The Enviro Beat: Dried coal ash highly toxic, Duke scientists report

An Aug. 15 Duke University study details just how toxic coal ash is: Samples taken from the Dec. 28, 2008, coal-ash spill near Kingston, Tenn., contain high levels of toxic metals and radioactive elements, including arsenic, mercury and radium. As the sludge dries, risk of exposure via inhalation increases dramatically, the Duke team found.

EPA will oversee coal ash removal at Tennessee plant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will oversee the removal of coal ash at the TVA Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant in Roane County, Tenn., where approximately 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled last December. In related news, a coal-ash pond at an Asheville power plant is on a list of potentially dangerous storage ponds, according to a report released by two environmental groups.

Downwind

Sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, mercury, ozone, acid deposition, ammonium nitrates, and an alphabet soup of acronyms. At times, the trial that began July 14 in U.S. District Court in Asheville sounded more like an environmental-chemistry class than a court session. After a two-year delay, the titanic lawsuit filed by the state of North […]

TVA trial to begin

A lawsuit with significant implications for environmental health will be heard in Asheville beginning Monday, July 14. The U.S. District Court will consider a case brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. Dirty smokestacks: A lawsuit brought against the Tennessee Valley Authority by North Carolina centers on air pollution […]