Dear Roane County residents,
I hope that this finds you well. I am happy to announce that a Roane County Court clerk informed me that the criminal trespass charges that TVA was pressing against me for my Jan 20, 2010 arrest were dropped on Sept 25, 2010. I just found this out a week or so ago as my paperwork had been lost in a pile at the Roane County courthouse. This is a great relief for me and a sign that justice can be served. I am awaiting paper copies of this decision and will work to get these charges expunged from my record.

You can see the video of the arrest here--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxDy2n3Sk94
And read about it here on Roaneviews---http://www.roaneviews.com/?q=node/4449
Thanks to everyone who stood by me during this time,
your support and kind words were greatly appreciated.
Take care, Matt Landon with United Mountain Defense

A bankruptcy filing has halted any threat of legal action against the operators of a Perry County landfill that has been receiving shipments of toxin-laden coal ash that spilled from a Tennessee power plant in 2008.

As a result, Perry County taxpayers have yet to receive almost $780,000 in fees from the coal ash deposits, the bankruptcy petition alleges.... read more on the following link....

(link...)

On December 22, 2008 the largest coal fly ash disaster in the world occurred in Roane County, Tennessee along the banks of the Emory River at the Kingston Electric Coal Plant which is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Coal fly ash is a toxic by- product produced by burning coal to make electricity. Coal fly ash is currently unregulated in the United States. TVA has been very reluctant to take responsibility for the disaster that they created and took active steps to keep the news of the disaster out of the media.

As part of the United States federal government, TVA has been investigated by its own Office of Inspector General which has issued numerous reports detailing how badly TVA officials and employees responded to this disaster. The worst and most telling reports are yet to come. TVA had more than 40 years of internal reports showing the structural weakness of the failed coal fly ash storage pond and they chose to ignore the problems and continue to stack the coal fly ash to a height of more than 60 feet using the wet storage method.

It has been one year since the disaster. By viewing the following videos you will see that the situation has gotten worse as the trail of coal fly ash becomes more dispersed. So far the coal fly ash has floated down the Emory River, Clinch River and Tennessee River all the way to Alabama. As the ash continues its downstream march it will eventually reach the Ohio River, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The main points of concern with water quality right now are the elevated levels of arsenic, selenium and other heavy metals which have leached out of the coal fly ash and into the drinking water of millions of people downstream, not to mention all of the animals which live in the water or eat the fish. Kingston, TN is the nearest town whose water intakes are a mere 6 miles downstream. Chattanooga, TN is the next largest city downstream of the disaster.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has permitted the spilled coal fly ash to be shipped via railroad to Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama. It has been documented that this landfill is currently pumping the landfill leachate (landfill juice) into the ditches surrounding the landfill and right next to the homes of local residents. These residents have been told that the coal fly ash is safe.

Many residents are concerned about their health. An independent air monitoring program started by Roane County residents, United Mountain Defense and the Global Community Monitor has shown that on a least one dry day in October 2009 that there existed elevated levels of arsenic and cadmium in the air surrounding the disaster site. On Feb 3, 2009 a massive dust storm more than 100 feet tall and half a mile wide was documented as it blew off the coal ash disaster site. Many residents have reported respiratory distress up to a 10 mile radius around the disaster site with symptoms that include burning eyes, nosebleeds, sinus infections, ear infections, scratchy throats, rashes, skin sensitivity to sun, nausea, vomiting, headaches, migraines, asthma and many other ailments. Many of these residents had never been sick on such a regular basis before the disaster and now have mounting health bills which they cannot pay. Yet TVA is continuously allowed to state that there is no danger from the coal fly ash and none of the workers involved in the cleanup and recovery efforts are made to wear respiratory protection.

This disaster occurred because of negligence. This disaster is not an isolated incident and as all of the coal fly ash storage sites around the world continue to age many more people will be at risk of having to deal with such a disaster in their neighborhoods. If you live near a coal burning electric power plant you may also live near a coal ash dump. Coal fly ash is NOT safe! This is a disaster that the world needs to learn about and we intend to help spread the word about it, will you help us spread the word?

For more info check out the following websites
(link...)
dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com
(link...)
(link...)
(link...)
Thank you for your time, matt landon Appalachian Organizer for United Mountain Defense
umdvolunteerhouse@yahoo.com
865-689-2778

Here is a video that a Roane County family produced about living next to the TVA Coal Ash Disaster. TVA refuses to evacuate them.

(link...)
Here is a video made by a resident of Roane County, Delano Williams who lives about 1 mile from the TVA Coal Ash Disaster.

(link...)
This dust storm was documented on Feb 3, 2009, the day that Matt Landon got back from the training for the citizen's air monitoring program.

