Best advice yet comes form an Exxon disaster survivor:

...let's consider ways to get out of this mess. Those promises to make you whole? Relocate your homes and whatnot? Get them in writing in legally-binding agreements. In fact, put in writing exactly what it will take to make you whole as families and as a community. Use your list as a benchmark so when the media return in one-five-ten and twenty years for "anniversaries," you will have a way to gauge recovery.

Working together on something for the greater good will hasten healing. So pick a focus, whether it's dealing with the mental health and social trauma, environmental trauma, or economic trauma. Form a core working group and figure out what you need to do to short-circuit the harm--or else you'll be wallowing in it for years. Such Peer Listening Circles are tools that shift people from victim mode to survivor mode--a vital change that can literally save lives--and rebuild a sense of community. Take it from a sibling injured community: this works.

And heed our warning--lawsuits do not work to recover losses! The legal system is currently broken. Better to invest your time in mediation. Calculate your short- and long-term economic harm and the harm to quality of life. Balance these against spending the next twenty years in litigation. Make demands and make concessions, but be sure to do both as a community. Insist on a process where the people represent themselves and the lawyers take a back seat. Process is important to healing.

If I had the power, I would eliminate punitive damages in any TVA settlement. Unless there is some way to punish TVA Directors for not including Environmental standards, etc., in the bonus calculations for the TVA CEO's pay. Tom Kilgore is a hired hand. I want to hear from the Directors.

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From NOAA:

...WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING...

.A STRENGTHENING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY WILL SPREAD WIDESPREAD RAINFALL OVER THE REGION TONIGHT. SOME OF THIS RAINFALL MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES BEGINNING AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT...AND CONTINUING THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. BY WEDNESDAY MORNING...WIDESPREAD TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF THREE TO FOUR INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS MOST OF THE WATCH AREA.

Has anyone else noticed that NOAA is pronounced "Noah"? This kind of rain is exactly what we don't need. A group of TCWN folks and I toured the spill area today and saw lots of water backed up in the coves. Here's hoping the amphibious excavators got channels cut through the ash piles that are blocking the normal water flow out of the coves. If not, it could complicate the cleanup by pushing ash further down the lake.

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They've done everything they could to eviscerate the EPA's regulatory powers...Now they need a go-to entity that can make folks feel safe. Safe?

If the EPA were fully empowered, this disaster wouldn't be a disaster.

Senator Corker:

“I also talked today with EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and asked the EPA to stay onsite as long as it takes to give residents assurance that their environment is clean and safe.”

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MINUTES
ROANE COUNTY COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
DECEMBER 8, 2008

STATE OF TENNESSEE
COUNTY OF ROANE

BE IT REMEMBERED, that the County Commission of Roane County, Tennessee convened in regular session in Kingston, Tennessee on the 10th day of November 2008 at 7:30 P.M.

So one of the crew came over and asked me who I was with and why was I taking pictures. I asked him who he was with and where he was from. Didn't get an answer from him, but he got his clipboard and started writing. Some reports have people being threatened, but our chat was nothing like that. He certainly made me feel unwelcome and told me he wasn't supposed to talk to me. I decided not to point out that he started the conversation in the first place.

They are using leaf blowers to push everything into the booms, rake up the leaves and stuff, and then vacuum up the floating scum. it keeps coming because they've done this several days in a row in this same spot.

Taken just now. This is the stuff that the tall stacks take over to North Carolina. Aren't they suing us about this?

This is a really good thing:

TVA has replaced their website's front page with an emergency response update page. The current Jan. 4th update has contact and outreach info for area residents and the latest results of coordinated TVA, EPA, and TDEC air and water testing with links to detailed reports.

TVA Emergency Response Update

KnoxViews Post

By Ray Collett

Hello Readers, This is a continuation of the "Boy Scout Tragedy In The White's Creek Flood. This is taken from a first hand account by Lloyd G. McCluen. The flood occurred March 22, 1929 and we left the Boy Scouts on the roof of the cabin ...Mr. McCluen recalls, " About 6:00 o'clock in the morning, the steel highway bridge across White's Creek washed away, releasing a wall of water and debris.

In some ways it's just not fair but a college degree is a major credential that every young person should aspire to get. Even an Associate degree helps.

In 2005, women ages 25 to 34 with bachelor's degrees earned 70 percent more than those with high school diplomas, and for men the difference was 63 percent. For all full-time workers in this age group, the average earnings premium for a 4-year college degree is almost $14,000, according to "Education Pays 2006," published by the College Board.

