KINGSTON, Tenn. – A federal environmental official said some air quality data collected at the site of a December 2008 coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Plant is worthless because of laboratory mistakes but the air quality in the area is good, thanks partly to rainy weather.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s coordinator for the site, Leo Francendese, advised the utility in a memo Monday, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
Francendese advised TVA that a recent audit discovered the problem with a contract laboratory’s processing of some air samples collected from Sept. 16 to Jan. 13.
Francendese said at a Tuesday public meeting in Kingston that rainy winter helped maintain air quality.
“It’s safe,” Francendese said before the meeting at a high school. “We’re so far below all the (regulatory) levels that matter. The air quality is good.”