Thursday, March 4th, 2010
As coal ash is shipped from Kingston, Tenn., the site of TVA’s coal ash disaster, to the Arrowhead Landfill, in Uniontown, Ala., controversy continues to rise over what scholars call, an environmental injustice.
CBS News reports on the issue:
Appalachian Voices • Coal River Mountain Watch • Heartwood • Keeper of the Mountains • Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition • Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment • Sierra Club Environmental Justice
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards • SouthWings • Stay Project • West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
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March 14th, 2010 at 5:36 am
As an individual who experienced the ash spill in Kingston, Tn, my heart goes out to the latest victims in Alabama. I know what that lady means when she says that she is scared to plant a garden, or do anything for that matter, because of what might be in the air now. Well, trust me Perry County, it’s in the air.
I attended Roane State, a local college in the kingston/harriman area where the spill occurred. Although I live in Knoxville, I commuted forty-five minutes everyday and stayed in the kingston/harriman area from the beginning of morning classes at 9am to the end of evening classes at 9pm. I remember the week that the spill happened. Half of my classes were empty because most of them were filled with locals whose homes and land had been degragated by all the sludgy ash. People had to put down animals that had been outside; if they couldn’t afford it they had to let their pets suffer to their deaths. A lady came to class crying because her daughter’s dog was suffering to death. She said he looked and acted like he had rabies, parvo, and cancer all at the same time. Another girl came in one day very upset because she said that her horse was acting very strange, and the vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong. TVA said that it was all harmless. We can now speculate that animals and pets probably died of arsenic &/or lead poisoning. Now the question is: How many PEOPLE in Tennessee & Alabama are going to die due to the health effects of ash pollution in the air?
I had health effects, and I didn’t even live in the area. Now that I have graduated and spent an entire semester in Knoxville, my “conditions” have interestingly gotten better or disappeared. Curiously, following the spill, I started having asthma problems for the first time in my life since I was a child. In the middle of the day (after having walked all across campus outside), I’d get really bad headaches and they would usually last well into the night turning into what I can only describe as migranes. I also found that for the first time in my life that I had to have eye drops with me at all times because my eyes would get extremely dry. And perhaps the most interesting, and daunting, effect was that a little over a month after the spill, I developed acne for the first time. And it wasn’t just on my face-it developed on my shoulders, arms, and back as well. At first I thought that the acne was my body reacting to stress from school. Eventually, I go to a skin specialist and a dermatologist and they tell me that my pores are jammed &clogged with debri. They ask me if I’m the outdoors type. No. They ask me what skin products I use. Dermatologist recommended. They ask me what I do. I go to school in Harriman. Ahh. The doctor speculated, but couldn’t say for sure, that the ash floating around in the air was responsible for my now well-developed acne. I had to have five chemical peels on my face, along with endless extractions. Since the last peel, I’m currently on anti-bacteria pills and have to use a perscription strength perioxide cleanser. So far, the body acne is completely gone and I’m very close to being rid of the facial acne. However, the doc says that I’ll probably need a laser treatment to take care of the scarring. Hey T.V.A.-ya’ll should be the ones to pick up that tab. But I guess if ya’ll managed money correctly, and were therefore able to perform the duties you are supposed to perform, the spill wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
What is sad is that when I graduated I wasn’t excited because I was graduating. I was excited because I didn’t ever have to go near the area ever again. I’ll never, ever, forget having to drive by the place where it happened everyday, twice a day. I’ll never forget walking to classes and seeing the locals break down into tears with each other. I’ve never been so grateful to live in Knoxville in all my life.
Shame on T.V.A. and Shame on Congress for pretty much letting them get away with it all. This is NOT the T.V.A. that the great Frankin D. Roosevelt established, much less envisioned.
March 14th, 2010 at 6:09 am
Perry County is being taken advantage of just like the town of Kingston. Mainly rural, low-developed areas, “strapped for cash” (as the recorded Perry Co. official so eloquently described), corporations know that they can put plants here, or dump this there, as long as they bring the money. With Kingston, it was like all the others: let us put this plant here and think of all the jobs we will bring to the local economy (which in reality-more people in Kingston have to commute to Oak Ridge, Crossville, or Knoxville for decent factory &/or plant work). With Perry County it was- let us dump this crap here and we will give you all this money to look the other way. These problems occur because corporations target communities like Kingston and Perry County. Just find a community that is desperate for cash for roads, public buildings &salaries, schools, etc., and throw a few mill their way. Public officials of places like Perry Co. and Kingston won’t and don’t say no because they simply CAN’T. If they don’t accept the deal and word gets out, they most certianly will lose public support for passing up “monetary opportunities” for the community. Yet, more often than none, the same officials also realize that by saying yes that they could be putting the next generation in a hazard zone. However, people must remember that politicians, especially local ones, aren’t in it for the long haul.
Likewise, people need to know the secret that the government and politicians don’t want us to remember: The power really IS with the people. All it takes is for one person to stand up &voice their rights to inspire an entire community. SO STAND UP PERRY CO! FIGHT! FIGHT TWICE AS HARD AS THE PEOPLE OF KINGSTON DID! PROTEST! FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS AS AMERICANS TO CLEAN AIR & WATER! FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN TO ENJOY THE LAND YOUR FAMILY CHOSE TO SETTLE ON! DO NOT LET YOUR LAND BE DEGRAGATED BY A CORPORATION WHO HAS NO INTEREST IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY! FIGHT! IT’S YOUR RIGHT TO PROTEST AND FIGHT! DO NOT LET YOUR COMMUNITY BE RAPED BY A CORPORATION!!! FIGHT.