Found a report of today's EPA release of the health consequences related to the nation's coal ash/sludge ponds:
More ugly & deadly secrets revealed from Bush era.
Of 210 such sites, Tennessee (my home state) has ELEVEN. And of course you're already familiar with TVA's Kingston plant breach from December. Today we also get a report that TVA is testing rail shipments for removal of coal ash.
It's worth going to the Knoxville News Sentinel site --KNS link--for the story and, I have to admit, the comments. Welcome to one of the remaining strongholds of G-d, guns, and gaybashing where some still cling to the belief that Bush could do no real wrong and Obama is the biggest danger to America's future. A sample comment:
Obummer to the rescue! If you really want to improve our overall health how about closing the borders?
From the article:
The federal government had been concerned about the storage of coal combustion waste as far back as 2002, when the EPA studied the health and environmental dangers and compiled the results in a report.
The data, however, was never made public.
Until now.
The records indicate that EPA researchers had concluded that people who live near a coal-ash storage pond that has no protective liner have a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated by arsenic, one of the most common and most dangerous pollutants found in coal ash.
A draft report released in 2007 apparently omitted the cancer and other health risks. Now, with the spotlight shining on this issue as a result of the 5.4 million cubic yards laying waste to the area around the Kingston plant, perhaps this report will get wider attention. That it's the second headline on www.knoxnews.com is a good sign.
From what I've read in earlier reports, it doesn't appear that the water supply for my particular locale in south Knoxville draws from the Emory River, but I sure will be helping pick up the tab for the cleanup when TVA passes its costs on to the local power company. Oh, not to mention the costs of all the lawsuits TVA is facing and will face for a long time to come.
Keep government out of our lives, eh? Yeah, states' right to regulate this stuff is working well, don't you think? I know, this is lame sarcasm, but I feel a little at a loss right now to say anything particularly useful about it. I need some time to absorb yet another instance of being betrayed and endangered in body, mind, and spirit.