A deliberate TVA sludge release on the Ocoee River has caused a fish kill and prompted the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to investigate.
Working to drain a reservoir and repair one of three dams on the Ocoee, which flows to the Hiwassee and then to the Tennessee rivers, TVA over the weekend released bottom sediment into the rocky Ocoee, according to environmental reports.
By mid-week, according to Ocoee residents, the sludge — containing heavy metals and other toxic compounds — had killed fish and other aquatic life that finally had begun to return to what once was a dead river after decades of copper mining runoff.
River outfitters and Cherokee National Forest officials said the sludge even covered sidewalks at Olympic Whitewater Sports Center. Rains Wednesday night washed much of the mud downstream, they said.
TVA officials could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Pam Sohn has been reporting or editing Chattanooga news for 25 years. A Walden’s Ridge native, she began her journalism career with a 10-year stint at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. She came to the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 1999 after working at the Chattanooga Times for 14 years. She has been a city editor, Sunday editor, wire editor, projects team leader and assistant lifestyle editor. As a reporter, she also has covered the police, ...
Are these people brain-dead? If not or even if they are they should be out of work soon. Are they trying to wipe us off the facfe of the earh or what? This cannot be expalined away.
TVA has two dam breaks dumping coal ash and this "deliberate release?" Ditto on the brain-dead. We've got to stop burning coal now.
It is time for us to stand up! Tennessee is the third most polluted state in the United States. Why? Because most of our fellow Tennesseans believe that it is okay to allow any business to come into our hometowns - or allow preexisting ones stay - without realizing the consequences! I know that on the outside these companies look to be promising, bringing in more jobs, and thus boosting the economy. But, at what cost? Is it really worth the health of our children and endangangering our gorgeous surroundings? More needs to be done than just the EPA making their annual/bi-annual visits to these companies, especially because these companies know that they are coming. How about showing up in the middle of the night when corporations like Arch Chemicals are dumping their chemicals straight into the Hiwassee River (where your and my children like to swim). Someone needs to answer for the deliberate dumping into the Ocoee River! The question is, who it is going to be? The poor shmuck who was following orders because he was afraid to lose his job, or the corporation that cuts corners any way possible? The answer should really rely with us the public! Enough is enough!
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