TVA announces final decision to leave coal ash in unlined pits near Tennessee waterways #Toxic #Coal

On July 29, The Tennessee Valley Authority announced it will move ahead with a plan to cover up and leave in place millions of tons of coal ash in leaking, unlined pits near waterways in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

The ash will be capped and left in unlined pits at 10 sites at Kingston, Bull Run, John Sevier, and Allen in Tennessee, and Colbert and Widows Creek in Alabama.

In response, Scott Banbury, Conservation Program Coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Tennessee Chapter, released the following statement:

“We are deeply disappointed in TVA’s decision to take the cheap way out, instead of living up to its promise to protect our communities after the disastrous Kingston coal ash spill in 2008. TVA should clean up— not just cover up—the toxic coal ash pits that have been polluting our groundwater and threatening our drinking supplies for decades. The only way to adequately protect our public health and environment is to move coal ash to dry lined storage away from waterways.”