Hey I wrote today that we had some test results--it was premature.
I spoke with the folks who tested the samples and they are being good scientist and adhering to protocol. They have a Ph d. who reviews the results and they make sure of all the results and protocol before releasing results that can be completely depended on. Upon chatting with them I realized impatient as I am for independent data that I prefer for good science practices to speed.
We have been assured that the moment the results are verified to release them to UMD first so we can post them to this blog.
Our intention is to make this information available to the residents of Swan Pond road and the surrounding effected residents BEFORE the media and TVA. The folks who have dealt with this disaster have been the last to know to many times and UMD is committed to letting them be the first for once.
The folks conducting the test are in agreement with this philosophically.
So we beg everyones patience while the results are verified. We fully expect for the environmental communties samples to be closely examined--and intend to present them for full inspection.
All next week we should be getting results from a Knoxville lab as well--those results will be posted once they are processed as well.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
In essence this is what happened
This picture really does tell the story. TVA's towers now spill into the water as well as the air. Its like they turned the towers into the river and pumped 40 years of waste into a water supply.
Thank you river keeper for taking the pics and southwings for flying us over.
Thank you river keeper for taking the pics and southwings for flying us over.
Dec 29th flyover
These pictures fascinate me. I believe it to be the confluence of the Emory with the Clinch. Look at how the Emory looks completely saturated with ash. This is a high res picture and it appears that the Ash predictably has absorbed water and made kinda a slurry.
Please correct me if I am wrong about the location.
Protester marches outside TVA’s Chattanooga headquarters
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/dec/30/protester-marches-outside-tvas-chattanooga-headqua/?breakingnews
Standing outside the TVA headquarters on Market Street, Sheila Brock of Chattanooga is sandwiched between two florescent-yellow posterboards which discuss the dangers of fly ash.
“I don’t protest, I’m just a mom. This is not like what I do,” said Mrs. Brock, the lone protester at TVA Tuesday. “But I’m just angry and people need to wake up. This is their environment.”
Last week, one billion gallons of fly ash sludge spilled through a ruptured earthen dam near Kingston, Tenn. Mrs. Brock said she was moved to action when she heard a politician on TV Tuesday morning declare the area safe.
“It killed the fish! It killed the fish!” she exclaimed. “If it killed the fish, what’s it going to do to you?”
TVA officials said Tuesday that the most recent results of water sampling near the ash release area indicate that the concentrations of sampled contaminants either met or were below detection levels established by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to protect fish and aquatic life.
Mrs. Brock said she raised her family in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in which fly ash from coal stacks of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. was known to take paint off cars. When neighbors started falling ill from cancer and other diseases, she said the family moved to South Florida to escape the environmental contaminants.
“Honestly, I don’t understand why there’s not more people out here,” Mrs. Brock said, “why they’re not outraged that they’re lying to them. They’re not telling them how dangerous this is, what an environmental travesty this is.”
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Standing outside the TVA headquarters on Market Street, Sheila Brock of Chattanooga is sandwiched between two florescent-yellow posterboards which discuss the dangers of fly ash.
“I don’t protest, I’m just a mom. This is not like what I do,” said Mrs. Brock, the lone protester at TVA Tuesday. “But I’m just angry and people need to wake up. This is their environment.”
Last week, one billion gallons of fly ash sludge spilled through a ruptured earthen dam near Kingston, Tenn. Mrs. Brock said she was moved to action when she heard a politician on TV Tuesday morning declare the area safe.
“It killed the fish! It killed the fish!” she exclaimed. “If it killed the fish, what’s it going to do to you?”
TVA officials said Tuesday that the most recent results of water sampling near the ash release area indicate that the concentrations of sampled contaminants either met or were below detection levels established by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to protect fish and aquatic life.
Mrs. Brock said she raised her family in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in which fly ash from coal stacks of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. was known to take paint off cars. When neighbors started falling ill from cancer and other diseases, she said the family moved to South Florida to escape the environmental contaminants.
“Honestly, I don’t understand why there’s not more people out here,” Mrs. Brock said, “why they’re not outraged that they’re lying to them. They’re not telling them how dangerous this is, what an environmental travesty this is.”
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Local Residents need disposable cell phones for emergencies
Dear folks,
About 50 residents near Swan Pond Cirlce Rd won't have phone service for 6 weeks according to the local phone utility. They are coal ash impacted residents and they can't call the TVA impacted citizen hotline or call their friends or family. There are elderly residents who can't get out much and they have no way to know what is happening other than through speaking with United Mountain Defense volunteers. If you could please donate a working cell phone with minutes to a coal impacted resident please contact us.
The cheapest cell phones that we found were at Walmart. They were $10 for the phone and up to $90 for unlimited phone minutes. United Mountain Defense will deliver these phones to the coal impacted residents.
Please send phones to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you for your time,
Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
About 50 residents near Swan Pond Cirlce Rd won't have phone service for 6 weeks according to the local phone utility. They are coal ash impacted residents and they can't call the TVA impacted citizen hotline or call their friends or family. There are elderly residents who can't get out much and they have no way to know what is happening other than through speaking with United Mountain Defense volunteers. If you could please donate a working cell phone with minutes to a coal impacted resident please contact us.
The cheapest cell phones that we found were at Walmart. They were $10 for the phone and up to $90 for unlimited phone minutes. United Mountain Defense will deliver these phones to the coal impacted residents.
Please send phones to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you for your time,
Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
Monday, December 29, 2008
Dec 29, 2008 United Mtn Defense, TVA Coal Ash Disaster, South Wings Flyover
Dear folks,
December 29, 2008
(please repost to any and all news sources and blogs)
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
http://www.roaneviews.com/
It seems that some of the national media has finally gotten back from Christmas break. United Mountain Defense volunteers helped connect these national media sources with local residents who wanted to share their stories. We met with ABC, Truthout.org, GQ, and the Appalachian PBS series. United Mountain Defense volunteers performed water monitoring tests during the television interviews.
So after the first week of TVA’s Coal Ash Disaster the local residents are not much better off than when this first happened. Yesterday’s emergency public meeting in Kingston left many of the most directly affected Harriman community members without time to voice their concerns. And TVA has still not spoken with many of the most impacted residents.
United Mountain Defense volunteers videotaped an hour of interviews with local coal impacted residents. Our volunteers took sludge samples near Lakeshore Drive. Our volunteers also gathered samples of dead fish and other freshwater organisms to turn into a local laboratory. The Geiger counter that we used showed one reading of 130 CPM.
We noticed that the coal ash is beginning to dry out with cracks forming in some areas. We witnessed a live carp in a shallow pool of water on the edge of the coal ash.
United Mountain Defense volunteers wore dust masks throughout the day in order to protect our lungs and provide a model for how local residents could help protect themselves as well.
Tomorrow’s plan of action is to deliver more bottled water, deliver more educational materials to impacted residents, gather more water/ coal sludge samples, and continue to educate the media about TVA’s coal ash disaster. We hope to establish a local free bottled water distribution center as well.
This report is from a United Mountain Defense volunteer who went on a flyover with South Wings.
Monday December 29th 2008
Rockwood Municipal Airport Rockwood, TN
To whom it may concern,
At 9:45am this morning I arrived at the Rockwood Municipal Airport to attend a flyover of the contaminated area of Harriman and Kingston, Tennessee.
I met a resident of Swan Pond Circle Dr, and spoke with him for sometime about his time growing up and living in the area.
The fly over went well, for the most part. I met with two ABC Channel 6 news representatives at a little after 1pm and boarded the plane.
We passed over the Kingston coal plant 4 times if I remember correctly. I gathered about 6 minutes of footage while making occasional comments and answering questions for the news team. The flyover footage can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuD6IodQL8 . Thank you Southwings!
-Nick
Here’s how you can help. If you are a Roane county resident and would like to volunteer please contact us at 865 689 2778. If you are a resident who has been impacted by the coal ash disaster please contact us as well.
United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We are an all volunteer run organization. If you want to help from your home feel free to do a fundraiser where you live. We need money for bottled water, copies of outreach materials, gasoline, and laboratory work for water quality sampling. You can mail checks to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 OR use the PayPal account on our website www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
December 29, 2008
(please repost to any and all news sources and blogs)
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
http://www.roaneviews.com/
It seems that some of the national media has finally gotten back from Christmas break. United Mountain Defense volunteers helped connect these national media sources with local residents who wanted to share their stories. We met with ABC, Truthout.org, GQ, and the Appalachian PBS series. United Mountain Defense volunteers performed water monitoring tests during the television interviews.
So after the first week of TVA’s Coal Ash Disaster the local residents are not much better off than when this first happened. Yesterday’s emergency public meeting in Kingston left many of the most directly affected Harriman community members without time to voice their concerns. And TVA has still not spoken with many of the most impacted residents.
United Mountain Defense volunteers videotaped an hour of interviews with local coal impacted residents. Our volunteers took sludge samples near Lakeshore Drive. Our volunteers also gathered samples of dead fish and other freshwater organisms to turn into a local laboratory. The Geiger counter that we used showed one reading of 130 CPM.
We noticed that the coal ash is beginning to dry out with cracks forming in some areas. We witnessed a live carp in a shallow pool of water on the edge of the coal ash.
United Mountain Defense volunteers wore dust masks throughout the day in order to protect our lungs and provide a model for how local residents could help protect themselves as well.
Tomorrow’s plan of action is to deliver more bottled water, deliver more educational materials to impacted residents, gather more water/ coal sludge samples, and continue to educate the media about TVA’s coal ash disaster. We hope to establish a local free bottled water distribution center as well.
This report is from a United Mountain Defense volunteer who went on a flyover with South Wings.
Monday December 29th 2008
Rockwood Municipal Airport Rockwood, TN
To whom it may concern,
At 9:45am this morning I arrived at the Rockwood Municipal Airport to attend a flyover of the contaminated area of Harriman and Kingston, Tennessee.
I met a resident of Swan Pond Circle Dr, and spoke with him for sometime about his time growing up and living in the area.
The fly over went well, for the most part. I met with two ABC Channel 6 news representatives at a little after 1pm and boarded the plane.
We passed over the Kingston coal plant 4 times if I remember correctly. I gathered about 6 minutes of footage while making occasional comments and answering questions for the news team. The flyover footage can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuD6IodQL8 . Thank you Southwings!
-Nick
Here’s how you can help. If you are a Roane county resident and would like to volunteer please contact us at 865 689 2778. If you are a resident who has been impacted by the coal ash disaster please contact us as well.
United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We are an all volunteer run organization. If you want to help from your home feel free to do a fundraiser where you live. We need money for bottled water, copies of outreach materials, gasoline, and laboratory work for water quality sampling. You can mail checks to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 OR use the PayPal account on our website www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Fly over
Here is a brief United Mountain Defense video of a fly over the disaster area. The fly over took place on the 29th of December 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuD6IodQL8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuD6IodQL8
Youtube videos of Canoe trip on Emory River Dec 27, 2008
Hi all,
I posted the first video of our river trip on the Clinch and Emory rivers to YouTube tonight.
You can view it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ats3dClc0No
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmihsLzT7XQ
Donna Marie Lisenby
Upper Watauga Riverkeeper
a program of Appalachian Voices
191 Howard Street
Boone, NC 28607
828-262-1500
www.appalachianvoices.org
www.iLoveMountains.org
Member Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.
I posted another.
John L. WathenHurricane Creekkeeper
Coal is Dirty, Dangerous, and Depleting
I posted the first video of our river trip on the Clinch and Emory rivers to YouTube tonight.
You can view it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ats3dClc0No
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmihsLzT7XQ
Donna Marie Lisenby
Upper Watauga Riverkeeper
a program of Appalachian Voices
191 Howard Street
Boone, NC 28607
828-262-1500
www.appalachianvoices.org
www.iLoveMountains.org
Member Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.
I posted another.
