***PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE ON ALL LISTSERVS, MYSPACES AND FACEBOOKS PLEASE WE NEED AS MANY HEARING REQUEST AND COMMENTS AS POSSIBLE.***
UNITED MOUNTAIN DEFENSE
TVA just applied for an ARAP permit from TDEC (TN Dept of Envio and Conver) regarding the ash disaster. One of the things that will trigger a hearing is public interest. So we need as many people to email in, and write, and fax request in to TDEC for a public hearing as possible. Also you can make comments. Please do. Here is the link to the PDF of the permit. After that is a sample letter. After that are some sample comments one of our UMD volunteers generated. Please help numbers will count in this.
Here is the link to the proposed ARAP permit: http://tva.com/kingston/dredge/Final_Dredge%20Plan.pdf
You can email your request at: ask.tdec@state.tn.us
Here is a sample letter from UMD--please feel free to modify and use. Its the exact same thing as below:
Mr. Paul Davis, Director
Division of Water Pollution Control
Tennessee Department of Environment
and Conservation
6th Floor, L&C Annex
401 Church Street
Nashville, Tennessee
37402
Regarding
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA)-COMMISSIONER’S ORDER, CASE NUMBER 0GC09-0001- APPLICATION FOR DREDGING ASH FROM AFFECTED WATERS OF THE STATE AND NOTIFICATION TO THE U.S. ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS.
Dear Mr. Davis,
I am requesting a public hearing on the above ARAP permit application. I am on the board of United Mountain Defense and we have several comments we would like to make regarding the permit. We would like to request that the hearing mirror the strip mine hearing formats in that they be open, public and recorded.
I also request notification of any other related hearings or permit applications relating to the Ash disaster. I would request to be notified of the comment period length as well.
Yours truly,
Chris Irwin
United Mountain Defense
865-257-4029
POB 20363
Knoxville, Tennessee
37910
QUICK INITIAL COMMENTS TO HELP READ APPLICATION
Hey y'all,
I am cutting through TVAs proposed plan and wanted to make some quick comments while I was doing it. For me all of the action is in part 5.0--that deals with monitoring.
http://www.tva.com/kingston/dredge/Final_Dredge%20Plan.pdf
Hey--this is an application for an ARAP--we need to scream to TDEC for a public hearing immediately! They will grant these when we do ARAP permits--also ARAPs must have public comment periods. We need to give TDEC comments and request for open pubic hearings--public interest will trigger a hearing.
I am going to use the TVA board meeting as my comment period also.
K first on the dredging plan--after you open it ignore everything and go straight to the back of it. They have great pictures with diagrams which will make everything else make allot more sense. After looking in the back I skip to the section 5.0 cause that involves monitoring which is what interest me. 6.0 is interesting as well because it deals with workers health regs while they are in the field.
5.1 is table of how macontinuousous conductivity hydrolab meters they want to have runnings. Its far to few--and the meters need to be a multiple levels in the stream. There needs to continuousous meters at mile .5 mile 1. mile 2. mile 5 and down the clinch for at lease 10 miles. Mocontinuousous metering is my comment on this.
And the metering data needs to be real time to tInternetnet so everyone can see it--and it needs to beindependentlyly monitored by the EPA. Actually this is true of all the test.
5.2 They are saying samples three times a week at 5 locations and that is inadequate. They need to be testing at least daily--esp while dredging. They need to be testing WHILE dredging activities are ongoing --not just early in the morning or late in the evening. On rain events the testing should increase to at least twice a day. The test also need to be more than just 5 locations--it should be bank to bank and center at points all the way down from the spill. Specifically--if any visible plume going downstream is reported they should test immediately in that plume. Any dust plumes created by dredging should have a continuous meter in it and samples should be taken, tested--and sent to inpendant labs that post the results to thInternetet.
Using turbidity in the clinch river iridiculousus. If turbidity is stirred up in thEmoryry river it needs trigger additional sampling.
What metals are they testing for?
Table 2
Test need to be a different depths on both sides of the stream including the middle. Just doing 11 samples in a day is not enough--that number should be closer to 50.
Table 3
They need to be specific--what heavy metals are they testing for? The EPA or anyone other than TVA should be testing for ALL heavy metals.
5.3 BMPs
All the best management practices must be MANDATORY. Violations must be reported quickly to the EPA, TDEC and posted on theInternett.
They need to GET and NPDES permit to do this. The pond should have acontinuouss hydrolab meter in it as well. Additionally the samples should be taken to be sent to the lab from both the pond and any drainage into any river, creek stream or body of water.
The sampling for total suspended solids should be done daily--not just monthly.
OTHER DREDGE WATER LOCATIONS
This should say that BMPs must always be observed and BOTH TDEC AND EPA must sign off on them.
5.4 is inadequate. If turbidity goes above background in a stream for more than 15 minutes ALL BMPS should being used. Waiting for a 24 hour period to trigger this is WAAAAY to long. The dredging will not be happening on a 24 hour rotation. So you will get breaks in the 24 hr trigger period which translates into making this paragraph useless. The action levels should me MUCH shorter and any modifications should be made a close to immediately as possible. 24 hrs is way to long.
6.0 Health and safety plan.
It says nothing about the standard that shall apply. This material should be treated as a hazardous waste--that standard should applied. OSHA regs for moving dirt should not apply to arsenic laden fly ash. This is key. It should also state explicitly that all state and federal law applies to the health and safety plan. All contractors and subcontractors should attend trainings about the importance of proper safety standards while in the field. These trainings should be organized by OSHA.
Whoo--the maps at the end are VERY informative.
FIGURE 8
It appears they have a hell of allot more ash than "temporary" storage area and tthat'sdisturbing on many different levels. Exactly how high and deep is this pit going to be.
FIGURE 9
These stations need to be at both side of the stream AND in the middle. River right along the back is the path we have seen the cenosperes take--which makes it a logical flow patter to place the monitoring stations. Where the cenospheres were drifting is also a predictable path for heavy metals and mud to be traveling.
CRM0 needs to be at both ends of the stream as well as in the middle. This is true of all the monitoring and sampling.
Also--no more stations are shown down the clinch river--specifically at river left and in the middle of the stream.
MECHANICAL DREDGING
This part is beneath the pictures but worth reading. TVA says that after the barges unload the ash they are going to "dewater" and go back to load up again. Exactly what and where is this de"water" from, and where is it being "dewatered" to. Accumulated water in ALL barges should not be released anywhere but the holding ponds.
If the mechanical dredging of the eEmoryriver ash creates any plume or downstream sedimentation all work should stop until better management practice can be iimplemented If the mechanical dredging creates any amount of dust it its work workers should wear respirators and work should end immediately until dust suppression can be iimplemented
If the loading and unloading of ash from the barges creates dust or a plume in the water operations should cease and modified to end the plume.
At least 2 turbidity screens should be used on all projects.
TVA says that TDEC took a qquantityof ash--shook it up and let it sit for an hour then tested it to determine how much heavy metals would be moved from the supernatant.
They need to do this from a dozen different locations. They are basing their entire estimate of how much heavy metals would be moved per dredges ssupernatanton what appears to be a single location and perhaps a single test. IF they are going to premise so many of their ccalculationsre how much total heavy metals are being moved they need to do multiple ash test like this at multiple locations. And rather than doing it as it settles--they need to take a bucket of the fly ash --ccentrifugethe water out--then test the water. This will give a more accurate reading of the metals in the ash than letting it settle and testing the water.
Yes--the next chart they are showing how many pounds of heavy metals would be moved in the ssupernatantliquid from the dredges. They seem to be basing this on a single sample from presumably a single site.
They are using metal loadings from a previous NPDES permit for a normal ash pond discharge to ccalculatemetals
chart--mixed ash pond & CCW concentrations & TDEC criteria--any applicable Federal water criteria should be included and the ccalculationsbased on which ever one is HIGHER.
THERE SHOULD BE NO EXCEPTION IN THIS PERMIT FOR CADMIUM.
Right after this they make a finding of no significant impact FONSI from the final discharges.
They are basing their calculations on this finding on anther NPDES permit and presumably a 1 sample they did at 1 location--this is iinadequatefor determining no significant impact.
K tthat'sit.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Poem by Eva J. Hewitt (Swan Pond Resident)
I lost a lot due to the ash slide.
My grief and hurt I cannot hide
I’m having to move, due to TVA
Now I’m hearing say
The light bill will cost more
They don’t care about the people of how it’s
Making us poor
Their mistake it was you see
The clean up there should be
The people all agree
That to make us pay for their mistake
It isn’t right, you see
A lot of homes, land, and animals were lost
Now they want to lay on us the cost
People can’t pay higher bills
For TVA’s mistake and the ash spill
The cost of cleanup should be
TVA’s, not the people you see
We have suffered enough over the spill
Some has moved, some are ill
By Eva J. Hewitt
January 22, 2009
My grief and hurt I cannot hide
I’m having to move, due to TVA
Now I’m hearing say
The light bill will cost more
They don’t care about the people of how it’s
Making us poor
Their mistake it was you see
The clean up there should be
The people all agree
That to make us pay for their mistake
It isn’t right, you see
A lot of homes, land, and animals were lost
Now they want to lay on us the cost
People can’t pay higher bills
For TVA’s mistake and the ash spill
The cost of cleanup should be
TVA’s, not the people you see
We have suffered enough over the spill
Some has moved, some are ill
By Eva J. Hewitt
January 22, 2009
Lead TV News Story of TVA's Coal Ash Dust Storm (United Mountain Defense coverage)
Thank you Channel 6 for braving the cold weather to get the story.
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=9791681&nav=menu7_2
By JILL MCNEAL
6 News Anchor/Reporter
HARRIMAN (WATE) -- Is the winter wind stirring up ash at the TVA spill site in Roane County? The non-profit environmental group United Mountain Defense, who has been on the scene since the beginning, says yes and they say they have the video to prove it.
"Obviously the coal fly ash is drying out and it's getting kicked up into the wind," says volunteer staff member Matt Landon.
"It was blowing up at least 30 to 40 feet off the surface of the coal ash area and it was at least 70 to 80 feet wide," he says.
That's why Landon wears a respirator every time he's near the site.
"We're filtering out fine particulates. We're filtering out lead and asbestos and paint fumes," he says.
He's worried about everyone else who's breathing the air without protection.
"We're working with the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network in order to get local residents trained in how to identify when there are dust storms occurring and being trained in order to use the air monitoring equipment," Landon says.
TVA Spokesman Gil Francis tells us he heard rumors about this, so TVA crews onsite went to check it out and didn't see anything. He adds that everything at the site is frozen and so what the environmental workers saw must have been fog.
We also heard from Roane County Executive Mike Farmer on this issue. He is very concerned that the cold weather is drying out the ash and making it airborne. He says his experts have warned that TVA needs to re-wet the ash to stop this from happening as they promised the county they would.
