Wednesday, December 24, 2008

 

Disappeared energy story 1: Myth of clean coal—huge toxic spill in Tennessee, but nothing in our local paper


by Larry Geller

A huge toxic sludge spill, from a coal plant about 30 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, buried homes and land near Knoxville, TN on Monday, but so far nothing has appeared in the Advertiser.

This disaster, which may pollute drinking water along the Tennessee River in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, has, of course, raised discussion of whether or not there is a possibility of “clean coal,” and whether president-elect Obama should promote it, as he said he would during his campaign.

What may be the nation’s largest spill of coal ash lay thick and largely untouched over hundreds of acres of land and waterways Wednesday after a dam broke this week, as officials and environmentalists argued over its potential toxicity.

Federal studies have long shown coal ash to contain significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems. But with no official word on the dangers of the sludge in Tennessee, displaced residents spent Christmas Eve worried about their health and their property, and wondering what to do. [NY Times, Coal Ash Spill Revives Issue of Its Hazards, 12/24/2008]

There’s more on Democracy Now (on Oahu, 10 p.m. channel 56 tonight) or on the web, Spill at Tennessee Coal Plant Creates Environmental Disaster.

 



Comments:

Obama is a liar, he'll keep supporting "clean coal."
 


There are all kinds of heavy metals in that coal spill floating down river from there and they didn't even try to contain it afterwards. It will be the biggest environmental contamination of water disaster in recorded history and our shi**y a** local newspaper isn't reporting on it? Don't want Obama reading that sh** while he's on vacation.
 

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