An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
What Future Impact?
After a blowout five years ago on the wall of a massive, above-ground coal ash landfill at TVA’s Kingston power plant, engineers were under pressure to find a fix that was not only viable, but also economical.
The blowout wasn’t large but indicated that something was not quite right inside the 98-acre mound of sludge.
Water was tunneling in the layers of ash and creating pressure points on the dike holding the structure in place.
How the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to stabilize Kingston’s ash landfill would have implications for its many other elevated waste dumps, an important tool in the agency’s strategy to maximize its storage on-site and avoid more costly options.
A Tennessean review of state records and some TVA documents shows that top officials rejected solutions that were deemed “global fixes” because they were simply too costly. The most expensive option was listed at $25 million.
In the end, TVA chose to install a series of trenches and other drainage mechanisms to try to relieve the water pressure and give the walls more stability.
And just how much is the cost of the clean up going to be? I’d wager a HELL of a lot more than $25 mil! The old saying “Penny wise, and pound foolish” comes to mind.
On Dec. 22, the walls gave way.
A dark avalanche of coal ash sludge rolled over more than 300 acres around 1 a.m., knocking one home off its foundation and damaging others, toppling trees, filling two inlets of the Emory River and raising health and environmental concerns in nearby neighborhoods and for miles downstream.
Remarkably, no lives were lost.
“Remarkably” is an understatement! And they should have added “so far”. This stuff is getting into the ground water, it’s contaminated the dirt itself. What happens when people drink the water, or eat the crops planted in that soil? What about the wildlife?
Let’s face it, I’m no environmental wackjob, but even I can understand that ya don’t keep screwing around with people’s lives like the TVA has done. Wassa matta? Were y’all worried about your bonuses? Is THAT why you couldn’t be bothered with a REAL fix? It’s going to be quite a while before the entire economic impact will be known, but let’s face it, the lack of real action was beyond stupid.
A TVA memo shows that the agency tried to downplay the spill: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/4617#more-4617