John L. WathenHurricane Creekkeeper
Coal is Dirty, Dangerous, and Depleting
December 29, 2008 Fly over with South Wings Pics
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll297/creekkeeper_2008/Harriman%20Ashole%20flyover%20with%20SouthWings/
John L. Wathen Hurricane Creekkeeper
Coal is Dirty, Dangerous, and Depleting
John L. Wathen Hurricane Creekkeeper
Coal is Dirty, Dangerous, and Depleting
The Un Reported Story
Dear folks,
All of the media is ignoring the story about the residents of Swan Pond Rd who don't have coal ash in their yards but do have impacted drinking water. The corporate media is ignoring this story because the video is not so impressive. We have met residents who have vomited from drinking the un boiled water. We met a lady whose dogs vomited from drinking the un boiled water. These people will not get safer drinking water until this FRIDAY. Please help get this story out.
Thanks, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff for United Mountain Defense
All of the media is ignoring the story about the residents of Swan Pond Rd who don't have coal ash in their yards but do have impacted drinking water. The corporate media is ignoring this story because the video is not so impressive. We have met residents who have vomited from drinking the un boiled water. We met a lady whose dogs vomited from drinking the un boiled water. These people will not get safer drinking water until this FRIDAY. Please help get this story out.
Thanks, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff for United Mountain Defense
EPA found Arsenic and heavy metals in Emory River Water
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/29/tennessee.sludge/index.html
EPA: Rivers high in arsenic, heavy metals after sludge spill Story Highlights
KINGSTON, Tennessee (CNN) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has found high levels of arsenic and heavy metals in two rivers in central Tennessee that are near the site of a spill that unleashed more than a billion gallons of coal waste.
Four days after the spill, the water is cloudy on the east bank of the Clinch River in Kingston, Tennessee.
The agency said it found "several heavy metals" in the water in levels that are slightly above safe drinking-water standards but "below concentrations" known to be harmful to humans.
"The one exception may be arsenic," the agency said in a letter to an affected community. "One sample of river water out of many taken indicated concentrations that are very high and further investigations are in progress."
However, arsenic was not detected in a water intake facility near Kingston, Tennessee, where the spill happened, said EPA spokeswoman Laura Niles.
The metals were found in the Emory and Clinch rivers, near the site of a major spill last week that unleashed enough sludge to fill 1,660 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The EPA's letter comes as the head of the largest public power company in the nation pledged to clean up the massive spill.
"This is not a time where TVA holds its head high," said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority. "But we won't hang our head, either, because that won't get the job done. I'm here to tell you that we will clean it up, and we will clean it up right."
The sludge is a byproduct of the ash from coal combustion. A retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, contained the waste until a wall breached last Monday, sending the sludge downhill to damage 15 homes and cover at least 300 acres.
All residents in the area were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, according to the TVA.
The TVA's initial estimate for the spill tripled from 1.8 million cubic yards, or more than 360 million gallons of sludge, to 5.4 million cubic yards, or more than 1 billion gallons.
The plant sits on the Clinch River, which is a tributary of the Tennessee River. Video footage from the river, a popular fishing site, reveals piles of dead fish on its banks. The TVA says that has nothing to do with the toxicity of the sludge, though environmental advocates say the ash contains concentrated levels of mercury and arsenic.
TVA officials have said water quality tests from a nearby water treatment facility have shown that the water from the river intake meets federal and state guidelines for potable water. But coal operation critics remain concerned about the long-term effects of the spill, and residents have expressed concerns about drinking water, especially from wells.
Roane County Emergency Management Director Howie Rose said the county has asked the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to monitor groundwater from wells around the area. He and Kilgore spoke at a town hall meeting Sunday.
Rose said the county has also requested air quality tests from the state and federal agencies.
EPA: Rivers high in arsenic, heavy metals after sludge spill Story Highlights
KINGSTON, Tennessee (CNN) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has found high levels of arsenic and heavy metals in two rivers in central Tennessee that are near the site of a spill that unleashed more than a billion gallons of coal waste.
Four days after the spill, the water is cloudy on the east bank of the Clinch River in Kingston, Tennessee.
The agency said it found "several heavy metals" in the water in levels that are slightly above safe drinking-water standards but "below concentrations" known to be harmful to humans.
"The one exception may be arsenic," the agency said in a letter to an affected community. "One sample of river water out of many taken indicated concentrations that are very high and further investigations are in progress."
However, arsenic was not detected in a water intake facility near Kingston, Tennessee, where the spill happened, said EPA spokeswoman Laura Niles.
The metals were found in the Emory and Clinch rivers, near the site of a major spill last week that unleashed enough sludge to fill 1,660 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The EPA's letter comes as the head of the largest public power company in the nation pledged to clean up the massive spill.
"This is not a time where TVA holds its head high," said Tom Kilgore, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority. "But we won't hang our head, either, because that won't get the job done. I'm here to tell you that we will clean it up, and we will clean it up right."
The sludge is a byproduct of the ash from coal combustion. A retention site at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, contained the waste until a wall breached last Monday, sending the sludge downhill to damage 15 homes and cover at least 300 acres.
All residents in the area were evacuated, and three homes were deemed uninhabitable, according to the TVA.
The TVA's initial estimate for the spill tripled from 1.8 million cubic yards, or more than 360 million gallons of sludge, to 5.4 million cubic yards, or more than 1 billion gallons.
The plant sits on the Clinch River, which is a tributary of the Tennessee River. Video footage from the river, a popular fishing site, reveals piles of dead fish on its banks. The TVA says that has nothing to do with the toxicity of the sludge, though environmental advocates say the ash contains concentrated levels of mercury and arsenic.
TVA officials have said water quality tests from a nearby water treatment facility have shown that the water from the river intake meets federal and state guidelines for potable water. But coal operation critics remain concerned about the long-term effects of the spill, and residents have expressed concerns about drinking water, especially from wells.
Roane County Emergency Management Director Howie Rose said the county has asked the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to monitor groundwater from wells around the area. He and Kilgore spoke at a town hall meeting Sunday.
Rose said the county has also requested air quality tests from the state and federal agencies.
Editorial in Tennessean today
This was written by one of UMDs board members--written BEFORE the accident, published today.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081229/OPINION01/812290317/1008
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20081229/OPINION01/812290317/1008
EPA letter to Roane County TN - TVA coal ash spill
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-7e3c09c4.html
EPA letter to Roane County TN - TVA coal ash spill
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-7e3c09c4.html
You will notice the comments about arsenic--what we have been telling people since this story broke.
EPA letter to Roane County TN - TVA coal ash spill
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-7e3c09c4.html
You will notice the comments about arsenic--what we have been telling people since this story broke.
Dec 28, 2008 United Mtn Defense Saturates Kingston Public Meeting TVA Coal Ash Disaster
Dear folks,
Dec 28,2008
(Please repost to all online news sites and blogs)
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
http://www.roaneviews.com/
Volunteers for United Mountain Defense handed out flyers announcing the Public Meeting that was scheduled to happen in Kingston, TN at 4:30pm. We also distributed copies of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) dealing with different grades of coal ash. The information contained on these Safety sheets suggests that as this coal ash dries out and becomes more airborne that everyone should wear single or double filter respirators. Also each house should have a HEPA filter and change the filter once a week. United Mountain Defense volunteers were reporting having soar throats at the end of the day today after being in the disaster zone all day. We will be purchasing respirators for our ground crews. It will be an interesting day as we deliver MSDS information to local residents while wearing lung protection. United Mountain Defense volunteers continued to deliver clean bottled water to residents on Swan Pond Rd.
Many residents originally stated that they either didn't know about the public meeting or weren't planning on attending until United Mountain Defense volunteers delivered an announcement flyer.
United Mountain Defense volunteers arrived an hour before the meeting in an effort to set out free informational materials dealing with the coal ash. The meeting got so large that we had to move across the street to the high school gym. Once inside United Mountain Defense volunteers set up a slide projector which continuously scrolled more than 120 photos taken by the Hurricane Creek River Keeper John L. Wathen taken from the Emory River where the coal ash spill was migrating into the river. We also saturated the audience with free safety information.
The meeting was called by the city of Kingston and many of the directly impacted residents live in Harriman. Once we arrived at the meeting we were informed that Kingston residents would take priority over other speakers. Of course the most directly impacted residents of Harriman felt their concerns were taking a back burner. United Mountain Defense had cameras rolling and recorded the entire meeting. There were many concerned residents with some very fiery speeches.
Here is what TVA said they would do for impacted residents
TVA promised to pay for testing of anyone’s well water in the area of the coal ash disaster.
TVA promised to hold one or more public meetings about a new coal ash waste gypsum storage facility that is being built very near the disaster site.
TVA agreed to have an independent design assessment team look over the designs of this new waste storage area.
TVA agreed to independent surveys of all of their ash ponds.
TVA promised to install sprinklers at anyone’s property to help keep the coming ash dust down around impacted residents homes.
TVA promised to install fencing along water ways and the sludge disaster area to keep children and pets out of the area.
After the meeting there was an informal question session and I had the chance to ask about the two unsafe levels of contaminants found in drinking water according to TDEC sampling. I asked this question to a Kingston City Council member and to Tom Kilgore TVA’s CEO. Kilgore looked as white as a sheet after having to dish out the company line for more than 3 hours and wasn’t in any state to answer my question. I decided to call TDEC for more info today. I have a call back pending.
Thanks for your work and time. We are very busy here in the ground. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We need funds for copies, bottled water, gas, and to help charge up the cell phone.
If you are a resident impacted by TVA's Coal Ash Disaster contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
If you can make a donation go our website at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
or send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you for your time. Till then , Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
Dec 28,2008
(Please repost to all online news sites and blogs)
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
http://www.roaneviews.com/
Volunteers for United Mountain Defense handed out flyers announcing the Public Meeting that was scheduled to happen in Kingston, TN at 4:30pm. We also distributed copies of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) dealing with different grades of coal ash. The information contained on these Safety sheets suggests that as this coal ash dries out and becomes more airborne that everyone should wear single or double filter respirators. Also each house should have a HEPA filter and change the filter once a week. United Mountain Defense volunteers were reporting having soar throats at the end of the day today after being in the disaster zone all day. We will be purchasing respirators for our ground crews. It will be an interesting day as we deliver MSDS information to local residents while wearing lung protection. United Mountain Defense volunteers continued to deliver clean bottled water to residents on Swan Pond Rd.
Many residents originally stated that they either didn't know about the public meeting or weren't planning on attending until United Mountain Defense volunteers delivered an announcement flyer.
United Mountain Defense volunteers arrived an hour before the meeting in an effort to set out free informational materials dealing with the coal ash. The meeting got so large that we had to move across the street to the high school gym. Once inside United Mountain Defense volunteers set up a slide projector which continuously scrolled more than 120 photos taken by the Hurricane Creek River Keeper John L. Wathen taken from the Emory River where the coal ash spill was migrating into the river. We also saturated the audience with free safety information.
The meeting was called by the city of Kingston and many of the directly impacted residents live in Harriman. Once we arrived at the meeting we were informed that Kingston residents would take priority over other speakers. Of course the most directly impacted residents of Harriman felt their concerns were taking a back burner. United Mountain Defense had cameras rolling and recorded the entire meeting. There were many concerned residents with some very fiery speeches.
Here is what TVA said they would do for impacted residents
TVA promised to pay for testing of anyone’s well water in the area of the coal ash disaster.
TVA promised to hold one or more public meetings about a new coal ash waste gypsum storage facility that is being built very near the disaster site.
TVA agreed to have an independent design assessment team look over the designs of this new waste storage area.
TVA agreed to independent surveys of all of their ash ponds.
TVA promised to install sprinklers at anyone’s property to help keep the coming ash dust down around impacted residents homes.
TVA promised to install fencing along water ways and the sludge disaster area to keep children and pets out of the area.
After the meeting there was an informal question session and I had the chance to ask about the two unsafe levels of contaminants found in drinking water according to TDEC sampling. I asked this question to a Kingston City Council member and to Tom Kilgore TVA’s CEO. Kilgore looked as white as a sheet after having to dish out the company line for more than 3 hours and wasn’t in any state to answer my question. I decided to call TDEC for more info today. I have a call back pending.
Thanks for your work and time. We are very busy here in the ground. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We need funds for copies, bottled water, gas, and to help charge up the cell phone.
