Tennessee Coal Sludge Disaster

2.6 million cubic yards of toxic of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at Tennesse Valley Authority's kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train. The Environmental Protection Agency stated that the cleanup would take weeks. Whats not clear is just how the toxic elements that make up that sludge will effect the environment,wildlife and people in the years to come. Mercury, arsenic, lead, beryllium, cadmium are just a few of the most toxic found in Coal ash.

The immediate aftermath of the Tennesse coal sludge disaster is that the toxic sludge made its way into the Emory River, a tributary of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers and main water supply for Chattanooga, Tennessee as well as millions of people living downstream in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.