Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Tom Kilgore, left, and TVA spokesman Mike Bradley, are shown leaving the federal courthouse in Knoxville, Tenn., on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Kilgore earlier testified at a trial on lawsuits seeking damages for the utility’s Dec. 2008 coal ash spill in East Tennessee. (AP Photo/Bill Poovey)TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore, testifying Wednesday in the Kingston coal ash spill lawsuit trial, acknowledged TVA’s responsibility for the safe operation of its facilities but admitted no blame on the part of the federal utility for the Dec. 22, 2008 environmental disaster.
Later in the hearing, an acknowledged expert on civil engineering, hydrology and dam safety, Dr. Bruce A. Tschantz, blasted the inspection TVA did on the coal fly ash holding cells at the Kingston fossil plant as severely lacking.
“It was a sham,” he said.
Tschantz served on a Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation advisory committee that examined lessons to be learned from the 2008 spill, which sent 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash into the Emory River and onto surrounding countryside.
Jeff Friedman, attorney for some of the 230 plaintiffs suing TVA for property and health-related damages from the spill, questioned Kilgore on TVA’s stated goals on observing regulations, protecting the environment and ensuring safety.