawthorn calls them, at enough rallies; buy enough TV spots; plead your case to enough reporters, and eventually the idea spreads that coal is downright pristine—that it can even, as Hawthorn puts it, “be part of the solution to climate change.” It was genius, and extremely effective. By the fall of 2008, President-elect Obama and Senator McCain, their running mates and their surrogates adopted our language and included it as part of their stump speeches. ACCCE shaped the debate by finding supporters of the candidates and turning them into clean coal advocates.

Obama still talks about it, and he gets cheers every time. Because the public now believes in clean coal. Hawthorn polled what the firm considered “public opinion leaders” in September 2007 and again at the end of 2008 on, among other things, whether they favored burning coal to generate electricity. The first go-round was a split: 46 percent in favor, 50 percent opposed. But after a year of Hawthorn bleating “clean coal” over and over, support rose to 72 percent—and opposition nose-dived to 22 percent.

Results such as these would be impressive no matter what the issue. Yet they are especially so in this instance, because the idea Hawthorn is selling—Coal is clean!—is complete horseshit.

Audit Concludes TVA Exercised Preferential Option for the Wealthy

The Tennessee Valley Authority gave a few wealthy and influential people greater access to shorelines to dock their big boats than they gave the masses.

One of those wealthy and influential individuals was Heath Shuler, who could also pull some strings on a congressional subcommittee that oversees TVA:

an entity with ties to Shuler - a former University of Tennessee football star and Washington Redskins quarterback - received approval for a transaction that provided 145 feet of water-access rights along the shoreline of Watts Bar Reservoir in Roane County.

That entity, The Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC, agreed to relinquish 150 feet of water-access rights in Rhea County and also provide about $15,000 for a bank stabilization project at a different location on Watts Bar Reservoir.

Investors in The Cove at Blackberry Ridge included Shuler, who was formerly a member of the House transportation committee's Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. That subcommittee is one of two congressional panels that provide formal oversight of TVA.

TVA may be giving the rich and famous special treatment, but they're giving the poor the shaft.

Class Warfare in Alabama

The Tennessee Valley Authority is going to dump 3 million cubic yards of arsenic- and lead-laced waste from its December coal ash spill in a landfill in one of Alabama's poorest counties. Another example of poor people getting shit on. How far is TVA willing to go to terminate its New Deal legacy of fighting poverty in the south?

TVA Ash Spill Has Tainted the Mighty Tennessee River

According to the Knoxville paper:

Heavy rains on May 4 caused the river's waters to swell, with flows reaching 70,000 cubic feet per second. Ash, sediment and debris washed from the spill site, which is about three miles from the Emory River's confluence with the Clinch River. The ash turned the rivers gray.

The roosters just keep coming home.

TVA's Fish Reproduction Switch

From the Times Freep:

University scientists said they expect the toxicity levels — particularly of selenium — to rise, especially with the dredging [TVA] recently began [to clean up the Kingston coal ash spill]. The study states additional intake of selenium severely could affect fish reproduction.

Fish reproductive systems soon likely could be so damaged from the toxic levels of selenium that their eggs and young will die, and their population eventually will be eliminated, said Dr. Dennis Lemly, adjunct professor of biology at Wake Forest University.

The report states selenium concentrations in fish species in the Emory River are “at toxic thresholds.”

“This means that the river ecosystem cannot tolerate further assimilation of selenium from the ash spill,” the report states. “There is no margin of safety.”

Dr. Lemly said findings of such high levels indicate the landfill had been leaking before the December breach.

The Tennessee Aquarium also had scientists involved in this study.

The Quaker State Tells TVA to Take a Hike as the EPA Expects TVA to Ante Up

Pennsylvania says no to storing spilled Kingston coal ash in their old mines: "too contaminated."

And not only is the EPA not guaranteeing federal financial aid to help TVA clean up, but they are expecting TVA to reimburse them for their oversight.

