KNOXVILLE BIZ: TVA used fed plan 2nd

The Tennessee Valley Authority didn't use a mandated command structure for interagency disaster response at the Kingston Fossil Plant's fly ash spill, making coordination with local emergency personnel an ad hoc affair for the first couple of days following the disaster, according to Roane County's top emergency responder.

Roane County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Howie Rose said TVA officials didn't initially use the Incident Command System required by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Part of the National Incident Management System, the system allows agencies that normally use different terminology and protocols to coordinate efforts when responding to emergencies.

OPED NEWS: Only part of TVA Coal Ash Disaster is Being Told

A flood of Coal Ash from a broken containment wall at a TVA power plant did one good thing: it sunk an absurdly distorted advertising campaign from the proponents of Clean Coal. Millions spent to divert attention from a disaster that the Coal Industry KNEW was just waiting to happen is a crime in itself.

Other than exposing this lie, critical news about this Tennessee disaster, if you can find it, is horrendous, and getting worse. Some call it another Katrina-size disaster, waiting to happen at other similar waste lagoons spread across as many as 30 states. A 2005 Associated Press analysis found that about 20 million tons of Coal Ash ends up in surface ponds like this one in eastern Tennessee. The current Administration's Environmental Protection Agency has been stonewalling this problem for 8 years, as you would expect.

HUFFINGTON POST: TVA Disaster Spreads Far and Wide

Erin Brockovich and Robin Greenwald

As a result of a 1.1 billion gallon spill of contaminated fly ash, there has been discussion, press reportage and blogging about the environmental disaster in eastern Tennessee Most of us have seen the pictures -- a 300+ acre area strewn with black and brown muck as far as the eye can see. Houses lifted off their foundations and thrown across the road, yards filled so high with ash that people can't leave their homes without stepping in it, roadways littered with the ash from trucks going to and from the site, and an eerie still where active life once existed. While this story continues to unfold -- as more samples are taken that delineate the true toxicity of this mess, as TVA makes plans to contain and abate the disaster -- there is a story that has not been told. It is a story that must be told. And that story is the lives of innocent bystanders that have been turned upside down by this avoidable disaster.

LEXINGTON HERALD-EXAMINER

Kentucky officials will take a closer look at requiring emergency action plans for coal ash ponds after a dam failed last month at a large ash containment structure in Tennessee.

Such plans spell out procedures for notifying authorities if a dam fails or is about to fail. Federal recommendations for such plans also call for mapping the area that would be flooded in a break, as well as evacuation details.

HUFFINGTON POST: Tennessee Coal Sludge Disaster: Think This Could Not Happen to You? Think Again.

On December 22 (2 weeks ago), over 1 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge came cascading through Eastern Tennessee. The tidal wave of sludge toppled houses and dirtied rivers and streams. This toxic coal ash has been stored in an open 40-acre pond next to the 50-year-old power plant. According to State authorities, after the spill there are 54,000 people with contaminated water in Roane County alone, and many more outside the county may also have tainted drinking water.

If you think this could not happen to you, think again. More than 50 percent of Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.