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=9791681&nav=menu7_2
By JILL MCNEAL
6 News Anchor/Reporter
HARRIMAN (WATE) -- Is the winter wind stirring up ash at the TVA spill site in Roane County? The non-profit environmental group United Mountain Defense, who has been on the scene since the beginning, says yes and they say they have the video to prove it.
"Obviously the coal fly ash is drying out and it's getting kicked up into the wind," says volunteer staff member Matt Landon.
"It was blowing up at least 30 to 40 feet off the surface of the coal ash area and it was at least 70 to 80 feet wide," he says.
That's why Landon wears a respirator every time he's near the site.
"We're filtering out fine particulates. We're filtering out lead and asbestos and paint fumes," he says.
He's worried about everyone else who's breathing the air without protection.
"We're working with the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network in order to get local residents trained in how to identify when there are dust storms occurring and being trained in order to use the air monitoring equipment," Landon says.
TVA Spokesman Gil Francis tells us he heard rumors about this, so TVA crews onsite went to check it out and didn't see anything. He adds that everything at the site is frozen and so what the environmental workers saw must have been fog.
We also heard from Roane County Executive Mike Farmer on this issue. He is very concerned that the cold weather is drying out the ash and making it airborne. He says his experts have warned that TVA needs to re-wet the ash to stop this from happening as they promised the county they would.
Massive Dust Storm coming from TVA Coal Ash Disaster Site
Feb 3, 2009 at 5pm United Mountain Defense volunteers and Diana Anderson from the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network witnessed, video taped, photographed, and called in official complaints about a HUGE dust storm coming from the TVA coal ash disaster site. Where your respirators!?!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The address of a news report on Jim Lehrer News Hour Feb 2, 2009
Jan 24- Feb 2, 2009 Updates from United Mountain Defense about TVA's coal ash disaster
Feb 2, 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/
Today was the second day of training from the Global Community Monitor. Today Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense learned how to operate Air Metric’s Mini Volume air monitor. This machine is very user friendly and maintains its calibration for one year.
The air monitoring volunteers learned about how to use various filters for the monitors and how to maintain the integrity of the filter sample. They learned how to troubleshoot the monitoring machine. They also learned about properly mounting the monitor on power poles or house roofs and other important sighting instructions.
Anderson and Landon also learned about filling out chain of custody forms, and how to tamper proof the filter cases for shipping to the lab.
We finally got back to TN’s community map we had drawn two days prior. After reviewing this map with GCM staff we decided on locations for Swipe Testing and then Air Quality Testing.
More importantly we learned about the impacts of air pollution on other communities and how similar their concerns are to our own concerns.
We ended the training by looking to the future. Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense helped bring the Bucket Brigade to Appalachia in order to provide another community organizing tool that would give back to the communities. He envisioned using TVA’s coal ash disaster as a pilot project to show how easy it is for communities to do this type of monitoring and help bring it to coal impacted communities across the region. He wants to see Bucket Brigades at Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia and at surface coal mines, coal processing plants, and coal burning plants across the region. Won’t you help?
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 1, 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/
Super Bowl Sunday was spent researching a number of online sources of data that we had left untapped till this point.
Matt Landon, United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, took a virtual car ride through the Swan Pond Community before the coal ash disaster using Google Street View. He found photos of the leaking dam located at 1222 Swan Pond Rd. There was photographic evidence of red iron oxide and heavy metal laden water leaking from the toe of the dam. Whenever water is leaking from the base of the damn it is a bad sign and could foreshadow failure.
We also viewed Roane County property tax maps online. These property maps incorporated aerial photography as well making the property searches so much easier. These maps were not up to date as they did not show the properties recently purchased by TVA along Berkshire Ln and Lakeshore Rd.
Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense met with Sarah Goldberg of the Kelley Campaign, a Public Relations group based in Washington DC. Sarah Goldberg was very excited to meet with us and learn more information about what was happening from our firsthand accounts. The Kelley Campaign has been working on a campaign to counter the “Cl*** Coal” campaign of 2008. The Kelley Campaign is working with United Mountain Defense to help amplify our media presence. They have a staff dedicated to writing press releases, distributing them to national and international media, and helping with ground work logistics like setting up citizen press conferences. This is the start to be a beautiful relationship……
After catching the last 15 minutes of the Super Bowl and seeing that incredible touchdown play by the PA Steelers Matt Landon helped Diana Anderson create her first blog. The blog’s title is the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network. The blog’s address is http://tncasn.blogspot.com
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
Jan 31, 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/
Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense traveled to Deleware today to receive training from the Global Community Monitor (GCM) organization. www.gcmonitor.org
Matt Landon of UMD video taped the entire two day training session so that other community members in Deleware, TN, and the world could review the training. Today’s training consisted of learning about the history and successes of the Bucket Brigade, GCM’s most notable air monitoring project. The community that hosted us today was plagued by numerous polluting industries and was in the first steps of beginning to self monitor the air quality. One of the first steps in the process was called a log sheet. A brainstorming session led to the development of the “I SEE, I SMELL, I FEEL” sections for residents to fill out for each air pollution event. Based on these pollution log sheets GCM and the community would be able to decide where to put up Swipe Tests and then Mini Volume Air Monitors.
A really good excerise was for the community members to make a map of the major polluters in the area and show the locations of surrounding houses and other points of interest such as schools, hospitals, existing air monitors, and prevailing wind directions.
This training provided a good basis for how the Bucket Brigade would proceed in TN and we got one step closer to having a solid monitoring plan. Thank you Global Community Monitor for providing a helpful training session.
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
Jan 30, 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 volunteer staff person, Matt Landon was awoken to a call from a TN Highway Patrol officer calling from Arizona. The officer said he would send out an officer to the disaster site and would further investigate the CFR on solid waste to figure out about the solid waste regulations.
Landon traveled to the University of TN in Knoxville for a PodCast interview that was conducted at the college radio station, WUOT 91.9. The PodCast will be aired by On the Earth, a project of NRDC. Thanks, NRDC.
After the interview Landon did more research about the Mini Volume air samplers from Air Metrics and the different filters available for the sampler. He was also packing his bags at the same time for a flight to Washington DC.
Diana Anderson of TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense boarded a flight to DC and then drove to Deleware for a two day training by the Global Community Monitor (GCM). GCM is a non profit organization that has trained community members around the globe to use various air monitoring techniques and equipment in order to gather independent data on their own. GCM is currently working with 18 impacted communities across the globe and is very excited about beginning to work in Appalachia on the issue of FILTHY COAL.
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
Jan 29, 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/
Bonnie Swinford, UMD volunteer coordinator finalized the water monitoring data with Jeff Stant on UMD’s Google map for 3 hours. Good job, Bonnie!!
Matt Landon, UMD volunteer staff took a boat ride on Emory River with TN Wildlife Resources Agency. Until this point Landon had mistakenly thought that a rock weir had been constructed across the Emory River to contain the coal fly ash. Upon boating up the river he learned that TVA had temporarily abandoned this Emory River rock weir project. The boat shuttled the History Channel’s camera crew, reporter, and Matt Landon up and down the river next to the disaster site numerous times in order to get the best shots and to provide enough time to interview TWRA’s Bobby Brown and UMD’s Matt Landon. Landon used the new YSI digital water monitor purchased with a grant from the NRDC. Thank you NRDC!! We were able to check for specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature.
Once we got off the river and defrosted our hands Landon led the History Channel crew to Lakeshore Drive for an interview with Rick Cantrell, a local resident whose family was evacuated by TVA. Cantrell gave a stellar interview.
Landon called Paul Sloan of TDEC and the TN Highway Patrol after video taping vehicles exiting the disaster site without being washed first.
A community volunteer meeting was organized for the evening at the Roane State Expo Center. At this meeting the volunteers decided on what content to put on their website, what was their group’s name, and when and where the next volunteer meeting would be held. The Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network came into existence. Their website is www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com and they have a blog at http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Diana Anderson of TCASN offered to host the next volunteer meeting.
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
Jan 28, 2009 Wenesday
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/
There was a fundraiser set up in Nashville, TN. Local resident, Rick Cantrell attended the fundraiser and spoke about the difficulties his community is facing at this time with TVA’s coal ash disaster. Cantrell reported that nearly 100 people attended the fundraiser where local old time musicians strummed banjos and guitars.
United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, Matt Landon made phone calls reminding local residents about the volunteer meeting on Thursday night. Landon also received his first email from Bob Alexander of TDEC admitting that TDEC was allowing vehicles to drive off site with coal ash on them.
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
Jan 27, 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 volunteer staff person, Matt Landon called all of the regulatory agencies to report the problems of coal ash tracking. Landon called TN Highway Patrol, TN Bureau of Investigation, Bob Alexander of TDEC, EPA criminal division. After speaking with the EPA criminal division Landon was told he would be called by TVA’s OIG in the next week. Landon learned that EPA can’t regulate coal fly ash tracking. EPA doesn’t investigate it because it is not a hazardous waste. After speaking with the TBI, Landon emailed the District Attorney about the tracking problem to file an official compliant.
United Mountain Defense volunteers worked on gathering releases from residents who received heavy metal exposure screening. They picked up disaster photos that were taken to Washington DC. Bonnie and Tom picked up some more human samples for the heavy metal exposure testing. These samples were kept on ice then refrigerated until they were delivered to Internal Balance on Wenesday Jan 28, 2009.
UMD volunteers distributed TVA’s coal fly ash Material Safety Data Sheets to the local residents as they drove around the community.
Matt Landon spoke with a local resident, Judy Scofield, who has had massive asthma attacks since the coal ash disaster occurred. She is now using a steroid inhaler to help her breath. Landon was near tears as she retold her story. He offered to have a call in day to the TVA to politely ask TVA to call Judy Scofield. Judy had not received any phone calls from TVA for nearly two weeks after requesting to be evacuated after a doctor’s suggestion about her respiratory distress being linked to TVA’s coal ash. After the first day of the call in campaign for Judy Scofield she received a phone call from TVA. They informed her they would send CTEH out to check the air quality. Unfortunately CTEH is using inadequate air monitoring equipment. CTEH showed up and after a few minutes told Judy the air was okay.
The call in campaign continues until Judy Scofield is moved to a safer location by TVA.
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
Jan 26, 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/
Bonnie Swinford, UMD’s volunteer coordinator and grant writer has provided major support of ALL of the work that has occurred around TVA’s coal ash disaster. Today Bonnie submitted receipts for multiple grants, updated UMD’s project budget, and made copies of TVA’s Material Safety Data Sheets.
Matt Landon got an email from TDEC about their air quality monitoring after calling TDEC to figure out why they had not installed the high volume air quality monitors around the disaster site. He learned that TDEC had chosen to not install more than one high volume air monitor.
Matt Landon got background air monitoring data from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the past 20 years after emailing Jim Renfro for assistance in Harriman, TN.
