Getting The Coal Truth From Tennessee Is Hard To Do

This past week has been extremely rough in the area of Central Tennessee affected by the dam break that was holding back a large amount of coal sludge. Initial reports said that only a few homes were damaged and that the analysis of the sludge was not harmful where it spread. No big deal right? Wrong. A coal fired power plant's byproducts are a serious issue and finding out what truly happened is essential here.

From The NY Times:

Authority officials initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond breached, but on Thursday they released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep. The amount now said to have been spilled is larger than the amount the Authority initially said was in the pond, 2.6 million cubic yards.

Of course, the T.V.A. was quick to dismiss the potential bad news:

“You’re not going to be endangered by touching the ash material,” said Barbara Martocci, a spokeswoman for the T.V.A. “You’d have to eat it. You have to get it in your body.”

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation also released a statement saying there was no indication of risk unless the ash was ingested.

Yet, they forget to play things out. No one is going to literally pick up pieces of ash and eat them as you'd pick berries in the forest. The problems from disasters like this are mostly in the future and residents are pissed that not much is really being done.

“We’re terribly frustrated,” said Donald Smith, 58, a laboratory facilities manager who lives in the affected area. “It seems like T.V.A. is just throwing darts at the problem, and they don’t have a clue how to really fix it.

“It was nice that they came by to talk to us. They’re making an effort. But what upsets me is they didn’t have a plan in place. Why hadn’t anybody thought, ‘What happens if this thing bursts?’ ”

Well Donald, coming up with a plan would have expended time and energy, something the Authority obviously didn't care for. They did have things ready to save valuable materials (see the article for the stuff on bowling balls for example) and were ready to work furiously to re-open the roads and especially railways that bring the coal to the plant to be processed.

In this age of government where the system has been purposefully broken by conservative ideology, it is only natural that the Authority is following the lead of the federal (and state) government. Looking after the moneyed interests always comes first before the safety and health of people affected by man-made tragedies such as this.