Kingston coal ash spill: 5 years, $1 billion cleanup tab and no regulations later

[spanone]

Five years ago today, a dike at TVA's Kingston power plant ruptured, spilling enough sludge to fill a football field nearly a half-mile high. Even with a billion-dollar cleanup, the spill's reach spreads far beyond an entire neighborhood that moved on.

-----------

HARRIMAN, TENN. — As Tommy Charles looks out of his dining room window, it's easy to see why he and his wife moved to Lakeshore Drive in Harriman nearly 50 years ago.

The Emory River widens as it passes his house. Great blue herons glide above the placid, gray water. It's an idyllic place to live and raise a family.

Because others saw the same potential, the neighborhood grew to more than 25 homes. No one seemed to mind the Tennessee Valley Authority power plant looming just a short distance away.

That was how things were, at least, before the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2008. When a dike failed at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant, 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash cascaded into the Emory and Clinch rivers and smothered some 300 acres of land.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131222/NEWS21/312220053/Kingston-coal-ash-spill-5-years-1-billion-cleanup-tab-no-regulations-later

[Bonobo]

1. Funny that Fukushima gets so much attention but

they pay no attention to this.