Unknown Amount Of Coal Ash to Remain Permanently In Emory River - "Physically Impossible" To Remove

[hatrack]

Federal regulators say it's technologically impossible to remove all the coal ash from the Emory River and an undetermined amount will remain after the cleanup of the Kingston ash spill is complete. According to a memorandum written by Leo Francendese, who oversees the emergency cleanup operation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the removal of ash from the Emory River has entered its final stage - dredging along the riverbed. Francendese writes that the goal is to remove as much ash as possible while disturbing sediments as little as possible.

Francendese's memo, combined with a memo from Steve Scott of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, raises the possibility that officials also might not remove ash that has migrated from the Emory to the Clinch River and Tennessee River portions of Watts Bar Lake.

Because dredging stirs up the sediments and ash, Francendese writes, some of the material - between 5 and 20 percent - will remain suspended in the water and then settle back on the riverbed after the dredges move on. "It is worth noting, that 100 percent removal is never achieved due to the resuspension and resettlement effect," Francendese writes.

Steve McCracken, the Tennessee Valley Authority's cleanup project manager, said in an interview that doesn't run counter to TVA's stated goal of leaving the area better than it was before the Dec. 22, 2008, spill, which dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge from the federal utility's Kingston Fossil Plant into the Emory River and surrounding area. "When we're done, the water quality, the habitat and the recreational use will be better than it was before," McCracken said. Bryce Payne, an independent Pennsylvania-based soil scientist with more than 15 years of experience dealing with coal ash, agreed that removing all the ash isn't feasible. "You just can't do it," he said. "It's physically impossible."

EDIT

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/14/some-ash-to-remain-in-river/

[CountAllVotes]

1. someone I know lives near this river

she swims in the Tennessee River and insists that it is safe. I don't believe any of the tributaries around this huge coal ash spill will ever be safe again.

Very sad. :(

:dem:

[ensho]

3. when she sickens she will blame it on something else

nt

[CountAllVotes]

4. she is a very stupid woman

frankly she is drunk most of the time. She had a HUGE Mc Mansion of a house built there that is almost 5,000 sq. feet. The value of the house/property has halved since the spill. She seems unaware of it. I've quite recently had to write her off as the drinking is very bad (blacks out and calls me on the phone spewing racist garbage). :puke:

[Statistical]

5. She is lethally misinformed.

Is coal was just carbon it would be bad for GHG (global warming) but not present a direct health risk.

However what coal plants burn would be more accurately called "mostly coal with lots of other toxic stuff".

Ask her if she likes swimming in and ingesting:
arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, vanadium, uranium, thorium, dioxins and PAH compounds.

[CountAllVotes]

6. her "rationale"

she says she lives "upstream" from the spill hence it has no effect on her.

She's so out of it on the sauce she probably doesn't even realize the spill happened!

It is pointless trying to talk to her. That is why I gave up on trying to talk to her. :puke: again.

[Statistical]

7. Well lucky for her if she is upstream (and really is upstream) her risk is much lower.

Sometimes even stupid people get lucky.

[CountAllVotes]

8. the Tennessee river is the main tributary

which leads to the Emory river. You throw garbage into a river it goes all over, that includes "upstream".

Personally, I would not swim anywhere near that river (any of them!). :scared:

[era veteran]

2. Coal the gift that keeps on giving

There is no such thing as cheap energy. We will pay for the use of coal for generations after we no longer burn it.