Environmental Spill Disaster Devastates Tennessee; 48 Times the Size of Exxon Valdez
Approximately 500 million gallons of coal ash sludge has broken through a holding pond at a coal-fired plant.
An environmental disaster of epic proportions has occurred in Tennessee. Monday night, 2.6 million cubic yards (the equivalent of 525.2 million gallons, 48 times more than the Exxon Valdez spill by volume) of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at TVA's Kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train.
Officials also said that the magnitude of this spill is such that the entire area could be declared a federal superfund site.
toxic substances are in that sludge: Mercury, arsenic, lead, beryllium, cadmium.
they could (at the mild end) irritate skin or trigger allergies or (longer term) cause cancer or neurological problems.
Greenpeace Calls for Criminal Investigation
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