It was finally time to get back down to get back to the disaster site. Matt Landon had promised to take a Eva to the doctor on the previous Friday due to her deep lung cough. Unfortunately he was not able to take her on Friday and so awoke early Monday morning and drove her to the doctor. Her doctor could not give her a diagnosis but did offer to set up an appointment with a lung specialist in Oak Ridge, TN and gave her a prescription for Cipro, a strong antibiotic. The doctor thought that her deep lung cough was caused by a bacteria. Eva was not able to afford the anti biotic so she had to wait until Feb 1 to get the prescription.
After the doctor’s visit I offered to drive Eva around to see the rest of the disaster site. Eva does not have a vehicle and walks everywhere because she is legally blind in one eye. Her grand daughter is not old enough to drive either. Even though she lives within ½ a mile of the disaster site she has not seem it yet as no one helped her get there yet.
As we drove around the Swan Pond Community we saw that one of the local churches driveways was open after being blockaded for the past four weeks. As we drove up to the cemetery overlooking the disaster site Eva gasped as she saw the destruction. She commented that she had fished many an afternoon in that part of the lake that was now completely filled in by TVA’s coal ash. She just kept repeating that TVA had made such a mess, TVA had made such a mess.
While we were peacefully observing the work at the disaster site a TVA police officer came up the driveway and pulled to a halt in front of our vehicle. Matt Landon was recording and turned the camera on the TVA officer. This officer did not like the camera and asked for identification which Matt Landon produced. The officer got back in his vehicle and drove away with his ID. Upon returning the officer instructed Landon and Eva to evacuate the premises. Of course they complied immediately.
The whole time the video tape was rolling UMD was recording dirty dump trucks and other unwashed vehicles leaving TVA’s coal ash disaster site while tracking coal fly ash out onto the public roads of Roane County and East TN.
As Landon and Eva drove around on the public roads of Roane County they videotaped the work at TVA’s coal ash disaster. Upon driving on Berkshire Rd they were once again pulled over by the TVA police and Landon was given a citation for trespassing, his second citation for trespassing from TVA. Later Landon found out that TVA has bought all of the property along Berkshire Rd so it is their property.
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
Jan 25, 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/
Today we celebrated Tom’s birthday. Tom is Bonnie’s dad and he recently chose to move down to TN from Indianapolis. He was temporarily living at the UMD volunteer house until he found a house of his own. He did find a house and then this coal ash disaster occurred and he has been on the ground since Dec 22, 2008.
Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense sent out a procedure for doing a swipe test to the Swan Pond community email list serve after receiving multiple requests.
Chris Irwin, UMD staff attorney took a Gentlemen’s Quarterly reporter and photographer up to the King Mountain Mountainside Coal surface mine in Claiborne County near Eagan, TN to photograph the complete cycle of coal, from the cradle to the grave.
Later in the evening UMD had a board meeting where a plan of action was generated for the upcoming week.
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
Jan 24, 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/
A good portion of the day was spent helping get the carpet installed in the United Mountain Defense volunteer house. Chris Irwin, UMD staff attorney, took GQ magazine in a Southwings flyover of the TVA coal ash disaster site, the windfarm on Buffalo Mountain, and the surface coal mines of East Tennessee. GQ is writing about coal from the cradle to the grave with surface mines and destruction of the highland watersheds being the cradle. The TVA coal ash disaster shows the end product of coal cycle, the grave.
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
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/
Today was the second day of training from the Global Community Monitor. Today Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense learned how to operate Air Metric’s Mini Volume air monitor. This machine is very user friendly and maintains its calibration for one year.
The air monitoring volunteers learned about how to use various filters for the monitors and how to maintain the integrity of the filter sample. They learned how to troubleshoot the monitoring machine. They also learned about properly mounting the monitor on power poles or house roofs and other important sighting instructions.
Anderson and Landon also learned about filling out chain of custody forms, and how to tamper proof the filter cases for shipping to the lab.
We finally got back to TN’s community map we had drawn two days prior. After reviewing this map with GCM staff we decided on locations for Swipe Testing and then Air Quality Testing.
More importantly we learned about the impacts of air pollution on other communities and how similar their concerns are to our own concerns.
We ended the training by looking to the future. Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense helped bring the Bucket Brigade to Appalachia in order to provide another community organizing tool that would give back to the communities. He envisioned using TVA’s coal ash disaster as a pilot project to show how easy it is for communities to do this type of monitoring and help bring it to coal impacted communities across the region. He wants to see Bucket Brigades at Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia and at surface coal mines, coal processing plants, and coal burning plants across the region. Won’t you help?
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 1, 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/
Super Bowl Sunday was spent researching a number of online sources of data that we had left untapped till this point.
Matt Landon, United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, took a virtual car ride through the Swan Pond Community before the coal ash disaster using Google Street View. He found photos of the leaking dam located at 1222 Swan Pond Rd. There was photographic evidence of red iron oxide and heavy metal laden water leaking from the toe of the dam. Whenever water is leaking from the base of the damn it is a bad sign and could foreshadow failure.
We also viewed Roane County property tax maps online. These property maps incorporated aerial photography as well making the property searches so much easier. These maps were not up to date as they did not show the properties recently purchased by TVA along Berkshire Ln and Lakeshore Rd.
Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense met with Sarah Goldberg of the Kelley Campaign, a Public Relations group based in Washington DC. Sarah Goldberg was very excited to meet with us and learn more information about what was happening from our firsthand accounts. The Kelley Campaign has been working on a campaign to counter the “Cl*** Coal” campaign of 2008. The Kelley Campaign is working with United Mountain Defense to help amplify our media presence. They have a staff dedicated to writing press releases, distributing them to national and international media, and helping with ground work logistics like setting up citizen press conferences. This is the start to be a beautiful relationship……
After catching the last 15 minutes of the Super Bowl and seeing that incredible touchdown play by the PA Steelers Matt Landon helped Diana Anderson create her first blog. The blog’s title is the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network. The blog’s address is http://tncasn.blogspot.com
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
Jan 31, 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/
Diana Anderson of the TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense traveled to Deleware today to receive training from the Global Community Monitor (GCM) organization. www.gcmonitor.org
Matt Landon of UMD video taped the entire two day training session so that other community members in Deleware, TN, and the world could review the training. Today’s training consisted of learning about the history and successes of the Bucket Brigade, GCM’s most notable air monitoring project. The community that hosted us today was plagued by numerous polluting industries and was in the first steps of beginning to self monitor the air quality. One of the first steps in the process was called a log sheet. A brainstorming session led to the development of the “I SEE, I SMELL, I FEEL” sections for residents to fill out for each air pollution event. Based on these pollution log sheets GCM and the community would be able to decide where to put up Swipe Tests and then Mini Volume Air Monitors.
A really good excerise was for the community members to make a map of the major polluters in the area and show the locations of surrounding houses and other points of interest such as schools, hospitals, existing air monitors, and prevailing wind directions.
This training provided a good basis for how the Bucket Brigade would proceed in TN and we got one step closer to having a solid monitoring plan. Thank you Global Community Monitor for providing a helpful training session.
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
Jan 30, 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 volunteer staff person, Matt Landon was awoken to a call from a TN Highway Patrol officer calling from Arizona. The officer said he would send out an officer to the disaster site and would further investigate the CFR on solid waste to figure out about the solid waste regulations.
Landon traveled to the University of TN in Knoxville for a PodCast interview that was conducted at the college radio station, WUOT 91.9. The PodCast will be aired by On the Earth, a project of NRDC. Thanks, NRDC.
After the interview Landon did more research about the Mini Volume air samplers from Air Metrics and the different filters available for the sampler. He was also packing his bags at the same time for a flight to Washington DC.
Diana Anderson of TN Coal Ash Survivors Network and Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense boarded a flight to DC and then drove to Deleware for a two day training by the Global Community Monitor (GCM). GCM is a non profit organization that has trained community members around the globe to use various air monitoring techniques and equipment in order to gather independent data on their own. GCM is currently working with 18 impacted communities across the globe and is very excited about beginning to work in Appalachia on the issue of FILTHY COAL.
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
Jan 29, 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/
Bonnie Swinford, UMD volunteer coordinator finalized the water monitoring data with Jeff Stant on UMD’s Google map for 3 hours. Good job, Bonnie!!
Matt Landon, UMD volunteer staff took a boat ride on Emory River with TN Wildlife Resources Agency. Until this point Landon had mistakenly thought that a rock weir had been constructed across the Emory River to contain the coal fly ash. Upon boating up the river he learned that TVA had temporarily abandoned this Emory River rock weir project. The boat shuttled the History Channel’s camera crew, reporter, and Matt Landon up and down the river next to the disaster site numerous times in order to get the best shots and to provide enough time to interview TWRA’s Bobby Brown and UMD’s Matt Landon. Landon used the new YSI digital water monitor purchased with a grant from the NRDC. Thank you NRDC!! We were able to check for specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature.
Once we got off the river and defrosted our hands Landon led the History Channel crew to Lakeshore Drive for an interview with Rick Cantrell, a local resident whose family was evacuated by TVA. Cantrell gave a stellar interview.
Landon called Paul Sloan of TDEC and the TN Highway Patrol after video taping vehicles exiting the disaster site without being washed first.
A community volunteer meeting was organized for the evening at the Roane State Expo Center. At this meeting the volunteers decided on what content to put on their website, what was their group’s name, and when and where the next volunteer meeting would be held. The Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network came into existence. Their website is www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com and they have a blog at http://tncasn.blogspot.com
Diana Anderson of TCASN offered to host the next volunteer meeting.
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
Jan 28, 2009 Wenesday
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/
There was a fundraiser set up in Nashville, TN. Local resident, Rick Cantrell attended the fundraiser and spoke about the difficulties his community is facing at this time with TVA’s coal ash disaster. Cantrell reported that nearly 100 people attended the fundraiser where local old time musicians strummed banjos and guitars.
United Mountain Defense volunteer staff person, Matt Landon made phone calls reminding local residents about the volunteer meeting on Thursday night. Landon also received his first email from Bob Alexander of TDEC admitting that TDEC was allowing vehicles to drive off site with coal ash on them.
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
Jan 27, 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 volunteer staff person, Matt Landon called all of the regulatory agencies to report the problems of coal ash tracking. Landon called TN Highway Patrol, TN Bureau of Investigation, Bob Alexander of TDEC, EPA criminal division. After speaking with the EPA criminal division Landon was told he would be called by TVA’s OIG in the next week. Landon learned that EPA can’t regulate coal fly ash tracking. EPA doesn’t investigate it because it is not a hazardous waste. After speaking with the TBI, Landon emailed the District Attorney about the tracking problem to file an official compliant.
United Mountain Defense volunteers worked on gathering releases from residents who received heavy metal exposure screening. They picked up disaster photos that were taken to Washington DC. Bonnie and Tom picked up some more human samples for the heavy metal exposure testing. These samples were kept on ice then refrigerated until they were delivered to Internal Balance on Wenesday Jan 28, 2009.