If you are a resident impacted by TVA's Coal Ash Disaster contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
If you can make a donation go our website at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
or send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you for your time. Till then , Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Dec 27, 2008 United Mtn Defense at Kingston Public Meeting TVA Coal Ash Disaster
Dear folks,
Dec 27, 2008
(please re post to any and all online blogs and news sources)
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll297/creekkeeper_2008/Harriman%20Coal%20ash%20spill/
Photos from the Emory River Dec 27, 2008 taken by Hurrican Creek River Keeper-- John L. Wathen of Tuscaloosa, AL
United Mountain Defense volunteers spent yesterday Dec 27, 2008 delivering Material Safety Data Sheets about fly ash and announcements about the Public Meeting in Kingston to the coal impacted citizens around TVA's coal ash disaster. We also mobilized volunteers from the Hurricane Creek Keeper of Tuscaloosa, AL and Upper Watauga River Keeper of Boone, NC to paddle up the river and gather samples of river water, sludge, and document all the impacts they could see. While in route they were interviewed by a New York Times reporter in a bass boat. They are sending their samples to a Toxicity Lab at Appalachian State University and are hoping to get the results back on Tuesday. After the flotilla scanned the area for no trespassing/warning/danger signs, which they could not find, they paddled directly into TVA's coal ash spill area. They observed TVA damming the river with large rip rap, rocks. There are rumors that TVA may be re- routing the river around this dam, potentially turning this river section into a MASSIVE slurry pond. Of course once the paddlers made it to the disaster site they could not be accessed by the motorized boats of the TVA or local police due to the shallow water level. Upon completion of gathering samples the three paddlers surrendered to TVA police and received warning citations for trespassing and were set free. The immediate tests they took showed the highest conductivity level of 209 at the coal ash spill site. The conductivity level further down river was 80. At another site on the Lakeshore Rd in the inlet the conductivity reading was over 300. Conductivity shows the amount of dissolved metals or salt in the water and the preliminary results we found were not outside of the acceptable range. United Mountain Defense has also sent off the chilled water samples from Day 1-Day 5 to local labs for testing. Look for their video to be posted on the Appalachian Voices website soon.
We just learned last night on the local news the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation stated their water tests showed contaminant levels above safe limits in the drinking water. There was no info about what contaminants, whose drinking water, and what precautions to take. This is truely insane!
The on the ground situation is constantly changing here. There are numerous dump trucks driving very fast down these windy roads to deliver rip rap rock for the river dam. These trucks appear to be overloaded and overwieght. United Mountain Defense still has a lot of outreach left to do. Right now the best thing that you can do is help raise funds or send resources for our ground work.
We need money for Sony Premium DVM 60 Digitial Mini VideoCassette Tapes, hundreds of copies @ .10 cents a piece, automobile gas, airplane gas for SouthWings flyovers, bottled water for impacted residents without clean water, recharging the cell phone for media work, and meriad of other expenses. Any help that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We are an all volunteer organization, we keep all reciepts, and we will make your money stretch as far a possible.
Mail check or gear to P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you, matt landon Full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
The following has been posted to the http://www.roaneviews.com/
Directions to the Public Meeting from Knoxville follow
Dear Roane County Residents,
We are sorry this disaster has befallen your county. The volunteers of United Mountain Defense are so concerned about your safety that we have been on the ground since Day 1 recording digital video, taking photographs, gathering water/ sludge samples, and distributing bottled water. We have been handing out copies of TVA's 2007 Kingston Plant Toxic Release Inventory, Material Safety Data Sheets for Coal Ash, and lists of chemicals that may be in the coal ash.
United Mountain Defense is providing free information to all concerned residents. All the information from the water samples we have gathered will be made available to you, the public. We will have slideshows of all our pictures and over 5 hours of video playing during the meeting for all to view. A picture is worth a thousand words and we have hundreds of high resolution pictures. We have also been in touch with other coal impacted communities that have dealt with coal ash spills in the past. These communities have wanted what every community wants, to feel safe and be safe, and to have access to all the information about the spill that may impact their friends, families, and local environment. Folks from the Forward Township in PA said they worked with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Center for Disease Control. United Mountain Defense will help start this process by having a one signature per page petition available for residents to sign to begin the process.
United Mountain Defense has been working with coal impacted communities all over East TN and Appalachia since 2005. United Mountain Defense volunteers are trained to understand the importance of keeping your information SECRET and will not share your name or personal information with anyone without your permission. We can help get your UNCENSORED story out to the world. We are posting videos online at YouTube and photos on Photo bucket and Flickr. If you are a coal impacted citizen and would like to speak with us please call at 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029.
You can check out our daily blog updates at http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Also check out our website
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Thank You, Good Luck,
Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Dec 27, 2008
(please re post to any and all online blogs and news sources)
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll297/creekkeeper_2008/Harriman%20Coal%20ash%20spill/
Photos from the Emory River Dec 27, 2008 taken by Hurrican Creek River Keeper-- John L. Wathen of Tuscaloosa, AL
United Mountain Defense volunteers spent yesterday Dec 27, 2008 delivering Material Safety Data Sheets about fly ash and announcements about the Public Meeting in Kingston to the coal impacted citizens around TVA's coal ash disaster. We also mobilized volunteers from the Hurricane Creek Keeper of Tuscaloosa, AL and Upper Watauga River Keeper of Boone, NC to paddle up the river and gather samples of river water, sludge, and document all the impacts they could see. While in route they were interviewed by a New York Times reporter in a bass boat. They are sending their samples to a Toxicity Lab at Appalachian State University and are hoping to get the results back on Tuesday. After the flotilla scanned the area for no trespassing/warning/danger signs, which they could not find, they paddled directly into TVA's coal ash spill area. They observed TVA damming the river with large rip rap, rocks. There are rumors that TVA may be re- routing the river around this dam, potentially turning this river section into a MASSIVE slurry pond. Of course once the paddlers made it to the disaster site they could not be accessed by the motorized boats of the TVA or local police due to the shallow water level. Upon completion of gathering samples the three paddlers surrendered to TVA police and received warning citations for trespassing and were set free. The immediate tests they took showed the highest conductivity level of 209 at the coal ash spill site. The conductivity level further down river was 80. At another site on the Lakeshore Rd in the inlet the conductivity reading was over 300. Conductivity shows the amount of dissolved metals or salt in the water and the preliminary results we found were not outside of the acceptable range. United Mountain Defense has also sent off the chilled water samples from Day 1-Day 5 to local labs for testing. Look for their video to be posted on the Appalachian Voices website soon.
We just learned last night on the local news the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation stated their water tests showed contaminant levels above safe limits in the drinking water. There was no info about what contaminants, whose drinking water, and what precautions to take. This is truely insane!
The on the ground situation is constantly changing here. There are numerous dump trucks driving very fast down these windy roads to deliver rip rap rock for the river dam. These trucks appear to be overloaded and overwieght. United Mountain Defense still has a lot of outreach left to do. Right now the best thing that you can do is help raise funds or send resources for our ground work.
We need money for Sony Premium DVM 60 Digitial Mini VideoCassette Tapes, hundreds of copies @ .10 cents a piece, automobile gas, airplane gas for SouthWings flyovers, bottled water for impacted residents without clean water, recharging the cell phone for media work, and meriad of other expenses. Any help that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We are an all volunteer organization, we keep all reciepts, and we will make your money stretch as far a possible.
Mail check or gear to P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920
Thank you, matt landon Full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
The following has been posted to the http://www.roaneviews.com/
Directions to the Public Meeting from Knoxville follow
Dear Roane County Residents,
We are sorry this disaster has befallen your county. The volunteers of United Mountain Defense are so concerned about your safety that we have been on the ground since Day 1 recording digital video, taking photographs, gathering water/ sludge samples, and distributing bottled water. We have been handing out copies of TVA's 2007 Kingston Plant Toxic Release Inventory, Material Safety Data Sheets for Coal Ash, and lists of chemicals that may be in the coal ash.
United Mountain Defense is providing free information to all concerned residents. All the information from the water samples we have gathered will be made available to you, the public. We will have slideshows of all our pictures and over 5 hours of video playing during the meeting for all to view. A picture is worth a thousand words and we have hundreds of high resolution pictures. We have also been in touch with other coal impacted communities that have dealt with coal ash spills in the past. These communities have wanted what every community wants, to feel safe and be safe, and to have access to all the information about the spill that may impact their friends, families, and local environment. Folks from the Forward Township in PA said they worked with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Center for Disease Control. United Mountain Defense will help start this process by having a one signature per page petition available for residents to sign to begin the process.
United Mountain Defense has been working with coal impacted communities all over East TN and Appalachia since 2005. United Mountain Defense volunteers are trained to understand the importance of keeping your information SECRET and will not share your name or personal information with anyone without your permission. We can help get your UNCENSORED story out to the world. We are posting videos online at YouTube and photos on Photo bucket and Flickr. If you are a coal impacted citizen and would like to speak with us please call at 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029.
You can check out our daily blog updates at http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Also check out our website
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Thank You, Good Luck,
Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Dec 27, 2008 United Mountain Defense Volunteers in Digg Top 5
Currently # 4 in top stories on Digg.com.
Please digg up...
http://digg.com/politics/Cops_Arrest_Activists_For_Documenting_Ash_Spill_Damage_In_TN
Please digg up...
http://digg.com/politics/Cops_Arrest_Activists_For_Documenting_Ash_Spill_Damage_In_TN
Dec 26, 2008 Field Report TVA Coal Ash Disaster
Dear folks,
Dec 26, 2008
(Please repost to any and all online sites and news lists)
http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=9582711 UMD volunteers detained
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Today I awoke to a phone call. The kind progressive people of Roane County, TN had allowed me to post to their RoaneViews.com community forum last night. I was delighted to get a phone call and an offer of a work space in the area surrounding TVA's ash spill area. The local resident was so inspired by the ground truthing, outreach, and daily reports that United Mountain Defense was delivering that we were granted rent free use of the property. For this we are truly grateful. Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
After some frantic calls from national media wanting to shoot video footage of birds flapping around in coal sludge/ oil??????? United Mountain Defense volunteers headed out into the field for day 5 of the TVA coal ash spill. Upon meeting the first road block we were ushered into the Media Corral and informed that all roads were closed to anyone who was not a resident or related to a resident, especially media. We were informed that a lieutenant would be by shortly to give us more information about traveling beyond the road block. As United Mountain Defense and Independent Media volunteers took video of the roadblock we were informed that we were interfering with the officer's work by distracting him and needed to move back to the Media Corral. Of course we were compliant.
As we headed back to the Media Corral we saw two local residents who we had met during the previous 4 days. The elderly lady and her daughter were carrying heavy bags of groceries back from the Kroger's which was about 1/2 mile from the TVA roadblock. As they neared the roadblock, United Mountain Defense volunteers asked if they would like to have a ride on this overcast drizzly day. Of course they were happy for the chance to have a ride as it was probably nearly a mile down to their property. We cleared the back seats while the TVA officer overlooked and proceeded to drive back through the roadblock with locals in our car. Unfortunately this officer was on to us and stated that we could not get away with such shenanigans. He ordered us back to the Media Corral. The women sighed, picked up their heavy grocery bags and walked out into the cold drizzle back to their home.
The United Mountain Defense volunteers decided that TVA's Media Corral had not delivered all of the things it promised. We saddled up and headed out. The back entrance to the TVA's coal ash spill provided more panoramic shots of oozing sludge.
We drove around the back side of the spill area. This area provides views of the coal ash spill as far as the eye can see. We pulled to a stop to take some video and still shots of a handmade sign reading "Clean Coal ?" that someone had tied to a tree near the spill. United Mountain Defense volunteers were informed by an overworked, underpaid, and stressed TVA employee that we were trespassing and could not take pictures from this spot. Of course we were compliant with this employee's demands and proceeded to pull back onto the roadway and continue on our way. By the time that we reached the next road block the TVA employee pulled up next to our vehicle and informed the Kingston Police officer that we had obstructed traffic and trespassed on TVA property and we needed to be arrested. We were informed to pull over and wait to be arrested for taking photographs. Fortunately we pulled right next to a local news crew that was filming the increased police pressure on local residents and the effects this pressure was having on residents that had been through this TVA disaster. We were immediately interviewed at which point we explained who we were and what we were doing, testing water and taking photos. Personally I think it helped having the corporate media covering the story as it was happening to fellow journalists.
