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Posted December 29, 2008
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Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
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TVA Coal is Killing Tennessee
Dec 27, 2008 United Mtn Defense at Kingston Public Meeting TVA Coal Ash Disaster
Dear folks, Dec 27, 2008(please re post to any and all online blogs and news sources) http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll297/creekkeeper_2008/Harriman%20Coal%20ash%20spill/ Photos from the Emory River Dec 27, 2008 taken by Hurrican Creek RiverKeeper-- John L. Wathen of Tuscaloosa, AL United Mountain Defensevolunteers spent yesterday Dec 27, 2008 delivering Material Safety Data Sheetsabout fly ash and announcements about the Public Meeting in Kingston to the coalimpacted citizens around TVA's coal ash disaster. We also mobilized volunteersfrom the Hurricane Creek Keeper of Tuscaloosa, AL and Upper Watauga River Keeperof Boone, NC to paddle up the river and gather samples of river water, sludge,and document all the impacts they could see. While in route they wereinterviewed by a New York Times reporter in a bass boat. They are sending theirsamples to a Toxicity Lab at Appalachian State University and are hoping to getthe results back on Tuesday. After the flotilla scanned the area for notrespassing/warning/danger signs, which they could not find, they paddleddirectly into TVA's coal ash spill area. They observed TVA damming the riverwith large rip rap, rocks. There are rumors that TVA may be re- routing theriver around this dam, potentially turning this river section into a MASSIVEslurry pond. Of course once the paddlers made it to the disaster site they couldnot be accessed by the motorized boats of the TVA or local police due to theshallow water level. Upon completion of gathering samples the three paddlerssurrendered to TVA police and received warning citations for trespassing andwere set free. The immediate tests they took showed the highest conductivitylevel of 209 at the coal ash spill site. The conductivity level further downriver was 80. At another site on the Lakeshore Rd in the inlet the conductivityreading was over 300. Conductivity shows the amount of dissolved metals or saltin the water and the preliminary results we found were not outside of theacceptable range. United Mountain Defense has also sent off the chilled watersamples from Day 1-Day 5 to local labs for testing. Look for their video to beposted on the Appalachian Voices website soon. We just learnedlast night on the local news the Tennessee Department of Environment andConservation stated their water tests showed contaminant levels above safelimits in the drinking water. There was no info about what contaminants, whosedrinking water, and what precautions to take. This is truely insane!The on the ground situation is constantly changing here. Thereare numerous dump trucks driving very fast down these windy roads to deliver riprap rock for the river dam. These trucks appear to be overloaded and overwieght.United Mountain Defense still has a lot of outreach left to do. Right now thebest thing that you can do is help raise funds or send resources for our groundwork. We need money for Sony Premium DVM 60 Digitial Mini VideoCassetteTapes, hundreds of copies @ .10 cents a piece, automobile gas, airplane gas forSouthWings flyovers, bottled water for impacted residents without clean water,recharging the cell phone for media work, and meriad of other expenses. Any helpthat you could offer would be greatly appreciated. United Mountain Defense is a501c3 non profit. We are an all volunteer organization, we keep all reciepts,and we will make your money stretch as far a possible. Mail check orgear to P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 Thank you, matt landon Fulltime volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defensehttp://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/ www.unitedmountaindefense.org
- TAGS:
- planetinperil,
- environment,
- green,
- ireport_for_cnn,
- tva_coal_sludge-spill
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