Commissioner Warns of Scheme to Dump TVA Kingston Disaster Coal Ash in Cumberland County

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A Cumberland County Commissioner warns that residents in the area could see the arrival and dumping of spilled, toxic TVA fly ash without too much local control over the project and under conditions that include a former state Senator making money off someone else's hardships:

It has been brought to my attention that Crossville Mining Company has asked the Cumberland County Commission to review a proposal to build a hazardous waste dump on Smith Mountain. This proposal will be reviewed by the county commission's environmental committee on Wednesday, May 5, at 4:30 in the small courtroom.

Crossville Mining Company has proposed that they be permitted to dump ash from the Kingston disaster into a quarry in their Cumberland County mining site. Although not made public, my sources have revealed that the county will be paid at least $2 million in "load" fees if the commission approves this. In addition the coal company has promised to improve the road system leading to the quarry. About 180 dump trucks of ash a day will make its way from Kingston to Cumberland County. My sources also tell me that the trucking firm involved in the potential contract is owned by former state Senator Tommy Kilby of Morgan County.

Under the "Jackson law" once the full commission votes a yes to the proposal, the state takes over and there is no further county input to stop the company from using the quarry as a hazardous waste dump site. There are dozens of questions that should be asked and answered before a decision is made by the county. These questions include, "What else do you plan to put at the site? What levels of radiation are emitted by the ash? What risk is posed by the dust particulates to the residents in the area? How much mercury and arsenic are contained in the waste materials? What is your safety plan for dealing with problems that might occur such as the leaching of contaminants into the county's aquifer? What is the environmental impact on the area? How will road accident and spills be handled?" If approved without the appropriate information, under state law, the county has no repeal options.

HT: lifeonswanpond's journal

TVA Coal Ash Clean-Up Costs Go Up, Up, Up; TVA Credibility Goes Down, Down, Down

It wasn't too long ago that an East Tennessee blogger observed that the Tennessee Valley Authority "unwisely and clumsily" downplayed the Kingston ash spill of December 2008.

The latest escalating cost projections indicate just how unwise and clumsy TVA was:

The Tennessee Valley Authority has raised its top estimate for cleaning up a massive ash spill at a Tennessee coal-fired power plant to nearly $1 billion and acknowledged the recovery could take several years ....

The new estimates for the cleanup of the Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash disaster are $150 million higher than previous forecasts. They lift TVA's predicted range to $675 million to $975 million.

About 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash and sludge breached a storage pond Dec. 22 at the Kingston plant. The toxic-laden material flooded the Emory River and a lakeside neighborhood, covering about 300 acres and damaging about two dozen homes.

Four months after the disaster, TVA said it still doesn't know what went wrong or "the extent of the (environmental) damage or the remedies that will be required for restoration."

Another unknown is how much this will cost the 8.7 million consumers served by TVA distributors in Tennessee and parts of six other states.

Take note that TVA is still refusing to step up and take responsibility by saying what went wrong (they originally blamed it on rain) or by acknowledging the damage to the local environment. The more things change the more TVA stays the same.

Didn't TVA's Kingston Coal Ash Retention System Withstand Breakage Before Last Christmas, Too?

After the collapse of Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal ash retention pond, are their assurances of "extensive reviews" of the safety of other plants (including Gallatin) that reside flood plain very assuring?

Liveblogging Meet-up w/Blue Dog Jim Cooper

Coop's quote of the morning: "Scariest thing a politician can say is 'I'll be brief'"

Thinks we should have vigorous and open debate on intellectual property issues -- response to Aunt B's question about Google essentially taking over public domain -- Coop advocates coming up with new models rather than thinking in archaic terms about publishing.

Coop says that no one has worked harder for universal health coverage, and they should have allowed a vote on his health plan 10 years ago -- in response to Southern Beale's question about health care coverage -- he says that he has compromised on individual coverage; Obama is right to start on affordability. Propose altering 80-90% of Medicaid program, which would challenge "liberal orthodoxy."

Coop comments that insurance companies compete to get rid of you; under his plan they would not be allowed to get rid of you. Wants to lead with health care to produce some gratitude and support from voters for some reform.

Coop's communications guy, John Spragens, calls the magistrate process in the Nashville justice system a good "choke point" to deter abuses by police who round immigrants up "to send them back to Mexico" without question or due process.

