Tenn. Sludge Spill Is Larger Than Thought

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By Juliet Eilperin

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 27, 2008; Page A06

This week's coal ash spill from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant has released 5.4 million cubic yards of sludge into the surrounding environment, according to TVA officials, a figure that is triple the original estimate.

Authority officials revised their original estimate of 1.7 million cubic yards yesterday, based largely on an aerial survey taken Tuesday. TVA spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said the initial estimate of the spill in Roane County, Tenn., was based on "what we thought was there, without any precise measurement being done."

Now, she added, TVA has determined there were 9.4 million cubic yards of wet coal ash in the storage pond, more than half of which broke through the retaining walls and poured into the Emory River and the immediate community beside the plant.

The ash, a byproduct of coal burning, includes carcinogens and neurotoxins such as mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead. Martocci said plant officials have been conducting water sampling upstream and downstream of the spill daily and monitoring the source of drinking water for nearby communities.

"Presently, we have no indication the drinking water supplies have been affected," she said.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation agreed with that assessment, with spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton saying, "All samples received to date indicate that the water entering the Kingston Water Treatment Plant meets public health standards."

The samples "indicate some levels above [the maximum contaminant level for drinking water] in the immediate area of the spill but not in the area of any drinking water intake," Calabrese-Benton said.

But Rick Hind, toxic legislative director for the advocacy group Greenpeace, said Environmental Protection Agency officials should be conducting independent tests to determine whether contamination is taking place.

"Having TVA do all the testing is kind of like having the criminal suspects on 'CSI' do the fingerprinting for themselves," Hind said, referring to the television crime show.

The spill covers about 300 acres.