UMD volunteers distributed TVA’s coal fly ash Material Safety Data Sheets to the local residents as they drove around the community.
Matt Landon spoke with a local resident, Judy Scofield, who has had massive asthma attacks since the coal ash disaster occurred. She is now using a steroid inhaler to help her breath. Landon was near tears as she retold her story. He offered to have a call in day to the TVA to politely ask TVA to call Judy Scofield. Judy had not received any phone calls from TVA for nearly two weeks after requesting to be evacuated after a doctor’s suggestion about her respiratory distress being linked to TVA’s coal ash. After the first day of the call in campaign for Judy Scofield she received a phone call from TVA. They informed her they would send CTEH out to check the air quality. Unfortunately CTEH is using inadequate air monitoring equipment. CTEH showed up and after a few minutes told Judy the air was okay.
The call in campaign continues until Judy Scofield is moved to a safer location by TVA.
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
Jan 26, 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/
Bonnie Swinford, UMD’s volunteer coordinator and grant writer has provided major support of ALL of the work that has occurred around TVA’s coal ash disaster. Today Bonnie submitted receipts for multiple grants, updated UMD’s project budget, and made copies of TVA’s Material Safety Data Sheets.
Matt Landon got an email from TDEC about their air quality monitoring after calling TDEC to figure out why they had not installed the high volume air quality monitors around the disaster site. He learned that TDEC had chosen to not install more than one high volume air monitor.
Matt Landon got background air monitoring data from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the past 20 years after emailing Jim Renfro for assistance in Harriman, TN.
It was finally time to get back down to get back to the disaster site. Matt Landon had promised to take a Eva to the doctor on the previous Friday due to her deep lung cough. Unfortunately he was not able to take her on Friday and so awoke early Monday morning and drove her to the doctor. Her doctor could not give her a diagnosis but did offer to set up an appointment with a lung specialist in Oak Ridge, TN and gave her a prescription for Cipro, a strong antibiotic. The doctor thought that her deep lung cough was caused by a bacteria. Eva was not able to afford the anti biotic so she had to wait until Feb 1 to get the prescription.
After the doctor’s visit I offered to drive Eva around to see the rest of the disaster site. Eva does not have a vehicle and walks everywhere because she is legally blind in one eye. Her grand daughter is not old enough to drive either. Even though she lives within ½ a mile of the disaster site she has not seem it yet as no one helped her get there yet.
As we drove around the Swan Pond Community we saw that one of the local churches driveways was open after being blockaded for the past four weeks. As we drove up to the cemetery overlooking the disaster site Eva gasped as she saw the destruction. She commented that she had fished many an afternoon in that part of the lake that was now completely filled in by TVA’s coal ash. She just kept repeating that TVA had made such a mess, TVA had made such a mess.
While we were peacefully observing the work at the disaster site a TVA police officer came up the driveway and pulled to a halt in front of our vehicle. Matt Landon was recording and turned the camera on the TVA officer. This officer did not like the camera and asked for identification which Matt Landon produced. The officer got back in his vehicle and drove away with his ID. Upon returning the officer instructed Landon and Eva to evacuate the premises. Of course they complied immediately.
The whole time the video tape was rolling UMD was recording dirty dump trucks and other unwashed vehicles leaving TVA’s coal ash disaster site while tracking coal fly ash out onto the public roads of Roane County and East TN.
As Landon and Eva drove around on the public roads of Roane County they videotaped the work at TVA’s coal ash disaster. Upon driving on Berkshire Rd they were once again pulled over by the TVA police and Landon was given a citation for trespassing, his second citation for trespassing from TVA. Later Landon found out that TVA has bought all of the property along Berkshire Rd so it is their property.
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
Jan 25, 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/
Today we celebrated Tom’s birthday. Tom is Bonnie’s dad and he recently chose to move down to TN from Indianapolis. He was temporarily living at the UMD volunteer house until he found a house of his own. He did find a house and then this coal ash disaster occurred and he has been on the ground since Dec 22, 2008.
Matt Landon of United Mountain Defense sent out a procedure for doing a swipe test to the Swan Pond community email list serve after receiving multiple requests.
Chris Irwin, UMD staff attorney took a Gentlemen’s Quarterly reporter and photographer up to the King Mountain Mountainside Coal surface mine in Claiborne County near Eagan, TN to photograph the complete cycle of coal, from the cradle to the grave.
Later in the evening UMD had a board meeting where a plan of action was generated for the upcoming week.
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
Jan 24, 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/
A good portion of the day was spent helping get the carpet installed in the United Mountain Defense volunteer house. Chris Irwin, UMD staff attorney, took GQ magazine in a Southwings flyover of the TVA coal ash disaster site, the windfarm on Buffalo Mountain, and the surface coal mines of East Tennessee. GQ is writing about coal from the cradle to the grave with surface mines and destruction of the highland watersheds being the cradle. The TVA coal ash disaster shows the end product of coal cycle, the grave.
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
Monday, February 2, 2009
New test results are in!
http://www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html
Here you go! Sorry for the delay it takes time to break results which are parts per billion down to press releases and understandable terms. For those of you getting your results back from the biological sampling we are currently working with some of the top scientist to do the same with those.
http://www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html
Experts say tests show Tenn. water is contaminated by heavy metals downstream from Dec. 22 coal ash spill
New report offers preliminary findings; authors call for further testing independent of TVA, full clean-up, and federal regulations
February 2, 2009—The Environmental Integrity Project and United Mountain Defense today released test results in a report entitled Sampling Fact Sheet for TVA Kingston Coal Ash Spill, with their preliminary findings on the health and safety of the region’s river water, which was compromised by the Dec. 22, 2009 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal ash spill.
Water Quality Criteria for arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium and copper were violated, and Primary Drinking Water standards were exceeded for arsenic, lead, beryllium, and antimony.
The test results were released during a media conference call that included Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Chris Irwin of United Mountain Defense (UMD), and Sarah McCoin of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network, founded by neighbors of the spill. The test results, report, supplemental documents, maps, photos, and contact information for the speakers can be downloaded from www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html .
EIP and UMD analyzed 24 water samples from 22 locations taken on Dec. 30, 2008, Dec. 31, 2008, and Jan. 4, 2009. A full list of the sampling dates and locations can be found in a supplemental spreadsheet, TVA Kingston Tables 1 2 3 4 for Residents.
The results indicate the collapse of the ash embankment has contaminated surface water near the impact site and downriver with high contaminant levels which have continued to be carried downriver some two weeks after the disaster. The samples contained heavy metals at levels that frequently exceed federal drinking water standards, making the rivers dangerously unsafe as a public drinking water supply and exceed water quality standards designed to protect aquatic life and human health.
Jeff Stant, Director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative in Indianapolis for the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project, highlighted the report’s key findings, and commented on TVA’s approach to date which has left thousands of tons of the ash in the Emory River and along river banks.
“Leaving the ash sitting on the riverbanks and in the river will endanger public health and the environment. Every time it rains, the ash will continue to leach heavy metals and further contaminate the watershed,” Stant said.
Samples from seven of 13 locations in the vicinity of the spill or downriver on the Emory and Clinch Rivers had levels of one or more heavy metals that exceeded Primary Drinking Water Standards. The metals exceeding the standards were: arsenic, lead, beryllium, and antimony. There were no exceedances of these standards for any heavy metals in samples at three locations upriver from the spill impact area.
Samples from six locations in the spill area or downriver exceeded one or more water quality standards for metals 24 times. Known as Water Quality Criteria, these standards are part of the Clean Water Act, which aim to protect aquatic life and human activity in rivers and streams from high pollution concentrations. Water Quality Criteria for copper, arsenic, lead, selenium and cadmium were violated. Copper levels surpassed the criteria for acute toxicity to aquatic life five times and arsenic surpassed this acute toxicity level twice. Only one sample upriver from the spill area exceeded any water quality criteria, and that was of the less toxic, chronic criteria for lead measured at Harriman.
Samples were taken from five wells east of the impact area, none of which exceeded the Primary Drinking Water Standards for heavy metals. However, all of the wells contained one or more other pollutants known to leach from ash, such as iron, manganese, and aluminum in amounts exceeding the use-based Secondary Drinking Water Standards. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency’s health-based advisories for manganese and sodium were exceeded in one well and three wells respectively. Sodium and manganese are both common contaminants found in coal ash.
United Mountain Defenses was unable to sample wells within the impacted areas. While TVA was granted access to sample these wells, they were sealed off for usage or sampling to anyone outside TVA. The wells included in this report were east, in the opposite direction, of the spill. Speakers on the call today said it is imperative that there be further testing of residential wells as part of a greater study of the groundwater in the entire vicinity around the Kingston Plant.
The data shows widely fluctuating arsenic levels in the Emory and Clinch Rivers, as a result of this coal disaster. Two weeks after the spill, two samples taken within a half mile of the impact site contained arsenic at 32 to 37 times the Primary Drinking Water Standard, one of which also violated the acute Water Quality Criteria. Seven samples downriver ranged from no detection to more than 10 times the Drinking Water Standard three miles away and more than twice the Standard, some 4.5 miles downriver.
“Fluctuating levels of such dangerous metals in so much water two weeks after the spill calls for an expanded testing regimen and suggests that that this massive problem will not go away until the ash is removed from any contact with the Emory River,” Stant said.
Chris Irwin, a staff attorney with United Mountain Defense and sixth generation resident of Tennessee, spoke at the conference call today about the urgent need for additional regulated testing of river water, sediments and aquatic life in the Emory and Clinch Rivers.
Irwin stated, “‘Clean coal’ is dead. In fact, coal is dangerous, depleting and destructive…An entire watershed and drinking water source has been contaminated by heavy metals as a direct result of TVA's ash disaster. TVA has an obligation to both impacted residents and people living downstream to immediately pay for comprehensive independent regular testing in a transparent fashion and make that data immediately available to the public.”
Sarah McCoin, a fifth generation resident of Harriman, Tenn., and member of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivor Network, offered her opinions as a community activist saying she was misled by TVA’s false sense of security.
“I was once a clean coal believer, thinking that coal ash was a clean byproduct produced by the coal-fired plant a mile from our home,” McCoin said. “We now understand coal ash is not safe. The results indicate contamination in the water is real. The issues are very alarming and the report on the contaminated waters is real. The dangers are real. We worry about the havoc that coal ash will cause to our land, water, wildlife, ecosystem and human health. As this stuff becomes airborne, TVA continues to suggest and state that fly ash is not a hazardous substance; it’s clear that it is. I’ve spent my lifetime hoping to come back here, and it’s actually a beautiful part of the country. Since the spill, we’ve encountered significant lifestyle changes. We must take a new perspective with coal regulation, and implement federal coal ash regulation that will protect other communities from the anguish of this disaster that we now face.”
