In late Decembver 2008, two beautiful waterways, The Clinch and the Emory rivers, both adjacent to the Tennessee Valley Authority's massive Kingston coal plant were poisoned when an earthen dam next to the plant cllapsed, unleashing a toxic slurry of coal ash. More than a billion gallons of hazardous waste buried 400 acres of land at least nine feet deep in thick black muck oozing with arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium and mercury, all known to cause cancer and birth defects. It was the largest industrial accident in American history, 100 times the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
Mike Roselle Former Director of Greenpeace USA Co-founder, Ruckus Society and Earth First!