As the United Mountain Defense volunteers sat waiting for our citations we were documenting the whole event. We observed many local coal impacted residents being forced to justify who they were and where they lived before being allowed to enter their homes. This treatment of local residents adds a heavy burden to a serious situation. A number of residents feel that they are being treated as criminals when TVA has actually committed the crime of polluting the water, air, and land of Tennessee.
After more than an hour of being detained by a Kingston Police officer we were ordered to leave the area and not return without being arrested. As we were pulling away from the roadblock we were stopped once again by the overworked, stressed TVA employee. He said, “You have a tape of me and if I see that tape anywhere….Look in my eyes…… You know……You know…..” This employee’s comment caught me off guard in an unfamiliar way. Upon reflection I think that the TVA employee was overworked and scared to lose his job. We are not here to attack individual TVA employees. The TVA Executives are the ones who should be held accountable for the coal ash spill and the resulting destruction to waterways and possible health impacts to local residents.
Here is another account from a group of United Mountain Defense volunteers who were delivering water to residents of Swan Pond Rd.
“We went down to the TVA disaster site (fly ash coal spill) and were waved through the blockade by a TVA officer. As we drove down a residential street 4 United Mountain Defense volunteers started to deliver water to a list of people whom we gave water to two days earlier while one volunteer stayed with the car. Soon after we started passing out the water 3 carloads of TVA police officers came up and saw what we were doing, and started to tell us we had no right to deliver water to these people. We told them that we had talked to a TVA Displaced Resident Hotline representative, and they said, “TVA has told everybody the water just needed to be boiled. And unless their water was turned off, TVA would not pay for or bring these people water.” The TVA police informed us that TVA has been delivering water. We had talked to some coal impacted citizens that said that was true but others said it was not true and that, “TVA has to this day never said anything to them personally.” The TVA officers proceeded to gather the United Mountain Defense volunteer’s personal information and everybody’s pictures as if we were some major suspects of some kind. They did scare some of us, and I must say I was a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. We asked the TVA police why we could not deliver water to the people that needed it. They said looting was a concern. When asked if there had been any looting the TVA police said NO. Then they escorted us out.”
We understand that controlling the movement of the general public could be an important concern for TVA to address, but we think that the real issue is the destruction of the water by TVA’s coal ash spill.
I also just learned that the Kingston City Council will hold an emergency meeting. The following came directly from RoaneViews.com "Councilman Kevin McClure and Councilman Brant Williams have extended an invitation to all who are concerned about the impact of the TVA fly ash spill to attend the emergency City Council meeting on Sunday 12/28 at 4:30pm at the Kingston City Community Center. At this meeting the City of Kingston will begin the process of formulating its official reaction and response to the massive TVA fly ash spill. All concerned citizens should attend. Everyone who wishes to speak or comment will have that opportunity. We cannot place enough emphasis on how vital public input will be in helping us [the City Council] to understand the nature and full magnitude of this disaster. No one in Kingston, on City Council, TVA, or for that matter the State can claim to know what to do. We must be diligent and vocal, in order to retain our voice in the formulation of a reclamation/recovery plan. This will be a laborious and costly process. There will be good news and bad; great progress as well as disappointing delays. However, one thing is certain. We simply cannot sit back and allow those with vested interests in minimizing the public perception of the impact of this spill to dictate the clean-up and reparation process."
ALRIGHT! I actually have some good media work to report on. It appears that NPR has reported finding some handmade signs posted around the spill area that read "Clean Coal ?" It appears that there is local resistance to TVA’s lies. A United Mountain Defense volunteer just did an interview with the NPR reporter. Look for the story Sunday on Morning Edition.
If you are out there in cyber world please understand that the volunteers of United Mountain Defense are not trained medical professionals. We are not lawyers. We need help at this point. As you can read from the above accounts it is getting more difficult to obtain access to the disaster area so having more people on the ground here will only make this problem worse at this point. Please fundraise from where you live. United Mountain Defense has been on the ground since day 1 and we will continue to be on the ground. Today we plan to deliver more information which we received from the Forward Township, PA which had a similar coal ash spill. We are gathering more water samples. We have heavy metal water testing equipment on site. We will continue to share info for the world about what is happening on the ground here in Harriman, TN.
If you want to help us please raise money. We just spent $32 on copies to distribute to coal impacted residents. We are keeping our receipts and making any money you send stretch as far as possible. Thank you for the donations of time and money. United Mountain Defense is an all volunteer run organization.
Please contact us at 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029.
Check out our website at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
thanks, matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
Dec 26, 2008
(Please repost to any and all online sites and news lists)
http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=9582711 UMD volunteers detained
http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Today I awoke to a phone call. The kind progressive people of Roane County, TN had allowed me to post to their RoaneViews.com community forum last night. I was delighted to get a phone call and an offer of a work space in the area surrounding TVA's ash spill area. The local resident was so inspired by the ground truthing, outreach, and daily reports that United Mountain Defense was delivering that we were granted rent free use of the property. For this we are truly grateful. Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
After some frantic calls from national media wanting to shoot video footage of birds flapping around in coal sludge/ oil??????? United Mountain Defense volunteers headed out into the field for day 5 of the TVA coal ash spill. Upon meeting the first road block we were ushered into the Media Corral and informed that all roads were closed to anyone who was not a resident or related to a resident, especially media. We were informed that a lieutenant would be by shortly to give us more information about traveling beyond the road block. As United Mountain Defense and Independent Media volunteers took video of the roadblock we were informed that we were interfering with the officer's work by distracting him and needed to move back to the Media Corral. Of course we were compliant.
As we headed back to the Media Corral we saw two local residents who we had met during the previous 4 days. The elderly lady and her daughter were carrying heavy bags of groceries back from the Kroger's which was about 1/2 mile from the TVA roadblock. As they neared the roadblock, United Mountain Defense volunteers asked if they would like to have a ride on this overcast drizzly day. Of course they were happy for the chance to have a ride as it was probably nearly a mile down to their property. We cleared the back seats while the TVA officer overlooked and proceeded to drive back through the roadblock with locals in our car. Unfortunately this officer was on to us and stated that we could not get away with such shenanigans. He ordered us back to the Media Corral. The women sighed, picked up their heavy grocery bags and walked out into the cold drizzle back to their home.
The United Mountain Defense volunteers decided that TVA's Media Corral had not delivered all of the things it promised. We saddled up and headed out. The back entrance to the TVA's coal ash spill provided more panoramic shots of oozing sludge.
We drove around the back side of the spill area. This area provides views of the coal ash spill as far as the eye can see. We pulled to a stop to take some video and still shots of a handmade sign reading "Clean Coal ?" that someone had tied to a tree near the spill. United Mountain Defense volunteers were informed by an overworked, underpaid, and stressed TVA employee that we were trespassing and could not take pictures from this spot. Of course we were compliant with this employee's demands and proceeded to pull back onto the roadway and continue on our way. By the time that we reached the next road block the TVA employee pulled up next to our vehicle and informed the Kingston Police officer that we had obstructed traffic and trespassed on TVA property and we needed to be arrested. We were informed to pull over and wait to be arrested for taking photographs. Fortunately we pulled right next to a local news crew that was filming the increased police pressure on local residents and the effects this pressure was having on residents that had been through this TVA disaster. We were immediately interviewed at which point we explained who we were and what we were doing, testing water and taking photos. Personally I think it helped having the corporate media covering the story as it was happening to fellow journalists.
As the United Mountain Defense volunteers sat waiting for our citations we were documenting the whole event. We observed many local coal impacted residents being forced to justify who they were and where they lived before being allowed to enter their homes. This treatment of local residents adds a heavy burden to a serious situation. A number of residents feel that they are being treated as criminals when TVA has actually committed the crime of polluting the water, air, and land of Tennessee.
After more than an hour of being detained by a Kingston Police officer we were ordered to leave the area and not return without being arrested. As we were pulling away from the roadblock we were stopped once again by the overworked, stressed TVA employee. He said, “You have a tape of me and if I see that tape anywhere….Look in my eyes…… You know……You know…..” This employee’s comment caught me off guard in an unfamiliar way. Upon reflection I think that the TVA employee was overworked and scared to lose his job. We are not here to attack individual TVA employees. The TVA Executives are the ones who should be held accountable for the coal ash spill and the resulting destruction to waterways and possible health impacts to local residents.
Here is another account from a group of United Mountain Defense volunteers who were delivering water to residents of Swan Pond Rd.
“We went down to the TVA disaster site (fly ash coal spill) and were waved through the blockade by a TVA officer. As we drove down a residential street 4 United Mountain Defense volunteers started to deliver water to a list of people whom we gave water to two days earlier while one volunteer stayed with the car. Soon after we started passing out the water 3 carloads of TVA police officers came up and saw what we were doing, and started to tell us we had no right to deliver water to these people. We told them that we had talked to a TVA Displaced Resident Hotline representative, and they said, “TVA has told everybody the water just needed to be boiled. And unless their water was turned off, TVA would not pay for or bring these people water.” The TVA police informed us that TVA has been delivering water. We had talked to some coal impacted citizens that said that was true but others said it was not true and that, “TVA has to this day never said anything to them personally.” The TVA officers proceeded to gather the United Mountain Defense volunteer’s personal information and everybody’s pictures as if we were some major suspects of some kind. They did scare some of us, and I must say I was a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. We asked the TVA police why we could not deliver water to the people that needed it. They said looting was a concern. When asked if there had been any looting the TVA police said NO. Then they escorted us out.”
We understand that controlling the movement of the general public could be an important concern for TVA to address, but we think that the real issue is the destruction of the water by TVA’s coal ash spill.
I also just learned that the Kingston City Council will hold an emergency meeting. The following came directly from RoaneViews.com "Councilman Kevin McClure and Councilman Brant Williams have extended an invitation to all who are concerned about the impact of the TVA fly ash spill to attend the emergency City Council meeting on Sunday 12/28 at 4:30pm at the Kingston City Community Center. At this meeting the City of Kingston will begin the process of formulating its official reaction and response to the massive TVA fly ash spill. All concerned citizens should attend. Everyone who wishes to speak or comment will have that opportunity. We cannot place enough emphasis on how vital public input will be in helping us [the City Council] to understand the nature and full magnitude of this disaster. No one in Kingston, on City Council, TVA, or for that matter the State can claim to know what to do. We must be diligent and vocal, in order to retain our voice in the formulation of a reclamation/recovery plan. This will be a laborious and costly process. There will be good news and bad; great progress as well as disappointing delays. However, one thing is certain. We simply cannot sit back and allow those with vested interests in minimizing the public perception of the impact of this spill to dictate the clean-up and reparation process."
ALRIGHT! I actually have some good media work to report on. It appears that NPR has reported finding some handmade signs posted around the spill area that read "Clean Coal ?" It appears that there is local resistance to TVA’s lies. A United Mountain Defense volunteer just did an interview with the NPR reporter. Look for the story Sunday on Morning Edition.
If you are out there in cyber world please understand that the volunteers of United Mountain Defense are not trained medical professionals. We are not lawyers. We need help at this point. As you can read from the above accounts it is getting more difficult to obtain access to the disaster area so having more people on the ground here will only make this problem worse at this point. Please fundraise from where you live. United Mountain Defense has been on the ground since day 1 and we will continue to be on the ground. Today we plan to deliver more information which we received from the Forward Township, PA which had a similar coal ash spill. We are gathering more water samples. We have heavy metal water testing equipment on site. We will continue to share info for the world about what is happening on the ground here in Harriman, TN.
If you want to help us please raise money. We just spent $32 on copies to distribute to coal impacted residents. We are keeping our receipts and making any money you send stretch as far as possible. Thank you for the donations of time and money. United Mountain Defense is an all volunteer run organization.
Please contact us at 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029.
Check out our website at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
thanks, matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense
Fact sheet to protect yourself from flyash
This is from a Penn. resident who was buried in ash a few years ago.
What can we do to protect ourselves?
It is understandable that affected residents and emergency responders may have questions as to how to best protect themselves from exposure to the TVA fly ash. It is widely known that coal combustion wastes, commonly known as fly ash, contain toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, lead, thallium, hexavalent chromium and more.