The test results, report, supplemental documents, maps, photos, and contact information for the speakers can be obtained from www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html . For more information about the call or to interview any of the speakers, please contact Sarah Goldberg at 301-887-1060 x118, or at sarah@kelleycampaigns.com.
Here you go! Sorry for the delay it takes time to break results which are parts per billion down to press releases and understandable terms. For those of you getting your results back from the biological sampling we are currently working with some of the top scientist to do the same with those.
http://www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html
Experts say tests show Tenn. water is contaminated by heavy metals downstream from Dec. 22 coal ash spill
New report offers preliminary findings; authors call for further testing independent of TVA, full clean-up, and federal regulations
February 2, 2009—The Environmental Integrity Project and United Mountain Defense today released test results in a report entitled Sampling Fact Sheet for TVA Kingston Coal Ash Spill, with their preliminary findings on the health and safety of the region’s river water, which was compromised by the Dec. 22, 2009 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal ash spill.
Water Quality Criteria for arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium and copper were violated, and Primary Drinking Water standards were exceeded for arsenic, lead, beryllium, and antimony.
The test results were released during a media conference call that included Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Chris Irwin of United Mountain Defense (UMD), and Sarah McCoin of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network, founded by neighbors of the spill. The test results, report, supplemental documents, maps, photos, and contact information for the speakers can be downloaded from www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html
EIP and UMD analyzed 24 water samples from 22 locations taken on Dec. 30, 2008, Dec. 31, 2008, and Jan. 4, 2009. A full list of the sampling dates and locations can be found in a supplemental spreadsheet, TVA Kingston Tables 1 2 3 4 for Residents.
The results indicate the collapse of the ash embankment has contaminated surface water near the impact site and downriver with high contaminant levels which have continued to be carried downriver some two weeks after the disaster. The samples contained heavy metals at levels that frequently exceed federal drinking water standards, making the rivers dangerously unsafe as a public drinking water supply and exceed water quality standards designed to protect aquatic life and human health.
Jeff Stant, Director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative in Indianapolis for the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project, highlighted the report’s key findings, and commented on TVA’s approach to date which has left thousands of tons of the ash in the Emory River and along river banks.
“Leaving the ash sitting on the riverbanks and in the river will endanger public health and the environment. Every time it rains, the ash will continue to leach heavy metals and further contaminate the watershed,” Stant said.
Samples from seven of 13 locations in the vicinity of the spill or downriver on the Emory and Clinch Rivers had levels of one or more heavy metals that exceeded Primary Drinking Water Standards. The metals exceeding the standards were: arsenic, lead, beryllium, and antimony. There were no exceedances of these standards for any heavy metals in samples at three locations upriver from the spill impact area.
Samples from six locations in the spill area or downriver exceeded one or more water quality standards for metals 24 times. Known as Water Quality Criteria, these standards are part of the Clean Water Act, which aim to protect aquatic life and human activity in rivers and streams from high pollution concentrations. Water Quality Criteria for copper, arsenic, lead, selenium and cadmium were violated. Copper levels surpassed the criteria for acute toxicity to aquatic life five times and arsenic surpassed this acute toxicity level twice. Only one sample upriver from the spill area exceeded any water quality criteria, and that was of the less toxic, chronic criteria for lead measured at Harriman.
Samples were taken from five wells east of the impact area, none of which exceeded the Primary Drinking Water Standards for heavy metals. However, all of the wells contained one or more other pollutants known to leach from ash, such as iron, manganese, and aluminum in amounts exceeding the use-based Secondary Drinking Water Standards. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency’s health-based advisories for manganese and sodium were exceeded in one well and three wells respectively. Sodium and manganese are both common contaminants found in coal ash.
United Mountain Defenses was unable to sample wells within the impacted areas. While TVA was granted access to sample these wells, they were sealed off for usage or sampling to anyone outside TVA. The wells included in this report were east, in the opposite direction, of the spill. Speakers on the call today said it is imperative that there be further testing of residential wells as part of a greater study of the groundwater in the entire vicinity around the Kingston Plant.
The data shows widely fluctuating arsenic levels in the Emory and Clinch Rivers, as a result of this coal disaster. Two weeks after the spill, two samples taken within a half mile of the impact site contained arsenic at 32 to 37 times the Primary Drinking Water Standard, one of which also violated the acute Water Quality Criteria. Seven samples downriver ranged from no detection to more than 10 times the Drinking Water Standard three miles away and more than twice the Standard, some 4.5 miles downriver.
“Fluctuating levels of such dangerous metals in so much water two weeks after the spill calls for an expanded testing regimen and suggests that that this massive problem will not go away until the ash is removed from any contact with the Emory River,” Stant said.
Chris Irwin, a staff attorney with United Mountain Defense and sixth generation resident of Tennessee, spoke at the conference call today about the urgent need for additional regulated testing of river water, sediments and aquatic life in the Emory and Clinch Rivers.
Irwin stated, “‘Clean coal’ is dead. In fact, coal is dangerous, depleting and destructive…An entire watershed and drinking water source has been contaminated by heavy metals as a direct result of TVA's ash disaster. TVA has an obligation to both impacted residents and people living downstream to immediately pay for comprehensive independent regular testing in a transparent fashion and make that data immediately available to the public.”
Sarah McCoin, a fifth generation resident of Harriman, Tenn., and member of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivor Network, offered her opinions as a community activist saying she was misled by TVA’s false sense of security.
“I was once a clean coal believer, thinking that coal ash was a clean byproduct produced by the coal-fired plant a mile from our home,” McCoin said. “We now understand coal ash is not safe. The results indicate contamination in the water is real. The issues are very alarming and the report on the contaminated waters is real. The dangers are real. We worry about the havoc that coal ash will cause to our land, water, wildlife, ecosystem and human health. As this stuff becomes airborne, TVA continues to suggest and state that fly ash is not a hazardous substance; it’s clear that it is. I’ve spent my lifetime hoping to come back here, and it’s actually a beautiful part of the country. Since the spill, we’ve encountered significant lifestyle changes. We must take a new perspective with coal regulation, and implement federal coal ash regulation that will protect other communities from the anguish of this disaster that we now face.”
The test results, report, supplemental documents, maps, photos, and contact information for the speakers can be obtained from www.kelleycampaigns.com/coalash.html
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Kingston and Coal Lobby's Grip on the EPA
Hey below isn't a product of UMD studios--but I found it on youtube and thought the legislative history was interesting.
In March of 2000, during the last days of the Clinton administration, the EPA decided coal ash was a hazardous waste. Then, two months later, it flipped. If the EPA had stuck to its guns, the Kingston Coal Ash disaster in Tennessee might have been averted. Now, momentum is building to federally regulate coal ash. Will the EPA make the same mistake twice?
In March of 2000, during the last days of the Clinton administration, the EPA decided coal ash was a hazardous waste. Then, two months later, it flipped. If the EPA had stuck to its guns, the Kingston Coal Ash disaster in Tennessee might have been averted. Now, momentum is building to federally regulate coal ash. Will the EPA make the same mistake twice?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ANALYSIS SHOWS EXPOSURE TO ASH FROM TVA SPILL COULD HAVE 'SEVERE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS'
The results from Duke University are in. Here they are.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009
CONTACT: Tim Lucas
(919) 613-8084
tdlucas@duke.edu
ANALYSIS SHOWS EXPOSURE TO ASH FROM TVA SPILL COULD HAVE 'SEVERE HEALTH
IMPLICATIONS'
Note to editors: Avner Vengosh can be reached at (919) 681-8050 or
vengosh@duke.edu. Photos of the research area can be viewed at
http://news.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/coalash_ruhl.jpg
and
http://news.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/coalash_plant.jpg
.
DURHAM, N.C. -- A report by Duke University scientists who analyzed
water and ash samples from last month's coal sludge spill in eastern
Tennessee concludes that "exposure to radium- and arsenic-containing
particulates in the ash could have severe health implications" in the
affected areas.
"Our radioactive measurements of solid ash samples from Tennessee
suggests the ash has radiation levels above those reported by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for typical coal ash," said Avner
Vengosh, associate professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke's
Nicholas School of the Environment. "Preventing the formation of
airborne particulate matter from the ash that was released to the
environment seems essential for reducing possible health impacts."
More than a billion gallons of sludge coal waste spilled from a holding
facility at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal-burning power
plant on Dec. 22. The ash-laden waste flooded more than 400 surrounding
acres and spilled into a tributary of the Emory River, which converges
with the Clinch River and flows into the Tennessee River, a major source
of drinking water for many communities in the region. The spill was so
large it partly dammed the tributary of the Emory River, turning it into
a standing pond.
Vengosh's team found that the combined content of radium-228 and
radium-226 - the two long-lived isotopes of radium - in the solid ash
samples they collected from the TVA spill measured about 8 picocuries
per gram. That's higher than the average 5-6 picocuries per gram
reported by the EPA in most bottom and fly ash samples. The curie is a
standard measure of the intensity of radioactivity.
Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that decays from
uranium and thorium elements in coal. When the coal is burned, it is
concentrated in the ash. The EPA classifies radium as a Group-A
carcinogenic material, which means exposure to it could cause cancer.
Water samples collected and analyzed by Vengosh and Duke graduate
student Laura Ruhl found high levels of arsenic, measuring 95 parts per
billion, in water from the dammed tributary where coal ash has
accumulated. Only low concentrations were found in the Emory and Clinch
rivers. The EPA has set the arsenic standard for safe public drinking
water at 10 parts per billion.
Arsenic is a toxic metal that can occur naturally in the environment or
as a by-product of some agricultural and industrial activities.
According to the EPA, the effects of long-term chronic exposure to
arsenic can include increased risk of certain types of cancer, as well
as skin damage and circulatory problems.
"The good news is, we detected only trace amounts of arsenic in waters
beyond the dammed tributary," Vengosh said. "The data suggests that in
less than three weeks since the spill, river flow has diluted the
arsenic content. The river is clean, but the water from areas like the
dammed tributary, where the coal ash has accumulated, still contains
high arsenic levels."
Vengosh is an internationally cited expert on the chemistry of
radioactive elements in surface and ground waters. He has conducted
extensive research on radon and radium contaminants in the ground waters
of western North Carolina and the Middle East.
He and Ruhl collected the water and solid ash samples at sites affected
by the TVA spill on Jan. 9. Duke research scientist Gary Dwyer analyzed
the water samples for trace metal content using inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry. Following preliminary analysis, the solid ash
samples were incubated and underwent more detailed analysis of their
radioactive content using gamma spectrometry.
Vengosh's team collected the samples from the TVA spill after being
contacted by United Mountain Defense, a nonprofit environmental group
based in Tennessee. The Duke researchers received no funding from the
group or any other external party. All funding was provided by the
Nicholas School, Vengosh said, "to maintain total impartiality in our
analysis."
