Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Feb 3- Feb 10, 2009 UMD Updates about TVA Coal Ash Disaster

Feb 10, 2009 Tuesday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

Tonight there was a meeting of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network(TCASN). Volunteers from United Mountain Defense traveled to Harriman, TN to help facilitate this organizational meeting. One of the goals of the evening meeting was to choose an organizational structure. The group chose to continue using the consensus based decision making process. Next TCASN decided on goals for the group. They came up with a list of 5 goals and decided on one goal to add to the website immediately with the others to be discussed over the next week and decided on at the next organizational meeting. The one goal they decided on was to “Support and help evacuate families with health impacts directly related to TVA’s Coal Ash Disaster”. The group then decided on some various tactics they would use. They then decided to work on their first fundraiser. TCASN has been very successful to date in making group decisions and using the consensus process. The next meeting is set for next Tuesday at Penny Dodson’s house.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 9, 2009 Monday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

For the past week United Mountain Defense volunteer Tom Swinford has been making copies of the video documentation of the TVA coal ash disaster. Thank you Tom!!
UMD board member and volunteer coordinator, Bonnie Swinford worked on balancing UMD’s budget by going through the stack of receipts to figure out what the state of the organization’s financial situation. It appears to still be in the black.
Matt Landon, UMD volunteer staff person continued to work on the catalogue of disaster videos.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 8, 2009 Sunday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

United Mountain Defense volunteers were tasked with getting more medical release forms from residents who got free heavy metal exposure screenings. Their medical results are being analyzed and will be released as an anonymous pool of data. UMD volunteers got two more residents to sign release forms.
UMD volunteers also video taped the changes to the disaster site. It was a mostly quiet day with only a few machines working at the disaster site.
One of the most shocking bits on knowledge UMD volunteers learned today was that workers on site have been having uncontrollable and repeated nose bleeds since beginning to work at TVA’s coal ash disaster site.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 7, 2009 Saturday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

United Mountain Defense volunteers started working on compiling a comprehensive list of all of the video tapes they have recorded to date. UMD volunteer Tom Swinford has volunteered to start the task of converting the Mini DV tapes into DVD’s and has begun reproducing the DVD’s for distribution.
United Mountain Defense has the most comprehensive video documentation of TVA’s response to the Coal Ash Disaster of Dec 22, 2008. United Mountain Defense has more than 60 hours of footage including two aerial videos and hours of local interviews.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 6, 2009 Friday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

Today was a very busy day. United Mountain Defense volunteers traveled to Lad Landing at the convergence of the Emory and the Clinch Rivers where they met with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and the Al Jazeera International Television News Network. The Emory River was so cold this morning that Bobby Brown of TWRA was steering the boat through a 1 inch layer of ice. Landon got another chance to use the YSI digital water monitor purchased with funds from the Natural Resource Defense Council. Thank you NRDC!!
As Bobby Brown steered the boat back to Lad Landing the United Mountain Defense volunteers met up with the graduate students from Duke University for a second round of water sampling. UMD volunteers also met up with Matt Powell of WOUT Radio based at the University of TN in Knoxville. WOUT wanted to do a radio interview about the health impacts and the Massive Coal Ash Dust Storm that occurred on Tuesday.
The volunteers traveled down Emory River Rd and helped the Duke University graduate students reach their next sampling location. The next stop was Diana Anderson’s house, the location of the first air monitoring sample tray. While Diana was helping to prepare the sampling trays she was also giving a radio interview with WOUT.
The next step was deploying the cleaned air monitoring tray outside on her property. While Diana was outside deploying the sampling tray and talking with WOUT, a TVA representative drove up and hand delivered a letter outlining a flood warning to all residents living 10 miles upstream along the river.
It seems that TVA coal ash has created a plug in the original river channel of the Emory River. If there are any heavy rains that fall in the water shed there may be flooding of the area. The representative stated that TVA will provide the flood insurance to any resident who doesn’t have flood insurance and gets impacted by flooding during TVA’s coal ash disaster and the dredging project.
The rest of the day was spent helping the Duke University graduate students find their way back to previously tested locations. We got to hand deliver water quality data to one local resident with a drinking spring located on his property. He stated that all of the tests including EPA’s, TDEC’s, and finally Duke Universities’ data shows that the water is safe. Of course this quality assurance is only as good as the testing. These results are only for one spring/ ground water source in the area. The Emory River water continues to have very high levels of arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. Don’t drink the water!!
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 5, 2009 Thursday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

Members of United Mountain Defense and the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network attended a meeting with a few other environmental organizations in Knoxville, TN today. There was a local citizen’s panel discussion including Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense. The residents gave updates on the situation in Roane County and Landon gave an update about the progress and projects that UMD has started with the community.
A TDEC representative and a TN Department of Health representative provided updates about the work they were doing at the disaster site. TDEC shared some information about the Emory River dredging plan. The TN Department of Health spoke about how they were done traveling out into the field to interview locals. When Landon brought up the fact that the situation had greatly worsened over the last three weeks since the TN Department of Health’s visit the representative did not react at all and instead ignored the statement and question of when his department would get back to the disaster site.
During the meeting Matt Landon received a phone call from the ABC National Evening News asking permission to air the TVA Coal Ash Dust Storm footage on national television. Of course Landon obliged and returned to the meeting. The story also made world news with readers in China, Russia, and Europe.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 4, 2009 Wednesday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

Matt Landon, United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, escorted Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project and Lisa Evans of Earthjustice to the TVA Coal Ash Disaster site in Harriman, TN. It was an interesting tour.

