After spill, TVA considers changes

In the wake of a massive spill of toxin-laden ash at a coal-fired power plant in Tennessee and a leak at a gypsum pond in Alabama, the Tennessee Valley Authority is reviewing how it disposes of waste from all of its fossil plants, including the one in Colbert County.

On Friday, a gypsum pond at TVA's Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Stevenson began leaking and flowed in an adjacent settlement pond before the leak could be plugged, TVA reported. Some of the material overflowed into Widows Creek, a tributary of the Tennessee River. Gypsum contains calcium sulfate, which is used to manufacture sheetrock and fertilizer.

The gypsum pond at the TVA plant holds limestone spray from scrubbers that remove sulfur dioxide from the coal-burning plant's air emissions.

State and federal agencies are investigating the Widows Creek spill as cleanup continues at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tenn., - about 35 miles west of Knoxville - where a dike ruptured Dec. 22, allowing some 1.1 billion gallons of ash sludge to escape from a 40-acre settlement pond. The sludge blanketed portions of a nearby neighborhood in up to 9 feet of grayish muck and destroyed at least three homes, killing fish and other animals in the Emory River, also a tributary of the Tennessee River, and threatening drinking water supplies.

A similar settlement pond is used to store coal ash and water at Colbert Fossil Plant. The ash-laden water is a byproduct of burning coal at the plant to produce electricity. Water is sprayed into the smokestacks at the plant to prevent coal ash from escaping into the atmosphere. The water and ash mixture is then pumped into the settlement pond. The ash is kept wet in the storage ponds to prevent it from being blown away by the wind. The ash can contain arsenic, lead, nickel, mercury and other metals and poisons.

Cane Creek flows near the base of the pond's dike. The creek flows into the nearby Tennessee River.

Gil Francis, a TVA spokesman based in Knoxville, said the utility is considering changing how it handles the ash after it is extracted from the smokestacks.

"Even before the incident at Kingston, we were looking very closely at switching to a dry storage system for ash at our fossil plants that now use a wet stack system," Francis said.

With the dry storage method, the water is removed from the sludge and the ash is stored in specialized landfills. Francis said the dry storage method is already used at some TVA fossil plants.

Congressional leaders are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to toughen regulations for disposal of ash at coal-burning power plants.

At a Senate oversight committee hearing earlier this week, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore testified the agency will replace the settlement pond at the Kingston plant with a different form of ash storage. He did not elaborate on how ash will be stored there or at other TVA fossil plants in the future.

Eric Schaeffer, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project, said TVA should move quickly to abandon the settlement ponds and begin storing the power plant's waste in landfills.

"There's no excuse nowadays for not having dry disposal in a lined landfill," Schaeffer said. "It's going to cost some money to switch to dry disposal, but it's still a lot cheaper than cleaning up a big mess like they have in Tennessee."

The Associated Press reported that before the Tennessee spill, TVA officials had nixed a plan to switch to a dry storage system at the Kingston plant because of its $25 million price tag.

Francis said TVA has not determined how much it will have to spend to clean up the Kingston sludge spill.

TVA officials said earlier this week the cost of the cleanup will be passed on to the utility's customers.

Environmental organizations and residents whose homes and land were damaged by the sludge spill have notified TVA that they plan to sue the utility for harming the environment and their property. One of the lawsuits seeks $165 million in damages, claiming property values in the area have been hurt by the spill.

Francis said TVA has found no problems with the ash pond at the Colbert plant. He said the pond receives intense annual and quarterly inspections and is checked daily for leaks and other problems.

Several environmental groups have called on utilities throughout the nation to replace the ash ponds with dry storage systems to reduce the potential of additional disasters similar to the one at the TVA plant in Tennessee. Watchdog groups report the nation's coal-fired power plants produce about 125 million tons of ash each year.

Francis said TVA operates the ponds in compliance with all state and federal environmental laws.

He said the ash pond at the Colbert plant is lined with clay to prevent the material from leaching into the groundwater supply.

Schaeffer said the only way to prevent coal ash storage facilities from contaminating groundwater is to use landfills lined with thick plastic similar to those used at solid waste landfills and to have a system to collect any liquids that seep from the ashes.

Scott Hughes, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, said the agency monitors TVA testing of water that flows from the ash pond into the Tennessee River. He said the utility is required to reduce pollutants in the water to levels that pose no threat to the environment.

The state agency does not monitor ash ponds at the nine coal-burning power plants in Alabama to ensure they have adequate space to store the sludge without overflow during periods of heavy rain. The Tennessee spill occurred after heavy rains and freezing weather.

While ADEM monitors water discharges from the ash pond at the Colbert plant, it does not monitor the ash itself. Hughes said the agency does not consider power plant ash a hazardous material.

Schaeffer said the ash is loaded with toxins and should be treated as an environmental hazard and disposed of in specialized landfills.

Francis said about half the ash produced at the Colbert plant is sold for use in concrete and other construction materials.

Schaeffer said using ash in concrete is a safe alternative to disposing of it in a landfill. He said concrete prevents chemicals in the ash from harming the environment.

Colbert County Engineer John Bedford said he is not fearful of the ash pond causing problems for the county's drinking water supply. Colbert County operates a water treatment plant upstream from the fossil plant in Barton

"I'm confident TVA is doing everything it can to make sure what happened in Tennessee does not happen at another power plant," Bedford said.

He said with the Colbert water plant's intake being upstream from the fossil plant, it is less at risk from a sludge spill causing problems for the water supply.

Schaeffer contends water leaching into the ground from the ash pond could be draining into the Tennessee River and contaminating it upstream from the Colbert water treatment plant.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has reported that a test well at the Colbert fossil plant revealed groundwater beneath the plant is contaminated with high levels of chromium, sulfate and selenium,

Schaeffer said the Tennessee disaster casts a spotlight on a serious national problem, "the existence of under-regulated, toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired power plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams."

Environmental groups reiterated their calls for more regulation of coal plant wastes after Friday's leak at the Alabama plant.

Scott Gollwitzer, in-house counsel for the Boone, N.C.-based Appalachian Voices environmental organization, said the toxic spill in Tennessee could have a silver lining.

"As tragic as it is, I hope it is a blessing in disguise," Gollwitzer said. "The publicity about the spill could finally force EPA to strengthen its regulation of coal ash disposal."

Given its close proximity to the Tennessee River and Cane Creek, Gollwitzer said the ash pond at Colbert has the potential to cause an environmental disaster. "It is definitely something to be concerned about."

Cherokee Mayor Chuck Lansdell said he is confident TVA will do whatever it finds necessary to protect the environment around the Colbert plant. He said Cherokee's water treatment plant intake is about 5 miles downstream from the Colbert plant. He does not consider the plant a threat to the town's water supply.

"It's not something I lie awake at night worrying about," he said. "We're in the glide path for the Memphis airport and a tire could fall off one of those jets someday and hit me, but that's not something I worry about, either. You can't go through life being terrified about everything. TVA has been a good corporate neighbor to our town, and I know they will do the right thing when it comes to operating the Colbert Fossil plant in a safe manner."

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@TimesDaily.com.