In January 2005 a small western Pennsylvania community in Forward Township experienced a fly ash landslide. As no one from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) provided any safety guidelines, the residents sought guidance from public health officials from the University of Pittsburgh and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The residents of Forward Township were told to do the following to provide some level of protection for themselves, their families and their pets. Please know these suggestions are not a cure for the problems you face, but they are some suggested safeguards to provide some common sense practices you can use in your homes to help reduce some of your exposures to the fly ash.
1. Leave all shoes, boots and exposed clothing outside. Try not to take fly ash inside your homes on shoes or clothing.
2. Wash pets’ feet before they enter your home.
3. Wash your face and hands often – especially before eating.
4. Avoid parking cars/trucks with fly ash on tires in garages attached to your home. Tracking fly ash into garages where people and pets can walk through it can bring the fly ash back inside your homes.
5. NEVER SWEEP FLY ASH – risks to humans are greatest when the fly ash is airborne.
6. Don’t let children play outside near fly ash. Small children are at greatest risk due the fact that their hands frequently go in their mouths. If they have any fly ash on their hands they will then “ingest” the ash if they lick their fingers or a toy exposed to the ash.
6. Keep all windows and doors closed as much as possible.
7. Use HEPA air cleaning filtration, if possible. And change the filters once a week.
8. If possible, use vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters on carpets and floors inside your home.
9. When dusting use a damp cloth – don’t dry dust.
10. Never leave food uncovered – fly ash will settle on all surfaces.
What can we do to protect ourselves?
It is understandable that affected residents and emergency responders may have questions as to how to best protect themselves from exposure to the TVA fly ash. It is widely known that coal combustion wastes, commonly known as fly ash, contain toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, lead, thallium, hexavalent chromium and more.
In January 2005 a small western Pennsylvania community in Forward Township experienced a fly ash landslide. As no one from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) provided any safety guidelines, the residents sought guidance from public health officials from the University of Pittsburgh and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The residents of Forward Township were told to do the following to provide some level of protection for themselves, their families and their pets. Please know these suggestions are not a cure for the problems you face, but they are some suggested safeguards to provide some common sense practices you can use in your homes to help reduce some of your exposures to the fly ash.
1. Leave all shoes, boots and exposed clothing outside. Try not to take fly ash inside your homes on shoes or clothing.
2. Wash pets’ feet before they enter your home.
3. Wash your face and hands often – especially before eating.
4. Avoid parking cars/trucks with fly ash on tires in garages attached to your home. Tracking fly ash into garages where people and pets can walk through it can bring the fly ash back inside your homes.
5. NEVER SWEEP FLY ASH – risks to humans are greatest when the fly ash is airborne.
6. Don’t let children play outside near fly ash. Small children are at greatest risk due the fact that their hands frequently go in their mouths. If they have any fly ash on their hands they will then “ingest” the ash if they lick their fingers or a toy exposed to the ash.
6. Keep all windows and doors closed as much as possible.
7. Use HEPA air cleaning filtration, if possible. And change the filters once a week.
8. If possible, use vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters on carpets and floors inside your home.
9. When dusting use a damp cloth – don’t dry dust.
10. Never leave food uncovered – fly ash will settle on all surfaces.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
field report rockwood
"I live in Rockwood, TN, on Watts Bar Lake...probably 10 miles downstream from the ash spill. When I arrived home this afternoon, I snapped some photos of the cove I live on and attached them. Approximately 5 miles further downstream toward Rockwood is the Rockwood Water Treatment Plant where the entire area gets their drinking water."
TVA Rawfootage 12-24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t84z5J2T3Yw
Matt of United Mountain defense talks about how
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9cTDMEBNiQ
tva news clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrS4LMajbuk
More footage from the disaster site. Matt shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WQz6XJNheI
Peoples pets are eating fish killed by the toxic coal sludge from the TVA Kingston Disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dutctW9d-K0
more raw footage tva spill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-oASPtankM
tva roadblocks by Kingston Coal sludge spill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujSElW0iG74
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t84z5J2T3Yw
Matt of United Mountain defense talks about how
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9cTDMEBNiQ
tva news clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrS4LMajbuk
More footage from the disaster site. Matt shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WQz6XJNheI
Peoples pets are eating fish killed by the toxic coal sludge from the TVA Kingston Disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dutctW9d-K0
more raw footage tva spill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-oASPtankM
tva roadblocks by Kingston Coal sludge spill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujSElW0iG74
Council Meeting in Kingston Sunday
City Council meeting sunday at 430 pm. at the
Kingston Community Center. all invited and it's obviously about the spill.
there's a council person , Brant Williams, who is speaking out too..should
be interesting.
Kingston Community Center. all invited and it's obviously about the spill.
there's a council person , Brant Williams, who is speaking out too..should
be interesting.
Field report TVA ash disaster Dave Cooper Dec 27 2008
Greetings from Harriman TN, site of the spill
I brought 2 conductuvity meters for water testing down to the spill scene yesterday - along with Ph and dissolved oxygen testing equipment - I met up with United Mountain Defense members plus John Wathen of Riverkeepers (former chair of Citizens Coal Council)
We tried to drive back to the spill site but TVA became irate when we pulled off the road and tried to take some pictures - Matt and I were detained for almost an hour at a check point yesterday - TVA personnel appear to be under great strain, which is understandable but IMO they over-reacted. All we were doing was taking photos. This is a similar situation to what happened in Martin County - they block the roads for "public safety." Even the media is having trouble getting access now.
TVA completely underestimated the size of the spill, they are now saying 5.3 million cubic yards, thats 200 gallons per cubic yard so this is over 1 billion gallons in size. Apparently the stuff was stacked over 50 feet high - as high as a 5 story building.
If a dump truck can hold 10 cubic yards, it will take 500,000 trips to haul away all the ash (they are taking it back to the power plant). If they make one trip every 5 minutes, it will thus take 2.5 million minutes to clean up the spill - there are 525,000 minutes in a year so that means it would take 4.7 years to clean up the spill at these estimated rates.
Heres a great aerial video of the spill, best I have seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYGO7O30moM
I have been working with National Public Radio, CNN, ABC World News Tonight and NY Times - there is a flotilla of water testers going out today on kayaks.
Please have news media call Chris in Knoxville at 865 257 4029 - we are at 317 435 0088
Dave Cooper
I brought 2 conductuvity meters for water testing down to the spill scene yesterday - along with Ph and dissolved oxygen testing equipment - I met up with United Mountain Defense members plus John Wathen of Riverkeepers (former chair of Citizens Coal Council)
We tried to drive back to the spill site but TVA became irate when we pulled off the road and tried to take some pictures - Matt and I were detained for almost an hour at a check point yesterday - TVA personnel appear to be under great strain, which is understandable but IMO they over-reacted. All we were doing was taking photos. This is a similar situation to what happened in Martin County - they block the roads for "public safety." Even the media is having trouble getting access now.
TVA completely underestimated the size of the spill, they are now saying 5.3 million cubic yards, thats 200 gallons per cubic yard so this is over 1 billion gallons in size. Apparently the stuff was stacked over 50 feet high - as high as a 5 story building.
If a dump truck can hold 10 cubic yards, it will take 500,000 trips to haul away all the ash (they are taking it back to the power plant). If they make one trip every 5 minutes, it will thus take 2.5 million minutes to clean up the spill - there are 525,000 minutes in a year so that means it would take 4.7 years to clean up the spill at these estimated rates.
Heres a great aerial video of the spill, best I have seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYGO7O30moM
I have been working with National Public Radio, CNN, ABC World News Tonight and NY Times - there is a flotilla of water testers going out today on kayaks.
Please have news media call Chris in Knoxville at 865 257 4029 - we are at 317 435 0088
Dave Cooper
Friday, December 26, 2008
Ash safety sheets from Coal plants and studies
All of these sources are available as a free pdf download from our website at
unitedmountaindefense.org
LaFarge Fly Ash Facts PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9df74963.html
*
PG & E Fly Ash fact sheet PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-cdfc4629.html
*
Boral Fly Ash Safety Sheet PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-7e059f1f.html
Next two on unitedmountaindefense.org
Arsenic and Coal Waste
*
Human & Ecological Risk PDF
unitedmountaindefense.org
unitedmountaindefense.org
LaFarge Fly Ash Facts PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9df74963.html
*
PG & E Fly Ash fact sheet PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-cdfc4629.html
*
Boral Fly Ash Safety Sheet PDF
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-7e059f1f.html
Next two on unitedmountaindefense.org
Arsenic and Coal Waste
*
Human & Ecological Risk PDF
unitedmountaindefense.org
Canoe trip scout Dec 25th 2008
This is the footage from a canoe trip our field people took on the 25th of the TVA ash disaster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z79SLrizBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z79SLrizBw
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Dec 25, 2008 United Mtn Defense Update TVA Ash Pond Disaster
Dear folks,
December 25, 2008
(Please post to any and all websites, blogs, and online news sources.)
For most of my life Christmas morning was a time of hanging out in my pajamas, opening presents, eating really good food, and spending time with my family. This year was a little different. I spent Christmas in the man-made disaster that used to surround TVA's Kingston Coal Burning Power Plant. Due to TVA's negligence a HUGE coal ash pond exploded into the surrounding countryside dumping HUGE amounts of toxins into the local environment. I awoke around 9am to begin the day's work. I was greeted by an online edition of a front page article in the New York Times which ran today covering this breaking news story. I was happy to see the article listed on the front page but I was dismayed to see that the writer had missed some of the most important information that we had offered. United Mountain Defense's Volunteer Co-ordinator had spent nearly an hour on the phone yesterday getting the NYT up to speed on the issue and when I read the article there was no mention of United Mountain Defense or our Volunteer Co-ordinator.
The NYT got it wrong when they said, " On Swan Pond Road, home to the residences nearest the plant, a group of environmental advocates went door to door telling residents that boiling their water, as officials had suggested, would not remove heavy metals." At no time did we tell people that their water had heavy metals in it as we have not done any laboratory testing and have not seen any test results that claim otherwise. We merely suggested that other coal impacted citizens have had problems with their water and that heavy metals were found in other people's water. The info that we have been passing out to the people is pasted below and is found in the above attachments.
*******Please we want national, international, and intergalactic media coverage on this issue, but we want to keep the facts straight and we want United Mountain Defense to get credit for the work that we are doing.***************
Just think if the NYT called GreenPeace, Rainforest Action Network, or Coal River Mountain Watch don't you think the NYT would write the information correctly and give these groups written credit for their work. What is the difference here?
So once I was able to lasso United Mountain Defense's volunteer force away from their families during this holiday season we headed down to ground zero, Harriman TN. The time was nearly 1pm. TVA had promised everyone that they were so on top of it that they would continue to work through this holiday in order to fix the problem. The work that we observed TVA doing today was continuing to work to clear the railroad track. This is a necessity to TVA because if they can't get more coal to the Kingston Coal Plant then they can't produce more coal ash to dump on people's front lawns. We also observed a trench being dug to place water pipes for a large water pump that was being brought in pump the Frost Hollow Spring water out of a local farmer’s backyard before it floods any more of his barn and threatens to flood his house. This farmer wanted to plant a garden in the fertile ground of the flood plain near the fresh water spring in about 4 months. After we gave him info about what may be in the coal waste he asked me if I would plant a garden on that coal waste floodplain. It was like a knife in my gut when I said I would not. He thanked me for my honesty.
After the work of the past three days delivering info, water, friendly smiles, and handshakes we began receiving phone calls from local residents who were confused, had questions, concerns, and were very mad about the destruction and disruption of their lives. We had an hour long meeting with a resident who feared the impacts to the property value of her house and property. She was concerned about the fact that selling her house would become practically impossible because who wanted to buy a house next to an industrial superfund site. I think this was a valid concern. She also understood that this was not going to be a problem that would be over in 4-6 weeks as TVA had originally told the media. As we chatted, the bigger picture began to unfold before her eyes that this problem would most likely persist for a decade or longer. She also informed us that her cat had vomited after drinking the tap water. No one in her neighborhood had received any notices that their drinking water was impacted by the spill. They had not received any notices to boil their water. She and her cats were now drinking bottled water. She also informed us that TVA had lied when they stated," Every one of the affected residents has been contacted." She had not been contacted by anyone from TVA, the water department, or the sheriff's department. She lives within a mile radius of the disaster zone. As we continue to learn more we are seeing that this story is not an isolated one. TVA is a liar, liar with pants on fire!
