According to channel 6 news at wate.com, Dave Cooper and Matt Landon were "detained" by TVA police officers. Apparently they were taking pictures of the coal ash flood. The TVA police claimed Dave and Matt, who identified themselves as being members of the organization United Mountain Defense, were behind a barricade and refused to move. But as channel 6 news reports,

"There was a little pull-off on the road and we pulled over and we were immediately accosted  and told they would be arrested," Cooper said.

The two men say they were then detained by police on Swan Pond Circle. A portion of that road is now blocked off by an increased presence from TVA police.

Just two days ago, 6 News was able to visit that same spot as passers-by stopped to take a look at the spill.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is calling on the U.S. EPA to issue stronger safety warnings for residents living near the massive coal ash flood in Tennessee. So far the EPA has only suggested residents boil their water before drinking. However, if the water is contaminated with heavy metals such as lead and mercury, boiling the water will not remove these heavy metals and it will not make the water safe to drink.

You can read about this in the AP article in Lexington Herald Leader news article hear: Stronger warnings needed in Tenn. ash spill, by Kristin M. Hall - Associated Press Writer.

"When TVA issues a statement that the drinking water is safe, that this material is inert ... it leads the community to believe that there's really no problem," (Stephen) Smith (executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy) said. "That is absolutely not true."

Neither the EPA not the TVA has yet to release any studies documenting the concentration of heavy metals in the ash. Local reports from members of United Mountain Defense, who have take fresh bottled water to residents living near the spill, say some people and pets have experienced extensive vomiting after drinking tap water.

I'm reminded of the how after the sludge flood in Martin County in 2000 the EPA told local residents not to worry about their drinking water being contaminated because everything that is in the sludge can be found on the periodic table of the elements. Take a look, mercury, lead, caesium, plutonium are all on the periodic table.

As the New York Times reports, early Monday morning the TVA officials reported about 1.7 million cubic yards, which is about 343 million gallons, of wet coal ash broke from a holding lake and flooded nearby residents and polluted the Tennessee rivers. Now the TVA is saying the spill was about three times larger than initially reported, actually 5.4 million cubic yards of ash broke from the lake, that is more than 1 billion 90 thousand gallons of wet ash.

Residents were stunned by the new numbers. “That’s scary to know that they can be off by that much,” said Angela Spurgeon, whose yard is swamped with ash. “I don’t think it was intentional, but it upsets me to know that a number was given of what the pond could hold, and the number now is more than double of what the pond actually held.”

You can visit this sight to verify my conversions, 5 400 000 cubic yard = 1 090 659 740.3 gallon [US, liquid].

In another blow to the myth of "clean coal", a huge flood of coal ash waste flooded residents and polluted miles of Tennessee rivers on Sunday evening around 11 PM. The coal ash what is left over from the burning of coal in a power plant. This ash is stored in ponds at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power plant in Harriman, TN.

Coal Combustion Waste in Kentucky Kentucky is the largest generator among states of coal combustion wastes (CCW) according to 2006 figures from the Energy Information Administration. Coal burners here produced 14,537 thousand short tons of coal combustion waste generated — number 1 in the nation (compared to Tennessee's 3,803 thousand short tons annually).  Of Kentucky's total, 56% was fly ash, 24% was flue gas desulfurization material, 17% was bottom ash, and 3% was “other by-products.”

As clean air standards have required coal power plants to capture more of the pollutants that are normally emitted from a coal power plant by the use of smoke-stack scrubbers, the waste product from this process, the ash, has become more and more toxic. Some of the pollutants contained in coal ash are mercury, arsenic and sulfur.

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.

It appears that when the earthen damn that holds the lake of coal ash broke it sent millions of gallons of coal ash sludge into the Emory River that then flows into the Clinch River and eventually becomes the drinking source for Chattanooga. Aerial video and pictures show houses covered in the coal ash waste and enormous fish kills. These images look very similar to the Martin County coal sludge flood in 2000 that released 300 million gallons of coal sludge and flooded several communities in Martin County and shut down water systems for 75 miles down the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers.

