10 Yrs. Later, More Than 30 TVA Coal Ash Cleanup Workers Dead; Fed Jury Rules In Workers' Favor
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The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), owner of the coal-fired Kingston power plant in eastern Tennessee, paid Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. millions of dollars to clean up the massive coal ash spill. During the cleanup, however, workers started getting sick. More than 30 workers assigned to cleanup work at the Kingston site have died and more than 250 are sick or dying.
The U.S. District Court jury in Knoxville, Tennessee ruled that Jacobs Engineering failed to meet the terms of its contract with TVA — terms that included taking basic measures to keep its workers safe — when it was chosen to clean up the site, which saw the largest coal ash spill in U.S. history.
he cleanup work followed the spill on December 22, 2008 of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash that was held in coal ash pond in Roane County. The spill covered 300 acres in the area near Swan Pond and the Emory River. The coal ash was a byproduct of burning coal in the nearby power plant.
The jury’s verdict will allow the sickened workers and the family members of the workers who died to seek damages from Jacobs Engineering, including money to cover medical treatment. Many of the workers’ family members also are believed to have been sickened by exposure to the coal ash the workers brought home on their skin and clothing after each day on the job, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
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https://thinkprogress.org/federal-jury-sides-with-sickened-workers-and-families-in-tennessee-coal-ash-cleanup-case-51572c2868c9/