SACE Updates on TVA Coal Disaster
SACE’s Executive Director, Dr. Stephen A. Smith, worked with local and national media to tell the story of human health and environmental concerns connected with what the New York Times called “the nation’s largest spill of coal ash.” Dr. Smith was called upon by the news media to provide insight from day one of this important environmental tragedy and continues to respond as the story develops.
This page provides coverage of the environmental disaster from December 22, 2008 – February 2, 2009.
Statements and Testimony
- Dr. Stephen A. Smith Oral Testimony
- Dr. Stephen A. Smith Written Testimony
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Stephen Smith to Testify, Call for Remake of TVA During Senate Hearing Today
- Five Harriman Citizens Accompany SACE During Washington, D.C. Visit
- Senate Invitation to Stephen A. Smith to Testisfy in TVA Hearing
- SACE Serves Legal Notices for Future Suit Against TVA
- SACE’s 60-day Legal Notice to TVA of Intent to File Lawsuit
- SACE’s 90-day Legal Notice to TVA of Intent to File Second Lawsuit
- EPA statement on arsenic and heavy metals in water test results
- SACE responds to TVA ash spill
- SACE calls for ash sampling results immediately
- TVA statement warning citizens about the ash
News Coverage
02/02/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Environmentalists Find Toxic Metals
01/25/2009 – American News Project: Kingston and Coal Lobby’s Grip on the EPA
01/12/2009 – SACE’s Smith: E&ETV Interview on Coal Disaster
01/10/2009 – Time: Exposing the myth of clean coal power
01/10/2009 – NPR: Tenn. Coal ash spill devastates recovering river
01/10/2009 – Chattanooga Times Free Press: TN: State Cites TVA for Ocoee Sludge Release
01/10/2009 – Chttanooga Times Free Press: Tennessee: Gypsum pond leaks into Widows Creek
01/09/2009 – MSNBC: Senator Apologizes for Tennessee Sludge Spill
01/09/2009 – The Tennessean: Senators promise greater scrutiny of TVA
01/09/2009 – Chattanooga Times Free Press: TN Senate Panel Blasts TVA Over Spill
01/08/2009 – WSMV Channel 4: Senators Seek Better Coal Ash Regulation
01/08/2009 – WATE Channel 6: CEO wishes TVA had done more for retention wall problems
01/08/2009 – Associated Press: Senators call for coal ash regulation
01/08/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Roane residents bring spill’s effects to D.C.
01/08/2009 – Associated Press: Unlucky Break: TVA Ratepayers Will Likely Get Cleanup Bill
01/07/2009 – The New York Times Video: Coal ash spill raises broader questions
01/07/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Residents speak out on spill
01/07/2009 – Associated Press: Environmental groups plan to sue over ash spill
01/06/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Five Harriman Residents to Testify in D.C.
01/05/2009 – The Huffington Post: Who got coal in their stockings by Carl Pope
01/04/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Report raises question of ethics
01/04/2009 – WSMV Nashville: TVA inspector: business put before regulations
01/04/2009 – The Tennessean: Ash blowout arial photo slider
01/04/2009 – The Tennessean: TVA rejected costly fixes
01/02/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Tests Show High Levels of Arsenic
01/02/2009 – Charlotte Observer: Coal ash scrutiny returns
01/01/2009 – The New York Times: Metal levels found high in tributary after spill
12/31/2008 – Alexander, Duncan challenge TVA as hearing looms
12/31/2008 – Gov. Bredesen calls for changes in how TVA manages coal plants
12/31/2008 – First Lawsuit Filed in TVA Coal Ash Spill
12/30/2008 – Stephen Smith Interview (mp3) “we should know what’s in that ash pile”
12/30/2008 – Times Free Press: spill story that accompanies audio interview above
12/30/2008 – New York Times: At Plant in Coal Ash Spill, Toxic Deposits by the Ton
12/29/2008 – Chattanooga Times: TVA Vows to Clean Up Spill
12/29/2008 – TVA Press Ignores Calls to Resign Amid EPA Find of High Levels of Arsenic
12/28/2008 – Associated Press: Coal ash precautions issued around spill
12/28/2008 – The Tenneessean: TVA head pledges to test wells near coal ash spill
12/28/2008 – The Tennesseean: Ash Spill Deepens Safety Debate
12/27/2008 – NBC Nightly News: Clean Coal Gets Black Eye
12/27/2008 – Spillage amount tripled; ash, water total 5.4M cubic yards
12/27/2008 – Associated Press: SACE Calls for Stronger Warnings
12/26/2008 – NBC Nightly News: Lead Story on the Disaster
12/26/2008 – Interview with Stephen Smith on KPFA Evening News
12/26/2008 – The Tennessean: TVA Triples Spill Estimate
12/26/2008 – ABC News: TN Community with “Witches Brew” of Toxic Sludge
12/26/2008 – CNN: Tennessee Sludge Spill Estimate Grows to 1 Billion Gallons
12/24/2008 – New York Times: Coal Ash Spill Revives Issue of Its Hazards
Editorials
01/23/2009 – New York Times: Collapse of the Clean Coal Myth
01/18/2009 – TVA’s costly mission drift
01/10/2009 – Lexington Herald Leader: TVA should return to its roots
01/10/2009 – The Tennessean: After ash spill, TVA’s freewheeling days are over
01/06/2009 – The Knoxville News Sentinel: Editorial: Ash spill hearing should be welcomed
12/31/2008 – Caution needed as well as investigation
12/30/2008 – News Observer: Coal’s Costly Spillover
Photographs
- View Stephen Smith’s Photos from the Coal Ash Disaster on Flickr
- My Montage: A variety of photographs taken by a Harriman, TN resident
Materials and Toxicological Profiles for Heavy Metals Found in Coal Ash
- Arsenic Fact Sheet
- Cadmium Fact Sheet
- Lead Fact Sheet
- Mercury Fact Sheet
- Thallium Fact Sheet
- Crystalline Silica Fact Sheet
- Material Safety Data Sheet for Coal Fly Ash