In similar news, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that 39 groups protesting coal ash rule change. These citizen environmental organizations are urging President Elect Obama to reject a proposed new rule making it easier for coal companies to dispose of Coal Combustions Waste, the fly ash from power plants, in abandon mines.

Disposal of coal ash in mines is a growing practice that threatens the health and environment of coalfield communities," said Lisa Graves Marcucci, president of Jefferson Action Group in Jefferson Hills, who noted that 120 abandoned mines are already used for ash disposal in Pennsylvania.

Here are some of the news stories and video links about the coal ash flood: Isn't it interesting that the spill happened Sunday night and on Tuesday there is still very little national news coverage beyond the blogs.

• Here is a YouTube video from the Knoxville News Sentinel
  
• From Now Public, Dike Breaks - Ash Slide Damages Homes in Tennessee
  
• From the blog Ruminations from the Distant Hills

• From the Knoxville News: Ash leak fuels debate on risks of coal waste
• From the Roanoke Times: Coal ash tsunami in Tennessee
• Here is a blog post about the flood from Appalachian Voices: Fly Ash Floods Tennessee River
• Here is another blog article from Green KY: Massive Slurry Spill in Tennessee on Monday
• This blog article was recently posted on website for The Alliance for Appalachia: TVA’s Coal Ash Sludge Pond Bursts
• On Wednesday morning, December 24th, this story ran in the New York Times: Water Supplies Tested After Tennessee Spill. by Shaila Dewan. Good for the New York Times, they followed up  the short article yesterday with a longer and more in depth news story today, December 25. This story not only documents the tragedy of the situation, but it also asks some good questions about the safety of the entire coal cycle. Coal Ash Spill Revives Issue of Its Hazards. Included in this news story is a great graphic that helps to tell the entire story of how the coal fly ash is produced and stored as well as good maps that show where the flood occured.
  

The Tennessee Valley Authority has issued no warnings about the potential chemical dangers of the spill, saying there was as yet no evidence of toxic substances. “Most of that material is inert,” said Gilbert Francis Jr., a spokesman for the authority. “It does have some heavy metals within it, but it’s not toxic or anything.”

Holly Schean, a waitress whose home, which she shared with her parents, was swept off its foundation when millions of cubic yards of ash breached a retaining wall early Monday morning, said, “They’re giving their apologies, which don’t mean very much.”

The T.V.A., Ms. Schean said, has not yet declared the house uninhabitable. But, she said: “I don’t need your apologies. I need information.

• The news program Democracy Now hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez did some great reporting on the flood Wednesday morning, December 24th. They interviewed Ann League with SOCM and Rick Hind with Greenpeace. You can read the transcript on their website or watch the program with Real Player. Spill at Tennessee Coal Plant Creates Environmental Disaster. Below are a couple of quotes from the program by Ann League:
  

It is a beautiful community. The area around Harriman is known for its fishing. The river there is one of the cleanest in the area. People go down there to recreate, to fish. It’s just a huge, huge problem that this has happened. I mean, this is affecting more than the people who just live around there; this affects everyone in the area. And it just shows that the cycle of coal can never be clean.

It’s a myth. Clean coal is just a huge myth. It cannot be clean. It starts dirty from the extraction. As we see by what just happened in Harriman, it’s dirty after you burn it, also. They keep talking about clean coal and how they can clean it up after they burn it. Very few people talk about the extraction end of coal. If you could see the beautiful mountains of Appalachia being flattened and blown up day after day, you’d know that coal cannot be clean. There’s people who are losing their homes, whose drinking water has been polluted by the acid mine drainage coming off these huge mountaintop removal sites. There’s no such thing as clean coal. It can never be clean, as long as they’re blowing up our mountains and polluting our waterways with this coal sludge.

If you put scrubbers on these plants that go to clean coal technology, they’ll start burning dirtier and dirtier coal, and therefore, the sludge that they’re holding in these ponds is going to get more and more toxic, so the next accident we have like this where a pond gives way, what comes out of that is going to be even worse than what came out of the Harriman sludge pond.

