EPA fines TVA $450,000 for clean air violations at Widows Creek (al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 3:34 PM Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 4:08 PM
By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times

STEVENSON, Alabama -- TVA has agreed to pay a $450,000 fine for violations of the federal Clean Air Act at its Widows Creek coal plant in Stevenson.

The Environmental Protection Agency said TVA has also agreed to reduce emissions at the plant by 931 tons of sulfur dioxide and 13 tons of nitrogen oxide through retirement of related allowances.

The EPA said the utility cooperated throughout the process. The conduct cited occurred between 2002 and 2005, according to the EPA news release.

The problem stemmed from "ongoing and pervasive" duct leaks at the plant's Unit 7 which were not adequately repaired, the EPA said.

Barbara Martocci, TVA communications senior manager, said TVA installed in 2003 new nitrogen oxide emissions control technology at the Widows Creek plant.
***
more: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/03/epa_fines_tva_450000_for_clean.html

[jtrockville]

1. Coal is filthy.

[VermeerLives]

3. Coal is what also gives you electricity (n/t)

[jtrockville]

5. Absolutely not. I get my electricity from WIND.

[VermeerLives]

6. Why? (n/t)

[jtrockville]

8. Oops, clicked "reply" on the wrong link. See post #7

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x279623#279683

[VermeerLives]

9. "Treehugger"?

LOL!

[jtrockville]

10. Nothing funny about coal ash.

Plenty of other sources are available if you distrust "Treehugger". Google is your friend.

But then again, if you still think coal is (or ever can be clean), maybe not.

[VermeerLives]

11. "Google" is NOT always your "friend"

Googling information isn't a reliable way to do your research. Just because you found something at Google doesn't mean it's good information.

[jtrockville]

12. Riiiight. And coal ash spills I linked to never happened, eh?

Just figments of the Treehugger.com website's imagination.

And I'm sure there aren't any CO2, NOx, or SO2 emissions from coal plants.

Oh... and coal ash is safe as can be. Serve it up for dinner. World hunger solved.

[FBaggins]

13. It's just not important. It's not as if coal ash is radioactive.

Right?

[jtrockville]

14. Ahhh... I left that tid-bit out of my post listing the dangers...

But then again, I could only find links to "radioactive coal ash" from places like ScientificAmerican.com, USGS.gov, and EPA.gov. So surely it's a myth.

[FBaggins]

15. It's not really high levels...

...but it's much higher than the levels that seem to terrify the anti-nuke crowd.

[jtrockville]

16. Even so, calling coal "clean" is nothing more than a joke.

Even if the radiation from coal ash isn't terribly threatening, there's plenty of waste we're left to deal with from our filthy coal plants, some of which actually IS toxic enough to be concerned about.

[indepat]

2. Great. Sadly all egregious mistakes made by the TVA hierarchy are just passed on to the

ratepayer. :patriot:

[CRH]

4. TVA, a government owned corporation, ...

won't follow the directions of the federal Clean Air Act. Why does this all seem like a game sometimes?

[jtrockville]

7. Widows Creek (the topic of this discussion) for one. Then there's:

The Kingston spill covered 400 acres 6 feet deep with toxic sludge.

From treehugger.com, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/overview-coal-ash-spills-tennessee-alabama-maryland-toxic.php

So What's In Coal Ash?
...
"Toxic constituents include arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds."

Not the kind of stuff you want seeping into your water supply. There are details of more spills in the link I posted.

And let's not forget the SO2, NOx and CO2 emissions.

A better question is: why would anyone think coal is (or ever can be) clean?