(link...)

Perry County, Alabama Uniontown Citizens speak out about Arrowhead Landfill where TVA coal fly ash is being shipped and dumped by rail. It has been discovered that the landfill is also dumping the leachate (landfill juice) into the ditches surrounding the landfill and right next to the homes in this video.

(link...)
Marion, AL coal ash landfill leachate issue. Arrowhead Landfill is dumping tanker truckload after tanker truckload of landfill juice into a waste water treatment pond which can’t handle the increased load
(link...)
Proposed dump for TVA coal fly ash on a coal mine valley fill in Cumberland County, Tennessee

(link...)

Data from the citizen’s air monitoring program started by Roane County residents, United Mountain Defense and the Global Community Monitor

(link...) 2nd round Raw data
(link...) 2nd round Air Data Page 1
(link...) 2nd round Air Data Spreadsheet
(link...) Expert interpretation of air data

The following are a few words from our air analyst about what these latest air samples mean.
Attached is my interpretation of metal levels in the two air samples collected near the TVA coal ash spill on October 19th and 20th. I added the interpretation to the spreadsheet containing the interpretation of metal levels in the two previously collected air samples (15 July 2009 and 1 October 2009). Rows 4 and 5 contain the new data.

Of note is a ‘hot’ sample (the one collected on 20 October 2009) with a cadmium level that exceeds the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s Chronic Reference Level for cadmium. This sample also has an arsenic level that is above the World Health Organization’s guideline value of 0.66 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent a one per one million increased risk of cancer as a result of lifetime exposure.

If you average the concentrations in all four samples (assigning a ‘0’ value to non-detects), then the average cadmium level is below (60% of) the California OHEAA’s Chronic REL for cadmium, but the average arsenic level is above the WHO guideline value of 0.66 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent a one per one million increased risk of cancer as a result of lifetime exposure.

I urge caution in how you publicize these results for two reasons. 1) The cadmium levels in the air samples are less than 3 times their uncertainty levels; 2) the arsenic levels in the air samples are less than 2 times their uncertainty levels.

Here is a video by Pam and Gary Topmiller about living next to the TVA Coal Ash Disaster

Here is the video (link...)

Media Contact topmillerwoman@aol.com

Dear folks,

United Mountain Defense, the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network, and the Global Community Monitor have teamed up since Jan 2009 to create a citizen's air monitoring program. There have been more than 26 Roane County Residents trained in how to use the Mini Vol air monitors produced by Air Metrics of Eugene Oregon. We use quality control / quality assurance methods and chain of custody forms for all of our air monitoring collection.

Here is more air quality data gathered from around the disaster site on Oct 19 and Oct 20, 2009.

(link...) 2nd round Raw data
(link...) 2nd round Air Data Page 1
(link...) 2nd round Air Data Spreadsheet
(link...) Expert interpretation of air data

The following are a few words from our air analyst about what these latest air samples mean.

Attached is my interpretation of metal levels in the two air samples collected near the TVA coal ash spill on October 19th and 20th. I added the interpretation to the spreadsheet containing the interpretation of metal levels in the two previously collected air samples (15 July 2009 and 1 October 2009). Rows 4 and 5 contain the new data.

Of note is a ‘hot’ sample (the one collected on 20 October 2009) with a cadmium level that exceeds the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s Chronic Reference Level for cadmium. This sample also has an arsenic level that is above the World Health Organization’s guideline value of 0.66 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent a one per one million increased risk of cancer as a result of lifetime exposure.

If you average the concentrations in all four samples (assigning a ‘0’ value to non-detects), then the average cadmium level is below (60% of) the California OHEAA’s Chronic REL for cadmium, but the average arsenic level is above the WHO guideline value of 0.66 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent a one per one million increased risk of cancer as a result of lifetime exposure.

I urge caution in how you publicize these results for two reasons. 1) The cadmium levels in the air samples are less than 3 times their uncertainty levels; 2) the arsenic levels in the air samples are less then 2 times their uncertainty levels.

Here is the air quality data from two samples that I gathered in July and October 2009. There is also some interpretation of the data that follows. Expect more data as we have more samples being sent to the lab and we continue to gather air samples during these dry times. We also had our air expert look at TVA's 116,925 air samples and provide some feedback that follows. If you live next to the coal ash diaster and would like to have a temporary air monitor installed on your property or in your house or would like to get trained in how to use the air monitoring equipment please contact us at 865 689 2778. Thanks for your time, matt landon full time volunteer staff person for United Mountain Defense and dedicated Roane County volunteer

(link...) Raw Data

(link...) Air Data Page 1

(link...) Air Data Excel Spreadsheet, has the same data as Page 1 but may not work

(link...) Short description on how to read this data

This is an explanation about what the independently gathered air quality data means from July and Oct 2009.