"The TVA spill is one of the largest events of its kind in U.S. history.
It raises questions concerning the safety of storing coal ash and the
potential effects of coal ash on environmental and human health,"
Vengosh said. "We hope our analysis will help provide some answers."
###
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009
CONTACT: Tim Lucas
(919) 613-8084
tdlucas@duke.edu
ANALYSIS SHOWS EXPOSURE TO ASH FROM TVA SPILL COULD HAVE 'SEVERE HEALTH
IMPLICATIONS'
Note to editors: Avner Vengosh can be reached at (919) 681-8050 or
vengosh@duke.edu. Photos of the research area can be viewed at
http://news.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/coalash_ruhl.jpg
http://news.duke.edu/mmedia/hires/coalash_plant.jpg
DURHAM, N.C. -- A report by Duke University scientists who analyzed
water and ash samples from last month's coal sludge spill in eastern
Tennessee concludes that "exposure to radium- and arsenic-containing
particulates in the ash could have severe health implications" in the
affected areas.
"Our radioactive measurements of solid ash samples from Tennessee
suggests the ash has radiation levels above those reported by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for typical coal ash," said Avner
Vengosh, associate professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke's
Nicholas School of the Environment. "Preventing the formation of
airborne particulate matter from the ash that was released to the
environment seems essential for reducing possible health impacts."
More than a billion gallons of sludge coal waste spilled from a holding
facility at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal-burning power
plant on Dec. 22. The ash-laden waste flooded more than 400 surrounding
acres and spilled into a tributary of the Emory River, which converges
with the Clinch River and flows into the Tennessee River, a major source
of drinking water for many communities in the region. The spill was so
large it partly dammed the tributary of the Emory River, turning it into
a standing pond.
Vengosh's team found that the combined content of radium-228 and
radium-226 - the two long-lived isotopes of radium - in the solid ash
samples they collected from the TVA spill measured about 8 picocuries
per gram. That's higher than the average 5-6 picocuries per gram
reported by the EPA in most bottom and fly ash samples. The curie is a
standard measure of the intensity of radioactivity.
Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that decays from
uranium and thorium elements in coal. When the coal is burned, it is
concentrated in the ash. The EPA classifies radium as a Group-A
carcinogenic material, which means exposure to it could cause cancer.
Water samples collected and analyzed by Vengosh and Duke graduate
student Laura Ruhl found high levels of arsenic, measuring 95 parts per
billion, in water from the dammed tributary where coal ash has
accumulated. Only low concentrations were found in the Emory and Clinch
rivers. The EPA has set the arsenic standard for safe public drinking
water at 10 parts per billion.
Arsenic is a toxic metal that can occur naturally in the environment or
as a by-product of some agricultural and industrial activities.
According to the EPA, the effects of long-term chronic exposure to
arsenic can include increased risk of certain types of cancer, as well
as skin damage and circulatory problems.
"The good news is, we detected only trace amounts of arsenic in waters
beyond the dammed tributary," Vengosh said. "The data suggests that in
less than three weeks since the spill, river flow has diluted the
arsenic content. The river is clean, but the water from areas like the
dammed tributary, where the coal ash has accumulated, still contains
high arsenic levels."
Vengosh is an internationally cited expert on the chemistry of
radioactive elements in surface and ground waters. He has conducted
extensive research on radon and radium contaminants in the ground waters
of western North Carolina and the Middle East.
He and Ruhl collected the water and solid ash samples at sites affected
by the TVA spill on Jan. 9. Duke research scientist Gary Dwyer analyzed
the water samples for trace metal content using inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry. Following preliminary analysis, the solid ash
samples were incubated and underwent more detailed analysis of their
radioactive content using gamma spectrometry.
Vengosh's team collected the samples from the TVA spill after being
contacted by United Mountain Defense, a nonprofit environmental group
based in Tennessee. The Duke researchers received no funding from the
group or any other external party. All funding was provided by the
Nicholas School, Vengosh said, "to maintain total impartiality in our
analysis."
"The TVA spill is one of the largest events of its kind in U.S. history.
It raises questions concerning the safety of storing coal ash and the
potential effects of coal ash on environmental and human health,"
Vengosh said. "We hope our analysis will help provide some answers."
###
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Lawyers being interviewed at end of Jan 3rd community meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=596yPVRHSPo
A bunch of lawyers wanted to speak at the last community meeting UMD helped organize--so at the end they were all put on stage and questioned by the community. Otherwise they were banned from handing out cards, participating in the community small group discussions or recruiting clients. Here is a segment.
A bunch of lawyers wanted to speak at the last community meeting UMD helped organize--so at the end they were all put on stage and questioned by the community. Otherwise they were banned from handing out cards, participating in the community small group discussions or recruiting clients. Here is a segment.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Widows Creek data
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-86f4cd99.html
Here is the raw data from the samples we took at widows creek the day of and day after the spill.
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-86f4cd99.html
Hey Chris, The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act standards are here:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/
I don't know what levels of protection widows creek is afforded in Alabama, but based on the SDWA, the Thallium (2 ug/L) is in violation as is the Aluminum (50 - 200 ug/L). Aluminum is a secondary standard which is non-enforceable because they "cause cosmetic effects (such as skin or tooth discoloration) or aesthetic effects (such as taste, odor, or color) in drinking water."
The Arsenic is over the Goal level, but not the enforceable limits. I think that's it, but it's worth a double and triple check.
unitedmountaindefense.org
Here is the raw data from the samples we took at widows creek the day of and day after the spill.
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-86f4cd99.html
Hey Chris, The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act standards are here:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/
I don't know what levels of protection widows creek is afforded in Alabama, but based on the SDWA, the Thallium (2 ug/L) is in violation as is the Aluminum (50 - 200 ug/L). Aluminum is a secondary standard which is non-enforceable because they "cause cosmetic effects (such as skin or tooth discoloration) or aesthetic effects (such as taste, odor, or color) in drinking water."
The Arsenic is over the Goal level, but not the enforceable limits. I think that's it, but it's worth a double and triple check.
unitedmountaindefense.org
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Federal, State, Roane County Elected Officials, Governement Agencies Contacts
http://governmentcontactsforroanecounty.blogspot.com/
Jan 23 2009 flyover Strip Mining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtk1vD5O3g
This is a video shot from a plane (Thanks Southwings!) Jan 23 2009 of strip mining on the Cumberland Plateau in Claiborne, Scott, Campbell, and Northern Anderson Counties. UMDs primary work the last few years has been working against Strip mining.
Highland Watersheds that would produce clean drinking water for a million more years are being blown up for coal. The green golf course looking strips you see is hydroseeded grass on top of huge piles of rubble from blown up mountains mashed against a highwall. Here is "clean coal".
This is a video shot from a plane (Thanks Southwings!) Jan 23 2009 of strip mining on the Cumberland Plateau in Claiborne, Scott, Campbell, and Northern Anderson Counties. UMDs primary work the last few years has been working against Strip mining.
Highland Watersheds that would produce clean drinking water for a million more years are being blown up for coal. The green golf course looking strips you see is hydroseeded grass on top of huge piles of rubble from blown up mountains mashed against a highwall. Here is "clean coal".
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Jan 23 2008 flyover of Ash slide
Buffalo Mountain New River Watershed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvlE82I1is
Friday we flew around the ash spill--but went to monitor the strip mines UMD monitors and get fresh high res pics. On the way to Claiborne County from the Kingston community airport we went across buffalo mountain where the windmills are.
Please forgive the bouncy nature of this footage--the reason the turbines were turning so energetically was because of wind = turbulance. But I thought it might be unique and that in the midst of the cost of the 19th century technology of coal its important to see what could be the more elegant less destructive future.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Jan 15- Jan 23, 2009 United Mountain Defense Updates Air Quality monitoring, MSDS sheets, independent contractors, and dump trucks
Jan 23, 2009 Friday
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers have been waiting to get new carpet put in the UMD volunteer house since we had an indoor flood on sunday night. We've still been helping organize between vacumming water and working with carpet specialists, and the insurance man.
So we have also been hounding TVA about the Material Safety Data Sheets AND WE FINALLY GOT A COPY OF IT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The copies that we have are for Class F fly ash and for bottom ash. The main chemicals listed are aluminum oxide, iron oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, titanium oxide, and inorganic arsenic at varying ranges. We will try to get these sheets up on UMD's website and this blog.
We have also spent the day working on figuring out the air quality thing. WE HAVE GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Swan Pond community is so much further ahead than other communities because of all their documentation, diaries, doctor's visits, and keeping track of their symptoms. The community listserve serves as a historical document because people keep posting their health issues there.
We have been working on formulating an air quality monitoring program. We want to bring down the Bucket Brigade? These are low volume air monitors that each citizen could recieve training to use. We could set them up inside local houses and also outside. We are looking into Summa containers to test for Volitile Organic Compounds and other gases. We are also looking into high volume air monitors and TEOM infra red scanning particulate monitors. CTEH/ TVA and TDEC are only testing to PM10 which is okay but we want to test for Total Suspended Particles which will give us a fuller air quality picture.
We have learned that TDEC has still not installed the two high volume air monitors they promised on Jan 15, 2009 but instead only installed one on Lake shore Drive. Can anyone verify that a big loud vaccum air monitor is plugged in to an electrical outlet out on Lakeshore drive with a smaller CTEH monitor next to it?
Yesterday I tried to find the air monitor on Berkshire Drive and only saw and video taped the small low volume CTEH/ TVA monitors. Is there a big air monitor plugged in to an electrical outlet there on Berkshire? So CTEH/ TVA is using low volume air monitors that would typically be used for indoors. The equipment they are using can not show compliance or non compliance with the EPA ambient air quality standards. Basically their equipment is too small. If you are so inclined you should call Tom Welborn of EPA at (404) 562 9354 and tell him that TVA is using low volume monitors to say they are achieving EPA ambient air quality standards. Request more high volume air monitoring equipment now. TELL HIM ABOUT THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE COMMUNITY including nose bleeds and respiratory problems. The air is also turning gold and silver jewelery black. Ask to file an official complaint.
Also call TDEC at (615) 532 0562 and tell them they need to order TVA to install more high volume air monitors as per the EPA's and TDEC's monitoring and reporting requirements. TDEC is the lead enforcement agency right now so we should focus our energies on them. Tell them about your communities health. Call TDEC and file a complaint, ask them to install more high volume air monitors.
Also we made a call today to OSHA about the fact that a lot of the independent contractors did not give TVA's MSDS sheets to their workers. These workers aren't informed about the toxins they are working with and their employers are not supplying them with the appropriate safety equipment. We called Phillip Harrell of OSHA at (615) 232 3803. OSHA needed to know the names of the contractors so that they could follow up on getting MSDS sheets out to the workers. Either call OSHA with the names of the contractors or email us and we will call them for you.