• National Public Radio has begun reporting on this story today, Friday December 26th. You can read the transcript or listen to the report from Morning Edition: Water Safe, Cleanup Underway In Tenn. Dike Burst you can also listen to NPR try to answer the question Is Ash-filled Sludge a Health Threat? Then on NPR's evening news program All Things Considered: Coal Ash May Pose Health Hazard. (You should be able to listen to this news story after 7 PM est. today.)
  

We will continue update this post with news and action steps as this story continues to unfold.

This past Wednesday the Governor finished up his series of town hall meetings about the budget crisis in Hazard.  The governor talked about the issues with the deficit, described the cuts to different departments from earlier this year, and how the additional shortfall of $456 million would be resolved.  He also talked about his desire to limit additional cuts to education, healthcare, and public safety and the proposed increased to the cigarette tax.

The coal industry also came out in full force and attempted the focus of the discussion to mountaintop removal, valley fill permits, and the governor’s recent statement opposing the elimination of the stream buffer zone.

Several local KFTC members spoke on a range of topics, which included appreciation for the governor’s action regarding the stream buffer zone rule.   KFTC members also spoke about the role of government in helping to diversify the local economy through green energy and to fund important services, like education, medical assistance, and community projects.

We need more green jobs in Eastern Kentucky, like the wind turbines on Black Mountain, and solar energy.  We need to create other options for the day when the coal runs out.  Also, a single payer healthcare system would be good for Kentucky by providing healthcare for everyone,” - Russell Oliver

It seems to me if we care about healthcare; we should care about protecting the environment.  Those two things go hand and hand.  Also, when you look at the tax system in Kentucky people on the lowest end pay the highest percentage of taxes, and people making the most pay the least.  That’s not fair.  We should be asking more of the people who are most able to pay,” - Chris West

This past Thursday, Central KY KFTC members gathered to celebrate another great year, to enjoy some music and good food, and unwind.

    

This is event is part of a proud tradition of rightly-earned relaxation and celebration going including last year, but going back 10 years or more in the chapter's history.

We've launched a Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons Facebook group and have grown it to 1,100 members in just 7 days! Join and invite your friends.  Along with phone banks, this group will be very important in mobilizing people quickly in the upcoming Legislative Session. 

We plan to confirm the major Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons lobby day soon, and Tuesday, February 10th looks like the likely date. 

Remember House Bill 1 from the 2007 special interest legislative session #2?  The bill was written specifically to give Peabody taxpayer money to build synthetic fuel plants. Now it's time to start paying for it!

The companies announced their plans as Kentucky is facing a $456 million revenue shortfall.  The legislation promised Peabody at least $300 million in subsidies and incentives.  In case you forgot how bad this legislation really was you can read Mark Hebert's WHAS blog post from August 13, 2007 — $800,000 Per Job....Good Deal or Bad Deal?

Included in the incentives is the potential for millions in cash up front. The so-called “Incentives for Energy Independence Act” would offer payments potentially worth tens of millions of dollars to companies that convert coal or biomass into synthetic fuels even before those multi-billion-dollar projects produce their first barrel of fuel.

 The facility would be “carbon storage ready,” and the two companies are already helping fund a test project directed by the Kentucky Geological Survey.  But being "ready" is no assurance that best available technologies will be used to protect public health.

The latest episode of the children's web cartoon Gorilla in the Greenhouse tackles this issues mountaintop removal mining and the consequences of using too much electicity. The episode is full of trippy visuals and catchy music (and a talking green gorilla) with a good message about limiting our energy consumption. What do you all think about it?

Photo from I Love Mountains Day 2008

It may come as no surprise that mining companies ponied up cash in this last election cycle to candidates.  According to the latest figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, mining companies opened up their wallet to a tune of $1.8 million to federal candidates (House and Senate) running for office in 2008.  35% of that amount went to Democrats and 65% went to Republicans.  

The National Mining Association was the all-star in the group of 27 mining PACS compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics with donations of more than $630,000. Arch came in at $180,000 even and Peabody fell in at over $150,000.

And if you support people in politics, not corporate mining profits in politics, join us for the 2009 "I Love Mountains" Rally and Lobby Day at the state capitol in Frankfort in February -- where we will tell mining companies that they can't bury our streams and destroy our communities.  Stay tuned to this blog for details coming shortly!