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Kingston Ash Slide
Overflight Video of Area Affected by Slurry Spill. Credit: Tennessee Valley Authority.
Update. March 9, 2009
On March 9, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Information Request Letters to electric utilities that have surface impoundments or similar units that contain coal combustion residuals. The letters request information to assist EPA in evaluating the structural integrity of these management units. EPA, working closely with other federal agencies and the states, will review the information provided by the facilities to identify impoundments or similar units that need priority attention. As part of this assessment effort, EPA will also be visiting many of these facilities to see first hand that the management units are structurally sound. EPA will require appropriate remedial action at any facility that is found to pose a risk for potential failure. More Information.
The Kingston Fossil Plant's coal fly ash slurry spill occurred on December 22, 2008, when an earthen dike broke at a retention pond at the Plant, releasing approximately 1,000,000,000 gallons (5.4 million cubic yards) of fly ash slurry. The power plant disposes of fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, by adding water to it and and then storing this "slurry" in retention ponds. The coal-fired power plant, which belongs to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is located in the city of Kingston, Tennessee. When the dike broke, the slurry traveled downhill, affecting approximately 300 acres of mostly private property adjacent to the Kingston Fossil Power Plant and flowing into nearby waterways including the Emory River and Clinch River.
The amount of material that entered the Emory River or Clinch River embayments is not known at this time. However, as of January 6, 2009, the Emory River remained closed from mile marker zero through mile marker 4.
A rock weir about 615 feet long has been built on the Emory River, just north of the existing intake skimmer weir. The weir is intended to allow water to continue flowing, while containing the ash. TVA is coordinating with the Corps of Engineers to address the dredging process on the Emory River in the vicinity of the release.
A second weir is being designed and when complete will confine the ash and keep it from entering the river during the river dredging process. This approximately 2000-foot rock weir will extend from Swan Pond Circle south to the plant river bank.
Fish and Wildlife Service Involvement:
February 3, 2009 Update
Monitoring and Research
Environmental Contaminants personnel are working with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWR) on developing long-term monitoring plans and identifying additional research needs for natural resources in the Emory River and Clinch River watersheds affected by the fly ash release.
Ash Deposition Surveys
Videography with a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) was conducted to determine the extent of fly ash deposition in the Emory and Clinch rivers. Initial ROV, side-scan sonar, and dive surveys document fly ash deposition in the Emory River approximately 3.0 river miles upstream of the release site and downstream in the Clinch River to the cold water detention dam below the Kingston Fossil Plant (KOF) facility. This detention dam deflects the hypolimnetic releases from Melton Hill Dam on the Clinch River upstream in the Emory River for the KOF cooling water intakes. A hypolimnetic release is the release of the dense, bottom layer of water (hypolimnion) in a lake. Typically this layer is the coldest layer of a lake in summer, and warmest in winter.
Sampling
Fly ash samples were collected and submitted to the Center for the Management, Utilization and Protection of Water Resources at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Research Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi, for initial screening characterization and toxicity testing. Toxicity is the degree to which a substance can harm an organism.
Historic Information
January 12, 2009
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) personnel from the Environmental Contaminants Program (EC) and Office of Law Enforcement are involved in the spill response.
Tennessee Valley Authority temporary dike/weir being constructed in the Emory River arm (embayment) of Lower Watts Bar Reservoir. |
Sampling
Samples (i.e., water, sediment, fly ash sludge, soil, and air) have been collected by TVA, EPA, Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), Fish and Wildlife Service, and some non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Some of the initial data generated by NGOs have indicated elevated levels of several heavy metals that exceed State of Tennessee fish and aquatic life criteria and data released by EPA indicates that a sludge sample exceeded hazardous waste preliminary remediation goals (PRGs) for arsenic. PRGs are used to estimate contaminant concentrations in
environmental media (soil, air, and water) that are protective of human health, including
sensitive groups, over a lifetime.
Technical Assistance
Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Contaminants (EC) personnel are providing technical assistance to FWS Office of Law Enforcement, EPA, Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation. FWS is also working with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRS) to develop long-term monitoring plans for the Emory and Clinch Rivers and TWRA's management areas within the release impact zone. .
Wildlife Documentation and Recovery Efforts
FWS personnel collected a great blue heron carcass on Wednesday, December 31, 2008. Two deer carcasses were also observed. The heron will be necropsied at the FWS Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon. During the site
inspection, FWS personnel observed an immature bald eagle, mallards, buffleheads, hooded mergansers, and gulls
within active clean-up zones and the sluice ponds.
Wildlife and environmentally-sensitive areas that may be affected by the spill, have not fully been assessed. However, a preliminary list of species that may occur in the Emory River and Clinch River watersheds include:
- Osprey
- Blue sucker
- Spotfin chub (X?)
- Purple bean (H)
- Fine-rayed pigtoe (H)
- Ornate rocksnail (H)
- Alabama lampmussel (H)
- Turgid blossom pearlymussel (X)
- Orange-foot pimpleback (H)
- Spectaclecase (H)
- Appalachian bugbane
- Canada lily
- Earleaf foxglove
- Fetter-bush
- Mcdowell sunflower
- Large-flowered Barbara's buttons (H)
- Mountain bush-honeysuckle
- Mountain honeysuckle
- Northern bush-honeysuckle
- Northern white cedar (H)
- Prairie Goldenrod
- Spreading false-foxglove
- Tall larkspur
- Slender blazing-star
(H) = Historical record
(X) = Extirpated
(X?) = Possibly Extirpated
The Oil Spill Response Organizations are restoring critical infrastructure (i.e., railroad spurs, roads, water and gas lines) and removing sludge/slurry from residential properties damaged during the release. At this time, they also continue to collect the floating cenospheres with booms on surface waters. Cenospheres are tiny ceramic spheres occurring in fly ash, a by-product of the burning process at coal-fired power plants.
View Photos of the Kingston spill
Additional Links:
Satellite images from NASA Earth Observatory - Coal Ash Spill, Tennessee
More Information:
Tennessee Valley Authority
EPA, Southeast Region
State of Tennessee, Department of Environment & Conservation
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Roane County Government
New York Times - Site of the Spill, and How Fly Ash Is Produced
U.S. Geological Survey. Fact Sheet: Coal Combustion Products
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
Southeast Region
Law Enforcement
Wildlife Forensics Lab
Wikipedia page on Kingston Spill
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