As we have been traveling within the disaster zone we have encountered some residents who are very mad about the continued police presence at the entrances to their homes. These residents are shocked to see Independent Media making it through the check points when locals can’t make it through without showing identification and being interrogated. At the same time some of these residents want the media to be allowed through to help get the story out. The media just hasn’t been there for them. I assured them that Independent Media was on their side and was sharing their stories without divulging their identities unless they gave permission. This is what media solidarity looks like!
After our chat we set out to find the silt screens, Coast Guard, gravel berm, and live fish that TVA has been advertising as truths in the Emory River adjacent to the spill site. We launched a boat after witnessing three kayakers yesterday. To our surprise we were not chased down by the Coast Guard. We did not have to paddle over any silt fences. We did not have to portage over any gravel berms. We did not have to look hard to miss the fisherman or fish. Fortunately we took the digital video camera and captured almost an hour of spill footage from the river. The number of seagulls hanging out on the newly formed islands was incredible. Hopefully they were not scavenging any dead fish floating in the ash laden water. The water was very shallow in some parts. There was cream colored film floating on the water. At some times it looked like chocolate milk and may have been almost that thick. This ash was floating downstream unhindered as the current was strong enough to push our boat through the muck with some force at points. The flow was directed at the intake valves of the Kingston Water Utility. As we floated along we were trying to figure out where TVA would store all of this toxic waste. We figured out they were probably planning on storing a good portion of it in the bodies of Kingston residents. A few times while using the camera and framing the ash piles correctly it appeared as though we were looking at a twisted version grey version of the Bad Lands in South Dakota. While being surrounded by the oldest mountain range in the world we were floating amongst the youngest mountain range in the world. We named the highest peak Mt. Ash. We also gathered a sample of the ash using a paddle. As the sun set behind the Kingston Coal Plant Smoke Stacks we cleared the channel, packed up and headed home for the night.
Today has been a Christmas that I am not likely to ever forget. I didn't get to stay in my pajamas but I got to help sharpen the stake that will non violently be driven through the heart of TVA. East Tennessee and Appalachia has always been a stronghold of revolutionary movements and I am proud to continue in that long history!!!!
Hey want to help???
1 You need to begin sending requests to the Environmental Protection Agency, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, TVA, State of TN, Congressional Hearings, and anyone else you can think of to request public hearings. United Mountain Defense is mobilizing people here and they are plenty mad. We are ground truthing to provide accurate info to inform you, the public. We need your help in bringing the TVA criminals and their crimes into the light.
2 United Mountain Defense needs money to purchase water for these coal impacted residents. On Dec 24, 2008 United Mountain Defense Volunteers passed out over 50 gallons of water to 30 households. We are going to deliver more water tomorrow. We are buying water at $1.39 a gallon at the local Krogers.
3 United Mountain Defense needs general support funds as we are an all volunteer run organization. We mainly get funds from bake sales, spaghetti dinners, and dance/ house parties. Any funds you could send would be used for our valuable work only. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non-profit. You can read what we spend money on and we keep all receipts.
Alright, Thank you for your time.
Till then, Matt Landon Full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
December 25, 2008
(Please post to any and all websites, blogs, and online news sources.)
For most of my life Christmas morning was a time of hanging out in my pajamas, opening presents, eating really good food, and spending time with my family. This year was a little different. I spent Christmas in the man-made disaster that used to surround TVA's Kingston Coal Burning Power Plant. Due to TVA's negligence a HUGE coal ash pond exploded into the surrounding countryside dumping HUGE amounts of toxins into the local environment. I awoke around 9am to begin the day's work. I was greeted by an online edition of a front page article in the New York Times which ran today covering this breaking news story. I was happy to see the article listed on the front page but I was dismayed to see that the writer had missed some of the most important information that we had offered. United Mountain Defense's Volunteer Co-ordinator had spent nearly an hour on the phone yesterday getting the NYT up to speed on the issue and when I read the article there was no mention of United Mountain Defense or our Volunteer Co-ordinator.
The NYT got it wrong when they said, " On Swan Pond Road, home to the residences nearest the plant, a group of environmental advocates went door to door telling residents that boiling their water, as officials had suggested, would not remove heavy metals." At no time did we tell people that their water had heavy metals in it as we have not done any laboratory testing and have not seen any test results that claim otherwise. We merely suggested that other coal impacted citizens have had problems with their water and that heavy metals were found in other people's water. The info that we have been passing out to the people is pasted below and is found in the above attachments.
*******Please we want national, international, and intergalactic media coverage on this issue, but we want to keep the facts straight and we want United Mountain Defense to get credit for the work that we are doing.***************
Just think if the NYT called GreenPeace, Rainforest Action Network, or Coal River Mountain Watch don't you think the NYT would write the information correctly and give these groups written credit for their work. What is the difference here?
So once I was able to lasso United Mountain Defense's volunteer force away from their families during this holiday season we headed down to ground zero, Harriman TN. The time was nearly 1pm. TVA had promised everyone that they were so on top of it that they would continue to work through this holiday in order to fix the problem. The work that we observed TVA doing today was continuing to work to clear the railroad track. This is a necessity to TVA because if they can't get more coal to the Kingston Coal Plant then they can't produce more coal ash to dump on people's front lawns. We also observed a trench being dug to place water pipes for a large water pump that was being brought in pump the Frost Hollow Spring water out of a local farmer’s backyard before it floods any more of his barn and threatens to flood his house. This farmer wanted to plant a garden in the fertile ground of the flood plain near the fresh water spring in about 4 months. After we gave him info about what may be in the coal waste he asked me if I would plant a garden on that coal waste floodplain. It was like a knife in my gut when I said I would not. He thanked me for my honesty.
After the work of the past three days delivering info, water, friendly smiles, and handshakes we began receiving phone calls from local residents who were confused, had questions, concerns, and were very mad about the destruction and disruption of their lives. We had an hour long meeting with a resident who feared the impacts to the property value of her house and property. She was concerned about the fact that selling her house would become practically impossible because who wanted to buy a house next to an industrial superfund site. I think this was a valid concern. She also understood that this was not going to be a problem that would be over in 4-6 weeks as TVA had originally told the media. As we chatted, the bigger picture began to unfold before her eyes that this problem would most likely persist for a decade or longer. She also informed us that her cat had vomited after drinking the tap water. No one in her neighborhood had received any notices that their drinking water was impacted by the spill. They had not received any notices to boil their water. She and her cats were now drinking bottled water. She also informed us that TVA had lied when they stated," Every one of the affected residents has been contacted." She had not been contacted by anyone from TVA, the water department, or the sheriff's department. She lives within a mile radius of the disaster zone. As we continue to learn more we are seeing that this story is not an isolated one. TVA is a liar, liar with pants on fire!
As we have been traveling within the disaster zone we have encountered some residents who are very mad about the continued police presence at the entrances to their homes. These residents are shocked to see Independent Media making it through the check points when locals can’t make it through without showing identification and being interrogated. At the same time some of these residents want the media to be allowed through to help get the story out. The media just hasn’t been there for them. I assured them that Independent Media was on their side and was sharing their stories without divulging their identities unless they gave permission. This is what media solidarity looks like!
After our chat we set out to find the silt screens, Coast Guard, gravel berm, and live fish that TVA has been advertising as truths in the Emory River adjacent to the spill site. We launched a boat after witnessing three kayakers yesterday. To our surprise we were not chased down by the Coast Guard. We did not have to paddle over any silt fences. We did not have to portage over any gravel berms. We did not have to look hard to miss the fisherman or fish. Fortunately we took the digital video camera and captured almost an hour of spill footage from the river. The number of seagulls hanging out on the newly formed islands was incredible. Hopefully they were not scavenging any dead fish floating in the ash laden water. The water was very shallow in some parts. There was cream colored film floating on the water. At some times it looked like chocolate milk and may have been almost that thick. This ash was floating downstream unhindered as the current was strong enough to push our boat through the muck with some force at points. The flow was directed at the intake valves of the Kingston Water Utility. As we floated along we were trying to figure out where TVA would store all of this toxic waste. We figured out they were probably planning on storing a good portion of it in the bodies of Kingston residents. A few times while using the camera and framing the ash piles correctly it appeared as though we were looking at a twisted version grey version of the Bad Lands in South Dakota. While being surrounded by the oldest mountain range in the world we were floating amongst the youngest mountain range in the world. We named the highest peak Mt. Ash. We also gathered a sample of the ash using a paddle. As the sun set behind the Kingston Coal Plant Smoke Stacks we cleared the channel, packed up and headed home for the night.
Today has been a Christmas that I am not likely to ever forget. I didn't get to stay in my pajamas but I got to help sharpen the stake that will non violently be driven through the heart of TVA. East Tennessee and Appalachia has always been a stronghold of revolutionary movements and I am proud to continue in that long history!!!!
Hey want to help???
1 You need to begin sending requests to the Environmental Protection Agency, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, TVA, State of TN, Congressional Hearings, and anyone else you can think of to request public hearings. United Mountain Defense is mobilizing people here and they are plenty mad. We are ground truthing to provide accurate info to inform you, the public. We need your help in bringing the TVA criminals and their crimes into the light.
2 United Mountain Defense needs money to purchase water for these coal impacted residents. On Dec 24, 2008 United Mountain Defense Volunteers passed out over 50 gallons of water to 30 households. We are going to deliver more water tomorrow. We are buying water at $1.39 a gallon at the local Krogers.
3 United Mountain Defense needs general support funds as we are an all volunteer run organization. We mainly get funds from bake sales, spaghetti dinners, and dance/ house parties. Any funds you could send would be used for our valuable work only. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non-profit. You can read what we spend money on and we keep all receipts.
Alright, Thank you for your time.
Till then, Matt Landon Full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
Photos of disaster
Hey here are some photos of Ground Zero...
http://s555.photobucket.com/albums/jj443/anathapendika/
http://s555.photobucket.com/albums/jj443/anathapendika/
Dec 25 2008 ground pics from TVA sludge blowout
http://s415.photobucket.com/albums/pp232/christopherscottirwin/
Here are the new pictures of the TVA sludge blowout taken Dec 25th 2008 from the ground. Please credit unitedmountaindefense.org we have hi res.
http://s415.photobucket.com/albums/pp232/christopherscottirwin/
Field report Dec 24th 2008
Dear Folks,
December, 24, 2008
(Please post to any and all websites, blogs, and online news sources.)
I awoke at 7:30am in order to watch the Democracy Now coverage of the ash pond spill at 8am. After viewing the news coverage we headed out to the front lines. The day began around 10am as we were trying to define the perimeter of the ash pond spill. We began recording video on a road which was previously closed to vehicle traffic near a local church. TVA was trying to clear the Swan Pond Roadway with a bulldozer and bucket scoop. The bulldozer was spinning its tracks on the muddy asphalt. All of the coal ash waste was being pushed to either side of the road.
There is a large number of naturally occurring springs in the area. I bet that before the power plant was built that it was a beautiful place to drink water right from the ground. At least two of these springs were completely damned up by the coal ash spill and were beginning to back up leading to a threat of more flooding of local roads, houses, and farmland. It was horrible to see something as beautiful as a fresh water spring that could possibly be seen as a scourge due to man made damning. One resident quoted a TVA official who stated this was a "un-natural phenomenon." I agreed that a man-made disaster would be a un-natural phenomenon.
Swan Pond Rd was covered by 15 feet of coal sludge and so we traveled on Highland and some other back roads to access the main peninsula which faced the brunt of the tidal wave. As we drove we arrived at a road block with a local sheriff staffing the post. As we approached with running video we asked for access in order to distribute information about possible chemicals in the coal sludge, a request which he denied.
We asked for specific instances in which we could travel through the roadblock and he gave us a short list. Of course our cause did not fit into that list. He was very friendly and did share some of his experiences as a local resident. He stated that "TVA had created a big mess." As we stood and spoke he informed us the roadblock would open at 12pm, only 40 minutes from the present time. During this time we traveled along the open road handing out info.