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TVA is named in three incidents at plants but not at Kingston. Go figure!

At Bull Run, on-site surface water exceeded regulatory standards for calcium, iron and sulfate, with ecological effects "directly attributable to coal combustion waste management."

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I wish we had good baseline data from before the spill of metals and other contaminants in fish. We know better than to eat anything out of the lake anyway. This is a shame. Watts Bar is really productive with something like 40 world record fish to its credit.

At this point I am more concerned with the ecosystem as it relates to fish, birds and other wildlife, and I look forward to seeing the TWRA results. If anything in this state gets attention it will be knowing that the largemouth bass are safe to torture and release.

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We have to admit that coal is not clean and that the price we pay for power does not cover all the costs generated by the power generating process.

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Roane County is paying a high price for being the generating site for one million people's electricity...Wouldn't you say? How are the "others" going to make this up to us?

The Tennessee Valley Authority's inspector general drives nail into TVA coffin:

The report says TVA put "business operations" ahead of "ethics and compliance issues" at that plant.

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If I lived in Kingston I would try to be there...

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Update: See Below...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Special Called Emergency Meeting of the City of Kingston City Council to Address the TVA Fly Ash Spill
January 6, 2008 at 7:00pm
Kingston City Community Center, Kingston Tennessee

I swear this is a joke, people. Don't believe any of it...

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The weir is made of placed rock and is above the surface for most of its 500 foot length, except for a 50 foot gap that stops far enough below the surface to allow boat traffic.

Krugman

Testing is performed daily on treated water flowing into lines from the Kingston treatment plant. It's good so far, and frankly there's no reason to think it will be impacted by the ash spill. Kingston's water is probably as safe as it ever has been, what with everybody watching and all..

Not only does the treated water meet standards for metals, but so does the water flowing INTO the intakes even before it is treated.

...results from both Kingston and Rockwood collected on Dec. 31 also indicate that all treated drinking water results are well within both primary and secondary drinking water standards. All untreated water collected also met the drinking water standards for metals prior to treatment.

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Update with Kingston and Rockwood Test results attached

Wow! Think about what forces were unleashed in order to remove an entire island and push the pieces up the Emory River.

This link has small photos that come up quickly but you can download the large files and zoom in on things with software that is probably already on your computers. Kingston, Harriman, Rockwood, and one of the Oak Ridge facilities are easily visible.

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Thanks, NASA!

To give you some perspective, here's a link from one of Kentucky's top newspapers about why the TVA ash pond break is bigger than just Roane County.

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Howie is a little puffed up about this.

People want to know "are you making sure everybody is doing what they are supposed to over there?" And I tell them, I say, "I don't have to make sure."

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So far, I have looked at everybodies data and it's all useful, with each being a piece of the puzzle. Coal

Brant Williams forwarded the test results which are attached.

Nothing is flagged in the preliminary report. Let us know if anyone sees something here we should ask more questions about.

Six Coal Burning plants cancelled in Texas area after our mishap:

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Coal was already on the run with 19 plants cancelled or put on hold in 2008.

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Now if we can just keep the pressure on our elected officials to ban mountaintop removal...

Swan Pond has been a favorite birding spot for some years, with many rare or unusual birds being spotted on the ash ponds. I've always questioned whether this was a good thing or a bad thing for the birds. Here's hoping that we get some sort of wetlands restored when this is over. We're missing an island and some large shallow coves as it is now.

Rare and/or unusual species reported at Kingston Steam Plant include Piping Plover, American Avocet, Baird's Sandpiper, Ruff, Whimbrel, Hudsonian Godwit, Marbled Godwit, Red Knot, Red-necked Phalarope, Franklin's Gull, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, and Snow Bunting.

Before

Everybody contributes, some folks want the credit...

Joe Powell credits bloggers, environmental activists, and affected residents with pushing this story onto the front page and into the national media spotlight.

Michael Silence says not so fast. While acknowledging a joint effort between mainstream media and bloggers, he says the KNS is "driving the bus."

I'm not so sure about that.

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The KNS Coverage

My friends know that I often make the statement, "Mining coal is the stupidest thing that humans do." Having unprotected sex is a close second.

But we can't stop burning coal today. We have to have a transition plan and it has to start ASAP with a coherant national strategy for energy self sufficiency and the goal of a clean and natural environment. And don't say it can't be done because the nation of Denmark already has. (Denmark also has the highest tax rate in the world. They also have the highest standard of living in the world.)

Anyway, I've been looking around for a coherent plan that we could start from and there's nothing out there I would call perfect but here's one we can start arguing about discussing:

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