Jan 3, 2009
Dear folks,
(please post to all news sources)
Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
Public meeting
Today was spent preparing for the first public meeting organized by local residents and United Mountain Defense volunteers for the residents of Swan Pond Rd. United Mountain Defense volunteers awoke bright and early and headed down to the American Legion Hall in Harriman, TN. The meeting was set to begin at 1 PM and last until 4 PM. We had invited people to bring a dish for a potluck style meal. United Mountain Defense volunteers were greeted by local coal impacted residents already hard at work at 10 AM. We began to set up chairs borrowed from a local church and prepared the space for the mass of people we hoped would attend. By 12 PM there were 42 cups of coffee brewed with another 42 brewing. There was a bustle of last minute set up details before the crowds began to arrive. By 12:30 PM the local Swan Pond organizers began to greet the earliest community members who came to attend the meeting. By 12:45 PM the American Legion Hall was filling up fast. The sitting room began to fill up quickly by this point. Sons and grandsons told their mothers and grandmothers to find a seat before they were all gone. By 1 PM the hall was packed and the meeting began.
There were short introductions of the first two speakers and the United Mountain Defense volunteers who had been working on the ground since day 1 of the spill. In an effort to make residents feel more comfortable with sharing their feelings and concerns there was a no media policy in place. United Mountain Defense did get permission from the residents to video tape the speakers so that the information could be shared with impacted residents who could not make it to the meeting. Everyone agreed that this was an important role that United Mountain Defense could play for those residents.
The first speaker was Lisa Graves-Marcucci from Forward Township, PA. Her community had a coal ash disaster back in 2005. They didn’t have any game plan to follow to resolve the issue, so they researched and created one which other communities could use. The information that she shared was very informative. She suggested that the community members should all be wearing respirators and taking as many precautions as possible in order to protect their health. She also suggested that the Swan Pond residents sign a petition to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in order to get an outside regulatory agency other than TVA, EPA, and TDEC involved in the investigation to help provide some more oversight of the situation. She suggested that the residents request TVA’s Material Safety Data Sheets for Coal Fly Ash. She also suggested that workers at TVA wear respirators and protective gear and that these residents should be provided the same level of protection as the TVA workers.
The next speaker was Dr. Dan Volz. He is a doctor who has been studying coal fly ash for years now. He gave a presentation about some of the dangers that coal ash poses to the local residents through their well and spring water and air. He encouraged them to err on the side of safety and suggested that he would not enter the area without proper safety equipment including a respirator.
When the Dr. finished speaking we had a brainstorming session with the whole crowd to figure out what were their major concerns. After the brainstorming we broke the crowd into four smaller groups for further discussion. The discussion groups worked through the brainstormed questions, gave a voice and written comments to their concerns, and began working on solutions to the problems their community was now facing.
The small discussion group that I facilitated provided a very informative interaction. After being on the ground since Dec 22, 2008 I began to see that I had a lot in common with many of these local residents, most notably sore throats, itchy eyes, and stress from the coal ash disaster.
I think that the reality of the situation became a little more real to me today after hearing the presentations of Lisa Graves-Marcucci and Dr. Volz. I am going to start wearing my respirator from now on whenever I am in the immediate area of this disaster site.
After the small group discussions we had report backs from one coal impacted representative of each discussion group. These brave souls spoke in front of the video camera. They expressed the concerns of the residents in their groups. Out of the four speakers there were many of the same concerns and some different solutions. I could hear the voices of local organizers bursting through the seams of the concerned citizens as they called for mobilization of their neighbors who were not present at the meeting. There were calls of not forgetting or being pacified into submission by TVA. These residents were calling for more regulation of TVA. They were calling for more protection of their health. They were calling for change and for more community focus.
The next presentation was made by a lawyer who had represented the community members of Forward Township, PA after their coal ash disaster. He had a strong personality that came through during his description of how his law firm would “make TVA do the right thing.” He stated that TVA would be forced to follow the laws of TN. He suggested hiring outside consultants to observe and micromanage TVA’s cleanup efforts to make sure they did the job correctly.
The final presentation was made by a panel of lawyers whom United Mountain Defense’s staff attorney, Chris Irwin, had screened to make sure that each law firm was not trying to pull a fast one on these stressed coal impacted residents. It was an interesting discussion with each lawyer advertising themselves in the best light possible. Even though some of these lawyers were from huge law firms with lots of money they did not know much about the situation on the ground or the laws of TN. A few of the lawyers had worked with coal impacted residents of other states and had a better grasp on the situation. It was a good time for the community to compare and contrast the different lawyer’s approaches as they had to sell their services to a large audience of potential clients. This approach made a few of the lawyers uncomfortable as they were used to one on one interactions where they could wine and dine their clients behind closed doors. The approach that United Mountain Defense provided gave all the power to the coal impacted residents to decide what questions to ask and collectively learn from the lawyers and each other.
The meeting ran till nearly 5 PM and people became a bit anxious to leave and make dinner or feed their livestock before it became dark. Upon dispersal there was an excitement in the air at the success of the event. This REAL public meeting was so different from the emergency Kingston City Council Meeting that happened last Sunday. 220 coal impacted residents got a chance to learn some detailed information about the possible impacts from coal fly ash on their health, water, and environment. They got a chance to speak their minds. They got a chance to hear what their neighbors thought about the disaster. They got a chance to see they were not alone. There was talk of next steps and of knocking on their neighbors doors to let them know about the possible dangers. There was talk of not letting the country forget TVA’s disaster in Harriman. There was talk of MAKING TVA clean it up correctly. I think that for the first time I saw a community that was becoming mobilized. It was an important day. I feel fortunate to have been a part of it.
