The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • A9

FROM PAGE ONE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2008 9A Ashy sludge may threaten environment THE TENNESSEAN An aerial view shows the aftermath of a retention pond wall collapse Monday at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tenn. wade payne associated press ENVIRONMENT FROM 1A tured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt. Much remains to be determined, including why this happened, said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority. "I fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 10 days, plus the freezing weather might have had something to do with this," he said in a news conference Monday on the site.

The area received almost 5 inches of rain this month, compared with the usual 2.8 inches. Freeze and thaw cycles may have undermined the sides of the pond. The last formal report on the condition of the 40-acre pond an unlined, earthen structure was issued in January and was unavailable Monday, officials said. Neighbors Don and Jil Smith, who have lived near the pond for eight years, said that nearly every year TVA has cleaned up what they termed "baby blowouts." Ashen liquid similar to that seen on a much larger scale in Monday's disaster came from the dike, they said. "It would start gushing this gray ooze," said Don Smith, whose home escaped harm.

"They'd work on it for weeks and weeks. "They can say this is a one-time thing, but I don't think people are going to believe them." The U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation were among agencies that responded to the emergency. Toxic irritants possible Coal is burned to produce electricity at the Kingston Fossil Plant, notable for its tall towers seen along Interstate 40 near the Harriman exit in Roane County. Water is added to the ash, which is the consistency of face powder, for pumping it to the pond.

The ash is settled out in that pond before the sludge is moved to other, drier ponds, Kilgore said. Coal ash can carry toxic substances that include mercury, arsenic and lead, according to a federal study. The amount of poisons in TVA's ashy wastes that could irritate skin, trigger allergies and even cause cancer or neurological problems could not be determined Monday, officials said. Viewed from above, the scene looked like the aftermath of a tsunami, with swirls of dirtied water stretching for hundreds of acres on the land, and muddied water in the Emory River. The Emory leads to the Clinch, which flows into the Tennessee.

Workers sampled river water Monday, with results expected back today, but didn't sample the dunelike drifts of muddy ash. That could begin today, officials said, and the potential magnitude of the prob- TENNESSEEGREEN.COM Click online for a slide show, video, documents and TVA information on the ash slide near Kingston. "It's discouraging because this is an easy problem to fix," she said. Ash could be recycled by using it to make concrete and at the very least should be placed in lined, state-of-the-art landfills, she said. Plant is still operating TVA's Kilgore said that chemicals in the ash are of concern, but that the situation is probably safe.

The power plant is still operating, sending the ash to a larger pond on the site. "There are levels of chemicals in there that we are concerned about," Kilgore said. "We don't think there's anything immediate of danger because most of that's contained, but that's why we have sampling folks out." Officials were monitoring a water intake that serves Kingston City and is only a few miles downstream from the Kingston plant, but said no problem had been noted there as of Monday afternoon. The power producer, which oversees the Tennessee River system, had slowed river flow in the area, releasing less water from key dams, so the pollution might be better contained for possible cleanup. TVA has insurance for an event like this, spokeswoman Barbara Martucci said, but what the cleanup cost is and how much insurance will pay remains to be determined.

Otherwise, ratepayers in Tennessee could bear much of the costs. TVA provides virtually all the electricity in the state, along with parts of six others. Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or apaineiatennessean.com. tighter regulation of the ash. The heavy metals in coal including mercury and other toxic substances concentrate in the ash when burned, he said.

"You know where that is now," he said. "It's in that stuff that's all over those people's houses now." Chemicals and metals from coal ash have contaminated drinking water in several states, made people and animals sick in New Mexico, and tainted fish in Texas and elsewhere, according to Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit national environmental law firm that follows the issue. Plant neighbors ponder whether to stay in area CHECK OUT THE SAVINGS! lem could make this a federally declared Superfund site. That would mean close monitoring and a deep, costly cleanup requiring years of work "We'll be sampling for metals in the ground to see what kind of impact that had," said Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the EPA in Atlanta. "Hopefully, it won't be as bad as creating a Superfund site, but it depends on what is found." Stephen Smith, with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville, said those concerned about water and air quality have tried for years to press for cr-srz Emory River Clinch Harriman River ROANE CO.

2 Miles MAP AREA Nashville Knoxville TENN- THE TENNESSEAN his house and appliances and parts of his roof in his yard. "What have I spent a lot of money for?" said Hanover in a phone interview. The retiree moved to the area a couple of years ago and had planned to live there the rest of his life. "I spent an enormous amount on the interior, on furniture and art, and it's toast. I'm not a happy camper." There are little to no expectations of full recovery from this disaster among residents.

It is a paradise lost, better off abandoned, they say. "I'm quite afraid now. I read articles about the ash being toxic, and it is totally everywhere there," Hanover said. "It is a total mess, and it scares me." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Colby Sledge at 615-259-8229 or ccsledgetennessean.com.

This is just a sample of COUPON SAVINGS you'll find in Thursday and Friday's newspaper! SPILL FROM PAGE 1A was pushed off its foundations and driven more than 30 feet onto a road. "I don't think it really has hit me yet." Flinn was traveling back from Knoxville when a friend called her cell phone to say she had heard that the flood hit Flinn's house and that her husband, James Schean, 53, was trapped inside. Schean, a boilermaker at the TVA plant, escaped cold and shaken but not injured. He was in bed when he heard a loud clap like thunder, his wife said. Pieces of the ceiling began falling, wood was popping, glass breaking and furniture falling.

And then the house started to move. "He didn't know what was going on," Flinn said. "He couldn't see anything. He had to tear one door off the hinges to get out of the bedroom, and he couldn't get out the front door so he had to kick out a window." Flinn cried as she looked at aerial photographs of the home, which she and Schean spent the past 3'2 years remodeling and recently filled with Christmas presents. "I seriously doubt they will let us" rebuild, Flinn said.

After losing another house on the same property to fire 20 years ago, "I am not sure we want to," she said. "The next time we might not make it out." 'It is a total mess' The failure was one that many residents had imagined but never truly believed would happen. Resident Flavius Hall said he watched TVA workers for years patch small breaks in the dike and figured those problems would only get bigger. But not this big. "I told my wife several times that we're not going to be able to get across the road one day," Hall said.

"I never dreamed that it could be as catastrophic as it was." Hall's home was spared; his neighbor's was not. Carl Hanover, who was vacationing in Florida on Monday at the time of the flood, received photos from neighbors showing a wall torn off CALL TODAY! 868-7400 916 Myatt Industrial Drive Madison, Tennessee ONLY AT Call for FREE in home estimate Over 195 locations Nationwide www. WindowWorldNashville.net 77 Good Housekeeping Monday-Friday 8 am -5 pm Saturday 9 am 3 pm SHOP ONLINE AT ROOMSTOGO.COM OR ROOMSTOGOKIDS.COM ggSl- "Simply the Best for Less" lj SE20081.