Also about the dump trucks tracking coal fly ash out onto the roads. We need to be more diligent about the trucks because we witnessed trucks traveling out of the disaster site without being washed. We were able to identify them because they had mud caked up on the sides, back, and wheel wells of the trucks. This has and will continue to be an ongoing problem for your community, but we can put a stop to it by reporting the dirty trucks. The following is a breif history of the dirty dump truck situation. On Jan 6, 2009 Mr. Graves first recorded and made official complaints to the TN Highway Patrol, TDEC, EPA, TVA, and Howie Rose of Roane County Emergency Management Agency. On Jan 9, 2009 we reported dirty dump trucks. On Jan 12, 2009 Howie Rose told me TVA had purchased three truck washers to be installed. On Jan 15, 2009 we told Gill Francis of TVA not to forget the truck washers. On Jan 22, 2009 we called to report dirty dump trucks. As of Jan 23, 2009 TVA had still not installed the truck washers and Howie Rose said TVA will be installing them by this coming Tuesday Jan 27, 2009. This means that all of these agencies and TVA have knowingly been tracking coal fly ash out onto your roads for more than 17 days. This is unacceptable.
Please call TDEC (865) 594 6035
EPA (404) 562 9354
TN Highway Patrol (865) 594 5793
Howie Rose Roane County Emergency Management (865) 250 7347
TVA (865) 717 4006
File official complaints and make a paper trail for these injustices.
Alright, thanks for hanging in there.
I thank you for your help, support, courage, and kind words.
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
Jan 22, 2009 Thursday
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/
Today started out as we facilitated an interview between a community member and GQ magazine. As we were driving up to the road block on South Swan Pond Rd we were halted even though we had a community resident pass. The TVA police officers questioned us about our intentions for driving onto the public road. Of course the rolling video camera may have had some impact on the situation. Our license plate was radioed in and we were allowed to enter this distressed community. For the most part the corporate media has not reported the stories of many of the residents living on this portion of Swan Pond Rd because they don’t have coal fly ash in their front yards though they did drink tap water impacted by the coal ash disaster for nearly 10 days.
This particular resident was more than happy to share her story about how she got blisters on the roof of her mouth on Dec 24, 2008 after boiling and drinking the tap water and cooking Christmas Eve dinner with it. She was very happy to receive the 10 gallons of bottled water we delivered for her today.
After the interview United Mountain Defense volunteers headed to the citizen’s press
conference at the Harriman community center. This press conference garnered more media attendance than any of the TVA press conferences attended by Independent Media outlets. There were at least four television stations including the Jim Lehrer News Hour and more than four news papers with large readerships including GQ, the Tennessean, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The main topics of the citizen’s press conference detailed the health concerns of the community members and exposed TVA’s cover up of the doctor ordered evacuations due to negative health impacts. To this point TVA has said that everything is fine with the air quality in the area while paying to temporarily relocate families living next to the coal ash disaster. The people are in respiratory distress because of TVA’s coal ash disaster.
After the successful citizen’s press conference United Mountain Defense volunteers traveled down to Swan Pond Circle Dr to do an interview with the Jim Lehrer News Hour. It was very productive and we used the time to record TVA’s changes to the disaster site. After the interview we visited a local volunteer who had recently gotten home from the hospital, and then we headed home.
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
Jan 21, 2009 Wednesday
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/
Today volunteers for United Mountain Defense traveled to Harriman, TN for a media messaging workshop. There were a few local residents who attended the media training. It was a very effective session where the residents crafted their message for the press conference and worked on their sound bites.
United Mountain Defense volunteers made follow up phone calls to the media that received press releases about the citizen’s press conference. We also called other media outlets that were not on the email list.
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
Jan 20, 2009 Tuesday
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/
It has been interesting and hard to continue working on the TVA coal ash disaster while taking care of the flooded United Mountain Defense volunteer house as well. None the less United Mountain Defense volunteers set up a media messaging workshop and a citizen’s press conference in Harriman, TN.
United Mountain Defense volunteers emailed out a press release announcing the citizen’s press conference to all the media outlets that have been reporting on the TVA coal ash disaster.
Hey we need independent air quality monitoring!!!! Local residents are reporting that their gold and silver jewelry is being turned black and the tarnish can not be removed. They are reporting that they and their animals are having uncontrollable nose bleeds. There is one report of one dog’s black nose turning red. Local residents are missing work because of respiratory distress. They are reporting shortness of breath. As soon as they travel out of the immediate disaster area some of these resident’s symptoms clear up. I got a phone call yesterday from a lady who lives in Rockwood about 10 miles southwest of the disaster site. Rockwood is located in the path of the prevailing winds. The woman has an evacuation notice from her doctor because of respiratory distress.
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
Jan 19, 2009 Monday
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/
Happy MLK day!! So as the United Mountain Defense volunteers were vacuuming water logged carpets a lively statewide protest against TVA was occurring. There were protests in Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville, TN.
There was an incredible amount of media coverage on the Chattanooga protests. There have been two Youtube videos created about the Knoxville protests. The Nashville protesters infiltrated the MLK Day March and distributed information about TVA’s coal ash disaster.
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
Jan 18, 2009 Sunday
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/
United Mountain Defense’s Harriman field team traveled to Knoxville for a board meeting that also served as a planning meeting for the next week. It was good to see our Knoxville friends and catch up on the latest news from the BIG city.
Later in the evening we traveled to the United Mountain Defense volunteer house to discover that a minor flood had occurred inside the house. We found a copper pipe fitting that had come loose and had been flowing for an untold number of days. There was about 3 inches of water in the wall to wall carpet. It has added another level of disaster to our list of tasks. We got 4 hours of sleep this night.
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
Jan 17, 2009 Saturday
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers awoke to good news when we found out about receiving a $3,000 Technical Assistance Grant from the Appalachian Community Fund for heavy metal screenings for local residents impacted by TVA’s coal ash disaster. We want to thank the Appalachian Community Fund for all of the support they have given us over the past year including supporting the Portrait Story Project and the Harriman Resident Heavy Metal Screening. Thank you Appalachian Community Fund!!!
There was a volunteer meeting set up for local residents who wanted to get started working on projects. The meeting agenda was made by the people who showed up for the meeting. Topics of discussion included water monitoring, air monitoring, truck traffic, rock quarry blasting, and human health. The meeting lasted for an hour and there were a few break outs/ workshops that followed the meeting. The workshop groups included email listserve moderator training, water quality monitoring training, and media training.
Two volunteers signed up to be moderators of the community email listserve and received training to do this job effectively.
The media workshop decided to hold a citizen press conference on January 22, 2009 to mark the one month anniversary of TVA’s coal ash disaster. The main theme of the press conference would be the health concerns and evacuations ordered by local doctors.
The water monitoring workshop saw the creation of a new citizen monitoring team. The new monitoring team made a plan to gather four gallons of polluted water to be shipped to Colorado for testing.
This volunteer meeting was very productive. It was conducted without an organizational structure. There was a facilitator that kept the meeting flowing in an orderly fashion.
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
Jan 16, 2009 Friday
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers spent the day on the phone and doing much needed computer work. At 10 AM United Mountain Defense full time volunteer staff person, Matt Landon, participated in a conference call with TN and national environmental groups. He was able to give a detailed update from the front lines. There were some strong resolutions and plans of action charted that may help bring some positive results to the coal impacted community of Harriman and other such communities across the country.
Another United Mountain Defense volunteer spent the day informing Swan Pond community members about the volunteer meeting on Saturday and checking in with residents who got tested for heavy metals.
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
Jan 15, 2009 Thursday
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/
Volunteers from United Mountain Defense went down to the American Legion and opened the doors at 10 AM to gather the samples from the Tuesday Jan 13, 2009 human heavy metal screening. The doors opened there was a steady trickle of locals who dropped off their samples. UMD volunteers stayed at the American Legion until nearly 3 PM.
At 3 PM we closed shop and began preparing for the TVA Open House at the Roane County Community College. A representative of the Knoxville Independent Media took his camera and began going from table to table asking hard questions of each of the representatives. The floor of the gym was divided up into different areas including air quality, water quality, independent contracting, TVA activities, TN Department of Environment and Conservation, TN Department of Health, and EPA.
The Knoxville Independent Media representative made an effort to go to each table and speak with and video tape all of the participants. The most interesting interviews came from the corporation doing the air monitoring and the TDEC air quality specialists. I learned from TDEC that the air quality monitors that CTEH Corporation was using were “low volume” air monitors which would not provide a definitive compliance or non compliance measure for EPA’s Ambient Air Quality Standard. Knoxville Independent Media has the TDEC official on video tape making this statement. TVA has been passing off this less than adequate information to the EPA, TDEC, the public, and the media to say that the air is safe to breathe. There is no monitoring for VOC’s or indoor air quality. TDEC installed two “high volume” air monitors on Jan 14, 2009 along the northern and northeastern edges of the coal ash disaster that would provide parallel samples of CTEH’s low volume equipment. It has been 24 days since TVA’s coal ash disaster occurred and the state of TN is finally installing air monitors. What a joke.
So when the Knoxville Independent Media representative asked about additional monitors the TDEC official said they would not be necessary based on the present locations of the existing air monitors.
A member of United Mountain Defense and the Knoxville Independent Media representative attended the TVA open house from 4 PM- 8 PM and recorded about two and half hours of video tape.
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
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers have been waiting to get new carpet put in the UMD volunteer house since we had an indoor flood on sunday night. We've still been helping organize between vacumming water and working with carpet specialists, and the insurance man.
So we have also been hounding TVA about the Material Safety Data Sheets AND WE FINALLY GOT A COPY OF IT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The copies that we have are for Class F fly ash and for bottom ash. The main chemicals listed are aluminum oxide, iron oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, titanium oxide, and inorganic arsenic at varying ranges. We will try to get these sheets up on UMD's website and this blog.
We have also spent the day working on figuring out the air quality thing. WE HAVE GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Swan Pond community is so much further ahead than other communities because of all their documentation, diaries, doctor's visits, and keeping track of their symptoms. The community listserve serves as a historical document because people keep posting their health issues there.
We have been working on formulating an air quality monitoring program. We want to bring down the Bucket Brigade? These are low volume air monitors that each citizen could recieve training to use. We could set them up inside local houses and also outside. We are looking into Summa containers to test for Volitile Organic Compounds and other gases. We are also looking into high volume air monitors and TEOM infra red scanning particulate monitors. CTEH/ TVA and TDEC are only testing to PM10 which is okay but we want to test for Total Suspended Particles which will give us a fuller air quality picture.
We have learned that TDEC has still not installed the two high volume air monitors they promised on Jan 15, 2009 but instead only installed one on Lake shore Drive. Can anyone verify that a big loud vaccum air monitor is plugged in to an electrical outlet out on Lakeshore drive with a smaller CTEH monitor next to it?
