Nearly 40 leaks of coal ash reported into nearby rivers

PDF: TVA report on coal ash sites

PDF: EPA survey of utilities ash sites

The coal ash spill at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant last December was among more than 40 instances in the past decade when toxic leftovers from the burning of coal leaked from storage areas into nearby water sources, according to EPA and TVA data released Tuesday.

The Kingston spill of more than 1 billion gallons of ash and sludge into the Emory River was by far the largest of any accident at a U.S. plant, the report shows. Most of the other releases -- reported by utilities in response to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inquiry -- involved much smaller leaks or seepage from coal ash impoundments.

"Any spill is one too many," said Jim Roewer, executive director of the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, an industry group organized by the Edison Electric Institute. "But overall, I think the industry's track record is pretty good considering there are nearly 600 sites (for storing coal ash) across the country and the data stretched over 10 years."

But environmental critics of coal insist the figures underscore the need for tighter regulations and inspections of coal ash disposal sites.

"The failure to evaluate large waste ponds is clearly dangerous," said Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel for Earthjustice, a Marblehead, Mass.-based environmental group. "The process of rating dams is not consistent from state to state and, in some states, it is left to the utility to classify its own units."

EPA requested that 61 utilities submit data on their coal ash storage methods in the wake of the Dec. 22 spill at the Kingston plant, which covered nearly 300 acres of the Emory River and surrounding property with toxic coal ash. TVA projects it could cost up to $1.2 billion to clean up the Kingston spill over the next three years.

TVA historically has evaluated the safety of its own dams and elevated storage ponds. But in the wake of the Kingston ash spill -- one of the worst industrial spills in U.S. history -- TVA has hired outside consultants to evaluate its storage facilities. EPA also is considering new federal rules on coal ash storage for all utilities.

TVA identified seven instances of coal ash releases into nearby rivers since 2004, including three at the Widows Creek plant in Alabama, three at the Kingston plant in East Tennessee and one at its oldest coal plant in Johnsonville, Tenn., agency spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said.

"We are looking at any of the risks associated with these facilities, and we're working to make sure we manage them safely for the public and the environment," she said.

In an EPA database released Tuesday, other utilities identified another 34 instances of some type of leak at ash disposal ponds or impoundments across the nation, Mr. Roewer said.

The EPA said Tuesday that it had not received any information or detected any issues that required immediate action at the 584 coal ash storage sites identified so far. But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has promised to issue federal regulations for coal ash disposal before the end of the year to avoid another accident such as the Kingston spill.

Mr. Roewer said the industry supports federal regulations but doesn't want coal ash to be controlled as a hazardous material. If it receives the "hazardous" classification, the disposal of coal ash and its reuse would be more restricted.

"We are confident that there is not another Tennessee Valley Authority (accident) waiting to happen,' Mr. Roewer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

TVA ASH RELEASES

TVA reported seven instances in the last decade in which coal ash leaked or spilled into nearby surface water:

* Widows Creek near Stevenson, Ala., releases of coal ash in 2004 and 2008 and a gypsum release in January 2009

* Kingston, Tenn., plant, in 2003 and 2006, seepage and sloughs off a containment pond where ash was stored and the December 2008 spill of more than 5.4 million cubic yards of ash when a storage pond ruptured

* Johnsonville, Tenn., release of coal ash in 2004

Source: Tennessee Valley Authority