On the same day Knoxville News Sentinel news reporter Jamie Satterfield picked up a first-place journalism award for her coverage of a coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant more than a decade ago, the veteran reporter announced on Twitter that she had parted ways with her employer of 27 years.
Satterfield has not publicly spoken about the reason behind her break with the Knoxville News Sentinel - owned by Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain.
"I love every person who ever allowed me the privilege of finding the truth of their circumstances and every reader who supported me," she said in response to questions about her departure.
Joel Christopher, the newspaper's executive editor, said in an email Sunday he was restricted from comment about personnel matters.
"Jamie has been a valuable member of our staff, and her work speaks for itself. We appreciate her collegiality and myriad contributions, and wish her nothing but the best in the future," he said.
Satterfield's announcement came as a surprise to readers, her sources and fellow journalists.
Satterfield worked as the News Sentinel's legal affairs reporter. She built a reputation as a prolific and hard-nosed crime and courts reporter and in recent years added environmental reporting to her beat following the 2008 disaster at the Kingston coal-fired power plant. More than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled onto nearby homes and into creeks and streams in the town west of Knoxville.
Satterfield then chronicled illness and deaths among the workers hired for the clean-up. She also mined internal documents, lawsuits and reports that showed how toxic coal ash is. Thus far, at least 50 workers have died and hundreds more have fallen sick, according to Satterfield's reporting.
Satterfield reposted on social media a seven-minute video of herself speaking at an Aug. 9 public meeting in Anderson County, in which she warned local officials about the health hazards at a local playground. Satterfield reported the Tennessee Valley Authority used coal ash waste as infill in its construction of a ballfield adjacent to the playground.
"My fear, what keeps me up at night - and I'm probably going to get fired, but I'm just going with it - what happened at Kingston is workers were exposed eight, 10, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, many of them for years and some for months and they were exposed to coal ash stuff every day. Their bodies are proof of what it does," she said.
She grew tearful as she ticked off the names of workers who suffered brain cancer, skin ailments and other rare conditions that, in some cases, led to death.
News organizations' codes of conduct typically bar journalists from acting as a participant or advocate in public meetings. It is not publicly known what role, if any, Satterfield's testimony led to her leaving the paper.
Read more at TennesseeLookout.com.