If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.
Please make donations of money and resources to United Mountain Defense at P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or online at our PayPal account.
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Jan 2, 2009
Dear folks,
(please repost to all news sources)
Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
On the previous day United Mountain Defense volunteers learned that TVA was holding a press conference at a location called the Joint Information Center (JIC) where TVA would be inviting the media to attend for the latest updates. After receiving the first round of water monitoring data United Mountain Defense created a press release about the information. The United Mountain Defense volunteers awoke at 6 AM because they were so excited about attending the 8 AM press conference. Upon finding the location of the press conference they learned that it would not occur until 11 AM. At this point the United Mountain Defense volunteers contacted their friends in the Knoxville Independent Media Collective to inform them of the press conference. United Mountain Defense volunteers made sure to hand off the press releases to un affiliated free lance writers who were planning on attending the press conference. At 10:30 AM representatives of Knoxville Indy Media showed up and began setting up video cameras. They were there early enough to catch on film the free lance writers distributing United Mountain Defense’s press release to the press. This brave free lance writer then began to line each chair with the press release. When this action was brought to the attention of Gil Francis, TVA’s PR man, he began to freak out. He threatened to kick the free lance writer out of the press conference by summoning the local police. Of course the free lance writer was a member of the press and Gil could not kick him out as he was not causing any problems. The writer took his seat as the press conference began. TVA, EPA, TDEC, and local emergency officials, and the Mayor of Kingston all spoke about the safety of the coal ash and the drinking water. Out of all these agencies EPA was the only one that said that this coal ash could be toxic to humans. After the TVA presentation the press began to grill them about the water quality info that they had in their hands that showed arsenic levels between 35-300 times higher than safe drinking water levels. All of the officials stated that they could not comment on the independent test results as they had not had time to review them. TDEC stated they wanted to look at more independent water monitoring data.
After the TVA press conference a representative of United Mountain Defense was available for an interview and spoke about the work of training citizen water monitors and that this was just the first round of water quality data. This United Mountain Defense representative commented that it was interesting that a small non profit could take samples five days after the disaster happened and get the data out to the public before TVA, EPA, and TDEC could even though these government agencies had been taking samples since day one.
TVA invited all the press to a site visit after the press conference. The Knoxville Independent Media decided to go on this site visit to see first hand what was happening down there. The Knoxville Independent Media representative had to present his press credentials and there was some question about whether he would be allowed on site. After some discussion he was granted another open invitation from Gil Francis, TVA’s PR man. After getting suited up with hard hats, safety glasses, and orange vests the press was led up the side of the coal ash containment pond. Upon walking up the still stable side of the coal ash pile the press was granted a view of total destruction. There was lots of machinery rolling around on the site moving coal ash piles. There were bulldozers rolling over spongy soil which used to be part of the coal ash pile, most likely an old spring or part of the flood plane for the Emory River. The press also witnessed coal ash being trucked around on site to be piled where the water could be drained off and re routed to other containment areas. The railroad was cleared, all of the ties were stacked to the side and new rail was being laid. TVA expects the rail line to be operating by Jan 11, 2009 so that they could begin importing coal once again. After learning about the coal ash disaster the press was escorted back down the hill and stomped through the coal ash muck on the work road. Once we were back in the temporary media parking lot the Knoxville Independent Media reporter asked Gil Francis if the mud on his boots was safe. Gil Francis stated that this was just mud and that it was safe. He said that he had been walking around in it for almost two weeks with no problems.
Later in the afternoon the United Mountain Defense volunteers moved our base of operations to the mega lake house alpha.
So the work is continuing here. We have been distributing free information to the coal impacted residents of the Swan Pond community in Harriman, TN. We have been gathering water and coal ash samples. We expect our next round of sample data to be available next week.
If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.
Please make donations of money and resources to United Mountain Defense at P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or online at our PayPal account.
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
Jan 1, 2009
Dear folks,
(please repost far and wide to all online news sources and blogs)
Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com/
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
Today started out with some of the best news that we have had since entering the disaster zone of what used to be the isolated community of Swan Pond near Harriman, TN. We learned that there were a number of local residents who had organized themselves to distribute flyers about Saturday’s public meeting.
United Mountain Defense volunteers saw our first TVA air monitoring station next to the coal burning power plant while we were delivering announcements about the public meeting. We need to mobilize the Bucket Brigade so that we can do independent monitoring of the air quality in the area.
After entering the Lakeshore Drive neighborhood to distribute meeting announcements, United Mountain Defense volunteers were harassed by the Roane County police even though we had papers and identification showing we were allowed to be there in the community. The officer told the volunteers that we needed to stay in our homes. The United Mountain Defense volunteers witnessed clean up crews wearing personal protection equipment.
Later in the afternoon United Mountain Defense volunteers learned that the first round of water quality data had come back from the laboratory. The water quality results showed very hot levels of arsenic and heavy metals. The United Mountain Defense volunteers began calling all the local contacts we had made over the past week and half to inform them about the test results before informing the media. This was a promise that we made as we traveled around within this community and we planned on fulfilling it.
If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.
Please make donations of money and resources to United Mountain Defense at P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or online at our PayPal account.
Thank you, Matt Landon full time volunteer staff person United Mountain Defense
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