Yesterday I tried to find the air monitor on Berkshire Drive and only saw and video taped the small low volume CTEH/ TVA monitors. Is there a big air monitor plugged in to an electrical outlet there on Berkshire? So CTEH/ TVA is using low volume air monitors that would typically be used for indoors. The equipment they are using can not show compliance or non compliance with the EPA ambient air quality standards. Basically their equipment is too small. If you are so inclined you should call Tom Welborn of EPA at (404) 562 9354 and tell him that TVA is using low volume monitors to say they are achieving EPA ambient air quality standards. Request more high volume air monitoring equipment now. TELL HIM ABOUT THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE COMMUNITY including nose bleeds and respiratory problems. The air is also turning gold and silver jewelery black. Ask to file an official complaint.
Also call TDEC at (615) 532 0562 and tell them they need to order TVA to install more high volume air monitors as per the EPA's and TDEC's monitoring and reporting requirements. TDEC is the lead enforcement agency right now so we should focus our energies on them. Tell them about your communities health. Call TDEC and file a complaint, ask them to install more high volume air monitors.
Also we made a call today to OSHA about the fact that a lot of the independent contractors did not give TVA's MSDS sheets to their workers. These workers aren't informed about the toxins they are working with and their employers are not supplying them with the appropriate safety equipment. We called Phillip Harrell of OSHA at (615) 232 3803. OSHA needed to know the names of the contractors so that they could follow up on getting MSDS sheets out to the workers. Either call OSHA with the names of the contractors or email us and we will call them for you.
Also about the dump trucks tracking coal fly ash out onto the roads. We need to be more diligent about the trucks because we witnessed trucks traveling out of the disaster site without being washed. We were able to identify them because they had mud caked up on the sides, back, and wheel wells of the trucks. This has and will continue to be an ongoing problem for your community, but we can put a stop to it by reporting the dirty trucks. The following is a breif history of the dirty dump truck situation. On Jan 6, 2009 Mr. Graves first recorded and made official complaints to the TN Highway Patrol, TDEC, EPA, TVA, and Howie Rose of Roane County Emergency Management Agency. On Jan 9, 2009 we reported dirty dump trucks. On Jan 12, 2009 Howie Rose told me TVA had purchased three truck washers to be installed. On Jan 15, 2009 we told Gill Francis of TVA not to forget the truck washers. On Jan 22, 2009 we called to report dirty dump trucks. As of Jan 23, 2009 TVA had still not installed the truck washers and Howie Rose said TVA will be installing them by this coming Tuesday Jan 27, 2009. This means that all of these agencies and TVA have knowingly been tracking coal fly ash out onto your roads for more than 17 days. This is unacceptable.
Please call TDEC (865) 594 6035
EPA (404) 562 9354
TN Highway Patrol (865) 594 5793
Howie Rose Roane County Emergency Management (865) 250 7347
TVA (865) 717 4006
File official complaints and make a paper trail for these injustices.
Alright, thanks for hanging in there.
I thank you for your help, support, courage, and kind words.
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
Jan 22, 2009 Thursday
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/
Today started out as we facilitated an interview between a community member and GQ magazine. As we were driving up to the road block on South Swan Pond Rd we were halted even though we had a community resident pass. The TVA police officers questioned us about our intentions for driving onto the public road. Of course the rolling video camera may have had some impact on the situation. Our license plate was radioed in and we were allowed to enter this distressed community. For the most part the corporate media has not reported the stories of many of the residents living on this portion of Swan Pond Rd because they don’t have coal fly ash in their front yards though they did drink tap water impacted by the coal ash disaster for nearly 10 days.
This particular resident was more than happy to share her story about how she got blisters on the roof of her mouth on Dec 24, 2008 after boiling and drinking the tap water and cooking Christmas Eve dinner with it. She was very happy to receive the 10 gallons of bottled water we delivered for her today.
After the interview United Mountain Defense volunteers headed to the citizen’s press
conference at the Harriman community center. This press conference garnered more media attendance than any of the TVA press conferences attended by Independent Media outlets. There were at least four television stations including the Jim Lehrer News Hour and more than four news papers with large readerships including GQ, the Tennessean, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The main topics of the citizen’s press conference detailed the health concerns of the community members and exposed TVA’s cover up of the doctor ordered evacuations due to negative health impacts. To this point TVA has said that everything is fine with the air quality in the area while paying to temporarily relocate families living next to the coal ash disaster. The people are in respiratory distress because of TVA’s coal ash disaster.
After the successful citizen’s press conference United Mountain Defense volunteers traveled down to Swan Pond Circle Dr to do an interview with the Jim Lehrer News Hour. It was very productive and we used the time to record TVA’s changes to the disaster site. After the interview we visited a local volunteer who had recently gotten home from the hospital, and then we headed home.
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
Jan 21, 2009 Wednesday
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/
Today volunteers for United Mountain Defense traveled to Harriman, TN for a media messaging workshop. There were a few local residents who attended the media training. It was a very effective session where the residents crafted their message for the press conference and worked on their sound bites.
United Mountain Defense volunteers made follow up phone calls to the media that received press releases about the citizen’s press conference. We also called other media outlets that were not on the email list.
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
Jan 20, 2009 Tuesday
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/
It has been interesting and hard to continue working on the TVA coal ash disaster while taking care of the flooded United Mountain Defense volunteer house as well. None the less United Mountain Defense volunteers set up a media messaging workshop and a citizen’s press conference in Harriman, TN.
United Mountain Defense volunteers emailed out a press release announcing the citizen’s press conference to all the media outlets that have been reporting on the TVA coal ash disaster.
Hey we need independent air quality monitoring!!!! Local residents are reporting that their gold and silver jewelry is being turned black and the tarnish can not be removed. They are reporting that they and their animals are having uncontrollable nose bleeds. There is one report of one dog’s black nose turning red. Local residents are missing work because of respiratory distress. They are reporting shortness of breath. As soon as they travel out of the immediate disaster area some of these resident’s symptoms clear up. I got a phone call yesterday from a lady who lives in Rockwood about 10 miles southwest of the disaster site. Rockwood is located in the path of the prevailing winds. The woman has an evacuation notice from her doctor because of respiratory distress.
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
Jan 19, 2009 Monday
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/
Happy MLK day!! So as the United Mountain Defense volunteers were vacuuming water logged carpets a lively statewide protest against TVA was occurring. There were protests in Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville, TN.
There was an incredible amount of media coverage on the Chattanooga protests. There have been two Youtube videos created about the Knoxville protests. The Nashville protesters infiltrated the MLK Day March and distributed information about TVA’s coal ash disaster.
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
Jan 18, 2009 Sunday
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/
United Mountain Defense’s Harriman field team traveled to Knoxville for a board meeting that also served as a planning meeting for the next week. It was good to see our Knoxville friends and catch up on the latest news from the BIG city.
Later in the evening we traveled to the United Mountain Defense volunteer house to discover that a minor flood had occurred inside the house. We found a copper pipe fitting that had come loose and had been flowing for an untold number of days. There was about 3 inches of water in the wall to wall carpet. It has added another level of disaster to our list of tasks. We got 4 hours of sleep this night.
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
Jan 17, 2009 Saturday
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers awoke to good news when we found out about receiving a $3,000 Technical Assistance Grant from the Appalachian Community Fund for heavy metal screenings for local residents impacted by TVA’s coal ash disaster. We want to thank the Appalachian Community Fund for all of the support they have given us over the past year including supporting the Portrait Story Project and the Harriman Resident Heavy Metal Screening. Thank you Appalachian Community Fund!!!
There was a volunteer meeting set up for local residents who wanted to get started working on projects. The meeting agenda was made by the people who showed up for the meeting. Topics of discussion included water monitoring, air monitoring, truck traffic, rock quarry blasting, and human health. The meeting lasted for an hour and there were a few break outs/ workshops that followed the meeting. The workshop groups included email listserve moderator training, water quality monitoring training, and media training.
Two volunteers signed up to be moderators of the community email listserve and received training to do this job effectively.
The media workshop decided to hold a citizen press conference on January 22, 2009 to mark the one month anniversary of TVA’s coal ash disaster. The main theme of the press conference would be the health concerns and evacuations ordered by local doctors.
The water monitoring workshop saw the creation of a new citizen monitoring team. The new monitoring team made a plan to gather four gallons of polluted water to be shipped to Colorado for testing.
This volunteer meeting was very productive. It was conducted without an organizational structure. There was a facilitator that kept the meeting flowing in an orderly fashion.
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
Jan 16, 2009 Friday
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/
United Mountain Defense volunteers spent the day on the phone and doing much needed computer work. At 10 AM United Mountain Defense full time volunteer staff person, Matt Landon, participated in a conference call with TN and national environmental groups. He was able to give a detailed update from the front lines. There were some strong resolutions and plans of action charted that may help bring some positive results to the coal impacted community of Harriman and other such communities across the country.
Another United Mountain Defense volunteer spent the day informing Swan Pond community members about the volunteer meeting on Saturday and checking in with residents who got tested for heavy metals.
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
Jan 15, 2009 Thursday
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/
Volunteers from United Mountain Defense went down to the American Legion and opened the doors at 10 AM to gather the samples from the Tuesday Jan 13, 2009 human heavy metal screening. The doors opened there was a steady trickle of locals who dropped off their samples. UMD volunteers stayed at the American Legion until nearly 3 PM.
At 3 PM we closed shop and began preparing for the TVA Open House at the Roane County Community College. A representative of the Knoxville Independent Media took his camera and began going from table to table asking hard questions of each of the representatives. The floor of the gym was divided up into different areas including air quality, water quality, independent contracting, TVA activities, TN Department of Environment and Conservation, TN Department of Health, and EPA.
The Knoxville Independent Media representative made an effort to go to each table and speak with and video tape all of the participants. The most interesting interviews came from the corporation doing the air monitoring and the TDEC air quality specialists. I learned from TDEC that the air quality monitors that CTEH Corporation was using were “low volume” air monitors which would not provide a definitive compliance or non compliance measure for EPA’s Ambient Air Quality Standard. Knoxville Independent Media has the TDEC official on video tape making this statement. TVA has been passing off this less than adequate information to the EPA, TDEC, the public, and the media to say that the air is safe to breathe. There is no monitoring for VOC’s or indoor air quality. TDEC installed two “high volume” air monitors on Jan 14, 2009 along the northern and northeastern edges of the coal ash disaster that would provide parallel samples of CTEH’s low volume equipment. It has been 24 days since TVA’s coal ash disaster occurred and the state of TN is finally installing air monitors. What a joke.
So when the Knoxville Independent Media representative asked about additional monitors the TDEC official said they would not be necessary based on the present locations of the existing air monitors.
A member of United Mountain Defense and the Knoxville Independent Media representative attended the TVA open house from 4 PM- 8 PM and recorded about two and half hours of video tape.
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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