Four landfills OK'd for coal ash test
By Beth RuckerThe Associated Press
Originally published: July 02. 2009 3:01AM
Last modified: July 01. 2009 11:48PM
KNOXVILLE — State environmental authorities have granted the Tennessee Valley Authority approval to use four East Tennessee landfills as test sites for coal ash disposal, though the agency has no current plans to do so.
The nation's largest public utility is in the process of determining how to dispose of more than 5 million cubic yards of coal ash that breached an earthen dike last Dec. 22 at its Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville.
TVA conducted test runs in May of ash loading and offsite disposal with railroad cars at landfills in Mauk, Ga., and Uniontown, Ala., and has plans to send to the Alabama site about 3 million cubic yards of ash being dredged from the Emory River next to the plant.
"They were both very successful," TVA spokesman Gil Francis said of the tests. "We're waiting on final (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) approval, and then we'll begin those initial shipments to Alabama."
Francis said the agency has yet to decide what to do with the rest of the ash. TVA has already decided against sending coal ash to Pennsylvania for use in coal mine recovery projects.
The four East Tennessee sites approved by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for test runs similar to the tests in Georgia and Alabama could be an answer.
The approved sites are Chestnut Ridge near Knoxville, Matlock Bend in Loudon, Volunteer Regional in Oneida and Meadow Branch in Athens.
"Each of these landfills are equipped with liners, leachate collections systems and monitoring wells," TDEC spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said.
The approved sites are Chestnut Ridge near Knoxville, Matlock Bend in Loudon, Volunteer Regional in Oneida and Meadow Branch in Athens.
Should TVA decide to conduct test runs at the Tennessee landfills it must notify TDEC and limit the tests to 10 truckloads of ash at each landfill.
An engineering consultant hired to study the cause of the coal ash spill reported June 25 that the earthen dikes holding the material were "on the verge of failure" long before they collapsed.
The spill sent a wave of toxic-laden coal ash and sludge into the Emory River and several lakeside homes and covered 300 acres of land.
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