by Damozel | According to CNN, the current estimate of gallons of ash-infused slurry containing "concentrated levels of mercury and arsenic" at present stands at 1 billions. At least 300 acres are covered with the poisonous mess, "a bigger area than the Exxon Valdez oil spill." A TVA spokesman says that they've never had a spill of this magnitude and that they can no longer say how long the clean-up will take.
Video footage showed sludge as high as 6 feet, burying porches and garage doors. The slide also downed nearby power lines, though the TVA said power had been restored to the area. An estimated 78,000 cubic yards, or 15.7 million gallons, of sludge covered local railroad tracks and Swan Pond Road. (More at CNN)
Hilzoy has posted a most excellent comment on this disaster. As she says: THERE IS NO CLEAN COAL. Clean Coal is an oxymoron.
Hey, everyone thought the Clean Coal Carolers were cute. Who, after all, could resist "lumps of coal wearing scarves singing (in squeaky Seventies cartoon-jingle voices): “Frosty the coal man, is a jolly happy soul, he’s abundant here in America and he helps our economy roll…There most have been some magic in clean coal technology, for when they looked for pollutants there, there was nearly none to see"? And that was not the only one, though it's the only one I know.
Red Tory 3.0 remarked:
Who knew that Santa’s traditional punishment for “naughty” children had been re-purposed into something that’s just so much darned fun? (emphasis added)
They even provided little outfits for kids to dress their favorite lumps in! BUT DON'T LISTEN TO THE SINGING LUMPS OF COAL, KIDS. Those little lumps are liars! What would they know about "clean"? They're lumps of coal.
There's no way to burn coal without producing toxins. Got that?
Dday says:
Coal ash (or fly ash) is really nasty stuff, with multiple carcinogens and heavy metals and even radioactive elements like uranium and thorium contained in it, all of which can create a public health hazard. In addition, it's generated when coal is burned, and no matter what is done with the carbon, the residue remains and must be put into landfills or captured and stored at the plant. Power plants generated 71.1 million tons of fly ash in 2005. Incredibly, some of it is recycled and used in things like footpaths, leading to contamination. But I don't think we've ever seen levels like this released, and certainly not into a reservoir....
Yes....We can.
Hilzoy says:
If you still believe the hype, please see this Sierra Club Video:
Memeorandum has more.
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test comment
Posted by: Deb | December 28, 2008 at 06:30 PM
I'm glad to see more sites get in on this story. Considering the magnitude of the spill, it has gotten almost no coverage outside of Tennessee.
Posted by: Charles | December 28, 2008 at 06:45 PM
HI Charles,
Thanks.
This is a test post, too.
Posted by: Gainesville Girl | December 28, 2008 at 07:44 PM
Direct mailers from Obama campaign hail 'clean Kentucky coal'
Gristmill, 06 May 2008
"Barack Obama believes in clean Kentucky coal." So reads a direct mailer being distributed in Kentucky ahead of the state's May 20 primary.
Clark Stevens, press secretary for the Obama campaign in Kentucky, confirmed that the mailer came from the campaign. "Yes, it is an official mailer," he said.
Does Obama really believe in "clean Kentucky coal"?
"Clean coal" typically refers to coal burned in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants with operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities to bury the plant's greenhouse-gas emissions underground. There are no IGCC plants in Kentucky, and no operational CCS facilities. Technically, there is no "clean Kentucky coal."
There is one IGCC plant proposed for the state, but it hasn't yet broken ground. Most experts predict that widescale carbon sequestration is still a decade away. "
Posted by: Flowerplough | January 01, 2009 at 05:57 AM