The press coverage of the Tennessee sludge spill has been nothing short of astonishing. Barely a week has passed since the accident and already a Google search for the phrase Tennessee spill produces 2,280,000 results!
Compare that to 1,740,000 for Three Mile Island and 708,000 for Exxon Valdez. In little more than a week, this has become one of the biggest environmental stories in recent decades.
Obviously, the naked fact of being the biggest coal spill in history (100 times larger than the Valdez spill) is reason itself for the intensity of the coverage. But is it also possible that the level of press interest would not be quite so massive were it not for the tens of millions of dollars spent by the coal industry on its "clean coal" advertising campaign?
In international affairs, this is what they call "blowback." The can of "water" that you thought you were throwing on a small fire turns out to be gasoline, and you suddenly find yourselves engulfed in flames.
I wonder what the folks at the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity are thinking about all this. Can they keep running the ads as if nothing had happened? If they do run the ads, will people just be reminded of all those icebergs of fly ash floating west of Knoxville?
Just checked on the ACCCE website: silence. Not a word on the Tennessee spill.
Must be in meetings. Or maybe working on the lyrics for next year’s clean coal carols.
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Comments
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Pompey Road Posted 9:21 am
31 Dec 2008
The point I am trying to make is that this was not an isolated incident and we have smaller spills polluting streams all the time. Some are released intentionally on the night shift into streams and rivers so as to escape detection. It is easier to just release some sludge than have to build a new pond or modify an old one.
The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.
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Bob Wallace Posted 2:05 pm
31 Dec 2008
At the time of Three Mile Island, the Valdez, how many blogs were there? How many discussion forums? How many newspapers posted on line?
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frflyer Posted 5:43 pm
31 Dec 2008
You must be referring to the 300 million gallon coal sludge spill in 2000 by a subsidiary of Massey Energy. The one the EPA called the worst environmental disaster in the history of the southeast U.S. It contaminated drinking water for 27,000 people, spreading 75 miles to the Ohio River.
The coal industry practically single handedly won West Virgina for George Bush that year with massive campaign donations, in an upset victory.
After the 300 billion gallon spill:
There was an investigation by MSHA that was squelched after Bush's election. The investigators were ready to proceed with 8 serious violations, with possible criminal charges. The lead investigator was reassigned, and demoted then fired.
He was replaced with another, who on the first day said he would close the investigation within a week. He later got a seat on the board of directors of Massey Energy.
Massey Energy got off with a $55,000 fine.
The Massey CEO, Blankenship, described his critics as "communists," "atheists," and "greeniacs
and "our enemies like Osama bin Laden"
He's presumably bought off judges to side with Massey on fines for violations. Like a $77million decision that was reversed in 2008
Massey Energy violated the Clean Water Act 4500 times between 2000 and 2007
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Sam Wells Posted 5:55 am
02 Jan 2009
The analysis of the ash and environmental samples seems to be very weak so far, too. Coal ash not only contains some arsenic but other bad actors such as selenium and trace toxics but is also quite radioactive. I don't know about the particular coal blend they're using at the TVA facilities but there are at least 30 bad actors in coal ash that we know about.
Even more troubling, the TVA - a quasi governmental agency - tried to whitewash its impacts as to (1) acres of contamination, (2) volume of release, and (3) effects on local residents and the groundwater. That's just plain pure despicable. Heads should roll over this one.
Onward through the fog
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