First, TVA officials wanted you to believe that the 1.1-billion gallon coal ash spill at their Kingston, Tennessee, plant was due to an “act of God.” Now, Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner, Jr., calls receiving the toxic ash a “godsend.” The truth is that this toxic disaster is neither.
Every day, TVA is sending up to 11 tons of toxic coal ash to the Arrowhead Landfill in Perry County, a poor, rural community in central Alabama. Yet the landfill doesn’t have the required permits to receive hazardous waste, nor is it able to control the runoff and leachate from the sodden coal ash. So the leachate is pumped from ditches at the landfill and trucked to a Marion, Alabama wastewater treatment plant that also lacks the appropriate permits to handle the toxic stew of coal ash, industrial waste and household garbage. Coal ash contains numerous toxic, radioactive and carcinogenic compounds, including arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, thorium and uranium. The added cancer risk to kids who drink water contaminated with arsenic from coal combustion waste is 900 times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended level.
While Commissioner Turner’s constituents are complaining of malodorous gases and respiratory problems, Turner is issuing a clarion call to bring more toxic waste to Perry County — and with it $3.5 million for the county government. The truth is that nothing says “clean coal” like dirty money.