Matt Landon had a run in with the TVA police today and had an opportunity to honestly and openly speak with the officer to convey his concerns for everyone’s safety around the disaster site. The officer informed Landon that they had not received a copy of TVA’s Material Safety Data Sheet for Class F Fly ash or Bottom Ash. When Landon informed the officer that he had video taped a huge coal ash dust storm coming from the site during the previous day the officer seemed shocked. Everyone on site and around the world has been reassured that this toxic coal ash is safe as long as it wet. Well the reality of the situation is beginning to hit home now as it dries out. TVA did not tell all of its employees about the coal ash dust storm of the previous day and this officer was truly shocked and stated that they would ask for the MSDS sheets.
Landon videotaped dust devils beginning to form on the disaster site.
Landon called the regulators to file complaints after witnessing vehicles cross contaminating the onsite road way with coal ash that dump trucks were driving onto before returning onto the county roads. Landon filed a complaint with Bob Alexander of TDEC about the trucks tracking coal ash off site. Bob Alexander offered to meet the three on site.
The courageous crew met with Bob Alexander after choosing a meeting location on Berkshire Drive. During the meeting Landon pointed out the afternoons developing dust storm. Alexander shrugged off the dust saying that it was just a little dust and that it would not hurt anything. Alexander was not very understanding about Landon’s respiratory protection concerns and laughed at Landon’s respirator.
It would be easy to become discouraged about TDEC’s response as the lead regulatory agency on TVA’s coal ash disaster after meeting Bob Alexander in person.
United Mountain Defense volunteers met up with the Al Jazeera International Television News Network for a tour of the disaster site.
In the mid afternoon United Mountain Defense volunteers got a phone call from the local ABC New Channel 6 camera crew who had been tipped off about the dust storms of yesterday and today. Matt Landon did an interview and supplied the video from the Massive Coal Ash Dust Storm. This news coverage was broadcast to the East TN area.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense


Feb 3, 2009 Tuesday

Dear folks,

(please repost to all news sources)

Check out www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Check out http://dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
Check out www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com
Check out http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Check out http://www.roaneviews.com/
Check out Swan Pond Resident: http://lifeonswanpond.livejournal.com/
United Mountain Defense Internship List
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_8hnc3hmcv&hl=en
United Mountain Defense Volunteer House Application
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddtgk4hx_6cg5tvmdx&hl=en

Diana Anderson of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense arose bright and early, fought the Washington D.C. traffic, and caught our flight back to the big city of Knoxville, TN. The volunteers were coming back from a weekend of air quality training with the Global Community Monitor/ Bucket Brigade. The informative training session was video taped to provide a good reference for future trainings and community refresher courses.
After arriving back in Knoxville Anderson and Landon drove to TVA’s Bull Run Coal Burning Plant to document the coal ash piles on site. The coal burning dinosaur appeared to be in working order with a HUGE coal ash pile. Unlike TVA’s Kingston plant there were houses directly at the toe of the coal ash pile.
This weekend was a pleasant retreat from the dusty, toxic air of Harriman, TN. As the volunteers drove the back roads and approached TVA’s coal ash disaster their chests began to tighten and their throats began to get scratchy. Upon clearing the last hill on Emory River Rd directly east of the disaster their eyes were met with a horrible site. A massive dust storm arose from the surface of TVA’s coal ash disaster site. To date this dust storm has been the worst nightmare of the TVA’s Public Relations Team, the regulatory agencies, the local residents, and everyone living downwind.
United Mountain Defense volunteer, Matt Landon documented the Massive Dust Storm on video tape at 5pm and began calling the regulatory agencies to file official complaints. He called Bob Alexander, TDEC’s disaster site manager, to ask if he was onsite and if he was looking outside or wearing a respirator. Bob Alexander was captured on video tape stating that he did not see any dust storm and that he was not wearing a respirator.
The world needs to know that TVA’s coal fly ash disaster has taken a new and harmful turn for the worst.
There is no shortage of a need for project funding. United Mountain Defense is a 501c3 and we are seeking funding or co-sponsoring organizations to help fund personal protection equipment, bottled water, independent air and water monitoring, and real time web cams.

If you are a resident impacted by TVA's coal ash disaster please contact us at 865 689 2778.

If you can make a donation of money or other resources please send a check to United Mountain Defense P.O. Box 20363 Knoxville, TN 37920 or use our PayPal account at www.unitedmountaindefense.org


Till then ,matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense

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