Posts Tagged ‘coal ash’

Great Film on the TVA Coal Ash Spill Disaster Two Years Later

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

In September, 2010 I traveled back to Harriman, Tennessee to meet the Blue Planet Expedition crew and our research partners at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute to tell the story of the TVA coal ash spill disaster two and half years after it happened. We spent a long day on the Emory River electroshocking fish and conducting interviews in the shadow of the Kingston coal fired power plant. The Expedition Blue Planet crew also traveled to the Savannah River Site D area in South Carolina to capture the impact of coal ash on amphibians. The film uses the TVA coal ash disaster as a lens through which to see the true cost of dirty coal on water, communities and our planet. Here is the remarkable and outstanding short film that resulted:

Clean Coal? Water Pollution at the Light Switch from Alexandra Cousteau on Vimeo.

Great job Alexandra Cousteau, Ian Kellett, Anne Casselman, Ali Sanderson, Christoph Schwaiger, Michael Duff, Jonnie Morris, Oscar Durand, Sean Solowiej and the whole rest of the Blue Planet Expedition crew. This is the best film yet on the Kingston coal ash spill disaster.

The Appalachian Voices Waterkeeper Team continues the fight against water pollution from Dirty Coal Ash

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

The Appalachian Voices Watekeeper team began its journey into the dark abyss of coal ash and its toxic impact to waterways in December of 2008 when it started documenting the environmental harm caused by the TVA coal ash pond spill into the Emory River at Harriman, Tennessee. Since that time, the App Voices Waterkeeper team has released numerous reports, videos and calls to action to protect waterways from the contamination of coal ash:

* Preliminary independent tests find high levels of toxic chemicals in Harriman TN fly ash deposits-January 1, 2009

* Independent fish sampling results find high levels of toxic chemicals in Kingston, TN fly ash deposits and Emory River fish-May 18, 2009

* All N.C. Coal Ash Ponds Contaminating Groundwater, Analysis Shows-October 6, 2009

* Kingston Coal Plant Released 2.6 Million Pounds of Arsenic, Nine Other Pollutants into the Emory River in 2008-More than the Entire Water Pollution Output of All Other US Power Plants-December 8, 2009

* Environmental Groups Ask EPA Enforcement Program to Increase State Oversight and Step Up Enforcement Against Coal Waste Impoundments

The hard work and relentless advocacy of our organization and our partners to ensure clean water and healthy fisheries is yielding results. Recently, NC announced it was requiring Duke Energy and Progress Energy to implement additional monitoring of heavy metals at is coal ash ponds in NC. The news was covered on WFAE and the Institute for Southern Studies: “North Carolina orders utilities to test groundwater near coal ash ponds.”

In the year since the App Voices Waterkeeper Team launched its assault on water pollution from dirty coal ash, our work has been reported by 60 Minutes, National Public Radio, New York Times, The Nation, the Associated Press, Reuters, the Institute for Southern Studies, the Charlotte Observer, the News & Record and many more.

We could not do this work without the generous support of our members, they make it possible for us to continue the all out assault on Dirty Coal’s contamination of water! Look for some exciting new information from us on Ash Wednesday (February 17, 2010)! InĀ  the meantime, here are some of our coal ash videos from last year: