NATL DIRTY COAL CONCEALS SPILL MEDIA SILENT

NOTHING IN THE CORPORATE CONTROLLED MEDIA ABOUT THE NATIONAL COAL CORPORATION COAL SPILL.

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Note the time discrepancy. The spill occurred on FRIDAY and was discovered on MONDAY and reported, after attempts at cleanup had been ongoing over the weekend. Something to hide?

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The Sierra Club offered the following (emphasis mine):
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#1 On December 22, one billion gallons of coal ash sludge and contaminated water, the waste product of coal-fired power plants of the Tennessee Valley Authority, broke through a containment area into the rivers of Kingston, Tennessee.
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#2 Last week a coal train operated by National Coal Corporation over turned spilling approximately 1100 tons of coal next to the New River in Scott County, Tennessee. Eight rail cars, which typically hold 120 tons of coal, were involved.
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#3 And now another spill occurred in Alabama at the Tennessee Valley Authority Widows Creek coal-fired plant, releasing up to 10,000 gallons of polluted sludge.
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These spills highlight the urgent need for us to begin moving beyond coal to cleaner energy sources that power our communities without polluting them.
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President-elect Obama can jumpstart a clean energy economy and start reducing global warming pollution immediately by doing the following:
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Direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant a waiver that will allow California and over a dozen other states to limit global warming pollution from cars.
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End the rush to build dirty coal plants by directing the EPA to require all new and existing power plants limit their global warming emissions.
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Direct the EPA to end irresponsible mountaintop removal coal mining by stopping coal companies from dumping rock and waste into valleys and streams.
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Restore America’s international leadership in the fight to end global warming by publicly committing the U.S. to cut its CO2 emissions by at least 35% by 2020.
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It’s becoming clear that the magnitude of the billion gallon sludge spill in Kingston, Tennessee finally shined a light on a quiet tragedy that has been going on for decades--smaller coal ash spills and releases that pollute our land and water.
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From The Huffington Post:
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ONEIDA, Tenn.
A coal train operated by National Coal Corporation over turned on Friday, January 9, 2009, spilling approximately 1100 tons of coal next to the New River in Scott County, Tennessee. Eight rail cars, which typically hold 120 tons of coal, were involved.

The contamination was discovered on Monday, January 12, 2009 by Steve Bakaletz, a Wildlife Biologist with the National Park Service at the Big South Fork (BSF) Recreation Area's Oneida Office.
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The Alliance for Appalachia

“Now we have examples — right here in Tennessee — of the dirty face of coal, from mountaintop and surface coal mining to coal transport to coal combustion and coal waste disposal,” said Cathie Bird, Chairperson of the Stripmine Issues Committee of SOCM.
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“I think somebody’s trying to tell us something. We need to push past coal and focus on clean energy sources, before any more streams are trashed or lives disrupted,” said Bird.
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Another Tennessee Coal Spill. Seriously.
I can’t believe this — 1100 TONS of coal dumped in Tennessee and I can’t find ANYthing about this anywhere on-line except via the good folks with Sierra Club and Save Our Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee.
If you are fed up and fired up and ready to stand in solidarity with communities in Tennessee check out Mountain Justice Spring Break www.mjsb.org which will be happening near the TVA Ash Dam Disaster March 7-15, 2009 and will encourage service projects and direct action against TVA’s criminal negligence.
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PowerPastCoal
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The Second of Three Dirty Coal Spills

TVA allowed more hazardous waste to enter streams and endanger drinking water.
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Note that none of these ponds is lined to protect groundwater contamination.
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Tennessee Green


In Tennessee, seeps have been noted in the ash structures at TVA's Cumberland and New Johnsonville facilities, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
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Thousands of gallons overflowed the settling pond, and much of it cascaded down a hill into the creek.
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A silvery gray sludge coated the shore in the photos taken at Bellefonte Landing, near a site for which TVA is seeking a permit to build a nuclear power plant.
Tennessee Green
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TVA has done such a bang up job in monitoring waste, monitoring the environment and getting this disaster cleaned up, the prospect of issuing a nuclear permit is sure inspiring!

Dirty Coal: Memorable Quotes #1

In view of the Cape Wind opposition, the environmental destruction of DIRTY ENERGY is overlooked by the corporate owned media. Some of the comments emanating in defense of this mess are ludicrous.

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STEVENSON, Ala. (AP) — A waste pond at a coal-burning power plant in northeast Alabama ruptured Friday, but the spill was quickly contained, utility officials said.
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Too funny! We can trust these people right?
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In 2005, the utility reported depositing 445,200 tons of gypsum in ponds at the Widows Creek plant.
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TVA inspected all its retaining ponds, including the ones at the Widows Creek Fossil Plant, after the rupture in Tennessee. Moulton said on Dec. 31 that the ponds were "all in good shape."
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Ooops! Looks like you need to fire someone!
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TVA had sought no permits and hadn't coordinated with the state environment department about its special operation at the dam, and had not coordinated with Tennessee State Parks or the U.S. Forest Service, Calabrese-Benton said.
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Calabrese-Benton said the sediment had built up behind the dam over decades after flowing down from the Copper Basin, an area in the southeast corner of Tennessee where mining and pollution wiped out vegetation generations ago.
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Think CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS with each political comment about this disaster and the failure of Congress to prevent this environmental destruction --

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Toxic Influence: Coal ash-tainted money funds senators holding TVA disaster hearing
Using the most recent data available from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org website (updated with Federal Elections Commission data as of Dec. 8), the Institute for Southern Studies examined campaign contributions from electric utilities to members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in the 2008 elections. We found that the industry gave members of this key committee a total of $1,079,503.
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Another TVA coal waste spill underscores need for federal action
In addition to the disastrous spill of more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge from its Kingston power plant in Eastern Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority is now grappling with another recent spill of coal waste pollution from one of its facilities.
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TVA Coal is Killing Tennessee