We also met Anne League of Save Our Cumberland Mountains who had snuck past the roadblock after doing an informative phone interview with Democracy Now earlier in the morning. We learned that residents living along this stretch of road had public water coming from Kingston, though many of the residents gave us differing answers about the source of their water.
As the clock neared 12pm we prepared to see the sight that no other on-the-ground media source had captured since the spill took place 3 days earlier. Most of the media coverage had occurred from the air. The images and angles that we had been seeking since being on the ground on day 1 had finally become a reality for us. This was a reality that the local residents had been living with for nearly 1/2 a week. Some residents told us TVA had been dealing with leaks in the ash pond walls in 2004, 2006, and a month and half ago in 2008. We were not prepared for the devastation into which we drove.
The enormity of the destruction was almost too much for us to handle. We set up the tripod and took the panoramic shots with a slow horizontal pan from left to right. As TVA workers replaced the power lines and local police patrolled to help maintain order in the disaster zone we video taped the legacy that TVA left for the Kingston/ Harriman area of Tennessee. In an effort to capture the best shot possible we accidentally trespassed onto private property. As the local land owner came to inform us, we apologetically left the area after distributing some of our outreach materials. It is important to not overwhelm the local community and to take a humble approach to the work that we are undertaking as these people have been shat on by TVA and we should not add to the pile.
The goals of today were to gather as much video footage as possible, as many water samples as possible, and to get our outreach materials out to as many coal impacted residents as possible. I think that we succeeded at all of these goals today. We taped over an hour of footage. We gathered more than 24 water samples. We distributed at least 75 packets of info to coal impacted and local residents.
Today we continued to learn that many of the local residents who were or could be considered "impacted" were not given any type of aid including hotels, fresh water, information, a knock on the door informing them what the heck that big crash was or what had happened. We also learned that the peninsula had become more of a prison camp for impacted residents rather than their home.
Granted this is understandable and many residents were starting to complain about the number of cars traveling along their narrow road. There were serious complaints about the overuse of police force in questioning and turning away family or visiting friends during the holidays. After some citizen complaints to elected officials the local police force decided they could no longer staff a blockade but they increased the patrols throughout the day.
Later in the afternoon a member of United Mountain Defense offered to buy 50 gallons of water to distribute to residents of Swan Pond Rd who were informed to "boil their water before drinking it." We learned that their water source actually came from a spring located near Harriman up in Frost Hollow a short distance from the ash pond spill. Unfortunately for these 40 households their drinking water pipe traveled through the spill area. Yesterday we spoke with one man who had been vomiting for 12 hours after drinking a few pots of coffee made from the tainted water. We informed to go to the hospital and we could not find him again today.
Today we met a lady whose dogs had been vomiting after drinking the un-boiled tainted water. This lady had been boiling water all day with one small electric eye in order to water her herd of dogs, have drinking water for her family, and cook the Christmas dinner. She was very happy to receive the multiple gallons of water. We grabbed samples of her tap water.
Upon observation we saw large particles floating in the water. The people working to put in a new water line for these residents had run into complications due to bedrock and had pushed back the scheduled completion of the waterline until Friday January 3, 2009. TVA was informing these residents to boil their water for the next 5 days. If TVA thinks residents need to boil the water first then it must not be safe. Why is it not safe? What are the problems? We need to know!
In the span of 1 hour we distributed all of the water to thirsty residents. Many were elderly men and women. Some had kidney problems. Some had not ingested the tap water for years now. A few of the people that we met asked that we give the water to others that needed it more and we received blessings, thanks, and praises for delivering water on Christmas Eve.
United Mountain Defense volunteers will be in the field early on Christmas Day delivering more water, filming from the lakefront, and meeting with coal impacted residents. The impacted coal residents of Tennessee don't get a day off so we won't take one off either.
As we drove back to Knoxville in the rain we began to plan how TVA's criminal actions would impact our lives over the next few days, weeks, months and years. United Mountain Defense is in a unique situation at this time. This is the work that we have been training for for the past 5 years. This is the time to act. This is the major mistake that the coal industry and TVA does not want the world to know about. We can change the future. Join us please. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We accept donations of money and resources. You can do a fundraiser in your hometown. You can copy this post to any and all websites.
Check out our webpage at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out this link with some of Santa’s videos http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person
contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
December, 24, 2008
(Please post to any and all websites, blogs, and online news sources.)
I awoke at 7:30am in order to watch the Democracy Now coverage of the ash pond spill at 8am. After viewing the news coverage we headed out to the front lines. The day began around 10am as we were trying to define the perimeter of the ash pond spill. We began recording video on a road which was previously closed to vehicle traffic near a local church. TVA was trying to clear the Swan Pond Roadway with a bulldozer and bucket scoop. The bulldozer was spinning its tracks on the muddy asphalt. All of the coal ash waste was being pushed to either side of the road.
There is a large number of naturally occurring springs in the area. I bet that before the power plant was built that it was a beautiful place to drink water right from the ground. At least two of these springs were completely damned up by the coal ash spill and were beginning to back up leading to a threat of more flooding of local roads, houses, and farmland. It was horrible to see something as beautiful as a fresh water spring that could possibly be seen as a scourge due to man made damning. One resident quoted a TVA official who stated this was a "un-natural phenomenon." I agreed that a man-made disaster would be a un-natural phenomenon.
Swan Pond Rd was covered by 15 feet of coal sludge and so we traveled on Highland and some other back roads to access the main peninsula which faced the brunt of the tidal wave. As we drove we arrived at a road block with a local sheriff staffing the post. As we approached with running video we asked for access in order to distribute information about possible chemicals in the coal sludge, a request which he denied.
We asked for specific instances in which we could travel through the roadblock and he gave us a short list. Of course our cause did not fit into that list. He was very friendly and did share some of his experiences as a local resident. He stated that "TVA had created a big mess." As we stood and spoke he informed us the roadblock would open at 12pm, only 40 minutes from the present time. During this time we traveled along the open road handing out info.
We also met Anne League of Save Our Cumberland Mountains who had snuck past the roadblock after doing an informative phone interview with Democracy Now earlier in the morning. We learned that residents living along this stretch of road had public water coming from Kingston, though many of the residents gave us differing answers about the source of their water.
As the clock neared 12pm we prepared to see the sight that no other on-the-ground media source had captured since the spill took place 3 days earlier. Most of the media coverage had occurred from the air. The images and angles that we had been seeking since being on the ground on day 1 had finally become a reality for us. This was a reality that the local residents had been living with for nearly 1/2 a week. Some residents told us TVA had been dealing with leaks in the ash pond walls in 2004, 2006, and a month and half ago in 2008. We were not prepared for the devastation into which we drove.
The enormity of the destruction was almost too much for us to handle. We set up the tripod and took the panoramic shots with a slow horizontal pan from left to right. As TVA workers replaced the power lines and local police patrolled to help maintain order in the disaster zone we video taped the legacy that TVA left for the Kingston/ Harriman area of Tennessee. In an effort to capture the best shot possible we accidentally trespassed onto private property. As the local land owner came to inform us, we apologetically left the area after distributing some of our outreach materials. It is important to not overwhelm the local community and to take a humble approach to the work that we are undertaking as these people have been shat on by TVA and we should not add to the pile.
The goals of today were to gather as much video footage as possible, as many water samples as possible, and to get our outreach materials out to as many coal impacted residents as possible. I think that we succeeded at all of these goals today. We taped over an hour of footage. We gathered more than 24 water samples. We distributed at least 75 packets of info to coal impacted and local residents.
Today we continued to learn that many of the local residents who were or could be considered "impacted" were not given any type of aid including hotels, fresh water, information, a knock on the door informing them what the heck that big crash was or what had happened. We also learned that the peninsula had become more of a prison camp for impacted residents rather than their home.
Granted this is understandable and many residents were starting to complain about the number of cars traveling along their narrow road. There were serious complaints about the overuse of police force in questioning and turning away family or visiting friends during the holidays. After some citizen complaints to elected officials the local police force decided they could no longer staff a blockade but they increased the patrols throughout the day.
Later in the afternoon a member of United Mountain Defense offered to buy 50 gallons of water to distribute to residents of Swan Pond Rd who were informed to "boil their water before drinking it." We learned that their water source actually came from a spring located near Harriman up in Frost Hollow a short distance from the ash pond spill. Unfortunately for these 40 households their drinking water pipe traveled through the spill area. Yesterday we spoke with one man who had been vomiting for 12 hours after drinking a few pots of coffee made from the tainted water. We informed to go to the hospital and we could not find him again today.
Today we met a lady whose dogs had been vomiting after drinking the un-boiled tainted water. This lady had been boiling water all day with one small electric eye in order to water her herd of dogs, have drinking water for her family, and cook the Christmas dinner. She was very happy to receive the multiple gallons of water. We grabbed samples of her tap water.
Upon observation we saw large particles floating in the water. The people working to put in a new water line for these residents had run into complications due to bedrock and had pushed back the scheduled completion of the waterline until Friday January 3, 2009. TVA was informing these residents to boil their water for the next 5 days. If TVA thinks residents need to boil the water first then it must not be safe. Why is it not safe? What are the problems? We need to know!
In the span of 1 hour we distributed all of the water to thirsty residents. Many were elderly men and women. Some had kidney problems. Some had not ingested the tap water for years now. A few of the people that we met asked that we give the water to others that needed it more and we received blessings, thanks, and praises for delivering water on Christmas Eve.
United Mountain Defense volunteers will be in the field early on Christmas Day delivering more water, filming from the lakefront, and meeting with coal impacted residents. The impacted coal residents of Tennessee don't get a day off so we won't take one off either.
As we drove back to Knoxville in the rain we began to plan how TVA's criminal actions would impact our lives over the next few days, weeks, months and years. United Mountain Defense is in a unique situation at this time. This is the work that we have been training for for the past 5 years. This is the time to act. This is the major mistake that the coal industry and TVA does not want the world to know about. We can change the future. Join us please. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We accept donations of money and resources. You can do a fundraiser in your hometown. You can copy this post to any and all websites.
Check out our webpage at www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out this link with some of Santa’s videos http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person
contact 865 689 2778 or 865 257 4029
Dec 24, 2008 7:30 am TVA Ash Pond Failure and Resulting Valley Fill
We awoke at 7:30am in order to watch the Democracy Now coverage of the ash pond spill at 8am. After viewing the news coverage we headed out to the front lines. The day began around 10am as we were trying to define the perimeter of the ash pond spill. We began recording video on a road which was previously closed to vehicle traffic near a local church. TVA was trying to clear the Swan Pond Roadway with a bulldozer and bucket scoop. The bulldozer was spinning its tracks on the muddy asphalt. All of the coal ash waste was being pushed to either side of the road.
There is a large number of naturally occurring springs in the area. I bet that before the power plant was built that it was a beautiful place to drink water right from the ground. At least two of these springs were completely damned up by the coal ash spill and were beginning to back up leading to a threat of more flooding of local roads, houses, and farmland. It was horrible to see something as beautiful as a fresh water spring that could possibly be seen as a scourge due to man made damning. One resident quoted a TVA official who stated this was a "un-natural phenomenon." I agreed that a man-made disaster would be a un-natural phenomenon.
Swan Pond Rd was covered by 15 feet of coal sludge and so we traveled on Highland and some other back roads to access the main peninsula which faced the brunt of the tidal wave. As we drove we arrived at a road block with a local sheriff staffing the post. As we approached with running video we asked for access in order to distribute information about possible chemicals in the coal sludge, a request which he denied. We asked for specific instances in which we could travel through the roadblock and he gave us a short list. Of course our cause did not fit into that list. He was very friendly and did share some of his experiences as a local resident. He stated that "TVA had created a big mess." As we stood and spoke he informed us the roadblock would open at 12pm, only 40 minutes from the present time. During this time we traveled along the open road handing out info. We also met Anne League of Save Our Cumberland Mountains who had slipped past the roadblock after doing an informative phone interview with Democracy Now earlier in the morning. We learned that residents living along this stretch of road had public water coming from Kingston, though many of the residents gave us differing answers about the source of their water.