Coop said that Tennessee consumes more energy than any other state and that Nashville has the most energy inefficient homes in the country.

Coop would reform the Tennessee Valley Authority by putting specialists in charge on the board rather than the political appointees that currently populate it.

Coop stopped short of expressing support for Chip Forrester, although he did say that he liked him and that the "circular firing squads" should stop.

Coop is thinking about introducing a plan to limit contributions of defense contractors to members of Congress. Believes that we should attempt to protect defense industry jobs, but believes that financing also influences the congressional armed services decision-making process.

Meet up ended around 9:15, although I stuck around for a little while to chew the fat with Spragens afterwards.

Thanks to Spragens and Rep. Jim Cooper for inviting me to sit in. Coop says that he hopes to have more meet-ups with other local bloggers in the future.

TVA employees go on beer runs and all I got was a $20 extra payment on my last electric bill

If the Tennessee Valley Authority can afford to use their business-related credit cards to purchase alcohol, TVs, and software, how come they can't afford to supply our house with electricity without charging us a "TVA fuel cost adjustment" each month?

SC Electric Company Leaches Toxins into Environment with Fly Ash Road

South Carolina's Santee Cooper Utility Company used 425 tons of coal ash on an unpaved road leading to the leaching of carcinogenic arsenic and selenium at rates high above EPA standards. What are the chances TVA has done likewise here in Tennessee?

And 54 Possible Tennessee-Style Coal Ash Spills on the Same Drawing Board

15 states have plans to build 54 new coal-fired energy plants (Texas has 8 on the drawing board), which would generate 18 million tons of the same coal ash that the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded Kingston with in December. They all must be thinking it could never happen to them.

What She Said: Alexander Channels Boxer on TVA

In January during a U.S. Senate hearing on TVA's December coal ash spill in Kingston, California Democrat Barbara Boxer was leading calls for the mega-utility to come out of the disaster as a leader in green power research. At the same event Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander looked like he was playing mostly defense for beleaguered TVA, instead of criticizing and focusing on reform in the future.

Alexander is telling the Chattanooga paper now that TVA needs to be a leader in the clean disposal of coal ash. We shall see if the Senator, who receives pretty donations from utilities, is serious about becoming a reformer on TVA.

In the mean time, TVA is restoring the ash that it spilled into the Emory River on its site once again. Since they bought 40 properties in the surrounding neighborhoods, now they have even more room for coal ash storage. Old habits die hard.

The Continuing Injustice that is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Last week, I posted a video of a volunteer being harassed, detained, and arrested by TVA constables after driving a Swan Pond resident home from an ash spill Q & A session.

PiTW's Brantley Hargrove has an extended litany of other indignities TVA is heaping on the neighborhood where it spilled its toxic fly ash last December:

Matt Landon was driving an elderly woman named Eva Hewitt home, who spoke that evening before a community question and answer session in Kingston. Hewitt lives on Swan Pond Road, one of the most heavily affected areas of the TVA ash spill. Q & A session might be a bit generous, since all the comments had to be written then approved by Mayor Troy Beets--the same TVA sycophant who drank tap water at a press conference right after the spill and declared it safe.

Since the spill, Hewitt has developed a nasty cough, skin rashes and headaches--this last symptom is not unusual with exposure to arsenic. She needs to go to a lung doctor, but has been told by several that she should see a TVA lung doctor first. Here's the catch: If she does see a TVA-paid doctor, she must sign a contract promising not to sue.

On the way to Hewitt's home, Landon passed a checkpoint without any visible TVA police. They followed and arrested him shortly after. He was taken before a magistrate and charged with trespassing (on a public road). Landon was transferred due to overcrowding and spent the next couple of days in the county jail in Cleveland, Tenn. Before local law enforcement released this menace to society Saturday, he was transferred back to Roane County.

The TVA medical bribery of health care in exchange for a release from lawsuits is particularly neanderthal in its heavy-handedness. Shame on TVA for holding a person's own health and welfare over their heads.