The first air sample has a level of cadmium - 14.3 nanograms per cubic meter - that is above the World Health Organization’s guideline value of 5 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent any further increase of cadmium in agricultural soils likely to increase the dietary intake of future generations. See: (link...)

The level of cadmium in the first air sample is also 70% of the California OEHHA Chronic Reference Exposure Level for cadmium (20 nanograms per cubic meter).

See: (link...)

The second air sample has a level of arsenic - 3.6 nanograms per cubic meter - that is above the World Health Organization’s guideline value of 0.66 nanograms per cubic meter to prevent a one per one million increased risk of cancer as a result of lifetime exposure. See: (link...)

I urge caution in how you publicize these results for two reasons. 1) The cadmium level in the first air sample was only 2.2 times greater than its uncertainty level (0.00143 v. 0.00064 ng/m3) and the arsenic level in the second air sample was only 1.4 times greater than its uncertainty level (0.0036 v. 0.0025); and 2) the data reflects short-term (24-hour) ambient air quality whereas the health-based benchmarks I refer to above (WHO guideline values) are for long-term (annual average) ambient air quality.

Levels of other toxic metals (manganese, nickel, mercury, and lead) were below health-based benchmarks.

When we asked our air analyst to look at TVA’s 116,925 air quality measurements here are his initial comments.

There are two problems I see with how the Tennessee Valley Authority is interpreting air quality data near the Kingston Ash Slide.

First, with respect to PM-2.5 levels, TVA is comparing levels to the 24-hour standard (35 ug/m3) and concluding that each day air quality is safe because the PM-2.5 level is below the 24-hour standard.

See: (link...)

What TVA isn’t saying is that the U.S. EPA annual standard for PM-2.5 is only 15 ug/m3 and when you average the daily PM-2.5 measurements, then the average PM-2.5 seems close to the the U.S. EPA annual standard for PM-2.5 (and above the World Health Organization’s annual standard for PM-2.5).

See: (link...)

So, the same data that TVA uses to conclude that air quality is safe can be used to conclude that air quality near the Kingston Ash Slide is unsafe.

Second, with respect to arsenic, the TVA is concluding that “arsenic has not been shown to be present in harmful levels” because “The range of arsenic in air in the U.S. is 1 to 30 ng/m3*, while Kingston air samples ranged from nondetectable to 4.1 ng/m3.”

See: (link...)

This begs the question of whether the average levels of arsenic in air samples are safe. Keep in mind that according to the WHO: “Arsenic is a human carcinogen. Present risk estimates have been derived from studies in exposed human populations in the United States and Sweden. When assuming a linear dose–response relation, a safe level for inhalation exposure cannot be recommended. At an air concentration of 1 μg/m3 an estimate of lifetime risk is 1.5x10-3. This means that the excess lifetime risk level is 1:10000, 1:100 000 or 1:1 000 000 at an air concentration of about 66 ng/m3, 6.6 ng/m3 or 0.66 ng/m3, respectively.”

See: (link...)

Long Term Recovery Committee Meeting

May 13, 2009

The meeting is blogged here: (link...)

The next meeting will include Reps from TVA

May 20th @ 4:30pm at the Roane County Courthouse

Here is the supporting "brief" of 50 or so pages that gives the reasoning to why TVA is asking for immunity... I can only say that some of what TVA is stating in thier defense, is in my opinion is laughable at best....

CONSOLIDATED BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF TVA’S MOTIONS TO DISMISS: (link...)

and for what I really think: (link...)

I finally was able to reach a TVA rep...(it went to his cellphone voicemail first....) regarding the issue with the lawn maint. at the home that TVA has relocated us to (a rental).

The original agreement was that TVA would have the company handling the rental to do maintanance and mow our lawn.

Well, as of today... there will be NO lawn mowing. TVA has "ran into this issue recently" and they are not doing any mowing.... (this was provided at my previous residence in Swan Pond and I don't own a lawn mower... anyone got some hungry goats?)

So, as the grass gets higher and higher I think it will be a jungle soon.

Maybe I'll just put up a sign in the yard with TVA's phone number... then my neighbors can call TVA to complain.

On an outing today I was snapping pictures under I-40 toward the plant...

I was taking some pictures of TVA and the "booms". I noticed ash floating, and some thick ash on the shoreline.

I then came across a lot of clear plastic bags... duct taped shut.

(photo added by WC)
I snapped the following pictures... but I can't them to download here (not that techy)... so heres the (link...)