The TVA Christmas 2008 Disaster that the Mainstream Media has Managed to totally Ignore...Biggest Disaster in US History...How Clean is Coal?

On December 22nd there was a Massive Sludge Spill in Kingston Tennessee at 1 AM. The media , most MSM has barely covered this disaster. In many ways this is pure Criminal Negligence, there are thousands of Contaminated Acres at stake and Lives of the Citizens there as well. The local Media in the region has been telling people to BOIL their Water???? This is beyond dangerous. There should be Clean Safe Tankers of Water and Bottled Water being Delivered. The air water and soil should be being tested for ALL Heavy Metals, especially Mercury and Methylmercury and Arsenic. ( as well as thorium, copper, iron, and uranium, and thallium, and sulpheric acid and hydrochloric acid.) There should be Emergency Management TEAMS there monitoring the Health of the people and the water. This Disaster contaminated the River which is Drinking water for millions.
( Do click the title, and read more about the Mountain Defense Org. who is monitoring the situation).

Mercury is VERY dangerous, and one of the leading Wastes from Coal Mining. It causes Damage to the Heart, Brain and Kidneys. It can cause Irrepairable neurological Damage and renal damage, especially in infants, children and the elderly and pregnant women. Giving a Boil Alert is beyond Stupid, this means folks will Boil their water and being Concentrating the Heavy Metals and the Mercury, as well as Creating Mercury Vapors for them to Breath. ( sadly add the Heavy metal list up and it is a cocktail of heavy metals,arsenic, lead, iron,thallium,manganese,uranium,thorium,copper etc).( And don't forget that the sulpheric acid and hydrochloric acids are just as dangerous.....in Sunday December 28th papers it is revealed that TVA is doing the testing of water and soil and air.....Still NO statements or results revealed by EPA or ANY Government Emergency Team).

The four videos below are made by the United Mountain Defense Organization as well as locals in Canoes going out in Filming in the Area who are attempting to document the Damage....When you watch the videos, see if you can see ANY wildlife, a Single Bird even ? and also remember the Emory River that they show- remember that millions DRINK that Water....Please also note the Stacks emitting steam, where are they going to put the ash from that Steam Plant ? And last but not least- Count how many "offical" people do you see helping ???? Did you see any ?.....

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Aerials Tell the WHOLE story:

This video by the Mountain Defense Org is a Canoe tour, the guide paddles through the sludge and asks really good questions...

This 3rd video, please see at 4 minutes in the Large Cops appear to try to stear the locals away from the area,
talking about Signs about Keeping traffic out, interesting makes one wonder WHAT they don't want people to see ? HOW Bad is the damage ? ( must be bad when the cops are protecting the Evidence rather than the People of the Land).



Once again Bloggers are on top of this Situation, please do read ENCLAVE's posts on this, this Nashville Blogger is bringing up many signifigant issues , read more here. There are Citizen Journalists going out with the Mountain Defense Org and in Canoes filming as they paddle through the sludge, as you watch the videos you will see NO Government Employees or ANY Disaster Monitors ( EPA ? BLM? FEMA? Mines &Minerals Management Teams ? USGS ? ANY Emergency Management Teams ? It is a Government OWNED Site and Plant ...YET they are Absent).

And the Media is Once agin Complicit by NOT showing the Absence of Aid......This Disaster is Bigger than Katrina and Vadez combined....and there will be staggering Consequences due to this level of Negligence...the difference this time will be that the Government OWNS this disaster, Every Inch of it.
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This Section Below is taken from Enclave's Post of December 26th about the Toxic Contents of the Sludge that is now contaminating thousands of acres of Land, RiverBeds and the River and Creeks in the region.

"A commenter at NPR says that the Kingston ash sludge flood could contain a Pandora's box of nuclear wastes and that a savvy reporter with a Geiger counter might open it:
Your news piece on the coal ash spill in Tennessee had a laundry list of heavy metals that could be in the ash. I found it interesting that uranium and thorium were not listed as part of the heavy metals. That coal contains trace amounts of uranium leads to an annual release into the environment of 1,360 tons of uranium and 3,348 tons of thorium according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This is more uranium than is consumed by the nuclear power industry in a year. A typical coal plant emits over 5 tons of uranium in a year. (http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html) It would be interesting journalism to take a geiger counter down to the spill area in Tennessee and measure the millirems at the spill site versus normal ambient radiation.

Coal use for 50% of our nation's electricity comes with many environmental externalities not currently accounted for in its cost however the radiation danger is one of them not normally discussed as yet another danger. (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste)
Instead of just uncritically passing along TVA public relations material, why can't mainstream reporters earn the title "journalists" and do some more snooping around to confirm or deny independently the toxicity of the ash spill?
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Where is the Outrage, the Concern? Why Isn't Oak Ridge Sending people to educate and test the waters and soils ? The list of Contaminants is a Mile long, and the Amount of Heavy Metals, especially mercury and arsenic must be staggering. Sludge and Slag ALWAYS contains HUGE amounts of these Metals.The Fish and wildlife that are showing up dead, should be tested as well.
The First report I saw on the news "claimed" that the Mercury was Barely noticeable ? What the hell does THAT mean? Fish Kills Mean that there is REAL Danger....for ALL Living Creatures in the Region.