As the clock neared 12pm we prepared to see the sight that no other on-the-ground media source had captured since the spill took place 3 days earlier. Most of the media coverage had occurred from the air. The images and angles that we had been seeking since being on the ground on day 1 had finally become a reality for us. This was a reality that the local residents had been living with for nearly 1/2 a week. Some residents told us TVA had been dealing with leaks in the ash pond walls in 2004, 2006, and a month and half ago in 2008. We were not prepared for the devastation into which we drove. The enormity of the destruction was almost too much for us to handle. We set up the tripod and took the panoramic shots with a slow horizontal pan from left to right. As TVA workers replaced the power lines and local police patrolled to help maintain order in the disaster zone we video taped the legacy that TVA left for the Kingston/ Harriman area of Tennessee. In an effort to capture the best shot possible we accidentally trespassed onto private property. As the local land owner came to inform us, we apologetically left the area after distributing some of our outreach materials. It is important to not overwhelm the local community and to take a humble approach to the work that we are undertaking as these people have been shat on by TVA and we should not add to the pile.
The goals of today were to gather as much video footage as possible, as many water samples as possible, and to get our outreach materials out to as many coal impacted residents as possible. I think that we succeeded at all of these goals today. We taped over an hour of footage. We gathered more than 24 water samples. We distributed at least 75 packets of info to coal impacted and local residents.
Today we continued to learn that many of the local residents who were or could be considered "impacted" were not given any type of aid including hotels, fresh water, information, a knock on the door informing them what the heck that big crash was or what had happened. We also learned that the peninsula had become more of a prison camp for impacted residents rather than their home. Granted this is understandable and many residents were starting to complain about the number of cars traveling along their narrow road. There were serious complaints about the overuse of police force in questioning and turning away family or visiting friends during the holidays. After some citizen complaints to elected officials the local police force decided they could no longer staff a blockade but they increased the patrols throughout the day.
Later in the afternoon a member of United Mountain Defense offered to buy 50 gallons of water to distribute to residents of Swan Pond Rd who were informed to "boil their water before drinking it." We learned that their water source actually came from a spring located near Harriman up in Frost Hollow a short distance from the ash pond spill. Unfortunately for these 40 households their drinking water pipe traveled through the spill area. Yesterday we spoke with one man who had been vomiting for 12 hours after drinking a few pots of coffee made from the tainted water. We informed him to go to the hospital and we could not find him again today. Today we met a lady whose dogs had been vomiting after drinking the un-boiled tainted water. This lady had been boiling water all day with one small electric eye in order to water her herd of dogs, have drinking water for her family, and cook the Christmas dinner. She was very happy to receive the multiple gallons of water. We grabbed samples of her tap water. Upon observation we saw large particles floating in the water. The people working to put in a new water line for these residents had run into complications due to bedrock and had pushed back the scheduled completion of the waterline until Friday January 3, 2009. TVA was informing these residents to boil their water for the next 5 days. If TVA thinks residents need to boil the water first then it must not be safe. Why is it not safe? What are the problems? We need to know!
In the span of 1 hour we distributed all of the water to thirsty residents. Many were elderly men and women. Some had kidney problems. Some had not ingested the tap water for years now. A few of the people that we met asked that we give the water to others that needed it more and we received blessings, thanks, and praises for delivering water on Christmas Eve.
United Mountain Defense volunteers will be in the field early on Christmas Day delivering more water, filming from the lakefront, and meeting with coal impacted residents. The impacted coal residents of Tennessee don't get a day off so we won't take one off either.
As we drove back to Knoxville in the rain we began to plan how TVA's criminal actions would impact our lives over the next few days, weeks, months and years. United Mountain Defense is in a unique situation at this time. This is the work that we have been training for for the past 5 years. This is the time to act. This is the major mistake that the coal industry and TVA does not want the world to know about. We can change the future. Join us please. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We accept donations of money and resources. You can do a fundraiser in your hometown. You can copy this post to any and all websites.
There is a large number of naturally occurring springs in the area. I bet that before the power plant was built that it was a beautiful place to drink water right from the ground. At least two of these springs were completely damned up by the coal ash spill and were beginning to back up leading to a threat of more flooding of local roads, houses, and farmland. It was horrible to see something as beautiful as a fresh water spring that could possibly be seen as a scourge due to man made damning. One resident quoted a TVA official who stated this was a "un-natural phenomenon." I agreed that a man-made disaster would be a un-natural phenomenon.
Swan Pond Rd was covered by 15 feet of coal sludge and so we traveled on Highland and some other back roads to access the main peninsula which faced the brunt of the tidal wave. As we drove we arrived at a road block with a local sheriff staffing the post. As we approached with running video we asked for access in order to distribute information about possible chemicals in the coal sludge, a request which he denied. We asked for specific instances in which we could travel through the roadblock and he gave us a short list. Of course our cause did not fit into that list. He was very friendly and did share some of his experiences as a local resident. He stated that "TVA had created a big mess." As we stood and spoke he informed us the roadblock would open at 12pm, only 40 minutes from the present time. During this time we traveled along the open road handing out info. We also met Anne League of Save Our Cumberland Mountains who had slipped past the roadblock after doing an informative phone interview with Democracy Now earlier in the morning. We learned that residents living along this stretch of road had public water coming from Kingston, though many of the residents gave us differing answers about the source of their water.
As the clock neared 12pm we prepared to see the sight that no other on-the-ground media source had captured since the spill took place 3 days earlier. Most of the media coverage had occurred from the air. The images and angles that we had been seeking since being on the ground on day 1 had finally become a reality for us. This was a reality that the local residents had been living with for nearly 1/2 a week. Some residents told us TVA had been dealing with leaks in the ash pond walls in 2004, 2006, and a month and half ago in 2008. We were not prepared for the devastation into which we drove. The enormity of the destruction was almost too much for us to handle. We set up the tripod and took the panoramic shots with a slow horizontal pan from left to right. As TVA workers replaced the power lines and local police patrolled to help maintain order in the disaster zone we video taped the legacy that TVA left for the Kingston/ Harriman area of Tennessee. In an effort to capture the best shot possible we accidentally trespassed onto private property. As the local land owner came to inform us, we apologetically left the area after distributing some of our outreach materials. It is important to not overwhelm the local community and to take a humble approach to the work that we are undertaking as these people have been shat on by TVA and we should not add to the pile.
The goals of today were to gather as much video footage as possible, as many water samples as possible, and to get our outreach materials out to as many coal impacted residents as possible. I think that we succeeded at all of these goals today. We taped over an hour of footage. We gathered more than 24 water samples. We distributed at least 75 packets of info to coal impacted and local residents.
Today we continued to learn that many of the local residents who were or could be considered "impacted" were not given any type of aid including hotels, fresh water, information, a knock on the door informing them what the heck that big crash was or what had happened. We also learned that the peninsula had become more of a prison camp for impacted residents rather than their home. Granted this is understandable and many residents were starting to complain about the number of cars traveling along their narrow road. There were serious complaints about the overuse of police force in questioning and turning away family or visiting friends during the holidays. After some citizen complaints to elected officials the local police force decided they could no longer staff a blockade but they increased the patrols throughout the day.
Later in the afternoon a member of United Mountain Defense offered to buy 50 gallons of water to distribute to residents of Swan Pond Rd who were informed to "boil their water before drinking it." We learned that their water source actually came from a spring located near Harriman up in Frost Hollow a short distance from the ash pond spill. Unfortunately for these 40 households their drinking water pipe traveled through the spill area. Yesterday we spoke with one man who had been vomiting for 12 hours after drinking a few pots of coffee made from the tainted water. We informed him to go to the hospital and we could not find him again today. Today we met a lady whose dogs had been vomiting after drinking the un-boiled tainted water. This lady had been boiling water all day with one small electric eye in order to water her herd of dogs, have drinking water for her family, and cook the Christmas dinner. She was very happy to receive the multiple gallons of water. We grabbed samples of her tap water. Upon observation we saw large particles floating in the water. The people working to put in a new water line for these residents had run into complications due to bedrock and had pushed back the scheduled completion of the waterline until Friday January 3, 2009. TVA was informing these residents to boil their water for the next 5 days. If TVA thinks residents need to boil the water first then it must not be safe. Why is it not safe? What are the problems? We need to know!
In the span of 1 hour we distributed all of the water to thirsty residents. Many were elderly men and women. Some had kidney problems. Some had not ingested the tap water for years now. A few of the people that we met asked that we give the water to others that needed it more and we received blessings, thanks, and praises for delivering water on Christmas Eve.
United Mountain Defense volunteers will be in the field early on Christmas Day delivering more water, filming from the lakefront, and meeting with coal impacted residents. The impacted coal residents of Tennessee don't get a day off so we won't take one off either.
As we drove back to Knoxville in the rain we began to plan how TVA's criminal actions would impact our lives over the next few days, weeks, months and years. United Mountain Defense is in a unique situation at this time. This is the work that we have been training for for the past 5 years. This is the time to act. This is the major mistake that the coal industry and TVA does not want the world to know about. We can change the future. Join us please. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 non profit. We accept donations of money and resources. You can do a fundraiser in your hometown. You can copy this post to any and all websites.
Dec 23, 2008 3pm TVA Ash Pond Failure and Resulting Valley Fill
Members of United Mountain Defense traveled today down to Harriman, TN to learn more first hand about the impacts of the coal ash pond failure. We traveled on Swan Pond Rd visiting local residents and passing out information about the chemicals that may be present in the drinking water. Beginning at 3pm Dec 23, 2008 TVA officials began to visit all of the houses just prior to our visit advising residents to boil their drinking water before consuming it for the next 5 days. Unfortunately TVA did not inform anyone about the reasons for needing to boil the water and any chemicals that may be present in their water. The city of Harriman was working 24 hours a day to install a new water pipe in order to provide these residents with cleaner water. Their current water source was a large spring which may have been contaminated by the spill.
We also met a man who had been vomiting for the past 12 hours after drinking a couple of pots of coffee made from the tainted water. We advised him to go to the hospital.
The corporate media has been reporting that affected citizens were being housed in a local motel, but we met many citizens who had spent the last two nights without electricity or gas heat in 27 F or colder weather. A source shared information that TVA knew that the coal ash dam had been leaking for months now. We visited approximately 40 households many of which had not received any information other than what they could figure out from the minute long television segments or an isolated phone call from the water or gas utility. TVA police were limiting access to Swan Pond Rd as utility crews were actively working on the roadway.
United Mountain Defense is actively creating a plan of action to deal with this issue. We plan to go back down to Harriman tomorrow. The work is seeming to fall into a few categories at this point.
We want to get more video, get more water samples from wells, springs, faucets, and sludge puddles. We are going to get more familiar with the local area and resources. We want to meet more locals, pass out info, and set up protests. Any suggestions that you have would be greatly appreciated. If you are able to test water samples for heavy metals or other specialized water testing please let us know. We also have an updated list of demands below for TVA since they have been so naughty.
United Mountain Defense's List of Demands for TVA
1. TVA provides clean drinking water to all residents with water affected by the coal ash spill, indefinitely.
2. TVA and the State of Tennessee holds multiple public hearings and investigates the bursting coal ash dam.
3. TVA and the State of Tennessee identifies the locations of all the coal ash, what toxins exist in the coal ash, and how it will be cleaned up and safely disposed of in landfills with liners.
4. TVA provides public disclosure of all existing coal ash ponds and makes sure each pond receives a current inspection by the state of Tennessee. TVA upgrades all coal ash ponds to include safety liners.
5. TVA installs a warning system and provides education for all residents likely to be impacted by any problems with other ash ponds.
6. TVA completely cleans up and restores the affected properties and water ways.
7. TVA pays restitution for human suffering involved in the ash pond failure.
8. TVA establishes a citizen advisory board with voting power for all of its operations.
9. TVA stops burning any coal from surface mines and Mountain Top Removal coal mines.
10. TVA cuts their emissions of mercury, heavy metals, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid to zero pounds per year.
11. TVA agrees to not mine for coal in Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area.
Feel free to contact TVA and forward our list of demands. Make sure to be polite.
Tennessee Valley Authority400 W. Summit Hill Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37902-1499
865-632-2101 800-882-5263 tvainfo@tva.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)